by Dan Bolton

The 1967 Indy 500 was probably the most anticipated running of the race to date.  All eyes were on the dayglow red STP turbine car, driven by Parnelli Jones.  The car was the brainchild of STP president Andy Granatelli, and threatened to revolutionize the sport.  A combination of a gas turbine helicopter engine and the Ferguson 4-wheel drive system pioneered on the Novis that Granatelli had previously entered, the car looked rather ungainly, but was capable of running much faster race speeds  that the competition.

Turbine cars were nothing new at the Speedway, Boeing had installed a 175 hp turbine engine in a Kurtis chassis in the mid '50's, and John Zink had entered a turbine “Trackburner” in 1962 with none other than Dan Gurney at the wheel.  Jack Adams had also entered a turbine-powered roadster in 1966, but it left huge tire marks on the straight-aways; supposedly it was capable of 260 mph...not much more than a land-locked jet...

The STP turbocar showed more promise...it actually made its way around the track, for one thing...and it was turning competitive if not record-shattering speeds.  The main advantage, as Granatelli saw it, was the tremendous torque available from a turbine engine.  A turbine produces torque very quickly in its power band, actually achieving peak torque with its output shaft stalled.

The turbine also ran very smoothly, had about 80% fewer parts than a comparable piston engine, could run on fuel with a higher heat value than alcohol fuel used in a conventional piston engine and thus provide better fuel economy, and could provide faster acceleration off the turns than a conventional piston engine.  Combined with 4 wheel drive, this meant that the car could theoretically find its own “groove” at the Speedway.

However, there were a few drawbacks, as well...the turbine engine needed cool ambient air temperatures to operate efficiently, and there was a lag time of a couple of seconds between throttle application and power delivery.  The powertrain was also very hard on the gearbox.  But, these problems were nothing a competent driver couldn't overcome.

The turbine engine - click for a larger view

Granatelli had found that driver in Parnelli Jones.  Although he had asked A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti both to drive the car, neither was about to take a chance on such an unproven concept.  Parnelli tested the car in early '67 at Phoenix, and fell in love with it.  It was so smooth and quiet that he could hear the brake calipers grabbing the rotors, and could hear the gears engaging...the stage was set for a dramatic run at Indy! 

The 1967 Indianapolis 500

1967 would go down in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history for more than the Turbocar, however...for one thing, the rear-engine car was the weapon of choice for virtually everybody.  And, it soon became apparent that whatever advantage the European contingent that had been dominant for the past two years had held over the field was all but erased.  Roadsters were few and far between, although a couple were present; one entered by Mickey Thompson, with a Chevy engine and 4 wheel steering.

Dan Gurney was on hand with his Eagle, Mario Andretti had a new Brawner Hawk, and A.J. Foyt had his own Coyote; each car was powered by the same basic Ford engine that had been so dominant for several years.  The Turbocar was the main center of attention, though.  It wasn't as fast as the other cars, but it was consistent...while the Fords were turning laps in excess of 168 mph in practice, Jones was 2-3 mph slower. The car didn't seem to be living up to the “hype” that Andy Granatelli had so vociferously inflicted on the media...either the car was a bust, or there was some “sandbagging” going on.  Since the car reportedly cost around $ 600,000.00 to build [the engine alone cost over $ 100,000...], it was easy to conclude that Parnelli wasn't showing his hand.  Rumors began to float around that the car was really capable of lapping the track at 180 mph, and that it could run the full race without a pit stop.  Since a turbine doesn't automatically brake when the throttle is closed, the Turbocar had a flap on the tail that was automatically raised when the brakes were applied.  Other drivers complained that they couldn't see ahead of them when the car braked, so Granatelli cut a hole in it, but eventually removed it from the car. Another complaint had to do with “excessive heat” coming from the exhaust outlet.  Granatelli took some of the loudest objectors to the car out behind the Turbocar as Johnny Carson (!) was driving it in an exhibition, and no one could feel any excess heat from the car at all.  And as for the “sandbagging”...at speeds over 166 mph, the Turbocar would chew up its gears.  Jones said, “It was as fast as we dared go.”  So much for sandbagging.

In qualifying, Dan Gurney set an early mark of 167.224mph.  Mario Andretti eclipsed it at 168.982; with one lap at 169.779, fastest of the month.  Gordon Johncock would round out the front row at 166.559.  Jones would turn in an average of 166.075 to start 6th...his first two laps were identical at 166.482, which could have been an indicator of the car's maximum performance capabilities.  It was not a pole run by any means, but it did spell trouble for the competition.  Jones had made his qualifying run in full-race trim, with a full load of fuel...and he could run 166mph all day long, if he had to...the others couldn't begin to match that pace.  When qualifying was over, there were 23 twin-cam Fords, 8 turbo Offys and one pushrod stock block Ford in accompaniment with the turbine.  For the first time ever, there were no roadsters in the field. The winners of the two previous years, Jim Clark and Graham Hill started 16th and 31st, respectively.  Jackie Stewart, Rookie-Of-The -Year in 1966, started 29th.  Each would fare poorly in the race.

The pace lap of the 1967 Indianapolis 500, with Andretti on the pole, A.J. Foyt directly behind him in 4th and Jones in the turbocar on the outside of the 2nd row.  Jones would lead the race by the 2nd turn on the first lap.

The Race

At the drop of the green flag Mario Andretti jumped to an early lead, with A.J. Foyt close behind.  Andretti nailed it big time to stay in the lead, and singed his clutch in the process.  Meanwhile, Parnelli took the turbocar to the outside of the track in turns 1and 2, passing all 5 cars in front of him, and taking the lead coming out of turn 2.  It was that quick. Jones pulled out to a 12 second lead over Gurney and Foyt by the 18th lap, when the rain-laden skies finally opened up, causing the race to be red flagged.  Andretti was in the pits with a broken clutch, but was allowed to repair the car, as long as it stayed in the pit area. 

The race was restarted the next day, with Jones taking up where he left off at the front of the field.  The skies were clear, and the air temperature was only 59 F, ideal weather for the turbine engine. The conditions were not so good for defending champion Graham Hill, however; after the ignominy of starting dead last after his car wouldn't fire at the start, he burned a piston at 23 laps.  Jim Clark would suffer the same fate at 35 laps.  The “European Invasion” was over.

Jones would hold a 25 second lead by 52 laps when one of the most bizarre incidents in Speedway history would occur...Lee Roy Yarbrough, a successful NASCAR racer, would spin for the 2nd time; and this time, it would be directly in front of the turbocar.  Parnelli would also spin, trying to avoid Yarbrough, but the two cars would not touch, although they would come within inches of each other.  Dan Gurney would take the lead, but Jones would pass him within a lap.

On the 58th lap, Mario Andretti, several laps down from his clutch problem of the previous day would lose a wheel and coast into the infield in the 1st turn.  He had noticed a whirring sound and slowed down, avoiding a spin.

Mario Andretti losing right front wheel.

At lap 98, Cale Yarborough spun at the north end of the track, and Lee Roy Yarbrough and Lloyd Ruby both hit the wall trying to avoid him.  Cale would restart, but crash again later in the race.  Meanwhile, at the front of the field, Jones was still out in front, the Turbocar taking a much lower line through the turns and then blasting down the straights.  Gurney began to fade, and Foyt soon had 2nd place all to himself.  But, he was beginning to worry, “I had been certain he was going to break,” Foyt would say later. “But, when he got past the midway mark and kept on going, I figured I was finished.  I figured all I could do was keep going, keep as much pressure on him as possible to keep him running as hard as possible, and hope for the best, but about the best I could do at that point was to stay in the same lap with him.”  Foyt had harbored doubts all month long about the gearbox in the Turbocar, figuring that it wouldn't be able to withstand the tremendous strain of all the torque the turbine engine was producing.  So, he pressured Parnelli for all he was worth, which by lap 193 was about 50 seconds too short.  Just then, Gordon Johncock spun, and the race was under the yellow flag for several laps.  It looked like Parnelli Jones would bring Andy Granatelli and STP their first Indy 500 victory. 

The green flag flew again on lap 197, and then the most shattering thing happened to change the entire complexion of the race.  The Turbocar suddenly slowed down on the backstretch!  After leading 171 laps, a six dollar ball bearing in the gearbox had failed, dropping the car into neutral.  As a stunned STP pit crew pushed the car into the garage area, A.J. Foyt went into the lead and into a nightmare of his own... 

As Foyt came off the final turn on his last lap, Bobby Grim suffered a suspension failure and lost control, hitting the wall.   Chuck Hulse and Carl Williams collided, trying to avoid Grim. Bud Tinglestad and Larry Dickson spun trying to avoid Hulse and Williams. Foyt said later that he had a premonition about a last-lap crash and purposefully slowed down coming into the final corner.  He had a 2 lap lead over Al Unser, so he could afford to be a little cautious. Foyt's actions probably saved the day for him...had he been running full-bore into the turn, he most likely wouldn't have been able to avoid the wreck in front of him.  He slowed down, moved to the inside of the track, and took the flag as he accelerated clear of the carnage.  “I slowed down so much I could have walked faster.  I threw her in low gear and went low and somehow I sneaked through.  And there was that bee-you-tea-ful checker waving at me.”

A.J. Foyt with wife, Lucy in Victory Lane at Indianapolis

Foyt's win would be his 3rd, and he would join the likes of Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw and Mauri Rose as 3-time winners of the event.  And, like Shaw, Meyer and Ray Harroun, he had won the race in a car he'd built himself.  His victory would also be the first win for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company since 1919, breaking a 43 year streak of Firestone wins.  Al Unser would finish 2nd, and Joe Leonard, Foyt's teammate, would finish 3rd. The twin-cam Fords would sweep the first 5 places, winning 3years in a row.  Parnelli Jones and the STP Turbocar would be credited with 6th place.

A.J. Foyt would admit feeling sorry for Parnelli's coming so close to victory in the turbine, but he would also state that the car had an unfair advantage at the Speedway.  He would go on to say that the turbine car had twice as much horsepower as any other car at the track and should be banned, but that he would run one himself if he were forced to.  In reality, the turbine didn't have any more horsepower than any other car at the track, maybe not even quite as much as some of the Fords.  The turbine engine was much lighter than the piston engines it ran against, weighing only 250 pounds, and producing 540 hp.  The lighter weight allowed for the 4 wheel drive system without the extra weight penalty the earlier Novis had to endure.  The turbine may have looked bulbous and cumbersome, but it was, in fact, one of the lightest cars on the track, at 1450 pounds.  It wasn't really any faster than the other cars through the turns, but the tremendous torque-on-demand made it a rocket coming off them.  It was a tremendous effort that just came up a little short.  And, it should be remembered that the weather was cool, unusually so for Indianapolis in May...and that Parnelli Jones had a very light touch behind the wheel.  This writer remembers reading a letter to the editor in Autoweek magazine a few years back written by the man responsible for manufacturing the chassis for the car.  In it, he stated that he went to visit the Granatelli shop as the car was being built, and noticed that there was no constant velocity joint between the output shaft of the turbine and the transmission.  He asked the Granatellis about the situation, stating that the engine speed would surely be too much for the gearbox. He was rebuffed, and left the project, fearing for his reputation.  He took bets that the car wouldn't last at Indy, and won several thousand dollars from his colleagues. He went on to say that the Turbocar's strong showing at Indy was due to the factors of the weather and Jones' driving ability as much as the car.

Jones would state that even though the Turbocar was quite dominant at Indy, it wasn't nearly as big an advantage as he had on the field in the 1962 race, when he shattered the 150 mph barrier and suffered brake line failure late in the race while leading comfortably.  He would temper the disappointment of losing the '67 race by concentrating on business and off-road racing interests.  He would also have a jacket made that had INDIANAPOLIS 490 CHAMPION written on the back.  Foyt would rib him about that incessantly.

Andy Granatelli would return to Indy in 1968 with all-new Lotus turbine cars with backing for STP and Amoco Oil, after filing and losing a bitter lawsuit over rules changes designed to curtail the turbine car's “unfair advantage.”  And, again, the cars would come tantalizingly close to winning, but would fall short in the end.  They would be legislated out of competition after that.

The STP turbine cars were brilliantly conceived machines, but not all details were handled in the most expedient manner.  Perhaps they were just too advanced; maybe too abstract a concept for all the pieces to ever come together in the right way.  And, if allowed to race in their original configuration, they would probably have brought the sport to a technological dead end.  There were no passenger-type turbine vehicles in the late '60's, and there probably never will be.  The concept just wasn't practical for highway use.  And, if turbine engine technology would have filtered down to the street, environmental concerns in the mid-'70's would have dealt the technology a crippling blow. And, even though it generated a lot of interest in all things automotive, turbine engine technology as it was presented at the Speedway didn't really offer much to the automobile industry as a whole.  Did an engine with just a few moving parts; no pistons, valves or a crankshaft actually need STP?  If it didn't have anything in common with the product it was built to promote, where's the connection after the novelty wears off?

So, the turbine was controversial and exciting, very fast and a brilliant design, but out-of-place in the world it tried to conquer.  But it sure made 1967 one of the most exciting Indy 500's ever!

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