P.F. was there in '63 & '64
First attended Indy in '63 with my dad. Drove down from
Detroit-stayed overnight outside of Indy & then on race day drove in.
My main memory was the end of the race when Parnelli Jones was
leading (leaking oil) and Jimmy Clark in the rear engined Lotus was
catching Jones but had to slow down because of the oil. I remember
seeing the flagman (Fengler, I think) take out the black flag to wave
at Jones, But behind the flagman appeared Jones' car owner, J.C.
Agajanian, and after a few words from J.C. the flag was put away.
Parnelli went on to win the race, of course. It took my dad and I 4
hours to get out of the infield parking after the race!
In '64 there was the crash on lap 2--Seemed like the Speedway only
had one firetruck-and several of those manual fire rigs on two big
wheels - It wasn't enough to put out the fire. I remember one driver
in a roadster coming through the fire- spinning 180 degrees and ending
up on the inside of the track facing backwards - His head was down and
he appeared unconscious and his car was on fire. Very shortly he came
to-jumped out of the car just before it was fully engulfed by flames. I
didn't attend a race for 20 years after that one but since '75 I have
been back several times.
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