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Topic starter
26/05/2023 1:49 pm
Here is the 1960 Indy 500 winning Watson Roadster driven by Jim Rathmann and the crew Chief was Smokey Yunick, sadly Takeo "Chickie" Hiroshima took credit as being the crew chief depriving Smokey Yunick being in the record book as the crew chief of this car. Every crew member signed a statement saying that Smokey Yunick was the crew chief and Indy was going to correct the record if Jim Rathmann would say so as well, but Rathmann would not say Smokey was the actual crew chief and Indy never corrected the record. You can look up Smokey's account of this. Funny thing was Chickie Hiroshima was always down in the Roger Ward garage with Watson and every time Smokey did something suddenly Watson would have the same thing, it started with air jacks a first and then it went onto a 4 inch fuel hose, one of the crew members let Smokey know that Hiroshima was down in Watsons garage working on Wards car all the time. Smokey Yunick should be listed as the winning Crew Chief on this car not Chickie Hiroshima.
This topic was modified 4 months ago 2 times by john3976
26/05/2023 2:39 pm
Such a cool looking Indy car! I must confess, I know nothing about the 1:1s, but have a few of these 1/18 vintage Indy racers by CarOusel 1. I've always like this one because of that external "thing." Again, forgive my ignorance but what exactly is that?
Also, if Jim Rathmann raced into the 1990's or attended public events (as a spokesman ) I'm pretty certain I not only met him, but he signed some diecast race cars for me. I'll have to check and post pics.
Pretty cool car & history!
Topic starter
26/05/2023 2:59 pm
The external tank you see on the left side is an oil tank.
As for Jim Rathmann he retired from racing in 1963. He was born in 1928 and died in 2011.
This post was modified 4 months ago by john3976
Topic starter
26/05/2023 3:26 pm
Here the car is with part of my Smokey Yunick collection the Smokey Yunick owned 1962 Watson Roadster is on the hauler with the wing installed. Smokey did not own the number 4 car that was a new team owned by two rich business men. I have read that this car and the Smokey Yunick car are the same car, it was run under Simonize sponsorship in 1961 and as the Vista Special with Smokey Yunick in 1962. It was run by someone else in 1963 and filed to qualify and again by another person in 1964 and the car finished in 8th place. I believe that was the last race for the car at Indy.
Christopher Moroni reacted
26/05/2023 4:03 pm
The external tank you see on the left side is an oil tank.
As for Jim Rathmann he retired from racing in 1963. He was born in 1928 and died in 2011.
Thanks for that info....I figured it was something like that. I like all those vintage Indy variations; they make for cool models.
Well, I do have 7 diecast MIB race trucks (Spicer, WIX, DANA, Perfect Circle sponsors ) all with signatures on them from Joe Ruttman (the actual driver) NOT Jim Rathmann. So, that's who I met in the mid 1990's.
See... I told you I know nothing about these cars! LoL 😳 😳 😳