The 500

Lights burned late in the frame and concrete-block garages along the infield of the sprawling, 515-acre racing track on the northwest outskirts of Indianapolis. Mechanics toiled over the expensive (cost: $20,000 and up), low-slung cars, built specifically with the big brick-paved track in mind. This week 33 of the world's fastest racers will roar 500 miles around the Brick Yard in quest of fame and some $300,000 in prize money.

The Indianapolis 500 is the oldest* big-car auto race in the U.S., and victory at the Brick Yard is the crowning achievement in a driver's career. For many years, the 22-mile Indianapolis oval was the world's fastest auto course. Its long straightaways and well-banked curves make possible lap speeds of 140 m.p.h.

Slicks & Gusts. But the 500 is no joy ride. One slip, one tiny miscalculation, a sudden gust of wind, an oil slick on the track--any of these, at high speed, can bring death; the track's pavement and rails are covered with skid marks and paint scratches left by skidding, hurtling cars. In 50 years of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 50 people have died.

New safety regulations now require roll-bars on every car, flameproof coveralls for every driver. Still, two drivers have died in practice runs this month. Says 45-year-old Fred Agabashian, longtime 500 driver who quit racing last year: "You don't reach retirement age in one of those things." Even the toughest drivers find the Indianapolis toughest of all. Johnny Parsons, the 1950 winner, retired this month with the explanation: "When you get down to the end of those straightaways and can't hold your foot down any more, it's time to quit."

The winning car at Indianapolis is the one that combines top speed with a minimum time in the pits--a good pit crew can refuel and change all four tires in 30 seconds. For the past two years the winner has been the bright yellow, 380-h.p. Belond Special, designed, built and owned by Mechanic George Salih of Whittier, Calif. Salih took the standard four-cylinder Offenhauser engine used in most Indianapolis cars, installed it on its side at an 18DEG angle for cooler running and lower center of gravity. The idea was so successful that 16 of the 61 original entries in this year's 500 have sidewinder engines. To cut the time on pit stops, Salih this year installed an air-jack system, estimated it could lift the car into tire-changing position in eight-tenths of a second, save a precious four to seven seconds on each stop.

Crisis. But last week, with early birds already pulling their cars into the queue outside the track gates for choice vantage points when the gates open at 5 a.m. on Memorial Day, the Belond ran into trouble. In a practice run, the car seized up on Driver Jimmy Bryan. Mechanics tore it apart, worked 18 hours straight on its battered engine, badly damaged when the oil pump failed. They got it back in action, and Bryan proved the car was as good as new by qualifying at an average speed of 142.118 m.p.h.

On Memorial Day, Bryan and the Belond could expect a stiff fight from the car with the fastest qualifying time: the Racing Associates Special, complete with cockpit built to the specifications of Driver Johnny Thomson, after an anthropologist took his measurements to determine the most comfortable driving position for a man of Thomson's size (5 ft. 7 in., 150 lbs.). Thomson's average qualifying speed: a hefty 145.908 m.p.h. Another advantage: he will start from the No. i pole position.

*Since 1911, when it was won by Ray Harroun in the Marmon Wasp.

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