{"product_id":"it-s-a-new-track-record-indy-cars-of-the-1960s-1970s-3-book-set","title":"It’s A New Track Record! \u0026 Indy Cars of the 1960s \u0026 1970s 3 Book Set","description":"\u003cp\u003e Indianapolis track announcer Tom Carnegie used to whip the crowds into frenzied excitement during qualification runs for the famous 500, especially when he intoned his trademark exclamation “It’s… A… New Track Record!”. That occurred quite often during the period 1962–1972 with its unprecedented explosion in speed. Parnelli Jones became the first man to break the 150-mph barrier with a lap at 150.370 mph in 1962, then just 10 years later Bobby Unser’s 196.678 mph was not far short of the 200-mph mark. This happened because the “decade” brought extraordinary advances in car, engine and tire design, including takeover by the rear-engine configuration and the emergence of aerodynamic wings, wide slick tires and unrestricted turbocharged engines that ultimately produced over 1,000 horsepower.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e• Year-by-year coverage includes the technical developments behind rising speeds in a period that saw Formula One-inspired rear-engine chassis depose Indy’s traditional front-engine roadsters.\u003cbr\u003e• Following his 150-mph qualifying landmark in 1962, when Rodger Ward won the race, Parnelli Jones claimed victory in 1963 after holding off an unexpected challenge from rookie Jim Clark.\u003cbr\u003e• The 1964 Indy 500 saw A.J. Foyt—writer of this book’s foreword—achieve the last win for a front-engine roadster.\u003cbr\u003e• Scotland’s Jim Clark, the pole-sitter in 1964, famously achieved the first rear-engine win in 1965 driving for Lotus, while A.J. Foyt’s 161.233 mph in qualifying made him the first pole-winner to exceed 160 mph.\u003cbr\u003e• Englishman Graham Hill won in 1966, followed by a third victory for A.J. Foyt in a career total of four.\u003cbr\u003e• The 170-mph mark was breached in 1968 when Joe Leonard’s turbine-equipped Lotus lapped at 171.559 mph in qualifying, but the win went to the Eagle of Bobby Unser, marking the first victory for the Unser dynasty.\u003cbr\u003e• Qualifying speeds dropped back a little in the next two races, which brought wins for Mario Andretti (1969) and Al Unser (1970), who then won again in 1971.\u003cbr\u003e• While Mark Donohue won the 1972 Indy 500 in a McLaren, qualifying brought the biggest-ever leap in speeds with Bobby Unser’s 195.940 mph in his Eagle exceeding the previous record by an incredible 17 mph, resulting in the 180-mph and 190-mph barriers both being broken in the same year.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eForemost Indianapolis 500 historian Rick Shaffer tells the entire story with authority and style in this captivating book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJourney into \u003cstrong\u003eGasoline Alley\u003c\/strong\u003e during the tumultuous 1960s, one of the most spectacular and controversial decades in the history of the \u003cstrong\u003eIndianapolis Motor Speedway.\u003c\/strong\u003e Featured are fantastic photos of the last Novis, the wild racers of Mickey Thompson, Brabhams and the successful Halk copies, the astonishing STP turbine cars of 1967 and 1968, Dan Gurneys Eagles from 1966, Lotuses, the battle between Fords, and the turbo-Offys.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1970s was the last creative decade at the great \u003cstrong\u003eSpeedway\u003c\/strong\u003e. The spirit of innovation was still strong in the 1970s, which \u003cstrong\u003eLudvigsen\u003c\/strong\u003e calls \"The Last Creative Decade\" at the great Speedway.The turbocharged decade witnessed the extinction of the venerable \u003cstrong\u003efour-banger Offy\u003c\/strong\u003e and the rise of the \u003cstrong\u003eCosworth V-8\u003c\/strong\u003e, which took Indy racing into the 1980s. A tire war and advanced aerodynamics saw speeds rise so sensationally that, as Ludvigsen says in his insightful Introduction, \"The 1971 pole-winning speed wouldn't have qualified a driver for the 1972 race!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRevealing intimate details of the last progressive and experimental decade at the \u003cstrong\u003eIndianapolis Motor Speedway\u003c\/strong\u003e, this book is a must for fans of the world's greatest motor race.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Midlife Classic Cars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51958554788120,"sku":"KIT9781918070002\/B02608\/B02908","price":148.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0057\/9813\/3831\/files\/kit9781918070002b02608b02908.jpg?v=1776293117","url":"https:\/\/www.midlifeclassiccars.com\/es\/products\/it-s-a-new-track-record-indy-cars-of-the-1960s-1970s-3-book-set","provider":"MidlifeClassicCars.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}