May 16, 2025 • 21 mins
On Ferrari Friday's, William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace will be discussing all things Ferrari and interviewing people that live and breathe the Ferrari brand. Topics range from road cars to racing; drivers to owners, as well as auctions, private sales and trends in the collector market.
In this episode of the Ferrari Marketplace Podcast, host William Ross discusses Ferrari's historical attempts to participate in the Indianapolis 500. He highlights the brand's efforts and challenges between 1950 and 1960, particularly focusing on the 1952 Indy 500 with Alberto Ascari. Despite some early struggles and eventual failure primarily due to technical issues such as wheel durability, Ferrari's participation was notable. The episode also delves into later, unfulfilled attempts to enter Indy racing through the 1950s to 1980s, and even a beautiful but unused Ferrari 637 design in 1986. William underscores the cultural and racing significance of these efforts and hints at exciting future content involving notable racing figures.
===== (Oo---x---oO) =====
00:00 Introduction to the Show; Shoutouts, Sponsors & Event Announcements
01:59 Ferrari's Relationship with the Indy 500
05:08 Ferrari's 1952 Indy 500 Attempt
11:30 Subsequent Attempts and Challenges
14:16 Ferrari's Later Flirtations with IndyCar
19:25 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes
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Copyright William Ross, Exotic Car Marketplace a division of Sixty5 Motorsports. This episode is part of our Motoring Podcast Network and has been republished with permission.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
As part of Ferrari Fridays, William Rossfrom the Exotic Car Marketplace will
be discussing all things Ferrari andinterviewing people that live and breathe.
The Ferrari brand topics range fromroad cars to racing drivers to owners,
as well as auctions, private salesand trends in the collector market.
(00:29):
And welcome back to the FerrariMarketplace Podcast, where
we talk about everything.
For our related, I'myour host, William Ross.
First, let's give a shout outto our supporters and sponsors.
For everything from Ferrari andPorsche, Lamborghini and Koenig Seg,
visit exotic car marketplace.com.
If you're into anything with wheelsand a motor, log onto the Motoring
Podcast Network and check out ourfamily of podcasts@motoringpodcast.net.
(00:53):
This is the place to findyour favorite new show.
Next up a shout out to David Beatieand his team at Slot Mods who custom
builds some of the coolest slot cartracks in the world@slotmods.com.
Let your imagination run wild andfinally, grand touring motorsports.
Covering all aspects of autoracing and motorsports history.
(01:13):
Check out their ine@gtmotorsports.org.
All the links for our sponsorsare in the description, but also
would like to give a shout out forour event happening July 27th, the
Rock and Revs Automotive Festival.
Check out rock andres.com.
To get all the details.
We got the best prizes and awards winners.
Get some Schwinn Stingray, apple,great Bikes, mongooses, BMX bikes.
(01:34):
We got all these Lego technique things.
People can win, tons of raffle prizes.
We have over $2,000 worth of tools andequipment that were donated by ECS tuning.
So we have a lot, lot of cool stuff.
So definitely check out rock and revs.comand if you are able to make it up here to
the Northern Ohio region to Fairview Park,Ohio on July 27th, definitely stop by.
It's gonna be definitely worth it.
We got a lot of cool stuffhappening, so onward.
(01:56):
It is the month of May.
And what are you talking about?
In the month of May, the Indy 500.
Let's talk about Ferrari's relationshipwith the Indy 500, as short as it may be,
but interesting I guess you could say.
Now, those of you that don't follow F1all that closely, or maybe it's history,
maybe you follow it now because ofthe Netflix series, drive to Survive,
(02:17):
which I watch, you know, it's broughtin a lot of new F1 fans definitely.
But.
Yeah, I don't know how many of thesefans are actually then looking into
the history of performing the one,which they should definitely should
because the history's awesome, and yourfifties and sixties and seventies is
just, and the eighties is just cool andnineties, so the history is really cool.
But anyways, for those of you that aren'tall that familiar, between 1925 and 1928.
(02:39):
More recently, 1950 to 1960, theIndianapolis 500 was actually
part of the F1 World Championship.
You could score points to go towards thechampionship at the Indy 500 racing Unit.
No one really did for coming overfrom Europe, and one of the really
only reasons that they included that.
In.
It was, the fact was that way they couldsay, Hey, we are a world championship.
(03:02):
You know?
So they could say they have raceson all these continents because
they didn't have one at thatpoint yet in the United States.
But they needed to have something tokind of, I guess, justify their title.
They said, well, let's just includethe Indy 500 it, but no one raced it.
No, especially now, no one doesbecause it always falls on the
same weekend as the Grand Prix.
Back then it did not.
There was really no issues with it.
I mean, I guess I should take that back.
(03:22):
Maybe there was a little bit of issue.
'cause the way qualifying was back in theday, you know, qualifying used to happen
over multiple weeks for the Indy 500.
You know, they condensed it waydown this day and age just to
kind of reduce costs in that.
But back in the day, you know, you had.
You're qualifying bump day car.
You had all these things.
So I mean, it was pretty hectic.
And you had the month ofMay was for the Indy 500.
You know, now you have like threeraces for IndyCar in the month of May.
(03:45):
Now.
It used to be, it was only the Indy 500.
'cause you had practice, youhad qualifying, you had bump
day, you had all these things.
So a little bit different.
We're not so much worriedabout 19 25, 9 28.
'cause you know, that was kind ofa very, very different time in F1.
I don't wanna say in inits infancy, so to speak.
'cause it really wasn't so much, therereally wasn't an F1 world championship.
Let's just say 1950.
1960 is what we're gonna focus on more.
(04:08):
'cause that's when, you know, reallyhad the F1 world championship and
that's the time when, you know,Ferrari was getting rather dominant.
In Formula One, they wanted tohave some representation over here.
'cause one, hey, it is part of WorldChampionship, but two, the prize
money that was up at that time,I wanna say the 1952 race, it was
over $230,000 was the prize pool.
(04:30):
So I, and I can't remember what thewinner got, but I mean, the amount
of money that a driver could win.
Back then was more, if not twoto three times as much as they
could win over in Europe, ifthey won every race they entered.
I mean, it was huge, huge dollars.
And one thing was exposure.
Everything along those lines.
You had a lot of guys, especially intothe sixties when you had the great
(04:52):
Jimmy Clark, you know, all those guyscoming over and winning stuff because
they could win a ton more money thanthey could racing over in Europe.
You know, it was adifferent time back then.
They raced everything and anything.
But let's kind of get back into.
The 1952 Indy 500.
Prior to the Indy 500, I mean, the 1952Indy 500 Fari had poked around with
(05:13):
possibly going in and look at the rulesand regulations, everything like that.
But in 1952, they wanted tomake a very serious effort.
They basically had one full fledgedfactor backed entry with Alberto Ascari.
It was the, uh, Ferrari 3 75that they had sent over there.
That was the one that theywere going to go with.
(05:35):
But there was also three privateentries of these cars that
were sold to independent teams.
I guess you could say itwas by Johnny Parsons.
Johnny Morrow and Bobby Ball werealso, but they didn't qualify.
Lack of speed, and not to say thatAsari was all that quick either.
He only qualified 25th to meet theregulations and rules for the Indy 500.
(05:57):
They had to modify.
The 3 75, they linkedin the chassis a bit.
They did a few other things.
Obviously increased their weight.
But one of the big issues that thecar had was the biani wire wheels.
Now, when they got to the track in earlyMay, other competitors, 'cause you know,
back then everybody helped everyone.
(06:18):
Everyone was gonna go around.
You guys, they're gonna give you,hey, support, help, whatever you need.
Because you know, you know, I. It'slike a family environment and they told
those guys don't run those wire wheels.
They will not last.
They won't be able to put up with it.
And they didn't listen.
They were telling 'em to switch to, youknow, hella brain, magnesium wheels.
They just didn't listen an interestingpoint because that's what ended
up taking him out of the race.
So, as I said, you know, Asari qualified25th, he had worked his way up to ninth.
(06:42):
So he was moving ahead, he wasgetting there, he was raising out
how much, you know, retirement,what have you, everything like that.
He got to lap 40, so there's 200laps, not quite halfway, little more
quarterway, but then the wheels failed it.
It really wasn't that long of a race.
Mm-hmm.
Kind of like a side note was kindainteresting for this is they were
(07:02):
running the F1 world championship.
There were two races that a scardid not win outta that championship
that year outta the eight worldchampionship races that year.
1952, there's only twothat Ari didn't win.
Now one was Pierro to Rufi, won in aFerrari, and all the other races won by
Ferrari 'cause Karri won the last six.
(07:23):
But anyways, the one in Switzerland,May 8th, was won by Pierro to
Rufi in the Ferrari on May 18th.
And the reason Karri couldn'tbe there because he had to be in
Indianapolis to qualify for the race.
So he wasn't at that one.
And then the second race that goestowards the championship was the Indy 500.
And so that was run by Troy Rutmanwon that race, but obviously.
Ari retired in Lap 40 'causeof his bari white wheels.
(07:46):
But the interesting fact is the last sixraces of the year, Ari won them all and
that no, no competition, what have you.
But that's just how brilliantof a driver aari he was.
I mean, the guy's legendary.
Now you got those guys back there, sari.
You know, Newville, Gio, Imean, you just got some of
those big names back in the day.
What those guys coulddo, driving those cars.
(08:06):
Unbelievable.
I mean, just absolutely unbelievable.
But yeah, so I was, that was, you know,kind of an interesting fact too for
the F1 World Championship was that waspretty much in essence, he didn't win.
All the races, he won the majority of 'em.
And you know, the only one really in myeyes f won the race that he didn't win
every four World Championship was wonin Switzerland when he was qualifying.
You really can't consider the Indianapolisrace part of the World Championship
(08:28):
'cause no one came over from Europe torun it, to include it in their points.
It was just too much or concerted effortyou had to miss the one race because of
qualifying everything along those lines.
But anyways, back to.
Mr. Ska and the Indy 500.
And like I said, you know, there wasthree other private entrants that
were also bought, purchased Ferraris.
They could not get up to speed at all.
(08:49):
It was a head scratcher.
Indy is a very unique place,and I think Europeans, I don't
wanna say took it for granted.
Oh, you just turning left, you know, hard.
Could it be, but you know,Indie's a very unique track.
One, you have a card that lasts,you know, it's that thing.
You have to finish first.
You gotta first finish during practice.
And qualifying, they were scratchingtheir heads 'cause they were not
(09:10):
anywhere near qualifying times.
They just did not have the speed.
So they kept plugging away, plugging away.
They got a lot of input and helpfrom a bunch of American guys in the
garages there trying to, you know,help them out, which is really cool.
You'd have to imagine.
The mechanics and the individualsthat were in the garage for Ferrari
probably didn't speak any English.
(09:30):
Maybe a little, but probablyhardly any, if any at all.
So obviously you have that languagebarrier, you know, such a different time.
You gotta think about this, Italy,you're 1952, you're only, you know what,
seven years removed from World War ii.
Italy was with Germany.
I mean, there's still a lot of contentionthere with Americans towards Italian.
(09:51):
So.
That would've been interesting tosee how that dynamic played out.
You know, obviously racing, racingand people, hey, respect racers
and, you know, everything like that.
But, um, different times back then.
It'd be interesting to see how that was.
But again, what they had to doto modify that car to get it
to meet the, uh, regulations.
Ford, the Indy 500 really, really hamperedthat car and really kind of dug a hole
(10:15):
for it to try and make that thing last.
And that more than likely alsoplayed a role in the wheels not
being able to put up with it.
That's a lot of GForce.
I mean, you have a front engine V12 car, I think it was a right wheel
hub that failed, which would makesense 'cause you're turning left.
All that force, all the weight's gettingpushed out there, you're turning.
So it's giving that awkward pressureon it as you're also not only leaning
(10:36):
on it, but you're turning as well.
So it's creating that force against it.
I don't know why they didn'tbother changing the wheels.
I mean, I don't know if it's somethingdifferent, but you know, the other
thing too, maybe it also had playeda role in is, you know, they ran
a different tire over in Europe.
'cause uh, Indianapolis kind of had aFirestone tire only type deal going on.
(10:58):
So they had to run those insteadof what they ran over in England.
For whatever reason, Enzo was inbed with the tire bang, financial
Engelbert for a long time.
But by this point in time, Iwanna say they were running
the Michelins, I think it was.
Don't quote me on that.
So they had to switchto the different tires.
So I think that could have playeda role with things as well.
(11:21):
As we know tires can playa big role in how a cars
manufacture, everything like that.
Competing, I guess you would say in 8,500.
That was pretty much his 1952 race.
Now, that's not to say they didn'tflirt with it a few more times,
'cause again, a lot of money.
Back then, Enzo had setup his driver contract.
He didn't pay him much, but they gotto keep, I think, three quarters of
(11:42):
the prize money of the first moneythat they would win something on
his Zions and then obviously fire.
He gets to court wherever it was.
They had something like thatin the contract to do it.
So obviously the amount thatyou can win at that was a big
chunk of money on both ends.
They didn't do anything 53 or 54, but theystarted flirting with it with a little bit
in 55 and 56, not using their own chassis,but using, I. A Ferrari engine, you know,
(12:05):
they compared it up and tried it out.
Did a little bit of thing with the CurtisCraft, you know, that was the chassis
to have back then, but they went withthe inline six instead of the V 12.
This time, a little lighter engine,everything like that, less weight,
you know, they were pumping somegood horsepower on that, and I
don't know why I dropped it down.
Maybe that had to do withregulations too as well.
(12:27):
But they tried to do the car.
That they were usingin sports, car racing.
That was the engine they were using.
And obviously in sport, car racing,endurance racing, you have a
motor that can last a long time.
It's very, very durable.
So made sense.
It really didn't go anywhere.
Due to the F1 race season, having theirhands full Mercedes and F1 at Lamont.
(12:48):
So obviously, again, youknow, that's prepared.
You know, Lamont was huge for Ferrari,so it really didn't go anywhere.
Now, in 1956, I believeit was, maybe it was 57.
The Maserati brothers, obviouslynow that they were out of
Maserati, they had nothing to dowith it 'cause it got sold off.
They put together a Ferrari Asarimade the attempt to qualify and
(13:11):
he was five miles an hour slowerthan the the slowest qualifier.
So he wasn't even closeto making the field.
So again, not understanding anoval track, maybe, I don't know.
Back then he didn't have 20 engineersand all that kinda stuff, working
on these cars and trying to sortthings out and having sensors all
over the car, but it was just slow.
Again, maybe it was weight heavyagain, you know, just everything.
(13:31):
Trying to modify an existing.
Chassis that we're using on road andcourses and that trying to make an oval
car, you know, everyone running overhere, United States is running oval.
So these cars weredesigned just to run oval.
So it wasn't happening a, again,embarrassment, I don't know, not so much.
'cause Ferra didn't have its hugepresence over here in the States.
Yet, it just wasn't happening yet.
(13:53):
Connet, getting his stuff together,setting up shop over here, I wanna
say in its infancy, but he wasgetting in there and everything like
that, so that really wasn't there.
'cause that'd been interesting.
Connet taking a crack at the Indy 500.
And for those of you, I.Yeah, listen, stay tuned.
We got an episode coming up in thenear future with Mr. Luigi Kennet
Jr. And Bill Warner on the same show.
(14:15):
It's gonna be a good one.
But anyways, there was another instancethat, so from my understanding, in 1968,
Ferrari approached the Granite Tall.
Those who don't know, the granttallies, the family behind STP.
And he was very interested aboutthat turbine car because you
know, Enzo was an engine guy andlet's see what's going on there.
And granted says, wellhow big's the checkbook?
And that just went nowhere becauseobviously at this time when you're getting
(14:38):
in that thing, that's when you knowFerrari was having big, big money issues.
Whipping out the checkbook to do.
It just wasn't gonna happen.
Now here, here's a really funny story.
How much of is it true?
Who knows?
But it is just one of those onesthat you know what you want.
Know what?
It's true, who cares?
It's a great story.
In 1973, variety won.
Have interest into 1973, Indy 500.
(15:00):
What it was is Franco Roci Rocky roi.
It's R-O-O-C-C-H-I.
I get my Italian sex, so Roci.
Roki, I don't know how you might pronounceit, but they asked Mario Andretti to go
around with AKA Uncle Franco, as they weretelling everybody that they would go meet.
And all the engine shops, the builders,everything like that, they were all
(15:23):
saying this is Mario Rettis, uncle Franco.
And just kind of digging in and tosee about building it and do it.
And obviously Mario's wellloved, so everyone's open
arms, everything like that.
But nothing came about it.
But I think that's just a great story.
I. And if you kinda look at some photos,Franco looks a little bit like Mario.
He's got the same kind of hair, soI could see how they pulled it off.
(15:45):
It's just a great story.
Getting into the eighties, I don't knowhow many people are aware of it, but
there's this big row between the FIAFormula One, all this stuff, and, and so,
hey, we're gonna go pull out all this.
You know, he always did it.
They went as far, they built an act.
An Indy car for 1986 was a 6 3 7.
Did a race, but I don't knowhow many laps it did at ano.
(16:07):
Some say Bobby RA Hall wassupposed to do some laps.
It, it didn't come to fruition, butlook that car up 'cause it's beautiful.
That is a gorgeous looking Indy car.
That would've been awesome to seethem running that thing in Indy car
'cause it is absolutely stunning.
Who knows?
It came about it.
The uh, program kind of was droppedand all the engine stuff like
(16:29):
that was transferred over to AlphaRomeo, which they never really got
anywhere in IndyCar with that engine.
But that's something really cool.
You should take a peek at check out theIndyCar Ferrari built for the 1986 season.
It is gorgeous.
Now, I don't know where that car's at now.
I don't know if it's sitting overin the museum, anything like that.
You don't ever hear hardly anythingabout it unless you dig it up.
(16:50):
So they went out their knowswhere that car is sitting.
If it is in the museum, let me know.
I'd love to see this thing inperson because this thing is cool.
I mean, I don't know if they scrappedit, you know, back in that day,
Hey, just a race car and whatnot.
They scrap it for parts, who knows?
But that would really,really be cool to see.
Now, I know recently Ferrari, Floridawith it because of the engine regulations
(17:11):
that IndyCar was proposing, and I knowthere was a big push for IndyCar courting
Ferrari, about having them come in'cause of the name, everything like that.
But it just really didn't go anywhere.
Because obviously all the money they putin F1, but now with the cost cap in F1,
you know, hey, maybe there was that thing,but obviously we know what happened.
Ferrari went into worldendurance, which was fantastic.
(17:33):
It's off sea, back to Lama winningLamont, everything like that.
So that was awesome to see.
Anyway.
That was our little foray intoFerrari at the Indianapolis 500.
Like I said, it's a pretty cool story.
It's, it's not a very lengthy storybecause the only race, basically the
one time they tried to qualify twice,but it really didn't get anywhere.
He was out, you know, thescar was out in left forward.
(17:55):
But like I said, I think the cool thingwas is how dominant a scar was in F1.
Back then, he couldn't race the firstrace in Switzerland because he was
qualifying for the race, and thenobviously he was racing in the Indy 500,
which wasn't conflicting or anything.
The Indy 500 was a points race.
He falls out in LAP 40.
Then subsequent the rest of the year,he wins the last six races of the
season and becomes world champion.
(18:15):
It would've been cool if they would'vemade a few more attempts at it.
I just don't think what went into itto really make a concerted effort, I
don't think it was there that much.
You know, I think it would've beeninteresting if some people had made more
of an effort using the Ferrari motor.
Maybe, again, it's such a differentdiscipline from F1 to racing over here
in oval racing, everything like that.
(18:37):
You know, there's so many.
Specifics you built for an oval car,like compared to one that's going left
and right would've been interesting tosee that top made 'cause that would've
been for a great story and great historyand talk about catapulting Ferrari
into the minds and hearts of Americans.
If Ferrari had.
Even like say finishing the podium,something like that, or actually had
(18:58):
a very strong showing in the fifties,early sixties or something like that, if
they really made a strong attempt at it.
I don't know how much bigger Ferrariwould've been here in the states.
Kennet did an awesome job, you know,with them and obviously with Nat, but
that would've been an interesting storyand how much that might've would've
catapulted or sprung them more into theminds and hearts of Americans and sped up.
Ferrari's market share or whateveryou wanna call it back then, you
(19:21):
know, obviously it was minuscule'cause they, they built hardly
any cars, but it'd be cool to see.
But anyways, like I said, as Ialways do, if you ever wanna reach
me, you have any questions, ideas,answers, or anything like that,
uh, corrections, please correct me.
Just it'swilliam@theferrarimarketplace.com.
Shoot me an email.
I'd love to hear from everybody.
Like I said, we got somecool stuff coming up.
(19:41):
They tuned, not quite sure whenwe're gonna get, we still have
to record the episode with Mr.Kti Junior and Bill Water, but
that's gonna be a really good one.
My producer, Eric, and myself, are gonnabe interviewing these guys, so that's
gonna be a really, really good one.
That might be our first one we foray into.
Actually have a video as well onthe YouTube channel because I think
that'd be kind of cool to have.
So I've been dabbling withthat and going that route.
(20:03):
So again, remember, check out theFerrari marketplace.com, exotic car
marketplace.com, check out everythinggoing on at those two sites.
A lot of cool stuff happening,a lot of stuff getting out.
We've got some cool stuff onthere until we speak again.
Appreciate it, everyone.
Have a good one.
(20:24):
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For more episodes like this, tune in eachweek for more exciting and educational
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As part of Ferrari Fridays, William Rossfrom the Exotic Car Marketplace will
be discussing all things Ferrari andinterviewing people that live and breathe.
The Ferrari brand topics range fromroad cars to racing drivers to owners,
as well as auctions, private salesand trends in the collector market.
(00:29):
And welcome back to the FerrariMarketplace Podcast, where
we talk about everything.
For our related, I'myour host, William Ross.
First, let's give a shout outto our supporters and sponsors.
For everything from Ferrari andPorsche, Lamborghini and Koenig Seg,
visit exotic car marketplace.com.
If you're into anything with wheelsand a motor, log onto the Motoring
Podcast Network and check out ourfamily of podcasts@motoringpodcast.net.
(00:53):
This is the place to findyour favorite new show.
Next up a shout out to David Beatieand his team at Slot Mods who custom
builds some of the coolest slot cartracks in the world@slotmods.com.
Let your imagination run wild andfinally, grand touring motorsports.
Covering all aspects of autoracing and motorsports history.
(01:13):
Check out their ine@gtmotorsports.org.
All the links for our sponsorsare in the description, but also
would like to give a shout out forour event happening July 27th, the
Rock and Revs Automotive Festival.
Check out rock andres.com.
To get all the details.
We got the best prizes and awards winners.
Get some Schwinn Stingray, apple,great Bikes, mongooses, BMX bikes.
(01:34):
We got all these Lego technique things.
People can win, tons of raffle prizes.
We have over $2,000 worth of tools andequipment that were donated by ECS tuning.
So we have a lot, lot of cool stuff.
So definitely check out rock and revs.comand if you are able to make it up here to
the Northern Ohio region to Fairview Park,Ohio on July 27th, definitely stop by.
It's gonna be definitely worth it.
We got a lot of cool stuffhappening, so onward.
(01:56):
It is the month of May.
And what are you talking about?
In the month of May, the Indy 500.
Let's talk about Ferrari's relationshipwith the Indy 500, as short as it may be,
but interesting I guess you could say.
Now, those of you that don't follow F1all that closely, or maybe it's history,
maybe you follow it now because ofthe Netflix series, drive to Survive,
(02:17):
which I watch, you know, it's broughtin a lot of new F1 fans definitely.
But.
Yeah, I don't know how many of thesefans are actually then looking into
the history of performing the one,which they should definitely should
because the history's awesome, and yourfifties and sixties and seventies is
just, and the eighties is just cool andnineties, so the history is really cool.
But anyways, for those of you that aren'tall that familiar, between 1925 and 1928.
(02:39):
More recently, 1950 to 1960, theIndianapolis 500 was actually
part of the F1 World Championship.
You could score points to go towards thechampionship at the Indy 500 racing Unit.
No one really did for coming overfrom Europe, and one of the really
only reasons that they included that.
In.
It was, the fact was that way they couldsay, Hey, we are a world championship.
(03:02):
You know?
So they could say they have raceson all these continents because
they didn't have one at thatpoint yet in the United States.
But they needed to have something tokind of, I guess, justify their title.
They said, well, let's just includethe Indy 500 it, but no one raced it.
No, especially now, no one doesbecause it always falls on the
same weekend as the Grand Prix.
Back then it did not.
There was really no issues with it.
I mean, I guess I should take that back.
(03:22):
Maybe there was a little bit of issue.
'cause the way qualifying was back in theday, you know, qualifying used to happen
over multiple weeks for the Indy 500.
You know, they condensed it waydown this day and age just to
kind of reduce costs in that.
But back in the day, you know, you had.
You're qualifying bump day car.
You had all these things.
So I mean, it was pretty hectic.
And you had the month ofMay was for the Indy 500.
You know, now you have like threeraces for IndyCar in the month of May.
(03:45):
Now.
It used to be, it was only the Indy 500.
'cause you had practice, youhad qualifying, you had bump
day, you had all these things.
So a little bit different.
We're not so much worriedabout 19 25, 9 28.
'cause you know, that was kind ofa very, very different time in F1.
I don't wanna say in inits infancy, so to speak.
'cause it really wasn't so much, therereally wasn't an F1 world championship.
Let's just say 1950.
1960 is what we're gonna focus on more.
(04:08):
'cause that's when, you know, reallyhad the F1 world championship and
that's the time when, you know,Ferrari was getting rather dominant.
In Formula One, they wanted tohave some representation over here.
'cause one, hey, it is part of WorldChampionship, but two, the prize
money that was up at that time,I wanna say the 1952 race, it was
over $230,000 was the prize pool.
(04:30):
So I, and I can't remember what thewinner got, but I mean, the amount
of money that a driver could win.
Back then was more, if not twoto three times as much as they
could win over in Europe, ifthey won every race they entered.
I mean, it was huge, huge dollars.
And one thing was exposure.
Everything along those lines.
You had a lot of guys, especially intothe sixties when you had the great
(04:52):
Jimmy Clark, you know, all those guyscoming over and winning stuff because
they could win a ton more money thanthey could racing over in Europe.
You know, it was adifferent time back then.
They raced everything and anything.
But let's kind of get back into.
The 1952 Indy 500.
Prior to the Indy 500, I mean, the 1952Indy 500 Fari had poked around with
(05:13):
possibly going in and look at the rulesand regulations, everything like that.
But in 1952, they wanted tomake a very serious effort.
They basically had one full fledgedfactor backed entry with Alberto Ascari.
It was the, uh, Ferrari 3 75that they had sent over there.
That was the one that theywere going to go with.
(05:35):
But there was also three privateentries of these cars that
were sold to independent teams.
I guess you could say itwas by Johnny Parsons.
Johnny Morrow and Bobby Ball werealso, but they didn't qualify.
Lack of speed, and not to say thatAsari was all that quick either.
He only qualified 25th to meet theregulations and rules for the Indy 500.
(05:57):
They had to modify.
The 3 75, they linkedin the chassis a bit.
They did a few other things.
Obviously increased their weight.
But one of the big issues that thecar had was the biani wire wheels.
Now, when they got to the track in earlyMay, other competitors, 'cause you know,
back then everybody helped everyone.
(06:18):
Everyone was gonna go around.
You guys, they're gonna give you,hey, support, help, whatever you need.
Because you know, you know, I. It'slike a family environment and they told
those guys don't run those wire wheels.
They will not last.
They won't be able to put up with it.
And they didn't listen.
They were telling 'em to switch to, youknow, hella brain, magnesium wheels.
They just didn't listen an interestingpoint because that's what ended
up taking him out of the race.
So, as I said, you know, Asari qualified25th, he had worked his way up to ninth.
(06:42):
So he was moving ahead, he wasgetting there, he was raising out
how much, you know, retirement,what have you, everything like that.
He got to lap 40, so there's 200laps, not quite halfway, little more
quarterway, but then the wheels failed it.
It really wasn't that long of a race.
Mm-hmm.
Kind of like a side note was kindainteresting for this is they were
(07:02):
running the F1 world championship.
There were two races that a scardid not win outta that championship
that year outta the eight worldchampionship races that year.
1952, there's only twothat Ari didn't win.
Now one was Pierro to Rufi, won in aFerrari, and all the other races won by
Ferrari 'cause Karri won the last six.
(07:23):
But anyways, the one in Switzerland,May 8th, was won by Pierro to
Rufi in the Ferrari on May 18th.
And the reason Karri couldn'tbe there because he had to be in
Indianapolis to qualify for the race.
So he wasn't at that one.
And then the second race that goestowards the championship was the Indy 500.
And so that was run by Troy Rutmanwon that race, but obviously.
Ari retired in Lap 40 'causeof his bari white wheels.
(07:46):
But the interesting fact is the last sixraces of the year, Ari won them all and
that no, no competition, what have you.
But that's just how brilliantof a driver aari he was.
I mean, the guy's legendary.
Now you got those guys back there, sari.
You know, Newville, Gio, Imean, you just got some of
those big names back in the day.
What those guys coulddo, driving those cars.
(08:06):
Unbelievable.
I mean, just absolutely unbelievable.
But yeah, so I was, that was, you know,kind of an interesting fact too for
the F1 World Championship was that waspretty much in essence, he didn't win.
All the races, he won the majority of 'em.
And you know, the only one really in myeyes f won the race that he didn't win
every four World Championship was wonin Switzerland when he was qualifying.
You really can't consider the Indianapolisrace part of the World Championship
(08:28):
'cause no one came over from Europe torun it, to include it in their points.
It was just too much or concerted effortyou had to miss the one race because of
qualifying everything along those lines.
But anyways, back to.
Mr. Ska and the Indy 500.
And like I said, you know, there wasthree other private entrants that
were also bought, purchased Ferraris.
They could not get up to speed at all.
(08:49):
It was a head scratcher.
Indy is a very unique place,and I think Europeans, I don't
wanna say took it for granted.
Oh, you just turning left, you know, hard.
Could it be, but you know,Indie's a very unique track.
One, you have a card that lasts,you know, it's that thing.
You have to finish first.
You gotta first finish during practice.
And qualifying, they were scratchingtheir heads 'cause they were not
(09:10):
anywhere near qualifying times.
They just did not have the speed.
So they kept plugging away, plugging away.
They got a lot of input and helpfrom a bunch of American guys in the
garages there trying to, you know,help them out, which is really cool.
You'd have to imagine.
The mechanics and the individualsthat were in the garage for Ferrari
probably didn't speak any English.
(09:30):
Maybe a little, but probablyhardly any, if any at all.
So obviously you have that languagebarrier, you know, such a different time.
You gotta think about this, Italy,you're 1952, you're only, you know what,
seven years removed from World War ii.
Italy was with Germany.
I mean, there's still a lot of contentionthere with Americans towards Italian.
(09:51):
So.
That would've been interesting tosee how that dynamic played out.
You know, obviously racing, racingand people, hey, respect racers
and, you know, everything like that.
But, um, different times back then.
It'd be interesting to see how that was.
But again, what they had to doto modify that car to get it
to meet the, uh, regulations.
Ford, the Indy 500 really, really hamperedthat car and really kind of dug a hole
(10:15):
for it to try and make that thing last.
And that more than likely alsoplayed a role in the wheels not
being able to put up with it.
That's a lot of GForce.
I mean, you have a front engine V12 car, I think it was a right wheel
hub that failed, which would makesense 'cause you're turning left.
All that force, all the weight's gettingpushed out there, you're turning.
So it's giving that awkward pressureon it as you're also not only leaning
(10:36):
on it, but you're turning as well.
So it's creating that force against it.
I don't know why they didn'tbother changing the wheels.
I mean, I don't know if it's somethingdifferent, but you know, the other
thing too, maybe it also had playeda role in is, you know, they ran
a different tire over in Europe.
'cause uh, Indianapolis kind of had aFirestone tire only type deal going on.
(10:58):
So they had to run those insteadof what they ran over in England.
For whatever reason, Enzo was inbed with the tire bang, financial
Engelbert for a long time.
But by this point in time, Iwanna say they were running
the Michelins, I think it was.
Don't quote me on that.
So they had to switchto the different tires.
So I think that could have playeda role with things as well.
(11:21):
As we know tires can playa big role in how a cars
manufacture, everything like that.
Competing, I guess you would say in 8,500.
That was pretty much his 1952 race.
Now, that's not to say they didn'tflirt with it a few more times,
'cause again, a lot of money.
Back then, Enzo had setup his driver contract.
He didn't pay him much, but they gotto keep, I think, three quarters of
(11:42):
the prize money of the first moneythat they would win something on
his Zions and then obviously fire.
He gets to court wherever it was.
They had something like thatin the contract to do it.
So obviously the amount thatyou can win at that was a big
chunk of money on both ends.
They didn't do anything 53 or 54, but theystarted flirting with it with a little bit
in 55 and 56, not using their own chassis,but using, I. A Ferrari engine, you know,
(12:05):
they compared it up and tried it out.
Did a little bit of thing with the CurtisCraft, you know, that was the chassis
to have back then, but they went withthe inline six instead of the V 12.
This time, a little lighter engine,everything like that, less weight,
you know, they were pumping somegood horsepower on that, and I
don't know why I dropped it down.
Maybe that had to do withregulations too as well.
(12:27):
But they tried to do the car.
That they were usingin sports, car racing.
That was the engine they were using.
And obviously in sport, car racing,endurance racing, you have a
motor that can last a long time.
It's very, very durable.
So made sense.
It really didn't go anywhere.
Due to the F1 race season, having theirhands full Mercedes and F1 at Lamont.
(12:48):
So obviously, again, youknow, that's prepared.
You know, Lamont was huge for Ferrari,so it really didn't go anywhere.
Now, in 1956, I believeit was, maybe it was 57.
The Maserati brothers, obviouslynow that they were out of
Maserati, they had nothing to dowith it 'cause it got sold off.
They put together a Ferrari Asarimade the attempt to qualify and
(13:11):
he was five miles an hour slowerthan the the slowest qualifier.
So he wasn't even closeto making the field.
So again, not understanding anoval track, maybe, I don't know.
Back then he didn't have 20 engineersand all that kinda stuff, working
on these cars and trying to sortthings out and having sensors all
over the car, but it was just slow.
Again, maybe it was weight heavyagain, you know, just everything.
(13:31):
Trying to modify an existing.
Chassis that we're using on road andcourses and that trying to make an oval
car, you know, everyone running overhere, United States is running oval.
So these cars weredesigned just to run oval.
So it wasn't happening a, again,embarrassment, I don't know, not so much.
'cause Ferra didn't have its hugepresence over here in the States.
Yet, it just wasn't happening yet.
(13:53):
Connet, getting his stuff together,setting up shop over here, I wanna
say in its infancy, but he wasgetting in there and everything like
that, so that really wasn't there.
'cause that'd been interesting.
Connet taking a crack at the Indy 500.
And for those of you, I.Yeah, listen, stay tuned.
We got an episode coming up in thenear future with Mr. Luigi Kennet
Jr. And Bill Warner on the same show.
(14:15):
It's gonna be a good one.
But anyways, there was another instancethat, so from my understanding, in 1968,
Ferrari approached the Granite Tall.
Those who don't know, the granttallies, the family behind STP.
And he was very interested aboutthat turbine car because you
know, Enzo was an engine guy andlet's see what's going on there.
And granted says, wellhow big's the checkbook?
And that just went nowhere becauseobviously at this time when you're getting
(14:38):
in that thing, that's when you knowFerrari was having big, big money issues.
Whipping out the checkbook to do.
It just wasn't gonna happen.
Now here, here's a really funny story.
How much of is it true?
Who knows?
But it is just one of those onesthat you know what you want.
Know what?
It's true, who cares?
It's a great story.
In 1973, variety won.
Have interest into 1973, Indy 500.
(15:00):
What it was is Franco Roci Rocky roi.
It's R-O-O-C-C-H-I.
I get my Italian sex, so Roci.
Roki, I don't know how you might pronounceit, but they asked Mario Andretti to go
around with AKA Uncle Franco, as they weretelling everybody that they would go meet.
And all the engine shops, the builders,everything like that, they were all
(15:23):
saying this is Mario Rettis, uncle Franco.
And just kind of digging in and tosee about building it and do it.
And obviously Mario's wellloved, so everyone's open
arms, everything like that.
But nothing came about it.
But I think that's just a great story.
I. And if you kinda look at some photos,Franco looks a little bit like Mario.
He's got the same kind of hair, soI could see how they pulled it off.
(15:45):
It's just a great story.
Getting into the eighties, I don't knowhow many people are aware of it, but
there's this big row between the FIAFormula One, all this stuff, and, and so,
hey, we're gonna go pull out all this.
You know, he always did it.
They went as far, they built an act.
An Indy car for 1986 was a 6 3 7.
Did a race, but I don't knowhow many laps it did at ano.
(16:07):
Some say Bobby RA Hall wassupposed to do some laps.
It, it didn't come to fruition, butlook that car up 'cause it's beautiful.
That is a gorgeous looking Indy car.
That would've been awesome to seethem running that thing in Indy car
'cause it is absolutely stunning.
Who knows?
It came about it.
The uh, program kind of was droppedand all the engine stuff like
(16:29):
that was transferred over to AlphaRomeo, which they never really got
anywhere in IndyCar with that engine.
But that's something really cool.
You should take a peek at check out theIndyCar Ferrari built for the 1986 season.
It is gorgeous.
Now, I don't know where that car's at now.
I don't know if it's sitting overin the museum, anything like that.
You don't ever hear hardly anythingabout it unless you dig it up.
(16:50):
So they went out their knowswhere that car is sitting.
If it is in the museum, let me know.
I'd love to see this thing inperson because this thing is cool.
I mean, I don't know if they scrappedit, you know, back in that day,
Hey, just a race car and whatnot.
They scrap it for parts, who knows?
But that would really,really be cool to see.
Now, I know recently Ferrari, Floridawith it because of the engine regulations
(17:11):
that IndyCar was proposing, and I knowthere was a big push for IndyCar courting
Ferrari, about having them come in'cause of the name, everything like that.
But it just really didn't go anywhere.
Because obviously all the money they putin F1, but now with the cost cap in F1,
you know, hey, maybe there was that thing,but obviously we know what happened.
Ferrari went into worldendurance, which was fantastic.
(17:33):
It's off sea, back to Lama winningLamont, everything like that.
So that was awesome to see.
Anyway.
That was our little foray intoFerrari at the Indianapolis 500.
Like I said, it's a pretty cool story.
It's, it's not a very lengthy storybecause the only race, basically the
one time they tried to qualify twice,but it really didn't get anywhere.
He was out, you know, thescar was out in left forward.
(17:55):
But like I said, I think the cool thingwas is how dominant a scar was in F1.
Back then, he couldn't race the firstrace in Switzerland because he was
qualifying for the race, and thenobviously he was racing in the Indy 500,
which wasn't conflicting or anything.
The Indy 500 was a points race.
He falls out in LAP 40.
Then subsequent the rest of the year,he wins the last six races of the
season and becomes world champion.
(18:15):
It would've been cool if they would'vemade a few more attempts at it.
I just don't think what went into itto really make a concerted effort, I
don't think it was there that much.
You know, I think it would've beeninteresting if some people had made more
of an effort using the Ferrari motor.
Maybe, again, it's such a differentdiscipline from F1 to racing over here
in oval racing, everything like that.
(18:37):
You know, there's so many.
Specifics you built for an oval car,like compared to one that's going left
and right would've been interesting tosee that top made 'cause that would've
been for a great story and great historyand talk about catapulting Ferrari
into the minds and hearts of Americans.
If Ferrari had.
Even like say finishing the podium,something like that, or actually had
(18:58):
a very strong showing in the fifties,early sixties or something like that, if
they really made a strong attempt at it.
I don't know how much bigger Ferrariwould've been here in the states.
Kennet did an awesome job, you know,with them and obviously with Nat, but
that would've been an interesting storyand how much that might've would've
catapulted or sprung them more into theminds and hearts of Americans and sped up.
Ferrari's market share or whateveryou wanna call it back then, you
(19:21):
know, obviously it was minuscule'cause they, they built hardly
any cars, but it'd be cool to see.
But anyways, like I said, as Ialways do, if you ever wanna reach
me, you have any questions, ideas,answers, or anything like that,
uh, corrections, please correct me.
Just it'swilliam@theferrarimarketplace.com.
Shoot me an email.
I'd love to hear from everybody.
Like I said, we got somecool stuff coming up.
(19:41):
They tuned, not quite sure whenwe're gonna get, we still have
to record the episode with Mr.Kti Junior and Bill Water, but
that's gonna be a really good one.
My producer, Eric, and myself, are gonnabe interviewing these guys, so that's
gonna be a really, really good one.
That might be our first one we foray into.
Actually have a video as well onthe YouTube channel because I think
that'd be kind of cool to have.
So I've been dabbling withthat and going that route.
(20:03):
So again, remember, check out theFerrari marketplace.com, exotic car
marketplace.com, check out everythinggoing on at those two sites.
A lot of cool stuff happening,a lot of stuff getting out.
We've got some cool stuff onthere until we speak again.
Appreciate it, everyone.
Have a good one.
(20:24):
This episode has been brought to youby Grand Touring Motorsports as part
of our Motoring Podcast network.
For more episodes like this, tune in eachweek for more exciting and educational
content from organizations like TheExotic Car Marketplace, the Motoring
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