Re: Andy Granatelli dies at 90

Posted by John Harley On 2013/12/30 23:20:45

Friends

I grew up in the North side of Indianapolis in the 60's . During the month of May little else besides the race is of any interest. Although we lived 10 or 15 miles away, the cars could be easily heard if atmospheric conditions were right.

Andy Granatelli was long suffering. The Novi cars had had other owners. They were powered by an supercharged V8 of Miller /Offenhauser lineage. As the NYT stated, they produced over 800 HP. In theory they were unbeatable. In practice they were high strung and would eat up the drive train on a regular basis if the engine stayed together long enough. All the cars were noisy, but the Novis emitted a continuous high pitch scream because of the supercharger.

The turbine cars should have won except for the hardware failures noted in the article. Granatelli showed a good humored resignation through all those years- I guess I admired him for it even then.

He was pretty funny, he sometimes wore a suite covered in STP badges. He insisted that STP stood for "Studebakers Tickled Pink"

Regards

John Harley