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No Fenders Head Scribe Tomaso
touching the No. 99 Belanger Special,
lightly please! (The Tomaso Collection)
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Whale', at least two of them were AWESOME! As not
so sure 'bout the 'Ol Crapwagon; Hya!
Author's Note
The 1951 Belanger Special pictured above, was
the First of Three IMS Museum Indy Cars your visually impaired No Fenders Head
Scribe Tomaso was graciously allowed to touch with the Permission of the IMS
Museum Staff. During our personally guided museum "Tactile" tour led
by the very amiable IMS staff member Bernie.
Please do NOT touch the cars or go behind the
"partitions" without IMS Staff permission! Which will only cause the
museum to frown upon offering this unique experience to the Blind and Visually
Impaired in the future...
IMS Hall of Fame Collection
- Wilbur Shaw's 1939-40 Maserati Boyle Special Indy 500 winner
- Lee Wallard's 1951 Belanger Special Indy 500 winner
- Danica Patrick's 2005 Dallara-Honda
The first of the three chassis I got to
momentarily touch was Wilbur Shaw's two-times consecutive winning Maserati 8CTF,
the first of only four cars currently to have ever won consecutive races. Can
Y'all name the other three? As I'll give away another below.
Next up was another of the countless 'Ol
Timers I'm not familiar with, as Bernie guided me to the No. 99 Belanger
Special. Which was somewhat Karmic, or symbiotic? Since Funny how I told Bernie
how I knew the name Lee Wallard from his association with the Blue Crown Spark
Plug racing team of Lou Moore, which saw Mauri Rose winning twice aboard in
1947-48; whilst just learning that Messer Wallard also drove Shaw's Boyle
Special at Mother Speedway, back during an era where racing cars were utilized
for multiple years.
Even funnier yet, I was totally unawheres' he'd
actually won the race at the spry age of 40 in 1951 for car owner Merle
Belanger, whom I'm definitely not familiar with.
Bernie noted how this same chassis was subsequently
taken over by the late Tony Bettenhausen, who'd record eight wins aboard it en
route to the '51 National Championship title. As Wallard would sit out racing
after being severely burned a week later during a race in Reading, PA, which
effectively ended his racing career. As Wallard would endure 27 skin grafts and
serious "Sheet Time," spending his 41st birthday still in hospital
recovering, before passing away in the fall of 1963 at the age of 53.
So did Y'all figure out the only four chassis
to ever win Indianapolis consecutively? And NO, that doesn't include you
George, of Oil Pressure fame, since you most likely know the answer, eh?
Nope! It's NOT the Johnny Lightning Specials
of 1970-71, as they're two separate, and not identical PJ Colt chassis. Nor is
it HULIO's 2001-02 Penske cars, which are ditto to the Johnny Lightning
Specials.
The first was indeed the 1939-40 Maserati
8CTF Boyle Special which raced at Mother Speedway remarkably until 1949, albeit
the driver to accomplish this feat third; Driving a racecar to consecutive
victories used it to complete his rookie test
in 1950!
The second driver to pull off this rare
"double" utilized the same Blue Crown Spark Plug Special racecar to
become the track's third three-time winner, when Mauri Rose won back-to-back
victories in 1947-48 before his team-mate Bill Holland won in '49.
And that driver passing his rookie audition
in '50 won twice in-a-row in 1953-54 aboard Oil Tycoon Howard Keck's Kurts
Kraft KK500 Fuel Injection Special Roadster. as you've probably guessed by now
that his name was Bill Vukovich.
The fourth and final racecar in this
illustrious company was shared by two drivers, as Sam Hanks finally won at
Mother Speedway at the age of 42. Then followed the next year by Jimmy Bryan taking
the Belond Exhaust Special,
known as the first successful "laydown" engine design to consecutive
wins in 1957-58.
As reportedly, the Belond Exhaust Special
laydown Roadster, sporting a near
horizontal Offenhauser engine, had something in common with one of the racecars
I got to lightly touch at the museum. As it was designed by George Salih, chief
mechanic on the winning #99 Belanger Special of 1951.
OOPSADAISY!
So I've almost completely forgotten to
mention that final IMS Museum racecar I got to lightly fondle. As the funniest
part was that I knew which car it was going to be even before Bernie led us to
the back part of the museum's new addition...
Tuh-Duh! This is Danica Patrick's rookie
IndyCar Bernie announced to us, as sorry folks, but those Dallara's are
indelibly seared into Thy Cranium as Crapwagons', courtesy of 'Ol PT', thou
thrill from The West Hill, Mr. Chrome Horn or simply Paul Tracy!
Alas, I really had very little interest in
this racecar, which I'm certain is a very competent mount, and I totally admire
it far more than today's DW12 variant's with their hideous Cardashian Humps',
which Derek Daly anointed them!
As I'm looking forward to the 2018 Universal Body
kit era instead, even if we're still stuck in the Spec chassis mold, and I
won't be able to see 'em! As it sounds like they'll revert back to my youthful
Dazes 'O CART, albeit minus the 900bhp+ monster turbo motors...
And this concluded our portion of our guided museum
tour, as we said our good buys to Bernie, who was a most amiable and
knowledgeable host.
Kudos to the IMS Museum, it's Staff and Bernie in
particular for such an enjoyable outing!
For
the corresponding Penske Exhibit portion of this visit, see; R100: Celebrating El Capitano's Golden Anniversary in Motor Racing...