1967 Indianapolis 500

51st Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	USAC
Season	1967 USAC season
Date	May 30–31, 1967
Winner	A. J. Foyt
Average speed	151.207 mph (243 km/h)
Pole position	Mario Andretti
Pole speed	168.982 mph (272 km/h)
Fastest qualifier	Mario Andretti
Rookie of the Year	Denny Hulme
Most laps led	Parnelli Jones (171)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Purdue band
"Back Home Again in Indiana"	Russell J. Wunderlich
Starting command	Tony Hulman
Pace car	Chevrolet Camaro
Pace car driver	Mauri Rose
Honorary starter	none
Estimated attendance	250,000
TV in the United States
Network	ABC's Wide World of Sports
Announcers	Jim McKay, Rodger Ward, Chris Economaki
Chronology
Previous Next 1966 1968

The 51st International 500 Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana over two days, Tuesday May 30 and Wednesday May 31, 1967. The race was dominated by Parnelli Jones in the radically new, four-wheel drive STP-Paxton Turbocar gas turbine entered by prolific car owner Andy Granatelli. With three laps to go, however, Jones coasted to a stop when a $6 transmission bearing failed. A. J. Foyt assumed the lead, and weaved his way through a pileup on the final lap, to win his third Indy 500 victory.

Foyt's victory was the first Indy 500 win for Goodyear tires since 1919. After leaving the sport in 1922, Goodyear returned to the sport 1964, and in 1967, snapped Firestone's record of 43 consecutive Indy 500 wins.

The race was scheduled for Tuesday May 30. The race started on time at 11:00 a.m. EST, but after only 18 laps, rain began to fall. The race was red-flagged, and the resumption was held at 10:00 a.m. the following day. Though temperatures on Wednesday were cool, skies were sunny, and the race was run to completion.

Race schedule

The annual 500 Victory Banquet was scheduled for Wednesday May 31. After the race was postponed for rain, the banquet was still held as scheduled, which was just hours after the checkered flag fell.

Race schedule — April/May, 1967 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 23   24   25   26   27   28   29 Practice 30 Practice 1 Practice 2 Practice 3 Practice 4 Practice 5 Practice 6 Practice 7 Practice 8 Practice 9 Practice 10 Practice 11 Practice 12 Practice 13 Pole Day 14 Time Trials 15 Practice 16 Practice 17 Practice 18 Practice 19 Practice 20 Time Trials 21 Bump Day 22   23   24   25   26 Carb Day 27   28   29   30 Indy 500 31 Indy 500

Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out Blank No track activity

Time trials

Pole day – Saturday May 13

Going into time trials, Mario Andretti was the favorite for the pole position. On the final day of practice, he turned the fastest practice lap in Indy history at over 168 mph. Among the others that were expected to challenge for the front row were Roger McCluskey, A. J. Foyt, and Gordon Johncock. Parnelli Jones, driving the new Granatelli STP-Paxton Turbocar gas turbine was in the top ten of practice speeds, but never on top, and some in the garage area were accusing the team of sandbagging.

The first car out to qualify was Ronnie Duman. At about 2:30 p.m., Joe Leonard took over the provisional pole position with a run of 166.098 mph, a new track record. About an hour and a half later, Dan Gurney took over the pole with another record run of 167.224 mph. Gurney's time on top was short-lived, however, as Mario Andretti was the next car to make an attempt. Andretti set new 1-lap and 4-lap track records to win the pole position for the second year in a row. His third lap (169.779 mph) stood as the single lap record, and his four-lap average wound up at 168.982 mph.

At the end of the day, the field was filled to 25 cars. Later in the day, Gordon Johncock (166.559 mph) squeezed himself on to the front row, qualifying third. A. J. Foyt suffered mechanical trouble on his first attempt, and pulled off the course. Later on, he returned to the track to qualify in fourth starting position. Parnelli Jones in the Granatelli Turbine qualified 6th. As was noted by many other teams at the time, Jones qualified with a race day set-up, while the piston-powered entries practiced and qualified with "qualifying setups," including light fuel loads, lightened transmission components, higher-revving gear ratios, a percentage of "pop," or nitromethane in the fuel, and so on. The STP crew had Jones qualify with a straight race-day setup, including the use of standard fuel (aircraft-grade kerosene, in this case).

Pos	No.	Name	Speed (mph)	Notes
1	1	Mario Andretti	168.982
2	74	Dan Gurney	167.224
3	3	Gordon Johncock	166.559
4	14	A. J. Foyt	166.289
5	4	Joe Leonard	166.098
6	40	Parnelli Jones	166.075
7	25	Lloyd Ruby	165.229
8	6	Bobby Unser	164.752
9	5	Al Unser	164.594
10	26	George Snider	164.256
11	2	Jim McElreath	164.241
12	39	Bobby Grim	164.084
13	16	Art Pollard (R)	163.897
14	15	Mel Kenyon	163.778
15	53	Wally Dallenbach Sr. (R)	163.540
16	31	Jim Clark	163.213
17	98	Ronnie Duman	162.903
18	19	Arnie Knepper	162.900
19	45	Johnny Rutherford	162.859
20	21	Cale Yarborough	162.830
21	23	Larry Dickson	162.543
—	78	Jerry Grant	162.352	Bumped by #81
—	43	Jackie Stewart	162.221	Bumped by #56
—	57	Bob Harkey	162.140	Bumped by #84
—	29	Bob Hurt (R)	161.261	Bumped by #23
—	27	Lucien Bianchi	—	Waved off
—	12	Roger McCluskey	—	Pulled off
—	14	A. J. Foyt	—	Pulled off
—	42	Richie Ginther (R)	—	Pulled off
—	82	Bob Christie	—	Pulled off
—	84	Bob Wente	—	Crash
—	41	Carl Williams	—	Waved off

Second day – Sunday May 14

The second day of time trials was rained out.

Pos	No.	Name	Speed (mph)	Notes
—	—	—	—	Rained out

Third day – Saturday May 20

The field filled to 33 cars after 23 attempts were made. Six cars were bumped including Jackie Stewart. Roger McCluskey, who was not able to qualify on pole day, was the fastest car of the afternoon (165.563 mph).

Pos	No.	Name	Speed (mph)	Notes
22	12	Roger McCluskey	165.563
23	41	Carl Williams	163.696
24	69	Denis Hulme	163.376
25	10	Bud Tingelstad	163.228	Bumped #90
26	67	LeeRoy Yarbrough (R)	163.066	Bumped #23
27	8	Chuck Hulse	162.925
28	46	Bob Veith	162.580
—	27	Lucien Bianchi	162.484	Bumped by #42
—	56	Jim Hurtubise	162.411	Bumped #43; Bumped by #32
—	87	Jochen Rindt (R)	162.389	Bumped by #24
—	90	Pedro Rodriguez (R)	162.352	Bumped by #10
—	23	Ronnie Bucknum (R)	162.243	Bumped #29; Bumped by #67
—	84	Gary Congdon	161.783	Bumped #57; Bumped by #48
—	42	Richie Ginther (R)	—	Waved off
—	23	Ronnie Bucknum (R)	—	Waved off
—	56	Jim Hurtubise	—	Waved off
—	60	Mickey Shaw (R)	—	Waved off
—	71	Bobby Johns	—	Waved off
—	84	Gary Congdon	—	Waved off
—	47	Norm Brown (R)	—	Waved off
—	10	Bud Tingelstad	—	Pulled off
—	20	Masten Gregory	—	Waved off
—	24	Jackie Stewart	—	Waved off

Bump day – Sunday May 21

Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart successfully bumped their way into the field. Jim Hurtubise tried to qualify using a front-engined car, but he was too slow.

Pos	No.	Name	Speed (mph)	Notes
29	24	Jackie Stewart	164.099	Bumped #87
30	42	Jerry Grant	163.808	Bumped #27
31	81	Graham Hill	163.317	Bumped #78
32	48	Jochen Rindt (R)	163.051	Bumped #84
33	32	Al Miller II	162.602	Bumped #56
—	11	Jim Hurtubise	161.936	Too Slow
—	17	Bobby Johns	—	Waved off
—	85	Bill Cheesbourg	—	Waved off

Race summary

Start (Tuesday)

The race started on Tuesday May 30 under threatening skies. At the start, polesitter Mario Andretti briefly took the lead into turn one. However, Jones swept to the outside from 6th starting position, and passed four cars in turn one. Exiting turn two, he dove below Andretti and took the lead down the backstretch. Jones ran the first lap at a record 154 mph, and started pulling out to a sizable lead.

On lap 3, Lee Roy Yarbrough spun in turn four, briefly bringing out the yellow. His car was not damaged, and he continued. After only a few laps, Mario Andretti pulled into the pits with mechanical troubles. The crew went to work on the car. On lap 18, rain began to fall, and the yellow light came on with Jones leading. On the 19th lap, the red flag came out and the race was halted at approximately 11:16 am. The rain continued most of the afternoon, and at about 4:15 p.m., officials postponed the conclusion until the next day. Scoring reverted to the completion of the 18th lap, and all cars were eligible for the resumption except Lloyd Ruby, who had already wheeled his car back to the garage with broken valves.

Restart (Wednesday)

Wednesday May 31 dawned cool but sunny and the race was resumed at 10:00 a.m. local time. George Snider fell ill overnight with a cold, and Lloyd Ruby, who had dropped out the day earlier, took over his car in relief for Wednesday. Two unscored warm-up laps were run behind the pace car, and the field of now 32 cars took the green flag to restart single-file. Jones continued where he left off and led on what was now the 19th lap.

First half

On lap 52, Lee Roy Yarbrough suffered his second spin in turn four in two days. This time he tangled with the leader Parnelli Jones. Jones went low to lap Yarbrough, but was pinched down on the apron and the two cars touched wheels. Both cars went spinning into the grass, but they were not damaged and both drivers drove away unscathed. Dan Gurney briefly took the lead after the incident, but gave it up after only two laps when he pitted.

The first half shaped up with Jones dominating in the Turbine, chased by Dan Gurney, A. J. Foyt, and Al Unser, Sr., among others. On the leader's 65th lap, Mario Andretti lost a wheel in the exit of turn one. He came a stop in turn two and was out of the race with only 59 laps completed.

On his first pit stop on lap 80, Parnelli Jones escaped possible disaster as he began to pull away before the fuel hose was disengaged. The hose jerked and caused a spill, but Jones pulled away without damage and without a fire breaking out. A. J. Foyt slipped by to take the lead. Four laps later Foyt handed the lead back to Jones when he himself pitted.

Several cars were involved in a quick succession of crashes around the midway point. Art Pollard spun in turn three, but continued. Moments later, Carl Williams spun in front of Bob Veith as they diced through traffic in turn three. Veith's car suffered major damage to the nose, but both drivers were able to continue. Under the same yellow light, Wally Dallenbach wrecked into the inside wall of the mainstretch. Moments later, Cale Yarborough spun out in the northchute. Approaching the scene, Lloyd Ruby (in George Snider's car) spun out with Lee Roy Yarbrough, and both cars went sliding to the infield grass in turn four. Ruby's car hit the inside fence and was out. Lee Roy Yarbrough, after his third spin of the race, was also out. Cale Yarborough, however, got back in his car and continued. About three laps later, Johnny Rutherford wrecked on his own in turn two.

Second half

Parnelli Jones continued to dominate the race, but gave up the lead to A. J. Foyt for laps 131-149. Dan Gurney, a contender in the first half, dropped out on lap 160.

Arnie Knepper (engine), Jackie Stewart (engine), Cale Yarborough and Mel Kenyon (crash), all drop out of the race. Jochen Rindt, who experienced a difficult month and a difficult race, dropped out with a broken valve. Rindt, apparently not impressed with the Speedway, said he was not interested in coming back, but he did return one additional time in 1968.

With about 7 laps left for the leaders, Gordon Johncock spun out, briefly bringing out the yellow. At this point, Parnelli Jones seemingly has the race wrapped up, holding nearly a full lap lead over second place A. J. Foyt. Third place Al Unser is more than two laps down. Shockingly, with only four laps to go, a $6 transmission bearing failed, and the Turbine quietly coasted to a stop near the entrance to pit lane. The STP Granatelli team is in disbelief as they run to the car's aid.

A. J. Foyt drives by into first place with only four laps to go, but the drama is not yet over. On the final lap, Foyt is driving through turn four when a four car-crash breaks out at north end of the main straightaway. Foyt instinctively backed off, and with savvy driving, weaved his way through the wreckage. He avoids the spinning cars and debris, and takes the checkered flag for his third win at Indianapolis. Foyt's winning speed of 151.207 mph (243.344 km/h) is a new record. Al Unser is running second when the red and checkered flags are displayed.

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Status
1	4	14	A.J. Foyt (W)	166.289	4	200	Running
2	9	5	Al Unser	164.594	10	198	Flagged
3	5	4	Joe Leonard	166.098	5	197	Flagged
4	24	69	Denis Hulme (R)	163.376	20	197	Flagged
5	11	2	Jim McElreath	164.241	12	197	Flagged
6	6	40	Parnelli Jones (W)	166.075	6	196	Bearing
7	27	8	Chuck Hulse	162.925	26	195	Crash FS
8	13	16	Art Pollard (R)	163.897	15	195	Flagged
9	8	6	Bobby Unser	164.752	9	193	Flagged
10	23	41	Carl Williams	163.696	18	189	Crash FS
11	28	46	Bob Veith	162.580	32	189	Flagged
12	3	3	Gordon Johncock	166.559	3	188	Spun T3
13	12	39	Bobby Grim	164.084	14	187	Crash FS
14	25	10	Bud Tingelstad	163.228	22	182	Spun FS
15	21	22	Larry Dickson	162.543	33	180	Spun FS
16	14	15	Mel Kenyon	163.778	17	177	Crash T3
17	20	21	Cale Yarborough	162.830	30	176	Crash T3
18	29	24	Jackie Stewart	164.099	13	168	Engine
19	22	12	Roger McCluskey	165.563	7	165	Engine
20	30	42	Jerry Grant	163.808	16	162	Piston
21	2	74	Dan Gurney	167.224	2	160	Piston
22	18	19	Arnie Knepper	162.900	28	158	Engine
23	17	98	Ronnie Duman	162.903	27	154	Fuel trouble
24	32	48	Jochen Rindt (R)	163.051	25	108	Valve
25	19	45	Johnny Rutherford	162.859	29	103	Crash T2
26	10	26	George Snider (Tues.) Relieved by Lloyd Ruby (Wed.)	164.256	11	99	Crash NC
27	26	67	LeeRoy Yarbrough (R)	163.066	24	87	Crash NC
28	33	32	Al Miller II	162.602	31	74	Oil Cooler
29	15	53	Wally Dallenbach Sr. (R)	163.540	19	73	Crash FS
30	1	1	Mario Andretti	168.982	1	58	Lost wheel
31	16	31	Jim Clark (W)	163.213	23	35	Piston
32	31	81	Graham Hill (W)	163.317	21	23	Piston
33	7	25	Lloyd Ruby	165.229	8	3	Valves

Alternates

• First alternate: Lucien Bianchi (R) (#27)

Failed to qualify

• Chris Amon (R) (#28)
• Chuck Arnold (#44)
• Lorenzo Bandini (R) (#32) – Withdrawn
• Bob Bondurant (R) (#33, #88)
• Johnny Boyd (#66)
• Norm Brown (R) (#47)
• Ronnie Bucknum (R) (#23, #75)
• Bill Cheesbourg (#32)
• Bob Christie (#65, #82)
• Gary Congdon (#18, #19, #67, #76, #84, #90)
• Richie Ginther (R) (#42)
• Masten Gregory (#11, #20)
• Norm Hall (#50)

• Bob Harkey (#20, #57)
• Bob Hurt (R) (#29, #98)
• Jim Hurtubise (#11, #56, #83)
• Bruce Jacobi (R) (#33, #75, #77)
• Bobby Johns (#71, #76)
• Ralph Ligouri (R) (#35)
• Sam McQuagg (R) – Did not appear
• Don Meacham (R) (#62)
• Mike Mosley (R) (#91)
• Lothar Motschenbacher (R) (#57) – Entry declined, not in good standing with USAC
• Rick Muther (R) (#76) – Failed rookie orientation
• Peter Revson (R) (#33) – Entry declined, not in good standing with USAC
• Pedro Rodriguez (R) (#90)

• Vern Root (R) (#90)
• Ebb Rose (#83, #89)
• Les Scott (R) (#50)
• Sammy Sessions (R) (#11, #68, #75)
• Mickey Shaw (R) (#60)
• Al Smith (R) (#11, #75
• Gig Stephens (R) (#36)
• Chuck Stevenson (#54)
• Don Thomas (R) (#73)
• Greg Weld (R) (#96)
• Bob Wente (#84)
• Dempsey Wilson (#11, #51)

Race statistics

Lap Leaders
Laps	Leader
1–51	Parnelli Jones
52–53	Dan Gurney
54–79	Parnelli Jones
80–83	A. J. Foyt
84–130	Parnelli Jones
131–149	A. J. Foyt
150–196	Parnelli Jones
197–200	A. J. Foyt

Total laps led
Laps	Leader
Parnelli Jones	171
A. J. Foyt	27
Dan Gurney	2

Yellows: 10 for 64 minutes
Laps*	Reason
3–5	Lee Roy Yarbrough spin in turn 4 (2 minutes)
18	Rain (3 minutes; red flag)
52–53	Lee Roy Yarbrough & Parnelli Jones spin in turn 4 (3 minutes)
65–69	Mario Andretti lost wheel in turn 1 (6 minutes)
83–	Carl Williams & Bob Veith spin in turn 3 (20 minutes) Wally Dallenbach hit wall on frontstretch
103–107	Johnny Rutherford crash in turn 2 (10 minutes)
132	Debris in turn 2 (1 minute)
165	Debris in turn 2 (1 minute)
184–191	Cale Yarborough & Mel Kenyon crash in turn 3
193–199	Gordon Johncock crash in turn 4
200	Grim, Hulse, Williams, Tinglestad, Dickson crash on frontstretch (<1 minute)
* – Approximate lap counts

Tire participation chart
Supplier	No. of starters
Goodyear	12*
Firestone	21
* – Denotes race winner

Broadcasting

Radio

The race was carried live on the IMS Radio Network. Sid Collins served as chief announcer for the 16th year. It was Collins' 20th year overall with the crew. Len Sutton served as "driver expert" for the second year. At the conclusion of the race, Lou Palmer reported from victory lane.

The entire on-air crew remained consistent from 1966. The broadcast reached over 900 affiliates including Armed Forces Network, the CBC, and shortwave to Vietnam. The broadcast had an estimated 100 million listeners worldwide. The original broadcast on Tuesday May 30 came on air at 10:30 a.m. local time and was scheduled for four and a half hours, including a 30-minute pre-race segment. When the race was red flagged for rain, the network signed off at 11:45 a.m., and returned for brief weather updates at 12:15 p.m., 12:45 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 2:15 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 3:45 p.m., and 4:15 p.m., at which time the race was officially postponed. During the rain delay on Tuesday, guests to the booth included J. C. Agajanian, Rory Calhoun, as well as Lorne Greene and Michael Landon, both from the TV series Bonanza. Greene and Landon had been grand marshals for the 500 Festival Parade.

On Wednesday May 31, the broadcast came on air at 9:45 a.m. local time, leading up to the 10:00 a.m. resumption. All of the announcers and reporters from Tuesday returned to their assignments for Wednesday. Booth guests on Wednesday included Pete DePaolo, Jim Murray, Tom Harmon, and 500 Festival queen Janice Cruze Bretz. During the post-race, Sid Collins was presented with a Resolution passed by the California State Legislature from State Senator George Deukmejian and Lt. Governor Bob Finch honoring Collins' twentieth year serving on the network.

For 1967, the flagship station changed from WIBC to WTHI in Terre Haute.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Pit/garage reporters
Chief Announcer: Sid Collins Driver expert: Len Sutton Statistician: John DeCamp Historian: Donald Davidson	Turn 1: Mike Ahern Turn 2: Howdy Bell Backstretch: Doug Zink Turn 3: Ron Carrell Turn 4: Jim Shelton	Chuck Marlowe (north) Luke Walton (center) Lou Palmer (south)

Television

The race was carried in the United States on ABC's Wide World of Sports. The broadcast aired on Saturday June 10. Jim McKay anchored the telecast for the first time, with analysts Rodger Ward and pit work from Chris Economaki. The opening featured a brief recap of time trials, followed by edited race coverage.

The broadcast has re-aired on ESPN Classic starting in May 2011.

The race was shown live on MCA closed-circuit television in various theaters across the United States. Charlie Brockman served as anchor.

ABC Television
Booth Announcers	Pit/garage reporters
Announcer: Jim McKay Color: Rodger Ward	Chris Economaki

Topics

• This race featured six former or eventual Formula One World Champions: Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Dennis Hulme, Jochen Rindt, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti
• The NASCAR World 600 was held on Sunday May 28, and the Indy 500 was scheduled for Tuesday May 30. NASCAR driver Lee Roy Yarbrough skips Charlotte and races at Indy. He finishes 27th. Cale Yarborough becomes the first driver to compete in both races in the same year. He finished 41st at Charlotte and 17th at Indy.

Tire participation chart
Supplier	No. of starters
Goodyear	16*
Firestone	17
* - Denotes race winner

Gallery

• 
  Gas turbine-'STP Oil Treatment Special'

Notes

Works cited

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site
• 1967 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network