Nigel Mansell makes his highly anticipated debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 12, 1993 in practice for the "Indianapolis 500"  

photos by Bob Jennings

The motor sports adventure produces many favorites. Favorite races, favorite race tracks, favorite race cars, favorite racing drivers, they all combine to make racing our favorite. If you are taking the time to read this, racing probably ranks high on your list of priorities too. That's why I use the word "our." 

Let's focus on favorite drivers here but still let our mind wander in the meantime. 

What is it with certain competitors which make them special to us? The package of elements, which combine to make particular racers the object of attention when they climb into a racing machine, contains a large variety of components. 

My earliest racing hero Tony Bettenhausen, the Tinley Park Express, came to me in a strange way. 

The race that "hooked" me on the sport of speed was the 1955 "Indianapolis 500," which I listened to on local Indianapolis radio. That was the race which claimed the life of the mighty Bill Vukovich, as he was charging towards what appeared to be a record third consecutive Indianapolis victory. 

Unfortunately Vukovich was racing more quickly towards death than the checkered flag at the end of 500 miles at Indianapolis. 

Less than one hour into the 1955 race at "Indy," Vuky's medium shade metallic blue Hopkins Special number 4 was well in front of the field, but had nowhere to go coming out of turn two on lap 57. A three car melee occurred near the old over head bridge at the south end of the backstretch that was directly in Vukovich's path. The 1953 and 1954 "500" winner had no time to do anything other than follow his line.

Moments later his race car made contact with the wreckage and rolled over innumerable times, flipping end over end out of the track. The airborne Vukovich car hit a police vehicle during the violence. The result was the mysterious racer from Fresno, California was "partially" decapitated when his body was thrown like a "rag doll" against the high speed forces opposing it. 

This may sound gruesome, but the death of Bill Vukovich has always carried a mystique that requires the use of provocative phrases that evoke vivid images from within me. What does partially decapitated mean? 

Here is the way it plays out for me. Bill Vukovich was so fast in his era that anything less than violent death while attempting the most significant accomplishment of his life, an unprecedented third consecutive victory in the "Indianapolis 500," would have been almost out of character.

Bill Vukovich would be in his mid eighties now if he hadn't been killed at "Indy" on May 30, 1955. If he appeared at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a senior citizen Speedway "old timer" in May 2003, he would be a gray shadow of the dark sided "phantom" son of Russians who migrated to Fresno, California. I have difficulty visualizing the man who ruled the "Indianapolis 500" like no man before or since standing with us as a senior citizen.

I honestly can't recall the name Tony Bettenhausen moving into my stream of consciousness while I listened to the ill fated 1955 "500" on the radio and then pondered the violence and tragedy of that event for days and weeks later. Bettenhausen actually finished second with relief help from Paul Russo, but apparently Tony didn't play enough of a role in the outcome of the race to warrant my attention.  

In early July 1955, I became a patient in the old St. Vincent Hospital at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Fall Creek Parkway, north of downtown Indianapolis. I nearly bled to death when I shattered my just turned nine year old nose in a racing accident of my own. 

On a beautiful mid summer Saturday evening, a neighbor boy and school mate Billy Davies and I took our bicycles to the top of the steep hill on east 77th Street, about one half mile from Westfield Boulevard, which is midway between Nora and Broad Ripple on the north side of Indianapolis.   

I was riding a "beauty," a black 26 inch high Hercules English racer which I received the previous Christmas from Santa Claus. Billy had a more sensible Huffy with wider tires than my stream lined snappy import. 

I was flying when I approached the bottom of the hill. But the road was "pock marked" by numerous chuckholes, caused by the annual Spring floods which occurred when nearby White River overflowed its banks. I hit one of those "gorges." My bike went down hard in a flurry of bent wheels, twisted handle bars, scraped and cut human flesh and a hard blow to the front of my little boy's face.

I drew a crowd of onlookers as I got up from my crash with blood gushing out of my nose to the point the nearby residents who came to help, were frightened by the sight of a nine year old kid hemorrhaging like he'd been shot at close range by a long range rifle. 

Billy rushed to get help and within minutes my parents and the Davies family arrived. I can still recall the look on my mom's face when she saw her boy bleeding to death. I was quickly taken to the office of our local doctor, George Sellmer, at the corner of Westfield Boulevard and 86th Street, which was then commonly referred to as Indiana Route 100. 

Dr. Sellmer, a close family friend, was alarmed when he couldn't get my bleeding to stop. The next thing I remember is being taken to the emergency room at St. Vincent. After that, I recall awakening the following morning with my parents and paternal grandparents, Raymond and Millie Jennings, at my bedside. 

The doctors at St. Vincent managed to stop my bleeding and I went to surgery a couple days later to have my nose rebuilt. I was under anesthetic and in the operation room for five or six hours. That must have driven my parents, especially my mom, crazy with fear and concern.  

I don't remember exactly how long I stayed in the hospital after my surgery, maybe one week, maybe longer. I recall being terribly home sick and desperate to get out of that place. My face was covered with metal casts, surgical tape, gauze and antiseptic. My daily routine included receiving countless penicillin injections (which terrified me) two or three times a day, sounds of night time wailing and agony from fellow patients, boring hospital food and daily visits from my parents, that ended each time with my tearful pleas to take me home.

Each day my folks would bring gifts. By the time I left St. Vincent, I amassed a haul comparable to (if not exceeding) what I usually received on Christmas morning. The gift which made the largest impression was a copy of the 1954 edition of Floyd Clymers' annual "Indianapolis 500" yearbook.

I read the Clymer "500" yearbook from cover to cover, word for word, line by line, studying all the text and photos so intently that by the end of my hospital stay, I doubled and perhaps tripled my early knowledge of the "Indianapolis 500" acquired from the radio broadcast of the 1955 event and from the coverage featured in editions of The Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News in the days that followed. 

The Clymer book covered the second of Bill Vukovich's two "500" victories. Of course Vuky was gone by the time I began my research of the 1954 race. So I decided I needed a new driver who was still alive to cheer for. How about my Florida "widow-like" pragmatism? It's pretty good for a nine year old - right?

As I lay in my hospital bed, I read through the biographies appearing in the Clymer "500" book, about  the drivers participating in the previous year's race, when a photo of Tony Bettenhausen caught my eye. 

Bettenhausen drove the cream colored number Mel Wiggers Special Kurtis Kraft KK500C - Offy in the 1954 "500." I used to have a large post card with a color photo of Bettenhausen's official qualifying pose in the Mel Wiggers car. I recall there was a large gold number 10 painted on the front of the car, imposed over a prominent, oversized image of the traditional Mobil (oil) symbolic Flying Red Horse.       

Actually the Chapman Special number 10, that Tony Bettenhausen drove to second in the 1955 "500," was that same Mel Wiggers Special from the previous year's race. The car, in it's Chapman Special teal blue with red trim colors, is preserved in the annals of racing history in a 1/18 scale die cast model licensed by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and sold in the IMS gift shops.

Bettenhausen's performance at Indianapolis in May 1954 wasn't good. Tony qualified 21st with a speed average of 138.270 mph. He was out of the race after 105 laps with wheel bearing problems and finished only twenty ninth. 

However, just by reading everything I could find about Bettenhausen in the Clymer book, I learned that despite his lack of success in the "Indianapolis 500," Tony was considered one of the leading talents in American motor sports. For instance, the life long resident of Tinley Park, Illinois was the 1951 National Champion race driver after winning a record nine big car (Indy car) events during his championship season.

Perhaps the quality that most drew me to Tony Bettenhausen was the wide grin flashing from the old style "Cromwell helmet and goggles" portrait featured in the Clymer annual. The photo of Bettenhausen published in my book was an early career pose.

By the time I left St. Vincent in July 1955, I made my choice. My favorite racer was veteran competitor Melvin Eugene "Tony" Bettenhausen (age 38) from Tinley Park, Illinois, which is located in the far southwest suburbs of metropolitan Chicago. 

My devotion to Tony Bettenhausen was my racing priority until his fatal accident on May 12, 1961 at the south end of the main straightaway at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one day before the opening of qualifications for the 1961 "Indianapolis 500." 

If practice speeds were any indication, Bettenhausen was the clear favorite to win pole position for the 1961 "500" and likely become the first driver to exceed the one minute lap, 150 mph barrier at the 2.5 mile "world's greatest race course." Perhaps the fast white and day glow red Lindsey Hopkins Autolite Special Quinn Epperly design lay down Offy roadster number 5 would have been the car to finally carry Bettenhausen to victory at Indianapolis in his fifteenth attempt.

I was pleased with Len Sutton's nine leading laps and second place finish in the 1962 "Indianapolis 500." Sutton is a first class guy and if he hadn't been hurt badly at Milwaukee immediately following the 1962 "500," he might have been on the verge of some big things in racing. 

However the next racer to really grab me was the "Flying Scot" Jim Clark. I became intrigued with the 26 year old driver during the 1962 Grand Prix season, when he won three events (Belgium, Britain and the United States) and finished second to Graham Hill for the 1962 World Championship in his second full season of Formula One.  

Then I became mesmerized by Jim Clark during the 1963 "Indianapolis 500," when Jimmy's Lotus - Ford grabbed the lead on lap 68 and held first place through the 95th lap. Despite finishing second to Parnelli Jones, Jim Clark became my object of focus until his heartbreaking and untimely death in a crash during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim on April 7, 1968.

After his dominant "Indianapolis 500" victory in 1965, a total 298 competitive leading laps in front at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, two second place "500" finishes, pole position for the 1964 Memorial Day classic, two World Championships (1963 and 1965) and twenty five Formula One victories in 72 career starts, Jim Clark achieved an almost God like stature in the eyes of the racing world during the mid to late 1960s. 

The reticent, modest farmer from the southern Scottish low border land was the perfect race driver in my eyes. Clark combined speed, precision and aggression in an artistic balance. I have seen most of the great race driving talents of the past 48 years. Jim Clark was the very best ever and I'm talking about any other driver you can think of. 

1966 was an important year in my racing history. Although I was primarily caught up in the glamour of Jim Clark, two drivers from diverse backgrounds who were at the start of their major league racing endeavors, caught my attention when I wasn't watching Clark try to defend his 1965 "Indy" win.

Al Unser was making his second attempt at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1966, after finishing ninth in the 1965 "Indianapolis 500." For the 1966 "500," the youngest racing Unser brother was recruited by Andy Granatelli to team with defending "Indy" champions Team Lotus, Colin Chapman and Jim Clark. Granatelli was putting his money on Team Lotus in 1966 and "fat Andy" signed "Baby Al" to race the second STP Lotus - Ford.  

Jackie Stewart appeared on the Formula One scene in 1965. After he scored his initial Formula One victory in the 1965 Grand Prix of Italy and because he was also a Scot, Stewart drew constant comparisons with Jim Clark, similar to the what happened with Tony Stewart when he joined NASCAR in 1999. I'm talking about the "next Jeff Gordon" thing Tony went through earlier in his career.

Unser and Stewart both had brief tastes of prominence in the 1966 "Indianapolis 500." 

Al was running second to leader Lloyd Ruby when he crashed the day glow red (with a white racing stripe) number 18 STP Oil Treatment Lotus - Ford on lap 161. Running behind Ruby (who would drop out five laps later) and Unser were Stewart, eventual race winner Graham Hill and Jim Clark. Obviously Al made a good run in his second start in the "Indianapolis 500," a glimpse of the history to come.    

After Ruby left the race, the 27 year old Scot rookie Stewart, who won the Grand Prix of Monaco one week earlier, assumed the lead of the 1966 "500" and looked a certain winner until the Bowes Seal Fast Lola - Ford number 43 lost oil pressure and quit with only ten laps remaining. 

So positive was the impression left by Stewart on the Indianapolis crowd that Jackie was selected the race's rookie of the year, despite the fact he finished sixth, while fellow rookie, "500" (John Mecom team) and F1 teammate (BRM ) Graham Hill actually won the race. 

Al Unser later became my all time favorite racer. He wasn't as talented as Jim Clark. But Al Unser was my "all time" guy, my primary racing focus from 1968 (after Clark's death) through at least 1989. Al Unser was almost like a member of my family. I don't know Al, but I have spoken to him on a few occasions over the years and each time it felt like I was talking to a life long friend.

Unlike some drivers, Unser didn't over drive a racing car. If the car was junk, Al would give it the best ride he could and that was probably better than any one else could do. But if the machine was anything close to being decent, Unser would find a way to win. If the car was fast, Al Unser could kick ass well into his fifties. Think about someone like Al Unser in today's world of ever younger racing stars. That almost seems impossible in the current era of major players in their early to mid twenties.

Sometimes I was disappointed in Al's performance on the race track. I recall that in summer 1975, my cherished friend John Dailey called Al Unser "king of the second pack." But Unser gave me my biggest racing thrill when he won his fourth "Indianapolis 500" in 1987. The times Al was leading a race or on the way to winning rank among my favorites.   

When all the stats for the "Indianapolis 500" are examined, Al Unser Sr. comes out as the most successful driver in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Not only did "Big Al" win the "500" four times, he is also the all time competitive lap leader in the 87 year history of the "greatest spectacle in racing."  Unser had thirteen top five finishes at Indianapolis, including second place finishes in 1967, 1972 and 1983. Al had fifteen top ten finishes in the "500" as well. 

A side by side comparison of Al Unser's Indianapolis statistics with those compiled by A.J. Foyt reveal that my guy had the better run.

Al Unser had a career total of 39 Indy car victories, from his first start at Milwaukee in 1964, through his final race, the 1993 "Indianapolis 500." Along the way, "Big Al" was Indy car champion three times. 

The first title came in 1970, when Unser drove his Vel Miletich - Parnelli Jones Johnny Lightning cars to first place in ten of eighteen races. Foremost among Al's wins in his "career" season (1970) was his first win at Indianapolis, leading 190 of 200 laps. Unser's second and third Indy car championships came during the 1983 and 1985 CART seasons, when Al drove full time for Roger Penske.  

Perhaps the most spectacular achievement of Al Unser's career came in 1978, driving the First National City Traveler's Checks Chaparral Lola - Cosworth for Jim Hall. Unser was somewhat of a surprise but powerful winner in the "Indianapolis 500," leading 121 laps on the way to his third "Indy" victory. To follow up his big win in May, Al also drove Hall's patriotically painted "American flag" blue, white and red number 2 Lola to victory in the season's other two 500 mile races at Pocono and Ontario Motor Speedway. 

That's the only time a single driver has done a sweep of each 500 mile race on the Indy car schedule, back in the years when there was more than one 500 miler on the Indy car schedule. 

When Jim Clark was killed in April 1968, Jackie Stewart almost immediately inherited my Formula One focus. Cheering for Stewart was a lot like what I experienced with Clark. 

Of all the racers I have seen, Jackie comes closest to matching Jim's excellence behind the wheel of a racing car. The style was very similar. Both Clark and Stewart had the ability to overwhelm the competition with sheer speed and race dominating strategy. Each Scot as often as not grabbed the lead of a race at the start and then controlled the pace to the finish. 

It was fitting that Stewart would surpass Clark's all time Grand Prix winning mark in his final season in 1973, with 27 victories in 99 career Formula One starts. 

Jackie Stewart and Ken Tyrrell waged war during the late 1960s and early seventies with Colin Chapman (who Stewart privately blamed for the death of his close friend Clark) and Team Lotus. 

After Clark's death, Graham Hill carried on and took Team Lotus to the 1968 World title, winning by twelve points over championship runner up Stewart's Tyrrell Matra - Ford, with each driver scoring three victories apiece. 

In 1969, Jackie's French blue Elf Tyrrell Matra - Ford dominated, winning six of eleven events. However by season end, Jochen Rindt was getting closer to Stewart's pace as the new recruit for Team Lotus.

The following season, Rindt was the man to beat in the new, revolutionary wedge shape Lotus 72, winning five races in the season's first nine events. Jochen was killed in a practice crash the day before the 1970 Grand Prix of Italy. But the German born Austrian had been so dominant that despite the fact there were four events following his death, Rindt won the World Championship posthumously.

After winning the 1969 championship, Stewart and his racing partner Ken Tyrrell split with the French Matra organization. Matra wanted to run with it's own V12 engine while Jackie and Ken were strongly associated with Ford Motor Company. So the decision was made to race the new March Formula One chassis, painted in Ford Motor Company oval blue in 1970 until a top secret Tyrrell chassis was completed later in the season.

Jackie won the second Formula One race of the 1970 season in Spain for his only victory, although he dominated the Grand Prix of the United States at Watkins Glen in October, at the wheel of a brand new "T nose" Tyrrell - Ford. Stewart led the first 82 laps of the 108 lap race before an oil leak ended the defending World Champion's bid for victory.  

In 1971 everything went positively for Stewart and Elf Team Tyrrell again. Jackie's deep blue Tyrrells won six of eleven races, just as in 1969, and was a runaway winner of a second F1 World championship.

For 1972, it was again Team Lotus that reigned supreme in Grand Prix competition. Emerson Fittipaldi, who sealed Jochen Rindt's posthumous championship with the 1970 win at Watkins Glen (in only his fourth F1 start), after Stewart's Tyrrell 001 dropped out of the race while leading, became the youngest World Champion in Formula One history, winning five times during 1972 in the black with gold trim John Player Special Lotus 72 - Fords.

Stewart wasn't far behind Fittipaldi however in 1972, despite losing the title by sixteen points to Emmo. Jackie won four races, including victories in the two final events at Mosport and Watkins Glen.

In 1973, it was time for Stewart and Tyrrell to prevail again in the alternating Jackie Stewart - Team Lotus battle for Formula One supremacy. While the Scot won five of thirteen races in the blue Tyrrell - Ford, Colin Chapman's Lotuses won seven times with 1972 champion Fittipaldi taking three of the first four races of the season and new teammate Ronnie Peterson winning four times, including three       victories in the season's final four events.

After Elf Team Tyrrell's number two driver Francois Cevert was killed in practice for the season's final event at Watkins Glen, the Tyrrell - Fords were withdrawn in respect to the French driver. Jackie Stewart made his racing retirement public one week later. A few days after that, it was announced the Scot's replacement would be South Africa's Jody Scheckter, a 23 year old who had made a total of six Formula One starts prior to that time.        

I heard the rumors throughout summer 1973 that Stewart was retiring at the end of the 1973 season. I would've preferred that Jackie run in 1974 in an attempt to bring his Grand Prix win total to thirty victories. 

Generally however, I was essentially satisfied with Jackie Stewart's racing accomplishments. There was that glaring omission in the three time World Champion's resume that he failed to match Jim Clark's 1965 "Indianapolis 500." At the same time, I rationalize that disappointment with the reality that a concentrated effort by Stewart to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway beyond his two starts in the 1966 and 1967 races, might have been an obstacle to Al Unser when he scored the first two of four "Indy" wins in 1970 and 1971.

Perhaps it was appropriate that my "allegiance" to Jim Clark was divided between Al Unser and Jackie Stewart when the Flying Scot was lost at Hockenheim on April 7, 1978.          

After Al Unser was relegated to part time status by Roger Penske, following the 1985 CART championship season, I began to look to Al Unser Jr. at the events where his dad wasn't competing. That blossomed into a situation where I stood and cheered for Little Al at a lot of races over the next eighteen years. The situation is still in effect today and Junior's career is heavily documented in image and text throughout this web site.

The other racer who receives the most attention on Bob Jennings' World O' Racing, along with Al Unser Jr., is Tony Stewart. For now, I'll sort of slip by those two while I draw a link between three other race drivers who have attracted a lot of high speed attention from yours truly then and now.

I don't want to fail to mention NASCAR favorites David Pearson and Bill Elliott in this piece either. But since they are stock car guys, I'll let it go at that. 

Although I have high hopes if he does indeed succeed Sam Hornish in the Pennzoil Panther car in 2004, I am disappointed Tomas Scheckter is being replaced by Tony Renna on the Chip Ganassi Target team for next season. I'm not sure I completely understand why Ganassi is letting Scheckter go.

There have been some good moments this season for Tomas. His race high (63) lap leading run in the 87th "Indianapolis 500" on the way to fourth place was a good race. The intense fight to hold off Al Unser Jr. for the first 149 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, thirteen days later, was a spectacular performance. Forty two laps in front on the way to a "fighting" third in Michigan on July 27 was a nice run for Tomas too. The South African led a race high 76 laps at Chicagoland Speedway on September 7, on the way to a fifth place finish and throughout that race I had hopes for a Scheckter win. Although Tomas led 112 laps two weeks ago at California Speedway, he still wasn't able to put all the components together for his second career Indy Racing League victory.

I expected at least one Indy car victory for Tomas Scheckter by now. I am still hopeful the (just turned) 23 year old South African will get a win in next Sunday's season finale at Texas Motor Speedway. But I also wonder if the breaks will fall his way to the extent he can put together a victory in the tough competition that is the IRL this year.

I mean come on. Tomas Scheckter drove an excellent race at Chicagoland Speedway on September 7. It was an outstanding performance and for the most of the first 184 laps, the Target Ganassi G Force - Toyota was the class of the field. However even with what was a winning drive at Chicagoland, the South African couldn't put all the pieces together for victory. The exact same thing happened in California, Texas Motor Speedway in June and Michigan too. For that matter, it was a similar situation in the 87th "Indianapolis 500."  

Scheckter has led 491 laps in eight races in 2003, which is second best in IRL competition. Last year Tomas led 443 laps in five races, which was third best in the entire 2002 season even though the fast rookie only competed in twelve of fifteen IRL races. 

I feel on an overall basis, the son of 1979 World Champion Jody Scheckter made more of an impression in 2002  at the wheel of Eddie Cheever's Red Bull car 52 Dallara - Infiniti entries than he has this year in the Ganassi Target cars where he has been overshadowed by teammate Scott Dixon.

The win at Michigan International Speedway, as pictured in the photo at the top of this page, was a racing masterpiece by young Tomas. We Scheckter fans are hungry for another victory like what came in July 2002 at MIS. The South African drove like a man possessed, very much in need of proving he could win on that special day.

When I watched Scheckter run into the rear of Tony Kanaan's Team 7-Eleven Dallara - Honda on lap 120 of the "Firestone Indy 225" at Nazareth Speedway on August 24, my first reaction was "oh no" and I buried my face in my hands even though I was watching at home alone.

Tomas what were you doing? 

Scheckter concluded another race with an accident listed in the table of IRL statistics. That isn't good. Chip Ganassi probably wasn't happy about it. Although he hasn't crashed quite as many Target Ganassi cars in 2003 as he did last season with Red Bull Team Cheever, the South African speed demon has still torn up a bunch of Chip's race cars. Perhaps that is the primary reason Tomas is being replaced by Tony Renna.

Tomas Scheckter is a natural performer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in my opinion, it's only a matter of time before the South African wins the "Indianapolis 500." I anticipate that one day it will all come right.

The kid may even do it before Indy Racing League "poster boy" Hornish. Look at the stats. The 23 year old from Cape Town has led 148 of 400 laps in the two most recent runnings of the greatest spectacle in racing and one of these "Indy" months of May, just like Bill Vukovich and Parnelli Jones, I predict Scheckter will put an entire race together and likely emerge as one of the legends at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

In four starts in the "Indianapolis 500," Sam Hornish has yet to lead a competitive lap. Obviously that's likely to change when Sam moves to Marlboro Team Penske next season.  

Nevertheless I do acknowledge "Jody's boy" is a flawed talent, not perfect, not multi-dimensional, but rather a "big balled" youngster (have you seen Scheckter's lady? Wow!) with the bravado to take chances at high speed on a more frequent basis than all but a few of the courageous competitors who climb into racing machines each Sunday for the two thirds of each year called an Indy car racing season.  

Admittedly Tomas Scheckter isn't Sam Hornish or for that matter Scott Dixon. The South African still has rough edges to smooth. But make no mistake. Scheckter is one hell of a race driver who is only going to get better.   

Who does Tomas Scheckter remind you of? Is it his dad Jody Scheckter?  

When Jackie Stewart retired following the 1973 season, I became an enthusiastic Jody Scheckter fan. One of the two or three highlights of each year during that period of my life was to go to Watkins Glen in early October for the annual Grand Prix of the United States.

What an adventure it was to make the journey to the Glen for Formula One in those days!. There was the 700 mile drive each way from Indianapolis or Chicago. The trip was much shorter of course when I lived in Port Huron or Battle Creek. Most years, I was riding in a cramped automobile for the better part of four days, sometimes with people I wasn't getting along with. 

Many of my October weekends at Watkins Glen were spent shivering in cold upstate New York temperatures, trying to stay dry under rainy skies. Usually I slept in a car and returned from my trip looking and smelling like a luckless and homeless refugee, trying to survive on Lower Wacker Drive in the bowels of downtown Chicago.     

But man, that was living life to the fullest for the race "junkie" that I am! By the time I got in the car and began my eastbound trek the Friday night before the Grand Prix, I was so full of anticipation I could hardly contain it. It (if anticipation can be visualized as a tangible substance) was probably dripping out my ears, nose, mouth and all my other cavities. By the time I arrived home from my Grand Prix excursion three days later, I was exhausted but my racing fix was "quench-ed" for the time being. 

Since Watkins Glen was my final racing trip of each year, my racing fix had to last until the next May, when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened up for business again.

In between my October drives to and from upstate New York, there were the yearly edition Michael Turner race posters, the smell of smoke from thousands of campfires, walking up and down the wooded hills on which the 3.377 mile Watkins Glen circuit traveled, the $1.00 tour down the center aisle of the Kendall garage to get a close up look at the Formula One teams preparing dusty race cars for Sunday afternoon's 59 lap competition, the opportunity to buy otherwise unavailable racing souvenirs, drinking nasty tasting watery coffee to wake up on race morning, getting to see international racing stars and machines normally visible only in the pages of racing magazines, all of this against a brilliant tri-color backdrop of red, yellow and orange autumn colors as if Mother Nature wanted the horizon to look like it was on fire. 

Brown County, Indiana is beautiful in mid to late October, but it doesn't come close to the natural grandeur of Watkins Glen, New York on the weekends when the Grand Prix used to take place.   

That was living life to the fullest measure for a young Bob Jennings! It was a visual and sensual deluge and the adrenaline flowed through me like looking at a sexy woman, too much coffee or one beer too many or to a lesser degree, a shot of Wild Turkey at Jimmy B's "Home Place Tavern" while  Tina walks by wearing that low cut black top. 

During at least half of my ten trips to Watkins Glen from 1967 through 1979, Jody Scheckter's fortunes on the race track were my primary concern. Jody never delivered a Watkins Glen win, although he did lead the race and finish second to James Hunt, driving Ken Tyrrell's "six wheeler" in 1976. But I did see the older Scheckter compete for the World Championship at the Glen in 1974 and 1977 and during my final trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York state in October 1979, Jody was already celebrating his newly won Formula One title.

I watched Jody Scheckter make his Grand Prix (that's what we used to call Formula One before Bernie Ecclestone took over) debut on a cold, windy Sunday in October 1972 at Watkins Glen. That was a memorable day. My eyes were focused on Jackie Stewart's deep blue Elf Team Tyrrell - Ford short, squat, little "t-nose" as the "Wee Scot" led from start to finish for one of my classic racing moments.

However even with Jackie Stewart having such a perfect day, my racing eyes also wandered to the third Yardley McLaren - Ford entry driven by a 23 year old unknown (to me anyway since I had only seen Jody's name in print once prior to going to the Glen in October 1972) from East London, South Africa. Teddy Mayer and Tyler Alexander provided a car for Scheckter and the South African ran near the front, with the guys who were able to get closest to Stewart's "long gone" Tyrrell, although nobody got too close to Jackie that day at the Glen in October 1972.  

Five years later on a rainy Saturday afternoon, after track action concluded for the day and shortly after Guy Nadeau and I arrived in Watkins Glen, I met Tomas Scheckter's parents and shook hands with his dad. It was October 1, 1977. After an all night drive from Chicago in Guy's big maroon 1977 Cadillac four door sedan, including a couple hours spent sleeping in a New York rest area a few miles across the state line, we walked into the dining room of the Glen Motor Court on the shore of Lake Seneca five or six hours later. 

The hall was nearly empty, with pouring rain pelting the windows. The only patrons in the place were the Scheckters and Hans Stuck (yodel - eeh ooo hoo), who was driving for the Ecclestone Brabham F1 (partnered with power supplier Alfa Romeo) team in those days, sitting at a table with another fellow I didn't recognize. 

Guy was a bold guy (while I am basically a "chicken shit") and though I was reluctant to bother Jody, Guy urged me to introduce myself. When I showed hesitance, old "Roarin' Roy" walked up to Mr. and Mrs. Scheckter and explained that I was a big fan. 

Tomas, you weren't even a "gleam" in the eyes of your mommy or daddy on October 11, 1977. So I have known your parents longer than you. That almost qualifies me as one of the family - right? 

Jody, who was still wearing his blue gray pin stripe Castrol Wolf Racing driving suit, seemed slightly annoyed (not hostile mind you) at being interrupted, but Tomas' mom, the beautiful Pam Scheckter (Tomas, your lovely mother was kind to a fan), graciously insisted her husband (then) shake my hand and give me an autograph. I wonder where that autograph is. Maybe Jody Scheckter signed my Grand Prix program. 

My recollection is that Jody had small, delicate hands, like an artist. I would later have the same reaction when I shook Bobby Rahal's hand at the 1984 "Indianapolis 500" victory banquet. Despite the less than enthusiastic response by the future World Champion to my intrusion, meeting Jody Scheckter was a big thrill for me.

Can you imagine having the same opportunity at a Formula One race in 2003? No chance buster! You can thank Bernie Ecclestone for that. The "little emperor" (sort of like Napoleon perhaps) took a beautiful, serious sport with a multi-faceted but casual personality and converted it into a billion dollar bunch of crap (at least in comparison to what it used to be), a "money maker" for sure, but still a bunch of crap. 

Now the top F1 drivers are protected from fans like royal family, icons who make too much money, with sophisticated electronic security systems keeping paying customers three and four barricades or fences away from their beloved international heroes. It's getting to be the same way in NASCAR too. Thank goodness Tony George puts the Indy Racing League drivers close to the fans. One of these days that accessibility will pay off too. It's coming. 

"Tell me can you dig it Miss Fugazy."

Bring on the change in control of "Grand Prix" racing, from that greedy, imposing old man and his "flunky" at the FIA Max Mosley, to the international auto manufacturers. I'm sick of Bernie and Max! How about you? The "biggies" at Ford, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Honda, Renault and BMW may be just as tyrannical as Ecclestone but at least (collectively) they don't come off as arrogant and avaricious as the little tough guy with his senior citizen "Beatle" bangs and tinted eye glasses.

In 1977, the World Grand Prix Championship was still a thing of innocent beauty, much like the Indy Racing League is today. The F1 competition is more entertaining this season than it has been for years and I enjoyed my 2003 Grand Prix weekend, but Formula One is still a sanitized bunch of techno crap in comparison to what it was before Bernie reshaped the series. 

The 1977 Grand Prix of the United States at Watkins Glen was a fun trip. It was a dreary weekend with lots of rain, but I had emotionally connected with Jody Scheckter's "swoopy" (pre ground effects) navy blue and gold Wolf - Ford DFV V8 number 20 (a beautiful race car in my mind) and the South African was having his best season of F1 racing (to that time). 

After leaving Ken Tyrrell for the brand new racing operation financed by Austro-Canadian Walter Wolf in 1977, Jody Scheckter miraculously won the first race for the new team at the season opener in Argentina. On April 3, I watched on CBS TV as Scheckter's leading Wolf - Ford withstood continuous pressure from Mario Andretti's Lotus - Ford and Niki Lauda's Ferrari for 76 laps. Unfortunately Jody succumbed to his two more seasoned pursuers with only three circuits remaining, to finish in third place. 

But Scheckter redeemed himself the following month with a flag to flag win in the Grand Prix of Monaco. In addition to what was the most significant of six Formula One victories to that time in his career, Jody also led the 1977 World Championship standings by seven points over Niki Lauda with six of seventeen races completed. 

Ultimately the South African finished seventeen points (72 - 55) behind Niki Lauda in second place for the World Championship, after scoring his third victory (career best) of the year at Mosport Park in the Grand Prix of Canada one week following the race at Watkins Glen. 

Coming into Watkins Glen (event 15 of 17), Jody Scheckter trailed points leader Niki Lauda by 25 in second place, still with a slight possibility (27 possible points under optimum circumstances) of winning the World Championship. 

The 1977 Grand Prix of the United States started with light rain falling on the track. Our pal, yodeling Hans Stuck, started on the outside of the front row in Bernie's red Brabham - Alfa, alongside pole winner and defending World Champion James Hunt's Marlboro McLaren M26 - Ford. The German, usually good on a wet track, grabbed the lead at the start of the race, followed by Hunt's McLaren - Ford and Mario Andretti's Lotus - Ford. 

Jody Scheckter only qualified ninth but moved the navy blue and gold Wolf to seventh after one lap, behind Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari), Ronnie Peterson (Tyrrell - Ford) and the Ferrari driven by soon to be crowned World Champion (for a second time) Niki Lauda. The 1977 "GP of the U.S." was one of those occasional races in which circumstances as much as performance plays a part.  

The rain falling on the Watkins Glen track surface was light and in between the drizzle came gaps in the clouds which allowed sunshine to break through and begin to dry the circuit. Then the clouds would fill the sky and rain drops would appear once more. This made race setup a very tricky proposition for the teams as they prepared for the race and made tactics unusually difficult once the competition got under way.  

Does that situation remind you of last Sunday's Formula One race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway? 

Scheckter ran reasonably well at Watkins Glen in 1977. On the second lap, Jody passed both Lauda and Peterson to move into fifth. On lap four, the Wolf - Ford car 20 overtook Reutemann's Ferrari for fourth place. In the meantime, "yodeling" Stuck had Bernie Ecclestone's red Brabham - Alfa flying around in front, with rooster tails of spray coming off the car's wheels.     

Defending World Champion Hunt kept his white and day glow red Marlboro (sounds familiar doesn't it?) McLaren M26 - Ford at a respectful distance of four seconds behind what appeared to be the "rain crazed" German Stuck. For his own part however, James was busy keeping his car on the road, with "water, water everywhere." Andretti ran a similar distance behind the McLaren and Scheckter fell into line behind Mario.    

However the leading Brabham - Alfa was running without a clutch, first experiencing the malfunction on lap three. At the start of lap fifteen, the Brabham jumped out of gear as Stuck approached the down hill ninety degree turn one. Bernie's red BT45B kept going straight across the wet grass and hit the barrier several yards back from the track surface. 

After the Stuck crash, the race became a wet parade at the front. Hunt pulled out thirteen seconds on Andretti with Scheckter trailing by a comparable distance. Behind the leading trio, there were some interesting developments however.

In the late 1970s, Formula One teammates actually fought it out on the race track for position, on a wet track, even when a World title was it stake. 

Niki Lauda wanted fourth place but his fellow Ferrari driver Carlos Reutemann wasn't inclined to relinquish the position. The Austrian won out in this "wrestling match" and from that position, Niki clinched his second World title, after which he left Ferrari for the season and for the remainder of his driving career, following four race winning seasons with the Scuderia.

During the ensuing struggle, Reutemann spun and the Argentinian soon came under attack from Clay Regazzoni's Ensign - Ford, which was built, prepared and entered by a now familiar name to Indy car racing fans, Mo Nunn.

That's the way the 1977 Grand Prix of the United States played out. When Hunt figured out he had the race well in hand, the 1976 World Champion slowed in the final laps. This allowed Andretti to close, which sparked the crowd even though it was prompted by a deceptive perception. Jody Scheckter finished a consistent third.

    starting grid

Among my purchases at Watkins Glen that weekend was a navy blue, gold, white and red Walter Wolf Racing decal. When I returned to Chicago, I placed the decal on the windshield of my bright Tahitian blue 1975 MG B roadster. Jody Scheckter was my Grand prix guy in those days!  

It's fun to take a detailed look at what was Formula One when the sport was less structured and professional. Although it hasn't been referred to before on this website, Jody Scheckter's older brother (and Tomas Scheckter's uncle) Ian was a lesser known regular Grand Prix competitor in 1977. It was also a time when racing operations could prepare a "one off" entry for a particular Grand Prix event, such as the loose partnership between Roger Penske and Ted Field to run an exclusive Watkins Glen Interscope Racing entry for then rookie Indy car "hot shot" Danny Ongais, "the Flyin' Hawaiian."

My fascination with the career of  Nigel Mansell is familiar to old friends (the few who are still residing on this planet that is) and reasonably well documented (and a lot more about that is coming) on this website. Watch for it! It started at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix and continues to this day, as a 50 year old Mansell contemplates international senior golf competition while living well on the millions of dollars he made during his racing career. 

I am trying to catalog and document some of my prized books. I have volumes scattered around this apartment and piled on chairs and tables in the basement at my mom's house, some of which I haven't looked at for ten or more years. Being objective, this task will probably take most of the rest of my life to complete.

Recently I came across a tidy little coffee table book that featured photos and text covering the action from the 1986 Formula One season. Nigel Roebuck is a well known journalist who has covered Grand Prix racing since better days. 

Roebuck collaborated with another subject of her royal majesty Queen Elizabeth, John Townsend, an outstanding racing photographer, to produce the book. Actually I think the Roebuck - Townsend  partnership produced an F1 annual for a few years back in the days of Prost, Senna, Mansell, Piquet and those ultra fast turbo cars which made the era so attractive to racing fans like myself.

If I persist in my endeavor to create an MS Access database corresponding to plastic cases full of books, I may yet come across more editions of the Roebuck - Townsend collaboration. I hope so because these are nice books.      

Of course 1986 was Nigel Mansell's breakout year. After winning two of the final three Formula One events of the 1985 schedule at Brands Hatch and Kyalami in his first season at Williams - Honda, Mansell achieved major racing stardom in 1986.

Victories at Spa-Francorchamps, Montreal, France, Silverstone and Estoril along with points finishes at Jerez (second), Monte Carlo (fourth), Detroit (fifth), Hockenheim (third), Hungaroring (third), Monza (second) and Mexico City (fifth) brought Nigel to the season finale at Adelaide with a season high 70 points. In addition, Mansell ran in front during the sixteen races for a season high 310 laps, which was 29.69 percent of the competitive distance completed in 1986.    

The 1992 World Championship, 31 career Formula One victories, the 1993 CART title and five Indy car victories came to Nigel Mansell throughout his career. The good results for Mansell brought me to the highest of highs. But the lows brought me down to the farthest depths too.

One of my two biggest Nigel Mansell disappointments came in the 1986 season ending Grand Prix of Australia at Adelaide on October 26. All Nigel had to do to secure a World title was finish fourth. With only nineteen laps remaining in the 82 lap contest, the Brit was running comfortably in third, one lap ahead of the fourth place car. 

Then a tire exploded on the number 5 Canon Williams - Honda turbo V6 and the championship, so passionately put together, was handed to Alain Prost. Using the current Formula One scoring system, Mansell would have taken the 1986 title regardless.

The other huge Nigel Mansell disappointment occurred during the 1994 "Indianapolis 500." After receiving a penalty for a pit infraction early in the race which put him one lap behind, Mansell worked his way back on to the leader's lap and was running third behind Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. when he headed for the pits on lap 92. Dennis Vitolo spun off the track and flew over the top of Nigel's K Mart/Havoline Lola - Ford number 1, nearly taking Mansell's head off in the process and knocking the defending Indy car champion out of his second and final run in the "500."

There were countless other good races gone wrong for Mansell during his nearly fifteen seasons in racing's big time. But Adelaide in 1986 and Indianapolis in 1994 were the two most prominent. Often it seemed to me as if anything could go wrong for Nigel it would.

Does that remind you of Tomas Scheckter in any way?    

  Tomas Scheckter's Indy car results through August 24, 2003

"That must be her again
She's leaning on my bell
That cold psychotic ring
The one I know so well
So I'm nailed to the floor in the no-option zone
There's about zero chance she'll give up and go home

This endless afternoon
It started on the day I met her
Lunch with Gina is forever

She's coming 'round the corner
Her body's just a blur
I peel out like The Flash
It don't mean boo to her
So I duck into Nino's -- she's barred from the place
The minute I walk out she's right in my face

She's got nothing but time
No use in trying to be clever
Lunch with Gina is forever

Now I'm in my apartment
The blinds down the lights out
The phone rings God help me
There's nobody home

I crouch on the carpet
Not breathing just being
Like meat on the bone

I'm in a cozy booth
Maybe my watch is fast
Another Tanqueray
I'll wait 'til twenty past
I'm about to go postal when she waltzes in
I guess she's a knockout -- hey where have I been?

The waiter never comes
God knows the service could be better
Lunch with Gina is forever

Coffee and a kiss
Maybe later maybe never
Lunch with Gina..."

"Lunch With Gina" from the cd "Everything Must Go" Reprise Records, as written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and recorded by Steely Dan.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are the current literary and musical heroes, like a couple of seasoned professionals who have found the right formula for mixing imagination and musical excellence with an exceptional ability to engage the mind in a journey. When I listen, I try to figure out what the images generated by their melodies and lyrics actually represent.

Just like the summer of 1967 was defined by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and fall and early winter 1969-1970 played out with Abbey Road providing the background music, I listened to Everything Must Go repeatedly while June passed into July into August into September into October 2003.   

Later.