Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Luke - About Green Racecars

[Luke Graves (buyer1]

Well Dick, you beat me by one year!  In 1956, while I was a student at U of F, we went down to Sebring to see the sports car race.  Had a Frat Bro who lived there.  All the great teams and drivers were there.  We snuck into the Ferrari pits and stayed there during the race!  I watched the great Fangio win the race from that perspective.  Talked to some unimpressive guy named Portago who fell out of the race.  Was looking at a small silver bullet of a car that had fallen out of the race and some nice guy named Colin came up and told me it was a Lotus. Had never heard of or seen one!  He had on a bow tie and a Ben Hogan Hat.  Had no idea who these guys were.  But the highlight of the trip was to watch the Fanger, the Maestro, stick that big Monza 860 around the track.  The best and most charismatic Driver I ever saw.  So, the bug bit me and I knew that some day I had to have a Ferrari.  When I finally got my 360 in '02, everybody I knew said that it was about time, since I had been raving on about Ferraris ever since they knew me!!!

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From: Dick Petrick [mailto:rtpetrick [at] comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 2:42 PM
To: 'Luke Graves'
Cc: 'The FerrariList'
Subject: RE: [Ferrari] Luke - About Green Racecars

Well, Luke….You’ve got 9 years on me…..and I’m still a youngster (heh-heh)

I have a couple that come close to your 1947 experience.

1. In 1955, at the first sanctioned SCCA event at Road America (Elkhart Lake, Wi), I watched Phil Hill in a Ferrari 750 Monza nose out Sherwood Johnston’s D-type Jaguar, in the feature race. I was 11 then and that was the day that my passion for Ferraris began.

2. In August, 1963, at the Tony Bettenhausen 200 in Milwaukee, I watched Jim Clark in a Lotus-Ford lead the entire 200 laps and lap the entire field, except A.J. Foyt, who was 2^nd and drove a front engine Champ car roadster that we called dinosaurs. Dan Gurney was 3^rd in the 2^nd Team Lotus, but one lap behind Clark. My goodness, Clark was fast….incredibly fast. It was historic in that it changed Champ car design forever. Clark went on to win the Indy 500 in 1965, again in a Lotus-Ford….the first time, I believe, for a re-engine design. The last win for the front engine Champ Car was in 1965. I remember that when Clark was revving the engine in his Lotus, the fans in bleachers laughed and ridiculed him. I heard: “Who does that pipsqueak think he is?”  What did we hear from the fans after the race was finished……..CRICKETs!    I loved it.

As my departed very good friend, Ferrari Bubba used to say:  “Ach….the memories.

 

Regards,

Dick Petrick

 

From: Luke Graves [mailto:buyer1 [at] airmail.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 11:29 AM
To: 'Dick Petrick'
Cc: 'The FerrariList'
Subject: RE: [Ferrari] Luke - About Green Racecars

 

Thanks Dick!

I actually saw that race live in a Movie Theater in San Francisco and of course it was in black and white back then, so, the color didn't sink in on me!

 

OK guys, I am older that most of you.  Who can beat this:  My first Indy experience was in 1947 when Mauri Rose won it in the Blue Crown Spark Plug Special!  I was 12 years old and listened to on the radio in it the Barber Shop and then at home.  It lasted more that 4 hours.  The car was/is very beautiful.  Six cyl Offie making 400 HP.  Check it out on Google!

 

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From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+buyer1=airmail.net [at] ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of Dick Petrick
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 9:29 AM
To: Col Luke Graves
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Luke - About Green Racecars

Luke,

I think that the banning of green cars at Indy had to do with a superstition related to a former Indy 500 champ who was killed in a green car, back in the 1920s.

Not sure. Obviously, that has changed, but I don’t know when. Jim Clark’s 500 winning Lotus back in the 60s was green.

 

Regards,

Dick Petrick

 

 

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