[Spridgets] Colors--BRG and the wee Scot

[Robert Bruce Evans]

sprigeteer wrote:  "A bit of unban legend, some of that." 

And just WHAT, pray tell is "legend".  And your evidence for saying it?  For the record, Jones had been spewing oil for lap after lap, and the officials were endangering drivers by refusing to black flag him.  I think that you will find that Colin Chapman had legitimately raised the issue of WHY Jones was not being black flagged and removed from the track.  This raised the Armenian ire of Agajanian, already one of the richest and most powerful men in American racing, and who ruled racing in California with an iron fist. Not accustommed to being defied, Agajanian kept arguing with the officials, but most certainly NOT that the car was no longer spewing oil, but whether it was bad enough to black flag him!  So instead of exercising their independent judgment to make it a safe race, and abdicating their responsibilities by allowing it to become a debate, they let Agajanian continue to argue until Jones' oil level finally dropped so low that it stopped leaking.  The fact remains, he was leaking it, and leaking it badly enough to warrant black flagging!

"After the race Clark was quoted: 'Parnelli Jones drove a great race. I would have been sorry to see him black-flagged'."

That's a new one on me.  However, I will say that it is completely in keeping with Clark's gentlemanly demeanor at all times.

"Sachs did punch Jones, but not on behalf of Clark."

No, I never said that he did.  But neither did Sachs say it was because he had spun in Sach's oil!  His words were definitely to the effect that Jones should not have been allowed to win the way he did.

"If you've never heard Sid Collins' eulogy of Eddie Sachs, which he delivered spontaneously during the red flag that day, find it somewhere and give a listen, but beware, if you're a race fan, it'll bring tears to your eyes. "

Surely, no one who heard Collins that day as I did could not have shed more than a few tears.  Collins was the consumate race announcer, and he lived and breathed the Indy and all of those who raced init.  He became a legend, himself.  I also remember how, sometime in the mid-70's, I was startled to tune in, and for the first time, I did not hear him on the air.  It was a long time before I learned that he had committed suicide days after being diagnosed with ALS...Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Buster Evans