|| *Comments on the 1974 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#24> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. RaceFanX posted: 08.20.2010 - 1:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) After the disasterous 1973 race this 500 featured several rules changes in the name of safety. Rear wings were greatly reduced in size, turbos given pop-off valves to reduce boost, fuel cell capacity was almost cut in half and the cells themselves moved to the inner-left side of the car. The track itself had the pit entrance rebuilt and the flagstand moved to above the yard of bricks. Because of the energy crisis, qualifying was only two days. Wally Dallenbach got the jump on polesitter A.J. Foyt at the start and led the opening laps but quickly burned a piston while leading and dropped out of the race. With Wally on the trailer Foyt was out in front but Johnny Rutherford, despite starting deep in the field (25th) raced up and caught him. Lone Star JR took advance of pit miscue by Foyt and put the McLaren out in front, the first time Rutherford ever led the 500. Foyt caught up and retook the lead but mechanical woes put down his Coyote before lap 150. This was the first Indy win for both Rutherford and McLaren. It was Rutherford's 11th try at the 500, coming just one race short of Sam Hanks' record of 12 starts before winning it sent in 1957. Rutherford's win was the last Indy win for a driver using Firestone tires until Buddy Lazier's in 1996, Firestone dropped out of the sport after the season and left Goodyear to run uncontested. 2. b4il3y posted: 04.23.2011 - 3:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (6) Indy car...blah.. 3. Unser1 posted: 05.17.2011 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Racing legend David Hobbs scores his only USAC Champ Car top-5. 4. cjs3872 posted: 05.23.2011 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rutherford's win in this race is, to me, reminiscent of the feel-good story of Trevor Bayne's Daytona 500 win this year. After all, for different reasons, 1973 Indianapolis 500 (catasthrophic accidents and rain) and the 2010 Daytona 500 (the track coming apart in turns one and two) were definately races to forget, while the events held at the respective tracks the following year (the 1974 Indianapolis 500 and 2011 Daytona 500) were feel-good victories scored by extremely popular drivers, though one was a 12-year veteran and the other was a rookie, the youngest-ever 500-mile race winner. Another link between th two races were the legendary teams that won those particular events. (McLaren won the 1974 Indy race, while the Wood Brothers, who were Jim Clark's pit crew when he won the Indy race in 1965, were the winning team for this year's Daytona 500.) As of now, this race is scheduled to re-air for the first time on Wednesday, May 25, but that schedule may change. (After all, I didn't expect the 1975 Indy race to air today, even though it was scheduled.) By the way, Rutherford's 1980 win is schedueled to air immediately after this race, also a first time re-air. 5. cjs3872 posted: 05.23.2011 - 8:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Racing legend David Hobbs? What significant event did he ever win? A legendary racing commentator? Absolutely, but a legendary driver? No. 6. Pacer posted: 07.26.2011 - 12:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this 500 was a Hurst/Olds Cutlass. And Hobbs was the SCCA Trans-Am champion. 7. cjs3872 posted: 08.12.2011 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) By the way, RaceFanX, Rutherford's early-race charge through the field was definately aided by the early retirements of four potential winning cars in the race's first six laps. The potential race winning cars mentioned were those of Mario Andretti, Gary Bettenhausen, Wally Dallenbach, and Mike Mosley. Three of those four drivers started the race in the first two rows, and Bettenhausen, driving for Roger Penske, would almost certainly have been a factor as well. Speaking of Penske in 1974, Mike Hiss qualified on the front row in a car originally intended for Peter Revson. Mark Donohue had retired, Bobby Allison, who drove for Penske at Indy in 1973, and would again in 1975, chose not to in 1974, instead focusing on the NASCAR season, since 1974 was the first year that the Indianapolis 500 and the World 600 at Charlotte were scheduled to run on the same day. (Allison finished third in the 600 that year.) So Penske called on Peter Revson, who won the pole and finished second in the 1971 race for Team McLaren. It was a natural since Penske had been running McLarens since 1970, but REvson was killed in South Africa about a month prior to the race, so Penske then called on Hiss, who controversially won the Rookie of the race in 1972 over Sam Posey , to drive the car, and qualified it on the front row, but was never a factor in the race. By the way, the reason that hiss was the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year in 1972, despite the fact that Posey had outperformed Hiss all month in 1972, was because Hiss had Andy Granatelli backing him, so Hiss' Indy Rookie of the Year award in 1972 was politically motivated. Also, here are the seven caution periods from that race: #1 59-Cannon stalled BS (Lap 60) #2 11-Carter brushed the wall FS (About lap 70) #3 51-Opperman spun out T4 (About lap 90) #4 42-Karl crash T3 (About lap 125) #5 15-Al Unser stalled, towed in (About lap 134) #6 11-Carter spun out T1 (About lap 160) #7 #9-Ruby stalled, towed in (Ruby ran out of fuel while running fourth)(About lap 190) NOTE: The laps the caution flag came out in 1974 are unofficial, as there was no official listing off all caution periods during that race. The caution flag info supplied was mostly made availble through the ABC broadcast of the race, which showed every caution period, except the last one. 8. cjs3872 posted: 08.17.2011 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pacer, Hobbs may have been an SCCA Trans Am champion, but winning one sports car championship hardly makes you a racing legend. Yes, he's been a commentator since the late 1970s, and is legendary in that role, but he was hardly one of the great racers of his era. Competent, yes. He would not have driven in four Indianapolis 500s, including fifth in this 1974 race, driving for Team McLaren, and also drive iat Indy for Roger Penske (in 1971), as well as being picked by L.G. DeWitt to drive as a teammate to Benny Parsons (along with Earl Ross, as DeWitt ran three cars in that race) in the 1976 Daytona 500, even leading that race briefly before crashing in turn two, if he was not competent. 9. Schroeder51 posted: 10.04.2013 - 4:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A more complete list of drivers who DNQed for this race: #53 John Cannon #76 Lee Brayton #19 Mel Kenyon #86 Al Loquasto #69, #74 John Mahler #63 Larry McCoy #31 Dennis Zimmerman #38 Bill Puterbaugh #26, #94 Bentley Warren #58 Eldon Rasmussen #39 Larry Rice #25 Jigger Sirois #30 Sammy Sessions #53 Bruce Jacobi 10. Schroeder51 posted: 10.05.2013 - 1:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And some more teams that DNQed for this race... #46 Jim McElreath #32 Billy Vukovich, Jr. #38 Johnny Parsons #38 Dick Simon #26 Tom Sneva 11. Anonymous posted: 06.08.2014 - 6:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Add to the DNQs! #46 Jim McElreath #32 Billy Vukovich, Jr. #38 Johnny Parsons #38 Dick Simon #26 Tom Sneva 12. Schroeder51 posted: 03.14.2015 - 4:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Indy starts for Pancho Carter, Tom Bigelow, Tom Sneva, Jan Opperman, Larry Cannon, and Johnny Parsons. Only Indy 500 start for Bill Simpson. Last Indy 500 starts for Jim Hurtubise and Rick Muther. 13. Schroeder51 posted: 03.15.2015 - 2:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Add to the DNQs: Bruce Jacobi, #53 Turn Style (Did not qualify) 14. indycar1 posted: 05.08.2015 - 10:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race had 7 cautions for 34 minutes. 15. Schroeder51 posted: 12.24.2015 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fun fact: In his 3rd Indy 500 start, after mechanical gremlins put him out on the opening circuit of the '72 race and his horrifying crash during the first attempt to start the '73 race...this was the first time that Salt Walther actually managed to complete a lap in the 500. (He completed a lot more than that, 141 laps-or a little over 350 miles-before he fell out.) 16. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 01.30.2016 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying results: 1. A. J. Foyt-191.632 MPH 2. Johnny Rutherford-190.446 MPH 3. Wally Dallenbach-189.683 MPH 4. Mike Hiss-187.490 MPH 5. Gordon Johncock-186.287 MPH 7. Mike Mosley-185.319 MPH 8. Bobby Unser-185.176 MPH 9. Tom Sneva-185.147 MPH 10. David Hobbs-184.833 MPH 11. Dick Simon-184.502 MPH 12. Gary Bettenhausen-184.493 MPH 13. Jimmy Caruthers-184.049 MPH 14. George Snider-183.993 MPH 15. Salt Walther-183.927 MPH 16. Al Unser-183.889 MPH 17. Steve Krisiloff-182.519 MPH 18. Billy Vukovich, Jr.-182.500 MPH 19. Jerry Grant-181.781 MPH 20. Lloyd Ruby-181.699 MPH 21. Jerry Karl-181.452 MPH 22. Bill Simpson-181.041 MPH 23. Roger McCluskey-181.004 MPH 24. Pancho Carter-180.605 MPH 25. John Martin-180.406 MPH 26. Jim Hurtubise-180.288 MPH 27. Johnny Parsons-180.252 MPH 28. Tom Bigelow-180.144 MPH 29. Rick Muther-179.991 MPH 30. Jim McElreath-177.279 MPH 31. Bob Harkey-176.687 MPH 32. Jan Opperman-176.186 MPH 33. Larry Cannon-173.963 MPH 17. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 03.22.2017 - 12:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First alternate: Denny Zimmerman By making his 17th Indy 500 start in the '74 500, A. J. Foyt surpassed Cliff Bergere and Chet Miller for the most 500 starts all time in this race. 18. Burl posted: 01.16.2018 - 7:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Hiss was sort of highly touted at the time as the next big thing AND like a Danny Sullivan of the era, before there was a Danny Sullivan at Indy almost a decade later. But Hiss never became a big deal. He could drive fast in practice and quals, but not race fast, and before you knew it, he was gone from the sport. 19. cjs3872 posted: 03.01.2018 - 12:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's an update on the caution flag summary from this race that I originally posted in post #7, and there have been a couple of minor changes since I posted that. And all lap numbers are approximate, since under USAC's P.A.C.E.R. light caution flag rules that existed then, the caution or green could fly at literally any time and the leader did not have to be the first to take the green flag from the starter. Laps 62-65 59-Cannon stalled BS Laps 68-71 21-Caruthers stalled SSC Laps 76-78 11-Carter brushed wall T4 Laps 89-91 51-Opperman spun out T4 Laps 120-125 42-Karl crash T3 Laps 131-136 15-Al Unser stalled BS Laps 153-155 11-Carter spun out T1 20. RaceFanX posted: 05.05.2019 - 9:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When the field initially fired up to head out on the pace laps Rick Muther's yellow #61 refused to start. His car was rolled back to his pit stall as the field started its pace laps where his crew got it running and he joined the field for the start. Once the race began though the Coyote burned a piston and retired early. This would be the final time Muther qualified for the 500. 21. SweetRich posted: 02.26.2020 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators for the race were Jim McKay and Sam Posey. The pit road reporters were Chris Economaki and Bill Flemming. 22. Rich posted: 12.25.2020 - 6:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chris Schenkel was the studio host. 23. JollyMeanGiant posted: 03.03.2021 - 1:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 35 cars completed full qualifying runs. Denny Zimmerman in the #31 (34th) and Jigger Sirois in the #25 (35th) were not fast enough to make the field. 24. vonwegen posted: 03.15.2021 - 3:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to video footage of his final pit stop from the ABC broadcast on YouTube, Rick Muther was driving an Eagle-Foyt, not a Coyote chassis. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: