It’s an anniversary (sort of)
Jim Clark after the 1965 Indy 500
In 1965 the peerless Jim Clark became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula 1 World Championship in the same season. In fact, he’s still the only person to have done that, though others have gone on to win both (and, in the case of Graham Hill, the Le Mans 24 Hours as well) in different years.
While all this took place 46 years ago, and you may be excused for wondering why it’s being brought up all of a sudden, Indy is celebrating its centenary this year and Ford Racing is marking its 110th year of competition. To that end, Al Unser Snr is going to drive Clark’s number 82 Lotus-Ford during a parade of historic indycars before this weekend’s Indy 500. Ford has also released these rather marvellous photos.
As well as being the first victory at Indy for a rear-engined car, 1965 was also notable in that Ford recruited a crack pit crew – the Wood Brothers – from NASCAR because they recognised the increasing importance of fast pitstops. Thus began a trend that has led to Red Bull Racing’s lightning-quick laser-guided stops in F1…
The Wood Brothers start a revolution at Indy, 1965