That year’s race didn’t have a factory-special pace car but a 71 Dodge Challenger that a local dealer provided.
Sitting next to Palmer was IMS owner Tony Hulman Jr. In the back seat were astronaut John Glenn, the future U.S. senator from Ohio, and ABC sportscaster Chris Schenkel. They plowed into the camera stand at an estimated 60 mph.
After the opening lap, the car pulled into the pits, missed the braking point marker, failed to stop correctly, and took down a photographer’s stand, injuring 29 people.
John Glenn, national hero
Prior to this spectacular crash, he had cheated death several times before, while making history.
He was a test pilot for the Marine Corps, made the last air kills of the Korean War in July 1953, and crossed America from coast to coast in 1957 in a supersonic flight, and orbited the Earth three times in 1962.
The wheels were 14 x 7: Exiter part number 36830.
ReplyDeletehuh! Were they Exiter, or Exciter? And how in blazes did you know that?
DeleteOh, the RIMS! I don't understand "wheels" when people refer to them, it's either RIMS or TIRES to me, the combo of tires and rims are wheels... but dang it, you have me now looking up Polycast rims and posting about it! Thank you!
DeleteMotor Wheel seems to have advertised their stuff as both "Exciter" & "Exiter". These were Polycast wheels (a la the Pontiac "Honeycombs" with a steel rim and injection-molded “rubbery” center). The use of "rim" as verbal shorthand for wheel is just an example of the way in English people tend towards the shortest, simplest form. Strictly speaking, the rim is part of a wheel and that applied whether it was a separate part or just the edge of a one-piece structure. I don’t know of any one word which describes a wheel/tire combo.
Deletethank you for the post inspiration https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2025/02/thanks-to-cosc-who-tipped-me-off-to.html !
DeleteSo, rims plus tires + wheels! "the rim is part of a wheel and that applied whether it was a separate part or just the edge of a one-piece structure. I don’t know of any one word which describes a wheel/tire combo."
Delete