The late great Joe Leonard drove this car to Pole Position and Lap Record at Indy in '68. He was leading in the final laps and the fuel pump broke. These cars were so fast they banned them. I cheered when that happened. Turbine cars are like electric motorbikes, devoid of soul. When Granatelli first came to Indy with the turbines and they were fast, I thought Indy car racing was doomed. A whole field of basically silent cars would be like watching paint dry ( try to watch the new F1 electric car series, snore !) . They were banned for all kinds of reasons mainly, the crowd hated them. They actually made a whooshing sound and gave off a huge visible heat exhaust vortex which caused problems for their competitors. The sound was not grating on the nerves like the electric bikes with their finger nails on a chalk board excruciating gear whine. The 101st Indy 500 will start at 12:19 p m ET Sunday. Watch it wire to wire. It never fails to really entertain race fans of all ilks . Having Alonso in the McLaren Honda starting in an incredible 5th place will really give the huge F1 fan base some one to root for.
Don't miss it !
