1984
INDIANAPOLIS 500
"Green Flag at 200"
Plus
"The Hidden Heroes" and "March Into May"
All Three Restored Vintage Films on One DVD!
“Green Flag at
200”, The Hidden Heroes” and “March into May” are three different
vintage films of the 1984 500-mile race, and all three are included in
beautiful COLOR on a new 1 hour, 10 minute DVD from Rare Sportsfilms! “Green Flag at 200”, produced by Championship Racefilms for
Goodyear is the most generic of the three films, with more detailed qualifying,
race and wreck coverage. The second film, “The Hidden Heroes”, also
by Championship but for Miller Brewing, covers the 1984 race and pre-race
Miller Pit Stop Championship. “March Into May” by Car & Track
Productions for Valvoline has more driver interviews and includes a
demonstration of the difference between methanol racing fuel and gasoline. All three films show the 1984 Indy 500, however
each film shows completely different footage of the race and the story of the month
of May leading up to the spectacular classic on Memorial Day!
Beginning with “Green
Flag at 200”, narrated by radio voice of the 500 Paul Page, the DVD
opens by showing practice crashes (Scott Brayton, Steve Chassey and Jacques
Villeneuve) of this year’s cars attempting to run laps at over 200 MPH, and how
the increases in speed thru the years at Indy have made the cars we drive on
the highway safer and more reliable. This
leads into qualifying, with every car in the field this year at over 200 MPH
for the first time in Indy history and Tom Sneva’s pole speed of 210.029
setting a new record! Shown during
their attempts are Rick Mears, rookie Michael Andretti and father Mario, Al
Unser Sr, Sneva, Roberto Guerrero, A.J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford. Also nice
closeup shots of qualifiers Josele Garza, Gordon Johncock, Teo Fabi, Al Unser
Jr, and second place qualifier Howdy Holmes.
Interviews with master mechanic Derrick Walker and Tyler Alexander
explain the increase in speed this year.
Rick Mears takes the early lead
with Tom Sneva 2nd and holds it until his first pit stop after 25
laps, with both Mears and Sneva stops shown.
The first caution of the race is on lap 48 when Spike Gehlhausen spins
in turn two. The most horrific crash is
on lap 58 of the race in the north chute as Pat Bedard spins off the track and
into the earthen bank, the car flipping and ripping apart, coming to rest
upside down with Bedard still in the roll cage! Thankfully, he receives only minor injuries. Afterward there is a series of leaders
including Teo Fabi, Danny Ongais, Al Unser Jr, and Tom Sneva, before Fabi exits
the race with ignition problems. On lap
103, Gordon Johncock spins off the 4th turn, across the track and
into the pit entrance, hits the pit wall and bounces across to the outside pit
wall, ending up in the grassy area with a broken foot and out of the race. Attrition begins to take its toll, as Johnny
Rutherford succumbs to engine failure and Al Unser, Jr. breaks a water line. During a pit stop Mario Andretti rams Josele
Garza on the pit lane and is out with a broken front wing. Tom Sneva must call it quits with a broken
CV joint. With Roberto Guerrero second,
Al Unser Sr. third and rookies Al Holbert and Michael Andretti 4th
and 5th, Rick Mears wins his second Indy after a memorable 500-mile
race!
“The Hidden Heroes",
also by Championship Racefilms and narrated by Paul Page, was commissioned by Miller
Brewing Company of Milwaukee to publicize their sponsorship of the annual
Miller Pit stop Championship held each year before the race. New shots of the ’84 500 open the film, as
Page explains “Although the winning driver gets credit and publicity for the victory,
too often overlooked is the importance of the men of the pit crews of each team
which make possible the winning ride”. Then
a look back at the very first 500 in 1911 when there was little pit strategy and
stops took three minutes and more followed by scenes of the late 1950’s when changes
in racing made a good pit crew more and more important. Take a trip with Jimmy Bryan in the Belond
Special around the Brickyard in 1958 when fire suits and roll bars were
optional and communication was by the old fashioned lap boards. Watch a Parnelli Jones pit stop in 1962 with
scenes of cars now with air jacks. A
series of pit stop disasters of the 1960’s follows and includes the ’67 Turbine
pit mix-up between the Granatelli brothers as well as 1969 leader Lloyd Ruby’s fateful
pit stop. Other problems facing a pit
crew are shown: Roberto Guerrero missing his pit stall and having to go around the
track again, losing precious time and repairs to a car after a practice crash
(Steve Chassey and Jerry Karl). Institution
of the “Mechanic’s Trophy” in the late 1950’s, and finally “modern day” 1984 –
the Miller Pit Stop Championship to finally recognize the top pit crew of the Indy
500. Rick Mears has won the last two,
in ’82 and ’83 and will be trying for three in a row this year. For ’84 the top four race qualifying teams
and four other teams who quality thru a series of playoffs for these other four
spots by individually racing against the clock are eligible. Shown in the preliminaries are Teo Fabi, Al
Holbert and Dick Simon. In the finals
are Tom Sneva vs Tom Gloy, Teo Fabi vs Howdy Holmes, Al Holbert vs Michael
Andretti and Rick Mears vs Dick Simon.
For the Championship, it’s Howdy Holmes vs Michael Andretti. Time-wise Andretti thinks he has lost,
however a lug nut on Holmes’ car was not tightened and the penalty reduces
Holmes to second place, with rookie Michael’s crew the winner for ’84!
“March Into May" by Car & Track Productions for Valvoline is another different film of the 1984 race and opens showing Dick Simon’s #22 March. Bobby Rahal explains why the new March chassis is the “way to go” for many teams this year. Many nice interviews in this one! There are scenes of Pat Patrick’s wind tunnel and Howard Millican talks about the importance of aerodynamics in this year’s race car design. This film has brief scenes of the season-opening ’84 Long Beach Gran Prix and April Phoenix race before all drivers arrive at Indy in May. Sonny Meyer of Pat Patrick Racing talks about the engines they’ll be putting together. Second year Indy driver Al Unser, Jr. relates how thrilled he is to be back and how much racing at Indy already means to him. Bobby Rahall talks about the difference in how young drivers become Indy car drivers today as opposed to the 1960’s when Sprint car driving was the common path to Indy, and Gordon Johncock also shares his view on the subject. There’s an interview with Mario Andretti and son Michael about the mental aspect of getting ready for the 500 and from raceday onward you’ll see many of the drivers close-up including A.J. Foyt, Johncock, Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi and Pancho Carter. Also seen in this film are the cars of drivers Johncock, Al Unser Sr., Herm Johnson, Chip Ganassi, Geoff Brabham, Josele Garza, Derek Daly, Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Danny Sullivan, Michael and Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan, Danny Ongais and Al Holbert. There’s a different angle on the Spike Gehlhausen spin in turn two and during a break in the race, pit stop action is shown with Garza, Al Sr., Gehlhausen, Holbert, Kevin Cogan, Ganassi and others. Any serious Indy 500 racing fan will want to add this DVD to his collection!
Be sure to bookmark my eBay user ID (baseball1a) for future offerings of more vintage sports on high-quality DVD!