The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a Hall of Fame Museum. They got some Indy 500 winning cars in there. Other famous/important race cars, too. Like the 1957 Corvette SS. With a body made of a magnesium alloy, the car is 900 lbs lighter than a standard 57 Vette. 307 hp engine. The thing about the museum is: They ain't afraid to drive 'em.

In 2011, they were showing off the 1911 Marmon Wasp that won the first Indy 500. It threw a rod. :eek: Yeah, they put it together again.

They took out the '57 Vette SS last weekend at the Brickyard Invitational to make a few show-off laps.

Here's how it started:

Attachment 48074

Here's how it ended:

Attachment 48075

Ouch. Gonna be needing some new ~60 year old guts for that motor.

Prolly pretty embarrassing for the driver, whether or not he had anything to do with it.

Here's the Vette in action (look fast, it didn't last long) in 1957:



It's a beautiful car, too. Lovely plumage.

Story over here.

Bwahahahahaha :smack: hahahahaha :lol: hahahahaha :lol2:
That's right up there with I'll just put the head in.

I don't get it.

When it came to horsepower ratings they lied through their teeth. Sometimes high, but most often low, to con the frowning farts in the big offices. This was only two months before Detroit pulled out of factory racing entirely, because of some high profile deaths.

In the rest of the world they shrug and say it comes with the territory, and it's voluntary. But here, especially in the 50s, we moan, wail, and rent clothing, while looking for someone to blame.

Oh, ok...Underrating hp numbers was common for production cars.

This was a one-off, though. Probably didn't share a single part w/production Vette.

It were purty, though.

You're right, very little in common. But keep in mind none of the cars in the biggies like Sebring and Le Mans are stock models, every one is a purpose built racecar. The mad-men were in their own world and made it up as they went.

Duntov had been fighting an uphill battle with the executives since he took over Corvette. He wanted to build a real sports car and they didn't. He assembled a team of fellow engineers who were also racing enthusiasts, and worked on making cars that could win races. The strategy being winning would drives sales, and sales would drive public demand for cars from the dealer's showroom (or at least with help from the parts department), they could win races with.

That strategy worked eventually, in another 10 years they were winning both A and B production championships every year, but it was living in a minefield for Duntov. Every time he talked to the motor press he had to be careful. Of course he wanted to give the car magazines the best numbers he could, but his statements would make it back to the executive offices too.

So the interviews had a lot of, here's the numbers (wink-wink-nod-nod) and the writers would speculate what the real numbers were... in print. Then independent tests would pop up to confirm speculation.

Over at Ford, the T-bird had no mentor so that evolved into a "personal" car which is fine if that's what you want. The T-bird sold more cars and made more money shareholder value than Corvette did for GM.

I'm glad Duntov won the fight against the executives, bean counters, and 4-door aficionados. :D

Win On Sunday, Sell On Monday™:yesnod:

Brandon Phillips Signs Ball For Heckler
 

Here's the story, over at YahooSports

Here's the pic:

Attachment 48206

Bravo, Brandon Phillips, bravo!

Yeah, Brandon Phillips is pretty much a god around here.

You hit like a girl.

"Y'know what, fukkit. And fuck you."

Attachment 48956

:lol2:

Goddamn, this is awesome.



Link

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger...

Attachment 49177

"and then, it hit me!"

Nothing to see here, folks, just Yao Ming and Little John Daly...

Attachment 49427