The #1 indicates that this car and car owner won the Indy 500 the previous year
(first posted 4/2/2014) Jimmy Bryan won the 1958 Indy 500 driving for car owner/builder George Salih. Salih was an engineer and foreman for Meyer-Drake, the Los Angeles firm that produced the Offenhauser engine that won Indy from 1947 through 1964. In four of those races-1954, ‘55, ‘59 and ‘60, the entire field was made up of Offy power. Only Paul Russo in a Novi, (start 8, fin 33) in ‘56, and again in ‘57 (start 10, fin 4) nosed out Offys in those years.
The car that Bryan drove in ‘58, the Belond AP Exhaust Special, had also won the year before with Sam Hanks, an Indy veteran, behind the wheel. After Hanks accepted his quart of milk in the winner’s circle, he promptly retired from racing.
Salih was the creator of the laydown concept, and he built the chassis for the two 500 winners. The aluminum bodies and fuel tanks were built by another Indy legend, Quin Epperly who had begun his Indy car/sprint car career building aluminum bodies for Frank Kurtis after WWII. Interestingly, Salih’s laydowns won in ‘57 and ‘58 and cars built by Epperly came in second both times. After 1958 a laydown never again won the 500 although both Salih and Epperly remained involved at Indy until 1964.
image: indyroadsters.webs.com
What made the Belond AP Specials unique was the fact that Salih lay the Offy on its side, or nearly so, to achieve a lower center of gravity, as well as endowing the cars with some possible aerodynamic improvements.
image: indyroadsters.webs.com
Not surprisingly this arrangement was known as a “laydown” design. Salih’s laydown won its first two 500s, but that was it. As late as 1962 Bobby Marshman qualified on the outside pole with an Epperly laydown and finished fifth. The last laydown, also an Epperly, qualified 33rd in 1964 and finished 16th in the hands of Bill Cheesbourg. That was the end of the elegant laydowns and the last time a front engine car won (AJ Foyt in a Watson) the 500.
Wowie zowie! Nitrogen!
As a kid I devoured the info published on the back of the photo. One item that particularly intrigued my ten year-old mind was that the tires were filled with nitrogen. Sounded pretty exotic to me. I didn’t realize that what I was inhaling with each breath was about 80% nitrogen.
Its interesting that some tire dealers, such as Costco, make a big deal out of using only nitrogen today. In the days of bias-ply racing tires, chassis tuners did everything they could to keep tire sizes as stable as possible, and one way to do that was to run nitrogen. They probably could have run plain old atmosphere had they put enough driers on the output side of their air compressors, as it’s the water vapor that expands as the tires come up to temperature.
Anyhow, these days with everyone running radials, which don’t grow in diameter to the extent bias-plys did, it’s not as important, but tire dealers and Jay Leno like to pretend that this isn’t the case.
This thing sits right in front of me on my desk
About a year ago Replicars announced a 1/18 replica of the Bryan/Salih 1958 Indy winner. I generally don’t collect cars this big-parking has become a problem, nor this expensive, but I’d been in love with this car since my dad gave me the Mobil promotional photo many years ago. So I bought it.
The Offy
The detail on the car is commensurate with the cost, so I guess it was worth it.
George Salih financed the construction of the car out of his own pocket but was fired from Meyer-Drake for spending too much time at Indy. Salih died in 1984 just short of his 70th birthday. He is a member of the Racing Hall of Fame.
More of the Offy
Jimmy Bryan died in 1960 at the age of 34 of injuries sustained at the Langhorne Speedway just north of Philadelphia, a fast but treacherous one-mile dirt oval, while driving a USAC Champ Car.
Bryan is a member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in part for his winning the Race of Two Worlds at Monza, Italy in 1957.
Demler Special #99 driven by George Amick, finished second in the ‘58 Indy 500 (IMS photo)
There has been confusion as to who built the car that Hanks and Bryan drove to wins in the ‘57 and ‘58 Indy 500. Some sources claim that Quin Epperly was the builder, as he indeed was for the Demler Spl that finished second in the ‘58 500. But in correspondence with Phil Reilly, a noted restorer of Indy and Formula 1 cars, Reilly emphatically states that the Belond Spl was built in Salih’s home garage in Whittier, CA. Epperly did contribute sheet metal work (aluminum) such as the oil tank, seat and body, but the concept for the laydown and the construction was all Salih. Salih and Epperly worked closely together and Epperly had Salih’s permission to build his own version of the laydown, as evidenced by the Demler Spl. and a number of other, later, laydowns.
The Demler Special at Laguna Seca (Phil Reilly photo)
Reilly and his staff restored this car prior to its appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1998.
The bark of an Offy is memorable. It’s a bucket list item. Find one. Listen to it. Die happy.
1962 Indy 500 Front Row (KLM Collection)
This photo gives a good indication of a laydown, in this case the #54 Epperly driven by Bobby Marshman, relative to the Watson dinosaurs. Marshman qualified on the outside pole at 149.347 mph and finished 5th; #3 Rodger Ward in a Watson qualified in the middle of the front row at 149.371 mph and won the race; and Parnelli Jones in the #98, also a Watson, qualified on the pole at 150.370 mph and finished 7th. Parnelli was the first driver to qualify at over 150 mph and would win the 500 in 1963.
Two Epperly Laydowns in the Phil Reilly stable (Phil Reilly photo)
Phil Reilly in the blue shirt has a soft spot for the Laydowns as he has two in his collection. The #33 Bignotti-Bowes Spl was driven to a 6th place finish by Johnny Boyd in 1959. The #5 Bignotti-Bowes Spl was driven to a 25th place finish in 1960 by A.J. Foyt.
The #5 began life in 1959 as a Kurtis laydown and was driven at Indy by Jud Larson. Larson only qualified the car 19th and was caught up in a four-car wreck on lap 45 finishing 29th. Following the race the car was sent to Epperly’s shop in California where it received a new frame and bodywork forward of the seatback along with an Epperly front axle and steering. In 1960 A.J. Foyt qualified the car 16th and finished 25th at the 500 when the clutch gave out. Later that year Foyt finished 2nd in both Milwaukee races and 3rd at Trenton, the only other paved tracks on the USAC trail other than Indy.
#5 Bignotti-Bowes Seal Fast Spl rides again (Phil Reilly photo)
Reilly just doesn’t rebuild and restore vintage race cars, he also drives them. Reilly’s shop is in Corte Madera, Marin Co., CA, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I would like to thank Phil Reilly for the time he has taken to answer my questions, the insight he provided, and for the photos that he supplied.
Check out Phil’s web site: http://www.philreillycompany.com
A detailed technical comparison of the “laydown” and upright roadsters is here
I know so little about this sport apart from the word ‘Offy’ and the few F1 drivers who dared compete. It’s interesting that reduction of frontal area is one of the things that put the Lotus ahead of the Cooper in the early sixties a bit later than this innovation in the US. Colin Chapman’s version of laydown was to have his drivers lying almost with their chins on their chests. This seemed to have more influence on F1 than Salih did in Indy. Great article on a small but fascinating pocket of automotive history. Look forward to more stuff like this. Cheers.
Actually, there was little or no real reduction in total frontal area, as the article I linked to at the bottom makes clear. Although the frontal area in the front appears to be lower, the cumulative frontal area (cross section) including the driver’s compartment and tail shows little or no improvement.
That article does a nice job of analyzing the various aspects of the laydown and upright roadsters. It’s clear that the laydown’s advantages were rather ephemeral, as its success was not consistent. It was more of a fad, which came and went several times, whenever a laydown would have a big win. But in the end, the upright roadsters continued to dominate.
Yep, my understanding is that brute consistent power was the key thing for Indy. Equally the most significant gains for Chapman during his first stage of F1 ascendancy were found in weight reduction with the monocoque tub and engine as a stressed member. Eventually Lotus succeeded at Indy and changed things, but I love the primal nature of these Indy beasts. It reminds me of the elbows out Nuvolari period.
Another good one, Kevin. Your trove of photos is a real treasure. I love the way the car was lubricated by Mobiloil and Mobilube. It was evidently too powerful for Mobilgas, but I wonder why it was not Mobilracingfuel?
The other sponsor is a favorite of mine too, Bowes Sealfast. This little company is still in business in Indianapolis, providing supplies and equipment for commercial tire repair, wheel balancing, and other things. They were a huge Indy sponsor back then for quite a number of years.
“It was evidently too powerful for Mobilgas, but I wonder why it was not Mobilracingfuel?”
Because Mobil didn’t make ethanol which is what all of the cars at Indy that year used. With a 14.5/1 compression ratio, the Offy would have holed its pistons running the gasoline available at the time, even Mobil Super.
Not ETHANOL !!!! METHONOL !!! JUST PLAIN OLD ALKY !!!!
The Indianapolis 500 back then was a much more interesting race than it is today, because at that time you had the freedom to invent whatever you wanted that fit within the rules template (size, wheelbase, weight, a few other factors), and what worked, won.
Today, Indy is just a spec car race, everybody running the same chassis with a choice of three (two? I know Chevrolet and Honda, thought there was another) engines. Sorry, that’s the reason I can’t really get into the Indy series all that much.
I agree. I grew up in Indianapolis and attended my first race in 1963 at the tender age of 11 years old. Watched the race from the old wooden grandstand in the south short straightaway (Grandstand D). Parnelli won that race with Jimmy Clark right on his tail. At the time, the rear engine Lotus cars were called “funny cars” by the American race fans. I agree, that in many ways, the race was much more interesting. The entire month of May was more interesting than it is now. However, I do grant that the races are much more competitive today. Many of the races back in the day were not very close between first and second place. As a youngster I loved the Belond Special. I must have drawn a couple of hundred of them and had a plastic version my mother bought me at the Speedway Museum. I also own a three-foot long (3-panel) photo of the start of the very first Indy 500 in 1911. It is an awesome picture! Sorry for the glare on the attached picture.
In 1961 or so I bought a copy of “Rod and Custom” with a spoof of the laydown. It described a new car with a “countersunk Offy” which lowered the C of G even more. Of course, you could only run it “in the groove” at Indy, since the inverted motor made the ground clearance a negative amount.
Kevin: That’s a great story. Seems that you are as hung up on Indy cars and Bonneville as I am on old bikes. Great story and if I knew about the lay downs I had forgotten. When I see your name I always know I’m going to enjoy the story.
Hope you plan something on the Offy engine someday. Never figured why it was so dominant when others (chev/novi) put in so much effort. Doesn’t seem to have any characteristics that others couldn’t adopt. Keep them coming as you stir up old memories.
I’m not sure that the data on the back of the picture above doesn’t understate the Offy’s power somewhat. Perhaps it was farther along than the late 1950’s but most of the natually aspirated Offenhausers would have had 400+ horsepower. Later, when they started using turbochargers, the Offy was good for over 700 horsepower. Eventually the Ford-Cosworth took over and dominated the USAC open-wheel events but the Offenhauser didn’t go away for good until the early 1980’s; Gordon Johncock recorded the final Offy victory at Trenton in 1978.
+1 on the Offy story
I’m not aware of any consistent effort by Chevy at Indy. And the Novis just were too complicated, and could never last the duration.
The Meyer Drake dominated because it was rugged, had perfect torque/powerband for oval racing, and was used so universally, so that lots of combined efforts in improving its reliability and power output kept it dominant.
Engines (and cars) were a huge and risky “investment” back then, and using a MD was a way to drastically reduce the odds of failing or blowing up. It took a new generation of engines starting with the ford V8 to slowly erode that dominance.
Lee,
One of the reasons, if not the main reason the Offy was so successful, is that it was designed as a race engine from day one, not a hot rodded street engine. World of difference. A driver/owner/head mechanic could run an Offy for an entire season with little more than plugs, valve adjustments and oil changes (and of course, replacing all the nasty bits that ethanol chewed up). At the end of a season you could ship the long block back to Offy for a rebuild for surprisingly little money. The Offy was a very torquey engine which was a prime requirement for accelerating off the corners at Indy as well as the dirt tracks that made up the majority of the USAC Trail. Leo Goosen, designed what became the Offy while working for Harry Miller in the early ’30s. That engine basically followed the format that Peugeot successfully raced at Indy in 1914. Goosen also deigned the Novi engine in 1941, but by the time racing at Indy resumed in 1946 after WWII, it had benefitted from very little real world development. For an excellent, hands-on account of running Novi’s at Indy read “They Call Me Mr. 500” by Andy Granatelli.
Thanks again Kevin.
Look at the arms on those drivers (with safe-T shirts natch!) I think it’s real work to drive one of these fast.
I’d crash in the first turn: Can’t….turn….wheel….Boom!”
That 1:18 scale Belond A-P Special is beautiful!
Fantastic article, Kevin. I never knew about the laydown cars.
The Belond car was indeed built in George’s garage in Whittier. My 88 year young Dad helped George & Howard Gilbert on the car with a couple others helping. in 1957 George told my older brother to get in and steer it into the trailer.. (first inclosed trailer) mind you… I was standing on the fender as the car with my brother was pushed on……. Sam Hanks called me ” HEY KID ” and Jimmy Bryan called me ‘ lil Offy ” what an honor !!!!!
In February 1957 my friend and I rode our bicycles to George’s house in Whittier, to see his race car. We lived in PicoRivera, about 15 miles away. We learned he was building a race car for Indy and we wanted to see it! We were 12 years old. We knocked on his door and his wife answered the door an asked what we wanted? We said, “we came to see the Racecar”? She said, “wait a minute”. George came to the door and said, “High guys, I hear your looking for a Racecar”? We said, Great! He took us to the garage and there it was, sitting on 3 saw horses, just the frame, parts of body, fuel tank,axles,seat,steering wheel,windshield and part of the engine.He told us about the car and answered all our questions. He IMMEDIATELY became our Hero!
When I enrolled at Cerritos College in 1962, George use to stop at the Chevron station I worked at partime on Washington Blvd., and filled up his car with the “500” license plate he always had every year! He Never forgot the “kid” that wanted to SEE his Racecar!
The main reason the Meyer Drake could take so much cylinder pressure was that there was no head gasket – indeed, there was no head! The cylinders and the “head” were made up of one piece, bolted to the crankcase. I was a high school boy when George built the car in his garage, we lived nearby and I went through school from the 7th grade on with Nanette.
Thanks for the pictures and the article. I wonder if the single tail fin that the Hanks/Bryan car used deserves some of the credit for that car’s success. It worked well for the D Jaguar at Le Mans and it seems to be a must for Formula One today. At the time, it was dismissed as a ‘style’ item, but its disappearance on later Epperly cars may account for their relative lack of success.
I’m a Indy 500 fan and have attended every race since 1991. My favorite cars are the roadsters from the fifties and sixties. I have a question–does anybody have the address of the Salih home on Milliken Ave in Whittier, California where the car was built? Thanks.
I must have missed this one previously, and am grateful for the nice read tonight. I paid zero attention to the Indy scene until age 10, when Lotus & Ford showed up 1963-64-65. I could see that these new designs sat lower, but only now realize how much *lighter* they were.
That’s now “55 years ago” and the vigorous young men in the period photos are gone or quite elderly now . Time marches on!
Didnt Cummins have a lay down diesel engine to run at Indy?
Yes, Frank Kurtis built the 1952 Cummins Diesel Special as a lay down engine design. Part of that was due to the engine Cummins chose (derived from a bus engine, IIRC) being so tall there was no way to install it upright and get anything less than the aerodynamics of an apartment building. It was also the first turbocharged engine to run at Indianapolis. There are two stories as to why it fell out of the 1952 Indianapolis 500 after being the Pole Position winner:
1) The aforementioned turbocharger had to be placed at the front of the car, and it acted like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up dirt and debris until it clogged up, dropping the car from the race.
2) I’ve read that upon post race tear down of the engine, either the crankshaft had cracked or was going to crack and the car would have dropped from the race anyway.
In either case reports had the car smoking more heavily than it normally did before it finally retired. The car is at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame and gets exhibited from time to time,