By Jan Shaffer
redbullindianapolisgp.com
Monday, September 1, 2008
He has a list of diverse accomplishments that compare with almost anyone ever in motorsports.
He was a champion, winner, leader or all three on two wheels or four.
Yet, when it comes to mentioning the top racers of his era, sometimes, curiously, his name doesn't come up.
"Nine more laps, and I'd probably be more famous, I guess," Joe Leonard said in July 2008.
Those nine laps came in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. Leonard had qualified Andy Granatelli's turbine car on the pole at the track-record speed of 171.559 mph. He was leading with nine laps to go when a fuel pump shaft broke, putting him out of contention for his likeness on the Borg-Warner Trophy.
He is the only racer who won both back-to-back national motorcycle championships (1956-57) and national Indy-car championships (1971-72). In all, he won the motorcycle title three times and was runner-up four times before moving on to vehicles with four wheels.
"Today is so much better for youngsters," said Leonard, 73, from his home in San Jose, Calif. "They have armor on their elbows, shoulders, wrists. In our day, we wore T-shirts. My best year in being the U.S. National Champion, I made $13,600. A dollar was a dollar."
It has been a long time between 1954, when Leonard won the first national motorcycle race in history at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and this year's Red Bull Indianapolis GP at the Speedway.
"Any time anything happens like that at the Speedway, it's enhanced," Leonard said. "Over in Europe, those young men have 4- or 5-mile courses and they run over 200 (mph). And the tires must be phenomenal for them to lean over that much.
"Thirty-six seconds on a mile track is right at 100 miles an hour," he added. "I was lapping at about 36.3 at Langhorne (oval), and I pulled the knobs right off the tires. We were just flying around there smooth as silk."
After winning 27 national championship motorcycle races, Leonard moved on to midgets and modifieds. In 1963, he won the NASCAR Pacific Coast Dirt Championship in modifieds and also claimed Rookie of the Year honors. In 1964, he moved into USAC stock cars and was Rookie of the Year in that division, a year in which he started driving national championship cars.
In his career in the "big cars," he drove for, among others, Parnelli Jones and Vel Miletich, Dan Gurney, Granatelli, Smokey Yunick and A.J. Foyt.
"My grandfather used to take me to the midget races," Leonard said of his start of interest in racing. "I saw Bill Vukovich, Jimmy Bryan, Manny Ayulo, and they all went on to the Speedway.
"One day, a guy told me: 'You run good on a bike. How would you do in a midget?' I got a chance.
"A motorcycle is very narrow. My handlebars, tip-to-tip, were 26 inches wide, so if a gap was there that was wider than that, I'd go through. It took me awhile in the midgets because they were considerably wider than 26 inches. From the midgets, I went to modifieds, and the tires alone were 16 inches wide.
"I asked different guys along the way. Earl Motter knew Elmer George real well and was bumping into different people. Then Dan Gurney was starting a team."
And Leonard's first Speedway ride was in 1965 with Gurney's All-American Racers. Before his career ended, he had wins at both Pocono and Ontario, Calif., in 500-milers to his credit and beat A.J. Foyt for the 1971 championship and Bill Vukovich Jr. in 1972.
Leonard's only return to Indianapolis in recent years was for a lap of honor during the month of May with other Indy luminaries.
During his racing days at the Speedway, motorcycles were part of the fun of the times. Leonard recalled that, when his team would be working on the car for long periods during practice, he had a motorcycle on the infield and he'd go to the administration building and pick up Speedway staff members and give them rides through the infield to pass the time.
Leonard would like to attend the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP. The Speedway still holds a special place in his heart. And he'd like to return to the Indiana State Fairgrounds for the AMA Flat Track Championship race scheduled for Saturday night, Sept. 13, the night before the MotoGP race at IMS. After all, he won the first Flat Track race there.
"I almost get wet eyes every year when they sing 'Back Home in Indiana' before the '500,' Leonard said. "My grandfather told me when I was little. He said, "Jody -- he called me Jody -- someday I think you'll be there."
He was, and made his mark.
***
Red Bull Indianapolis GP tickets: Tickets are on sale for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14, 2008.
Tickets can be purchased either online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time; on the phone by calling (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or (317) 492-6700 locally between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday; or visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office on the first floor of the IMS Administration Building at 4790 W. 16th St. in Indianapolis from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
All tickets for this event are three-day tickets, with both reserved and general admission seating available.
| Red Bull Indianapolis GP Talkback | Post Comment |
|
|
|