We all recall Indy 500 winners Rick Mears, Al Unser, Jr., and A. J. Foyt. Recently, a longtime friend (and race fan for 80 years) reminisced about some of his favorite not-so-famous racing characters. If you’ve never heard of these drivers, that’s okay. I’m pretty sure he made them up.
THE CLEANEST RACE CAR DRIVER to ever enter the Indy 500 was Daring Dudley Doolittle, a fierce competitor, and an immaculate dresser. He astounded the crowd back in 1963 when he pulled his gleaming white racecar into the pits on the 100th lap. While his crew provided additional fuel and two new tires, he took a shower and shaved. But cleanliness was his downfall: before he could climb back into his car, he slipped on a bar of soap and ended up with the longest pit stop in history, some 32 minutes. Dudley may have been the cleanest driver ever, but after that race, his career was pretty much washed up.
THE MOST ABSENT-MINDED STATISTICIAN in IMS history was Reginald Staffordshire. His recollection of racing trivia had no match. But in 1981, his memory failed. Arising at 5 a.m. for the race, he dressed and got in his car, but he remembered he forgot to kiss his wife good-bye. He returned to their bedroom and then left his keys on the dresser. When he retrieved the keys, he got back in the car and realized he forgot his press credentials. He went back in the house and got the necessary passes. He finally arrived at the track to discover he was late—a week late. He had the wrong date on his calendar. Since then, Reginald has been all but forgotten.
THE ODDEST FUEL at the Indy 500 was used by a 1944 car driven by a guy named Percy Vichy of Paris, France. His lavender Chanel Number 5 Peugeot used pure perfume for fuel. The car was the brainchild of Andy Grandasmelli who had developed an allergy to gasoline fumes. The engine raised a stink from officials, but for Vichy the smell of victory kept getting stronger. His perfume-powered car led every lap until the last one, when he ran out of fuel and stopped one inch from the finish line. He knew the irony…he lost by a nose.
THE MOST ARTISTIC CAR was owned by California artist and sportsman Victor Van Go, No. 86 in the 1948 race. Van Go attached a huge canvas to the outside wall along the main stretch. On each lap, Van Go took out his palette and brushes. As he sped down the straightaway, he extended his arm and applied a swath of colors, resulting in an impressionistic mural. To this day, he is known as the world’s fastest painter.
THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL CAR that ever entered the race was owned by Greg Sturley who had a passenger seat mounted to the left of the driver for an exotic dancer from a local gentlemen’s club who would shed articles of clothing each lap, the theory being that the drivers would stay behind Sturley’s car to watch the show. Sturley did finish first, but the 1933 committee ruled his ploy illegal and stripped him of the honor. This was the origin of the word “racy.”
