Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / 1965: When Engines Roared and Rockets Soared

Transcript

1965: When Engines Roared and Rockets Soared · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

0:00
Break Fix's History of Motorsports Series is brought to you in part
0:04
by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
0:07
Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
0:11
Commerce, and the Argo Singer family.
0:16
On this episode of the Logbook, we stepped back into 1965 a year when
0:21
engines roared rocket soared, and history was written across two frontiers,
0:25
motorsports, and space exploration.
0:28
It was the time of bold technologies, ambitious plans, and unforgettable
0:31
achievements on the racetrack.
0:33
Legends like Richard Petty, Jim Clark and Dan Gurney redefined
0:36
competition in orbit and beyond.
0:38
Pioneers, such as Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Ed White carried
0:41
humanities aspirations to the stars.
0:44
Together, their innovation set benchmarks that continue to shape both racing
0:48
and exploration six decades later.
0:50
Guiding us through this pivotal year is Dr. Mark D. Howell, a lifelong
0:54
motorsports scholar and cultural historian with a PhD in American Culture
0:58
Studies and a career spanning decades of teaching, writing, and leadership in
1:01
the Society of Automotive Historians.
1:03
Dr. Howell brings unmatched insight into how 1965 became a turning
1:07
point in both speed and space.
1:09
His work connects the roar of engines to the silence of space, showing how one
1:13
extraordinary year continues to influence the way we race, explore, and dream.
1:18
Join us as we uncover the sociocultural significance of 1965 a year that
1:22
proved innovation, knows no boundaries, whether on the track or among the stars.
1:27
Thank you.
1:28
It's good to be here.
1:29
I'm working on a book manuscript right now that is juxtaposing, as Kip was saying,
1:34
kind of the connection between motor sports and space exploration because there
1:38
is a connection and as a kid who grew up wanting to both be a race car driver and
1:44
an astronaut, and couldn't quite determine which of the two was going to win.
1:47
To my surprise, I noticed as I got older and became a cultural historian
1:52
and started in academia that there was a connection between the two.
1:55
So today this is an ongoing part of that research, and the
2:00
reason I selected 1965 in part is because this year is significant.
2:04
I mean, if you think about it, this is the 75th anniversary
2:07
of what we know as Formula One.
2:09
It's the 75th anniversary of the Wood Brothers getting into racing.
2:13
So you've got these different kinds of anniversaries that kind of pop up around
2:17
this year and 60 years ago, it seemed like there was a lot going on both in
2:23
space exploration and motor sports, things that were going on that ended
2:27
up setting the course for the future of both occupations and both endeavors.
2:33
So that's where this comes from.
2:35
The year 1965 stands out as a turning point in American technological
2:40
and cultural history in both space exploration and in motor sports.
2:44
Two fields that are often seen as unrelated, but they are connected.
2:49
You had engineers, astronauts, drivers, and institutions that were simultaneously.
2:54
Pushing the boundaries of speed, endurance, and human capability.
2:58
It was a moment when advances in materials design and engineering
3:02
converged with national ambition.
3:05
It was also the year I was born and I haven't changed much.
3:10
I still lean forward and I'm still kind of round in the face.
3:14
So that's me.
3:15
While these events meant nothing to me at the time, they have
3:18
become meaningful through what was recorded, remembered, and retold.
3:23
Looking back across six decades, I propose we understand 1965, not merely
3:29
as a collection of milestones, but as a year whose significance is shaped by
3:33
collective memory using the frameworks of societal logics and cultural identity.
3:40
I submit that the narrative constructed around 1965 stories of innovation.
3:45
Competition and national purpose continue to shape how we understand
3:50
the relationship between technology and culture when examined through
3:54
this lens, 1965 becomes more than a year of achievements.
3:58
It becomes a cultural touchstone that reveals how societies make
4:02
meaning from historic, competitive, and technological triumphs.
4:07
As 1965 began, the United States was in the midst of the space race running
4:12
second to the Soviet Union in placing satellites and animals in low Earth orbit.
4:19
America was also chasing the technological and ideological target set
4:24
by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
4:27
Of landing a man on the moon.
4:28
By the end of the decade, NASA was caught off guard.
4:32
When on April 12th, 1961, Yuri Guerin made a 108 minute flight aboard his
4:39
VO stock won spacecraft scoring.
4:42
Two monumental firsts for the Soviet Union.
4:45
The first human in space and the first human to orbit the earth.
4:48
In 1963, Russia's Valentina Ter Cova made 48 orbits over three days to
4:55
become the first woman in space.
4:57
And as a point of comparison, the first American woman in space was Sally Ride.
5:03
20 years later, in June of 1983, in 1965, project Gemini tightened the space race
5:11
by demonstrating the versatility and technology needed to reach the moon, not
5:15
that Gemini got off to a rousing start.
5:18
An article in the Bulletin of the Atomic scientists highlighted a rift
5:23
between the US military and nasa.
5:26
Because the agency, according to some people, was more interested in
5:30
landing on the moon than developing America's military capability in space.
5:36
Some believed, and this was precisely the case, this is what the Soviet
5:40
Union was doing with their vehicles.
5:43
So the rift was actually pretty well meaning.
5:45
We weren't spying like the Soviet Union was using their technology to do.
5:50
Now, that said, astronauts had been photographing the earth since.
5:53
John Glenn took a store-bought Minolta point and shoot camera into orbit on
5:59
Friendship seven In 1962, while American Space flight was seen as more scientific
6:05
than spying, there were some in the federal government who thought manned
6:09
missions were missed opportunities to observe America's enemies.
6:13
From afar, the United States Air Force was in fact working with McDonald
6:18
Aircraft, adapting Gemini hardware to develop a manned orbital laboratory
6:24
that would conduct essential research as long as that essential research
6:29
meant spying on other countries.
6:31
The project stalled in 1966 as satellite technology was improving and funds
6:37
were needed to fund the war in Vietnam.
6:40
All the while the Soviet Union fully believed it was capable of beating
6:45
NASA to the cratered lunar finish line.
6:48
The Soviets upped the lunar ante in March with Alexi Land's Surprise
6:53
13 minute extra vehicular activity.
6:56
A move that forced NASA to fast track an American response.
7:01
The first American EVA was scheduled for Gemini five later in the year, but
7:06
Russia's awkward, yet successful, and I say awkward because when Leon F got
7:11
out in the vacuum of space, his pressure suit inflated, and for a while they
7:16
weren't sure how to deflate it enough to get 'em back through the hatch.
7:20
Period of time when they thought they would just have to cut him
7:22
loose because he was essentially the Michelin man in space and they had
7:26
to figure out a way to get him back.
7:28
They did.
7:28
But anyway, his early spacewalk led the agency to assign America's
7:33
first EVA to Gemini for only the second man flight of the program.
7:39
Astronaut Edward White was assigned to conduct the spacewalk in early June.
7:44
On the second orbit of Gemini Four's 66 orbit flight Commander James
7:49
McDivitt assisted white in opening his hatch, allowing white to float
7:53
free of his spacecraft, tethered by a 15 foot umbilical cord that provided
7:58
communications and life support.
8:00
White spent 23 minutes in space taking photographs and creating
8:04
optics that unlike Leonardo's, EVA would promote Gemini Four's
8:09
accomplishment throughout the world.
8:11
More than a technical demonstration, ed White's EVA
8:14
quickly became a cultural moment.
8:17
The image of an American astronaut floating freely against the blackness
8:21
of space, tethered only by a lifeline offered the nation a powerful symbol.
8:26
At a moment when Cold War anxieties were high, this is the first mission where
8:31
astronauts wore the American flag on their spacesuits, and that was actually
8:36
at the bequest of McDivitt and white.
8:39
They kind of knew that this was going to be a big moment for the United States, and
8:43
so they went ahead and said, Hey, can you put the American flag on our space suits?
8:47
NASA didn't stay with that, but if you look at the majority of space
8:50
suits from this point on, you see an American flag, Gemini five flown in
8:54
August by Gordon Cooper and Charles Pete Conrad, who were, by the way.
9:00
Recognized outside the space program as both being competitive.
9:04
Racers in their own right Cooper raced sports cars and hydroplane boats.
9:09
Pete Conrad raced sports cars with the SCCA and he actually
9:13
raced at Watkins Glen at least one time back in the early seventies.
9:18
But their mission, Gemini five was to be the first spacecraft to use
9:22
fuel cells instead of batteries as a source of internal power.
9:26
Cooper and Conrad described their mission as eight days in a garbage can.
9:31
Since their sole purpose was to live in Earth orbit and demonstrate that
9:35
fuel cells could generate enough energy for a minimum duration lunar
9:40
mission, they also had the EVA.
9:42
Taken away from them.
9:43
So they were kind of frustrated at that.
9:46
They would also test a new radar technology that enabled vehicles
9:50
to rendezvous in orbit with great precision, which was another
9:53
critical aspect of going to the Moon.
9:56
Cooper and Conrad being racers in their own right, commented on how loud and
10:01
fast the Titan two launch vehicle was.
10:04
Which was understandable given that Gemini crews went into space atop and
10:09
ICBM designed to carry nuclear weapons Astronauts compared the Titan two to a
10:14
sports car, maybe a Corvette Stingray.
10:17
That's what they were driving.
10:18
Given its quick and steady acceleration, which interestingly
10:22
enough led to a sharp change in trajectory at a particular altitude
10:27
that aimed the vehicle toward Russia.
10:29
So what the astronauts had to learn to do was to counter that change in trajectory
10:33
because that wasn't their intent.
10:35
At least in the Gemini program.
10:37
Gemini five ultimately earned the United States a new flight duration record of
10:41
7.96 days in orbit exceeding cosmina.
10:46
Valerie Bukowski's record by 72 hours.
10:50
The flight duration record of Gemini five was shattered four months
10:53
later in December by Jim Lovell and Frank Borman on Gemini seven when
10:58
they spent 13.77 days in orbit.
11:01
This mission was the most ambitious of 1965 and probably of the entire Gemini.
11:07
Program.
11:08
It included a pretty big to-do list.
11:10
The astronauts were gonna spend two weeks in space.
11:13
They were gonna try new extra lightweight space suits, which you can see here.
11:17
Their helmets are like, almost like big bags.
11:19
They're wearing over their heads and executing a controlled reentry
11:24
near their recovery location.
11:26
Borman and Lovell were also tasked, and this is a direct
11:29
quote from NASA three Scientific.
11:31
Four technical, four spacecraft, and eight medical experiments.
11:35
The medical experiments involved Frank Borman going into space with electrodes
11:40
stuck in his skull under his helmet to get physiological data on their condition.
11:46
Gemini seven became part of an unplanned exercise when Gemini six,
11:50
an unmanned rendezvous target vehicle.
11:54
Was lost after liftoff, which delayed the launch of Gemini six A, which was
11:59
going to meet up with the target vehicle, Gemini six A, which was going to carry
12:04
astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Shirah.
12:07
NASA planners suggested that Gemini seven liftoff before Gemini six A,
12:13
so the two vehicles could attempt a manned rendezvous, which would
12:17
be necessary for a lunar mission.
12:20
In December, 1965, NASA achieved the incredible two Gemini
12:24
spacecraft, one piloted by indie team car owner Wally Shara.
12:29
He was a silent partner with AJ Foyt actually in 1967.
12:33
Their car finished second at Indianapolis with Joe Leonard behind the wheel.
12:38
But Wally Shara got the spacecraft together.
12:41
They did kind of a side drafting sort of a thing.
12:44
They got to within three feet to actually, at one point they got
12:47
to within one foot of each other.
12:49
At 17,500 miles an hour for five and a half hours at an altitude
12:54
of 160 nautical miles, the astronauts could see each other.
12:58
They could read signs held up to windows, and they were able to visually inspect
13:04
the condition of both spacecraft.
13:06
It was a technological achievement that gave 1965, added historical
13:10
significance just as NASA rushed to match Soviet achievements
13:13
through technical improvisation.
13:16
Motorsports organizations in 1965 faced parallel pressures, organizational,
13:21
cultural, and technological that shaped their own collective narratives.
13:27
Take nascar for example.
13:28
By 1965, American automakers were focused on engine development and horsepower.
13:33
Nascar, on the other hand, stuck to its 1949 notion of showroom
13:38
stock, stock cars, and the slogan, win on Sunday, sell on Monday.
13:44
Another factor was the sanctioning body's homologation rules requiring manufacturers
13:49
to produce a specific number of high powered creations for commercial sale.
13:54
Many of these specialty engines like the 4 26 Hemi, which you see here, Ford's
13:59
4 27 camera and GM's 4 27 mark two.
14:04
Were simply not available in showrooms.
14:07
In October of 1964, NASCAR founder Bill France announced that in 1965, all engines
14:14
used in competition had to meet strict guidelines limiting their displacement.
14:19
Among other restrictive measures meant to govern on track performance.
14:24
While manufacturers wanted to park their big engines in Victory Lane, big
14:28
Bill France wanted stock cars to carry stock motors available to consumers.
14:34
During the 1964 NASCAR season, Chrysler and Ford repeatedly criticized each
14:39
other's creative engineering efforts while addressing NASCAR rule changes meant
14:45
to level the high banked playing field.
14:47
It was Chrysler's 4 26 Hemi that received the most public attention.
14:52
Hemispherical combustion chambers were nothing new in 1964 and 1965.
14:57
They were actually developed by Chrysler for the P 47 Thunderbolt.
15:02
In World War ii, but World War II ended before the design
15:05
could be put into production.
15:07
This technology led to the development of the 4 26 Hemi, which big Bill France
15:12
banned from competition in late 1964.
15:16
Chrysler's Hemi allowed Richard Petty to dominate the Grand National Division
15:20
earlier in 1964, winning his first Daytona 500 and his first grand National title
15:26
with nine victories and 43 top tens.
15:29
For 61 starts in a Plymouth Belvedere, powered by the Now Outlawed in
15:35
1965 by NASCAR 4 26 Hemi Engine.
15:39
As such, the Chrysler Corporation took extreme measures after Chrysler announced
15:45
it would boycott the 1965 NASCAR season.
15:48
Richard Petty went racing with the National Hot Rod Association driving a
15:52
petty enterprises prepared Hemi powered Plymouth Barracuda, given Petty's
15:57
national fame and competitive dominance.
16:00
In 1964, he was usually matched against a full-time drag racer.
16:05
He ran against such NHRA regulars as.
16:09
Don Nicholson and Ronnie Sox, and they were pretty much more like celebrity
16:14
shootouts than elimination heats that you would see in competition.
16:19
Petty's 1965 drag racing sabbatical was marred tragically in late February.
16:25
When a component in the left front of his Plymouth failed during a
16:29
race at Southeastern International Dragway near Dallas, Georgia, the car
16:33
careened through a chain link fence.
16:35
Went into the crowd, injured seven spectators, and took
16:39
the life of 6-year-old Wayne Edward die Petty enterprises.
16:44
Then built a second Hemi powered Barracuda, which carried Richard
16:48
to an NHRA Spring Nationals win at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1965.
16:54
Chrysler's Boycott of the 1965 NASCAR grand national season worked to
16:59
the Ford Motor Company's advantage.
17:01
Illinois native Fred Lorenzen led 25 of 133 laps to win the
17:07
rain, shortened Daytona 500 in a top 11 sweep by Ford products.
17:12
Lorenzen also won both grand National races at Charlotte
17:16
in 1965, the day of my birth.
17:18
By the way, was well timed and conveniently sandwiched
17:22
between Fred Lorenzen win at Martinsville on 4 25, April 25th.
17:28
That's the day before I was born, and then Tiny Lund drove
17:31
a Ford to victory at Columbia.
17:34
South Carolina on April 28th, and in the middle was me.
17:39
Chrysler's.
17:40
NASCAR boycott ended in late July of 1965 when the company met
17:45
those homologation guidelines.
17:47
Chrysler's first 1965 Grand National win came when Richard Petty won
17:53
at Nashville in a 1965 Plymouth.
17:56
The damage, however, had already been done.
17:59
Ned Jarrett won the 1965 Grand National Championship with 13 wins
18:04
in 54 starts in a Ford while Fred Lorenzen ended the year 13th in points
18:10
with four wins in only 17 starts.
18:13
Ford easily won the 1965 manufacturers championship
18:17
with 50 victories in 55 races.
18:21
One of the 50 wins, interestingly enough, was by Curtis Turner, who returned from
18:27
his four year NASCAR induced suspension.
18:30
He was suspended by Bill France for trying to bring organized labor,
18:34
bring the Teamsters into organized nascar, NASCAR drivers at least.
18:39
And so he returned from his sabbatical, shall we say.
18:43
To win the very first grand national race held at Rockingham Speedway, and
18:48
that was, uh, on October 31st in 1965.
18:52
No discussion about the Ford Motor Company and 1965 would be complete without
18:58
mention of that year's Indianapolis 500.
19:01
The 1965 Indy 500 was a perfect storm as Scotsman Jim Clark dominated the
19:07
race in his Lotus 38, a streamlined, lightweight Monaco chassis.
19:12
Designed by Colin Chapman, who was an aviation engineer
19:16
at one point and Len Terry.
19:18
The car was engineered with an offset suspension and powered by
19:22
a mid mounted 4.2 liter double overhead cam Ford V eight.
19:28
The Lotus 38 was based on the Lotus 29 that finished second at Indy
19:32
with Jim Clark in 1963 and the Lotus 34 that finished 17th at Indy with
19:39
Dan Gurney in 1964, Jim Clark and his Lotus 38 averaged 150.686 miles
19:47
an hour to win at the Brickyard.
19:49
Breaking the 150 mile an hour barrier, as well as a J FO's 1964
19:55
record of 1 47 0.35 in the final Indy 500 won by a front engine car.
20:02
By the way, 64 was the last front engine win.
20:06
Only six front engine cars were on the grid in 1965, making
20:11
it the first Indianapolis 500 to feature mostly rear engine.
20:16
Entrance teams at Indianapolis in 1965 face new rules in response
20:21
to the tragic events of 1964.
20:23
If you remember, that's when Dave McDonald and Eddie Sacks died in that fiery
20:27
wreck right near the start of the race.
20:29
These new rules included a new minimum weight restriction and new guidelines
20:33
for fuel management guidelines that required cars to have a 75 gallon onboard
20:39
capacity fuel tanks with rubber bladders.
20:42
And no crossover tubes located in front of the driver teams at India in
20:47
1965 were encouraged to run methanol, which made more horsepower even though
20:52
gasoline provided better mileage.
20:55
That said, teams were now required by the roll to pit at least twice and
21:00
to connect to their newly required.
21:03
Another new rule, gravity fed fueling rigs, which eliminated any advantage
21:08
to be had by running gasoline.
21:11
The 1965 Indy 500 featured one of the largest and most impressive
21:15
rookie classes in the events history.
21:17
A roster that included Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock,
21:21
Joe Leonard, and Al Unser.
21:23
The front row was comprised of a J Foyt who qualified with a new track record.
21:29
Jim Clark was second and Dan Gurney on the outside of row one.
21:34
Andretti was the fastest rookie starting fourth on the grid.
21:38
When it comes to the 1965 Indy 500 and the influence of collective memory, the
21:43
story of the Wood Brothers comes to mind.
21:45
Popular meaning comes from our memories of the famous NASCAR pit
21:50
crew servicing Jim Clark's Lotus and Route to Victory at the Brickyard.
21:55
Despite such memories.
21:56
Fact over fiction suggests the wood brothers were more of a
22:00
Ford public relations stunt than a competitive necessity.
22:05
Teams at Indy knew the wood brothers and their reputation in nascar, yet
22:09
the crew was new to USAC competition.
22:12
So any advantage they brought.
22:14
To Team Lotus was unproven.
22:16
Both time and history have suggested that the Wood brothers were not as
22:20
much of a secret weapon, quote unquote.
22:22
As our recollection of the 1965 Indy 500 leads us to believe the Wood Brothers
22:28
turned 41.9 total seconds on Pit Road into team Lotus's dominating win.
22:35
But the truth is.
22:36
The Lotus 30 eights potent blend of aerodynamics, chassis design,
22:40
and horsepower when put in the hands of an incredibly talented
22:44
driver, enabled Ford to win.
22:47
The Wood Brothers notable contribution at Indianapolis, which led to
22:51
the Venturi tube that the Wood Brothers added to the gravity Fed
22:57
fuel rig that was now required.
22:59
The idea that Venturi tube made the fuel flow smoother and faster.
23:03
But anyway, after getting through USAC inspection.
23:06
Leonard Wood then devoted several hours to polishing and fitting, making sure all the
23:11
connections and nozzles worked right to ensure maximum efficiency come race day.
23:16
Jim Clark had to stop precisely in his box to maximize his refueling strategy.
23:22
Leonard Wood quoted Clark as saying, you tell me where to stop and I'll stop.
23:26
Wood showed Clark the exact location the crew needed and
23:30
the world driving champion.
23:32
According to wood, squatted the Lotus 38 down on the exact spot every time.
23:38
Stops were simpler for the wood brothers because Clark went the entire
23:42
500 miles on a single set of tires.
23:45
The first stop took only 17 seconds, which is an amazing time given
23:50
that pit stops during the era.
23:51
Typically ran about a minute or so.
23:54
Colin Chapman was taken aback by the efficiency of the wood brothers after
23:58
their first record breaking stop.
24:00
Chapman apparently looked over at Glen Wood and asked, I say, did you fill it up?
24:07
Wood assured him the car was full, and Chapman simply turned
24:10
away and said, jolly good.
24:12
In a way, they went.
24:13
Even the wood brothers themselves downplayed the significance of their role
24:18
at Indianapolis in 1965, giving credit not only to Team Lotus and Jim Clark, but to
24:23
the powerful 4.2 liter double overhead cam Ford motor that took them to Victory Lane.
24:30
As Leonard Woods said many years later, it was their engine, so it was
24:34
all about Ford and what they brought.
24:37
The Ford Motor Company wanted to gain a stronghold in European style endurance
24:41
racing, so they turned to racer.
24:43
Turned innovator.
24:44
Carol Shelby for guidance.
24:46
Not only did Shelby oversee production of the 4 27 Cobra in 1965, finding a
24:52
practical use for the high performance motor, but he also assumed control of
24:58
the company's GT 40 program that it struggled mightily at LA Mall in 1964.
25:05
At Daytona in February, 1965, Carol Shelby brought a roster of competitive
25:10
cars and drivers to open the FIA World Sports Car Championship season.
25:15
Shelby went to Florida with four Cobra Daytona coops and a
25:19
pair of brand new GT forties.
25:21
When the checkered flag fell, Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby went to Victory
25:25
Lane earning Ford's GT program.
25:28
Its First World Sports Car Championship win.
25:31
Taking first place with a five lap advantage and setting the stage
25:36
for the GT Forty's future success.
25:38
All in all, Shelby entries that day took five of the top six finishing
25:43
positions, the global presence of Shelby and his GT forties, and his
25:47
Cobra Daytona coops turned forward from a pretender into a contender.
25:53
While Daytona Coops performed well in World Sports Car Competition and won
25:57
the CCAs United States GT title in 1964, the cars did even better in 1965,
26:05
winning not only at Daytona, but also at Sebring Monza, the Berg Ring and Ream.
26:12
To take the International Championship for GT manufacturers in November
26:17
of 1965, Carol Shelby received a call from Goodyear with an offer.
26:23
The company had four days available to run at the Bonneville
26:26
Salt Flats, but no viable car.
26:28
The forecast for weather wasn't good and the clock was ticking.
26:32
Art Arfons was preparing to make a record attempt using Firestone
26:36
Tires, and the rules at Bonneville dictated that cars not ready to run,
26:40
had to yield to other competitors.
26:43
Shelby sent a Daytona Coop that competed at Lima in June to the
26:48
Salt Flats with a new motor.
26:50
New Goodyear tires and the same rear axle ratio used in France.
26:55
The Shelby entry traveled the 700 miles from California to Utah overnight,
27:01
and upon getting there, the car wound up setting 25 FIA records.
27:06
One of the records was when Bobby Tero and Craig Breedlove teamed up
27:11
to run 1,931 miles on the 12 mile Bonneville loop, and they reached an
27:18
average speed of 150 miles an hour.
27:21
No review of motor sports during 1965 would be complete without
27:25
the Bonneville salt flats.
27:27
The dry lake bed in Utah was a hemi friendly environment, uh, where the big
27:31
engine was enthusiastically welcomed in November, California and Bob Summers
27:36
set a world land speed record for wheel driven vehicles achieving a two
27:41
pass average of 4 0 9 0.277 in his revolutionary golden rod car measuring
27:47
32 feet long by 48 inches wide.
27:51
Its frontal area was calculated to be 8.53 square feet with a drag coefficient
27:57
of 0.1165 making the vehicle literally more aerodynamic than a bullet.
28:04
Goldenrod was designed by Bill Summers.
28:07
Bob's brother using four Hemi Motors borrowed from Chrysler.
28:13
The hemis ran in line two-faced front, two-faced rear with a five speed truck
28:17
transmission mounted at each end.
28:20
The entire powertrain linked by custom built drive shafts.
28:24
Bill and Bob Summers handcrafted the car's entire chassis roll cage and body in a
28:30
converted vegetable stand in Ontario, California, creating a vehicle that set a
28:36
land speed record that stood until 2010.
28:39
In addition to the record, Craig Breedlove.
28:42
Set in Carol Shelby's Daytona Coop, he and Art Aons, they took turns
28:48
breaking speed barriers in their renowned battle of the jet cars.
28:52
The rivalry between breed love and Aons actually began in late 1964 when breed
28:59
love's Spirit of America reached 526.28 miles an hour before his parachute
29:05
failed and the car was wrecked.
29:07
Art Aons set a new record about a year later in his green monster, only to
29:12
lose it to Breedlove the following week.
29:14
The one upsmanship came to a head when Breedlove hit 5 55 0.485 on
29:20
November 2nd, only to be outrun by Aons on November 7th at 5 76 0.55.
29:27
Three breed love made yet another.
29:30
Record attempt on November 15th in his Spirit of America, Sonic One, and this
29:36
time, the third time was the charm as Breedlove's fighter jet shaped race
29:41
car broke the 600 mile an hour barrier.
29:44
He hit 600.601 miles an hour, and Craig Breedlove was instantly labeled
29:49
by the media as America's quote.
29:52
Astronaut on Wheels Breed Loves 1965.
29:56
Records stood until Gary Gli ran 6 22 in October of 1970.
30:03
1965 was populated with an incredible assortment of motorsports talent.
30:08
Mario Andretti won the 1965 USAC National Championship, taking the title
30:13
by 610 points over a j Foyt in 1965.
30:18
Andretti drove Roadsters.
30:21
Rear engine cars, dirt cars, and was named Rookie of the
30:24
Year at the Indianapolis 500.
30:27
An example of the young driver's tenacity at the Trenton one 50 in July,
30:32
Andretti wrecked his Dean Van Lines entry and failed to qualify for the race.
30:38
Even after missing Trenton and including back-to-back DNFs at
30:43
Milwaukee and Decoin, Mario Andretti took the 1965 U Sac title with one win.
30:49
12 top fives, 13 top tens and three poll positions across the Atlantic.
30:55
A young Scotsman named Jackie Stewart Advanced from Formula two to Formula One,
31:00
making his first championship start in South Africa and finishing sixth for BRM.
31:06
His first World Championship victory came in the Italian Grand
31:09
Prix at Manza, where he finished ahead of his teammate Graham Hill.
31:13
Stewart's rookie season in 1965 was an impressive one as he scored
31:18
one win three seconds, a third, a fifth, and a sixth performances that
31:23
put him third for the World Drivers Championship that year behind Jim Clark.
31:28
And Graham Hill.
31:29
No review of 1965 would be complete without considering the
31:34
historic accomplishments of a sheep farmer from Fife named Jim Clark.
31:39
Jim Clark's modesty was only overshadowed by his immense driving talent.
31:44
His racing career began in 1958 with road rallies and hill climbs
31:48
eventually leading to Formula two, and then a quick promotion to Formula
31:52
One partway through the 1960 season.
31:55
Jim Clark won seven F1 races in 1963 to claim his first world driving title.
32:00
In addition to finishing second at Indianapolis.
32:03
At India, 1964, Jim Clark started from the pole but finished 24th.
32:09
The we, Scott also came parly close to winning another world driving
32:14
championship that same year.
32:16
He won the most races in 1964, but struggled with late season engine problems
32:21
and finished second behind John Certes.
32:24
It was in 1965 that Jim Clark experienced a season that remains 60 years later.
32:31
Unmatched Clark not only won the Indy 500, but also his second
32:36
world driving championship with five consecutive victories.
32:40
Jim Clark spent the 1965 Formula One.
32:42
Off season racing against other F1 and regional drivers to win the Tasman series
32:48
in Australia and New Zealand taking the title with one race to go on the schedule.
32:53
Clark also won the British and the French Formula Two championships in
32:58
1965, making him the first and so far the only driver to win multiple
33:03
championships in a single year.
33:05
To his legendary credit, Jim Clark still holds the Formula One record for
33:09
the most Grand Slams with eight, his closest competition being Max Tappin and
33:15
Louis Hamilton who were tied with six.
33:18
It is highly unlikely we will ever see another driver who exceeds the success
33:22
that Jim Clark experienced in 1965.
33:25
Now a conceptual foundation that lies beneath the historically significant
33:29
events of 1965 can help us understand the many levels of meaning we commonly
33:34
apply to such narratives from our past as Aca o Mossoff, and Steele
33:41
suggest in their 2016 article in the Academy of Management Review.
33:47
Quote, societal logic serve as the organizing principles for
33:51
distinct domains of social activity.
33:55
The authors theorize that there are at least seven societal logics, including
34:00
the family, religion, the state, the market professions, community.
34:05
And the corporation.
34:06
Now, they continued to explain their idea, and it's one that's actually
34:10
rooted in organizational studies.
34:12
They said, and this is a quote, collective memory making is not just a cognitive
34:17
process, but a social one generated through communication and dynamic patterns
34:23
of interaction and stored in material artifacts and collective consciousness.
34:28
Each of these societal logics related to motor sports and space
34:33
exploration, especially with regard to the events of 1965.
34:38
That year highlighted our shared understanding of family via the Petties,
34:42
the woods, and the summers, while showcasing the almost religious nature
34:47
of an event like the Indianapolis 500.
34:49
The man space program in 1965 identified the state as in the United States through
34:54
our acknowledgement of professions like astronauts and engineers as managed by
34:59
the corporation as in like, say nasa.
35:02
For every player in the market, whether it be Ford or Firestone or
35:05
Goodyear, there is a community of fans, competitors that supports their cause.
35:11
What makes this history relevant to historians is the fact that
35:14
societal logics are established through collective memory.
35:18
Collective memory creates resources we use to better understand and navigate societal
35:24
logics, which in turn, shape cultural identity and institutional legitimacy.
35:30
Through the lens of collective memory, 1965 emerges not just as a
35:35
year of remarkable accomplishments, but as a moment when Americans
35:39
organized their understanding of technology, identity and ambition.
35:44
The stories that endure from Ed White.
35:46
Floating Above the earth to Jim Clark dominating Indianapolis
35:51
to the summers brothers.
35:53
Engineering Marvels at Bonneville reflect the interplay of societal
35:57
logics that shape our shared narratives.
36:01
What we remember of 1965 reveals how technological power becomes cultural
36:06
power, rockets, engines, chassis, and speed records gain, meaning only
36:11
when filtered through the stories we tell and retell stories that craft
36:16
identities, legitimize institutions, and shape our understanding of history.
36:21
Over time, these events have been distilled not simply into facts, but into
36:27
symbols that express national purpose, corporate competition, and human ambition.
36:32
I was only an infant in 1965, unaware of the significance unfolding around me.
36:38
Yet the records, the recollections, and the narratives passed down through
36:42
family, community, and institutions have shaped my understanding of that year.
36:47
History gains meaning because we give it and ourselves, meaning the human
36:53
experience, whether on a racetrack in orbit, or in everyday life, becomes
36:58
more powerful when it is shared.
37:01
And with that, I thank you for your time and your attention.
37:11
That was terrific.
37:12
Mark questions?
37:13
I think Eric has a question.
37:14
Alright, mark.
37:15
Ben writes, this is a fascinating talk.
37:18
You mentioned the collective memories influence on how
37:20
we recall the 1965 Indy 500.
37:23
Do you think there's similar influence on our memory of the space race?
37:27
It's such a great story of triumph over adversity.
37:29
I wonder how much is clouded by our desire for everything to fit into that narrative?
37:34
That's a great question because that's something that I'm
37:36
wrestling with in this manuscript.
37:38
When the space race started.
37:40
We, pardon my language, sucked.
37:42
The United States couldn't do anything right.
37:44
The Soviets put Sputnik into space, into orbit.
37:47
We tried to counter with putting our own satellites in space.
37:50
Most of them blew up on the launchpad to the point where the national media started
37:55
to wonder if maybe we were doing the wrong thing in the wrong sort of prioritization
37:59
that we should be thinking about.
38:01
Other ways to put our technology because we just couldn't get a satellite in orbit.
38:05
It took a couple years.
38:06
We missed out on the first man in space.
38:08
Gagarin went up first.
38:10
He went up and orbited went up for 108 minutes and orbited the earth.
38:14
We scrambled.
38:15
About three weeks later, Alan Shepherd went up and his time in space.
38:20
Was five minutes.
38:21
If you remember Shepherd's flight.
38:22
It was a suborbital hop.
38:24
He went up and then came down.
38:26
The whole flight lasted 15 minutes from lift off to splash down.
38:29
It's a swing and a miss.
38:30
The Russians are still ahead.
38:31
Second flight, Gus Grissom, same thing up down in his case.
38:36
The hatch blows off the spacecraft while it's in the ocean.
38:39
Fills with water, spacecraft sinks.
38:42
He gets accused of making a mistake and it's a whole big kerfluffle.
38:46
Again, swinging a Ms. John Glenn goes up, okay, we're gonna orbit the earth.
38:49
John Glenn goes up, gets the go ahead for seven orbits on orbit.
38:53
Number two, there's a problem with, they think the heat shield, meaning that
38:57
they're gonna have to stop the mission quickly instead of doing seven orbits.
39:01
They've got what they think is a defective spacecraft, they cut it
39:04
down to three and they bring 'em back.
39:06
So right off the bat, I mean, we were struggling and it seemed like everything
39:10
we did, the Russians could do a little, is that whole thing, you know, whatever
39:13
I could do, you could do better.
39:14
It was really the space race was not really going our way at first.
39:19
But that said, we immortalized Alan Shepherd.
39:22
We immortalized John Glenn.
39:24
I didn't talk about 1966.
39:26
That's a whole nother speech, but in 1966, Neil Armstrong and Dave
39:30
Scott on Gemini eight Dock with one of those Gina Target vehicles.
39:35
They dock as soon as they get there.
39:37
It's about half hour after they're docked one of the thrusters
39:40
on the Gemini spacecraft.
39:41
It's a steering rocket, activates short circuits and puts the thing
39:46
into a spin to the point where they almost lose consciousness.
39:49
It's only after they get rid of the Gina.
39:51
Well, that actually makes it worse.
39:53
They get rid of the Gina and the Gemini spun even faster, and they had to cut
39:57
that mission short because otherwise they would've passed out and probably died.
40:01
So right off the bat, we are compartmentalizing a lot of these
40:05
events and making them collective memory and making them significant history.
40:10
When if you match what we did versus what the Soviets did, we weren't
40:14
that great, but we got better.
40:16
And finally we won the space race, Gemini seven.
40:19
That puts us ahead, you know, we could do things that nobody else could do.
40:23
And then in December of 68, Apollo eight goes around the moon, orbits the moon,
40:27
and that's the end of the space race.
40:29
We got to the moon first.
40:30
We didn't land first, but it was a matter of semantics.
40:33
Who could get there first?
40:35
And actually the Russians were in the process of sending a
40:38
cosmonaut to the moon to orbit.
40:40
So NASA hurried up and scrambled and said, okay, we're gonna change
40:44
the whole flight routine here.
40:46
We're gonna move this flight up, move this crew back.
40:48
Apollo eight went with an untested Saturn five rocket.
40:52
No human had ever ridden on a Saturn five rocket, the biggest,
40:55
most powerful vehicle ever built.
40:58
But Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders got on top of the thing and.
41:03
Went into space because they had to do it.
41:06
We had to beat the Soviet Union.
41:07
So I hope that answers Ben's question.
41:10
It's a whole nother tangent there.
41:11
Sorry.
41:12
Hey, mark.
41:12
Yes, mark A. Okay there.
41:14
You're over there.
41:14
Good to see you.
41:15
So I think actually my question is maybe even a development on that.
41:18
So in talking about the societal logics, these collective memories that play
41:23
together, I'm sort of a historian.
41:25
I work at a museum.
41:26
I interpret objects.
41:27
I interpret material culture from history, and yes, I can observe the.
41:31
Collective memory and societal logics and just put the objects
41:35
in a place that people understand because hey, it plays into the
41:38
story you already have as a culture.
41:39
But actually, how much of my job is bursting that bubble?
41:43
So for example, most people come in, look at our GT forties
41:46
and think Ford versus Ferrari.
41:47
How much is my job talking about Roy?
41:50
And Don Frey, how much of it is actually saying it's not
41:53
just one guy in a cowboy hat.
41:55
It was a huge organization, the equivalent of billions dollars today.
41:59
That's a great point.
42:00
You know, one thing that doesn't play into this is popular culture and that
42:04
adds a whole new wrinkle to it because so much of our collective memory
42:08
is shaped by not historical fact.
42:10
You know, we kind of know history a little bit, but we know movies.
42:14
TV shows books, and that's what we often use as sort of the guidepost for artifacts
42:21
and personalities and things like.
42:23
Yeah, I mean, Ford versus Ferrari totally changed our narrative of the GT
42:29
40 program because it was a hit movie.
42:31
And it was, it was a fun movie.
42:33
People went to see it.
42:34
I remember when the movie came out, the first weekend it came
42:37
out, I came back to my office.
42:39
People started coming to my office to say, Hey, did you see forward versus Ferrari?
42:43
You must have seen Ford versus Ferrari.
42:45
I saw Ford versus Ferrari.
42:46
Now tell me all about it.
42:48
Was that real?
42:49
You tell me.
42:50
What did you think was real?
42:51
What did you get from that?
42:52
That was real?
42:53
Because popular culture often takes it upon itself to sort of recreate
42:58
fact, you know, this idea of based on a true story, all these movies
43:02
that are based on a true story.
43:03
Well, how do you define that?
43:05
Is it a true biographical depiction or is.
43:08
5% based on fact and artifacts work that way.
43:12
You know, especially cars, race cars are amazing museum exhibits because when you
43:18
get a race car, as anyone in this room could attest, what car are you getting?
43:22
Race cars are in constant states of change.
43:24
So when somebody comes up and says.
43:26
Here's a car that won such and such an event on this day.
43:30
It's like, what's the provenance on that?
43:32
If I'm the archivist or the historian who's gonna bring
43:35
that car into a collection?
43:36
I wanna know, are those the same shocks?
43:39
Are they the same brakes?
43:40
Are they the same tires?
43:41
What has happened to that car from that victory?
43:44
To this point when it's being donated, you know, and I think
43:47
NASCAR kind of got the jump on that.
43:48
The whole Daytona USA thing, you know, the car wins the Daytona 500.
43:52
It's immediately impounded, even with the confetti and all the stuff on it.
43:56
The next morning it goes into Daytona USA, and it stays there
44:00
for a year, and it's what you run is what you brung to the museum.
44:03
So in that case, there's a sense of authenticity.
44:06
And that's kind of like real history.
44:08
So much of this other stuff, we just play fast and loose with it and we make
44:12
it what we want it to be, and that's what a lot of these societal logics do.
44:15
We can kind of compartmentalize and subdivide what we know and
44:19
what we experience into these neat packages that we can then share.
44:23
They help us understand these complex events.
44:26
They also help us understand ourselves and where we fit in.
44:30
This may be a topic for another discussion, but uh, I was just thinking
44:34
about the amazing influence that the Space Age had on automotive styling and even.
44:40
Industrial products like toasters and things.
44:43
Yeah.
44:43
I mean, if the whole Fins concept, as soon as the jet age rolls around, you start
44:47
seeing that sort of absorbed by the auto industry and you start to see concept cars
44:52
that look more and more like aircraft and the, yeah, the space age was the same way.
44:57
Anybody drink Tang?
44:58
When they were a kid, you know, there's like no history at all that
45:01
astronauts drank Tang, but that's how they marketed that for years it was,
45:06
this is the drink of the astronauts.
45:07
The astronauts who did drink it just as like a sample kind
45:10
of thing, didn't like it.
45:11
They didn't want to take it on missions, but.
45:13
General Mills or whoever it was, that's the way they sold it.
45:16
Astronaut ice cream.
45:17
Go to a museum and see, you'll see freeze dried ice cream.
45:20
That's what the astronauts eat on the Space Station.
45:22
No, it's not.
45:23
There's no such thing on the Space Station.
45:25
Even though what the space station's involved with Gemini seven and
45:29
Gemini six, what happened when those spacecraft were able to fly in
45:34
formation for that length of time?
45:36
That's what led to.
45:37
The International Space Station, we could not have an international Space
45:40
station if it weren't for the ability for two vehicles at that speed, at that
45:44
altitude to come together and do stuff.
45:47
And so we forget that.
45:49
My quick question is about the uh, Lotus at one in 65.
45:53
I'm so used to seeing it appear at events in the UK year after year, after year.
45:59
I was surprised to see it listed as resident at the Henry Ford Museum.
46:03
You know, the, the Henry Ford has that whole big section that's
46:06
devoted to racing and that's where the car actually has been kept.
46:10
But that raises a good question.
46:12
What's the car that's going around Europe?
46:14
What's the car that they've got?
46:15
That's my, yeah.
46:15
What's the car that they're taking to Goodwood and places like that
46:18
and saying, here, here's Jim Clark's, you know, Lotus 38.
46:21
Really?
46:22
Prove it, you know, is that the one, and I dunno if you noticed too, in
46:25
the car in the background, that was the Wood Brothers car from this year
46:29
in honor of Jim Clark's Indie win.
46:31
They took their stock car for this year for one of the races for, uh, Darlington,
46:36
and they painted it to look like.
46:37
The Lotus and they put the number just the way it was.
46:40
And so it even said on the side it said, you know, wood Brothers powered by Ford.
46:45
You know, it had all the same kind of nomenclature and
46:47
it was a slick looking car.
46:48
They should have run it more than just at Darlington, but that's on
46:51
display with Jim Clark's car as kind of a, this was then here's now.
46:56
And interestingly enough, it's the wood brothers, it's their car mark.
46:59
That was terrific as always.
47:00
Thanks everybody for the questions.
47:02
Um, thank you.
47:03
Thank you very much.
47:13
This episode is brought to you in part by the International
47:16
Motor Racing Research Center.
47:19
Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history of motor sports.
47:24
Spanning Continents, eras, and race series.
47:28
The Center's collection embodies the speed, drama and camaraderie
47:33
of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.
47:37
The center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike.
47:41
To share stories of race drivers race series, and race cars captured on
47:47
their shelves and walls, and brought to life through a regular calendar of
47:51
public lectures and special events.
47:54
To learn more about the center, visit www.racing archives.org.
48:01
This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians.
48:07
They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history.
48:11
The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers, organizational
48:17
records, print ephemera, and images to safeguard, as well as to broaden and
48:23
deepen the understanding of motorized wheeled land transportation through
48:28
the modern age and into the future.
48:31
For more information about the SAH, visit www.auto history.org.
48:40
We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
48:45
to you by Grand Tour Motorsports.
48:47
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure
48:49
to follow us on all social media platforms at Grand Touring Motorsports.
48:54
And if you'd like to learn more about the content of this episode,
48:57
be sure to check out the follow on article@gtmotorsports.org.
49:02
We remain a commercial free and no annual fees organization through
49:06
our sponsors, but also through the generous support of our fans,
49:10
families, and friends through Patreon.
49:13
For as little as $2 and 50 cents a month, you can get access to more behind the
49:17
scenes action, additional pit stop, mini SOS and other VIP goodies, as
49:22
well as keeping our team of creators.
49:24
Fed on their strict diet of fig Newton's, Gumby bears, and monster.
49:28
So consider signing up for Patreon today at www.patreon.com/gt motorsports.
49:35
And remember, without you, none of this would be possible.