[Spridgets] Colors--BRG and the wee Scot

[Robert Bruce Evans]

Mel Marks wrote:  "If my memory is right, the last laps of the 63 Indy race were run under yellow due to the track cetting oily. But more likely to keep Clark from winning."


You know, I had completely forgotten that, as well as the cause of the oil, *and* the aftermath!  The worst of it was that the oil on the track was being spewed out right ahead of Clark by Parnelli Jones who was leading.  In any other race, with an American running second, Jones would have been black flagged out of the race.  But with the ever-popular American Jones in the lead, and the upstart wee Scot running a tight second, the officials refused to black flag Jones.  I can't remember if it was in Victory Lane or the next night at the awards dinner that Eddie Sachs belted Jones in the snot locker, accusing him of a gaining a tarnished victory, and that Clark should have won!  (The next year, in what was to me the worst of all Indy accidents,  the even more-popular Sachs burned to death in his car on the main straight when it slammed into another in the midst of a seven or eight car pile-up.  All of this in full view of the Pagoda and the main grandstands.  Many of us wept!)

Ironically, Clark also actually won the 1966 Indy in a confused finish that saw him show up in Victory Lane expecting to take the winners trophy.  He was, however, minutes behind Graham Hill, who reportedly told Clark off cheekily, "Sorry, mate, I already drank the milk!"  In looking back at perhaps the most confused ending of any Indy running, most now agree that Clark was the legitimate winner, but Hill got both the milk and the trophy!

Buster Evans