if wally was'nt dead this woulda killed him

[Rich Biebel]

I began racing seriously in 1966 with a partner and we had a '57 Chevy sedan delivery Jr Stocker. Going to Indy and winning class was like Nirvana to most people that raced back then. Winning the eliminator was not really even what we thought about much. Winning class was huge. That and being a national record holder were the 2 biggest goals for many. Winning an eliminator would also have been big but seemed like a more remote thing to accomplish at a place like Indy. We managed to get to the H/SA ? class final at Indy in 1966 and got a big paper "T" decal on our windshield.....I never removed that "T". Some racers got to go many times and won class many times. In the modern era with so many classes it doesn't mean much. Making a bye run for a class win is pretty meaningless....back in 1966 every class had a lot of cars but there were a lot less classes. Every class winner got torn down and if he was illegal the R/Up got torn down and was given the win if he was found to be legal.....I think there are to many classes and there are a ton of them that should be dropped........Indy should still be class winners and then low qualifiers but cut the number of classes and there are many I personally would drop completely. Nobody wants to watch a pile of slow cars make singles and that is not the way it used to be at Indy......