After an official explains that he does not need to do so here, Jackie then abandons the car and walks in, smiling and waving to acknowledge a huge ovation from the crowd. It turns out that the oil pressure had dropped to zero, and the thoughtful Jackie was merely trying to save his car owner, John Mecom, the expense of a blown engine. Fellow Grand Prix driver and teammate Graham Hill wins the race, but Jackie is voted Rookie of the Year.
1967: PARNELLI ALMOST WINS . WITH A TURBINE
The long-anticipated participation by a turbine-powered car finally becomes a reality, and it almost wins first time out. Turbines have been entered before but none has ever qualified. Driving a revolutionary four-wheel-drive vehicle powered by a Pratt & Whitney gas turbine helicopter engine, Parnelli Jones leads all but 25 of the first 196 laps only to glide to a halt near the entrance to the pits. A bearing in the rear end has failed so that power can no longer be delivered to the track.
This allows A.J. Foyt to take the lead, and just moments before he is due to come around to take the chequered flag, a multi-car accident develops on the main straight. Incredibly, Foyt has already had a premonition that something might happen and has taken the precaution of slowing down. He picks his way through the debris and then gears up for the final few yards, past the still-stunned Jones and his Andy Granatelli crew.
1968: MORE LATE-RACE TURBINE TROUBLES
A turbine-powered car drops out while leading within sight of the finish for the second consecutive year. This time it is Joe Leonard, driving a wedge-shaped rear engine Lotus that was originally assigned to the late
Jim Clark. The field has been under caution because of a late-race accident, and Leonard is only eight laps from home when the green comes out. His Pratt & Whitney-powered car suffers a "flame out" and Bobby Unser sails by to his first of three victories. It later comes to light that Unser had lost all but top gear, his departure from the pits after stops having required extraordinary skill.
1969: MARIO'S DAY
Mario Andretti is lucky to be walking around. The car he wanted to qualify, a turbocharged four-wheel-drive Lotus, was totally demolished in a horrendous accident during practice. The crew hauls out its older rear-drive Brawner Hawk, which recently won the Trenton 200, and Mario qualifies for the middle of the front row.
