(1-21-10) Info from website visitor John Slater:
"Mario Andretti drove Joe
Leonard's #60 STP Turbine in the 1968 "Rex Mays 300". I bet the
picture of #60 was taken during practice, with Joe shaking down the car.
Mario usually sat pretty low in his cockpits, not so in this picture.
The results
for the race.
Note: Mario's original car retired and he took over Leonard's
car and pretty much immediately crashed with Pollard! It would be
a rare photo that caught Mario at the wheel of this car!
Mario used a light colored helmet: Tremblant
1967, and Labatt
Indy 200 1968.
The Pratt&Whitney turbine in the Lotus 56 was used in helicopters
and stationary power supplies. As an engineer, I always wonder
how they dealt with turbine lag. And Indy, and on ovals, this
might be controllable. But on road courses I imagine you needed to
use the brakes in corners to 'wind-up' the engine.
I saw these cars race in Milwaukee. They qualified well,
but got jumped at the start. In the 200 mile race, early domination
disappeared, and retirement was from 'brake failure'.
Cutaway
of Lotus 56." |