Vollstedt chassis 67-B today, restored to its as-raced-by-Jimmy Clark trim. Photo courtesy of Brady A. Schwartz.
On November 26, 1967, Jimmy Clark—Indy 500 Champion and two-time F1 World Champion—climbed into the cockpit of the yellow-liveried #21 Vollstedt at the start of the 116-lap “Rex Mays 300” in Riverside, California. It was Sunday, and it would be Clark’s last race in America before his tragic death at the Hockenheimring less than five months later.
The car, Ford-powered chassis 67-B, was one of two designed and built by Rolla Vollstedt and his team in Portland, Oregon, to compete in the 1967 Indy 500, which it did under the hand of Cale Yarborough.
Yarborough had taken over 67-B, after wrecking chassis 67-A in practice, then qualified 20th in it, with a speed of 162.830 MPH. During the race, he ran as high as fourth before a debris-induced blowout on lap 176 sent him spinning into the wall. A.J. Foyt went on to take the checkered flag, making it the third of his legendary four wins at the 500.
Almost six months later, at the Rex Mays 300—the USAC championship-car season finale—Jimmy Clark, who had been recruited by Vollstedt for a one-time drive, lauded 67-B as “A good motorcar, in fact, a very good motorcar.”
Clark (right) explains to John Surtees Vollstedt’s tunable rear wing—the first used in Indy car. Though originally skeptical, Clark changed his mind about the design after race day, and brought it back with him to F1.
Hand-formed by California Metal Shaping of stressed aluminum, and faired nose and tail with fiberglass, its body followed the trend in the Sixties toward monocoque designs. The 67-A and B cars were Vollstedt’s second generation of this type, the first having been sold to the Jim Robbins Company to fund this next iteration.
Instead of fitting an Offenhauser into the rear engine area—the formula Vollstedt is known for pioneering in American Indy car racing—he installed a normally aspirated 425-hp, 255-cu.in. Ford racing four-cam V-8 engine.
The “bundle of snakes” emerging from the top of the engine distinguishes the Ford four-cam powerplant from the Offenhausers of the time. Photo courtesy of Brady A. Schwartz.
Other teams at the ’67 Rex Mays 300 were also running Ford powerplants, but what Vollstedt did with his was unique. As the Ford engine exhausted topside, then back, the pipes provided a spot upon which to affix another Vollstedt innovation: a flat aluminum surface with a tunable upward-deflecting trailing edge—the predecessor of the now ubiquitous rear race wing. In addition, the collaboration between Clark and Vollstedt that weekend resulted in fitting contoured aluminum vanes on either side of the nose of both cars to increase front-end downforce.
The exhausts of the Ford “four cam” mount the innovative tunable rear wing; note slots for adjusting the kick-up length. Photo courtesy of Brady A. Schwartz.
During qualifying on the road course—amid a field of greats that included Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Gordon Johncock and Al Unser Sr.—Clark took the Vollstedt-built Bryant Heating & Cooling Special to almost unimaginable speeds, very nearly pushing Dan Gurney and his Indy Eagle from the pole at his home track.
On race day, Clark, starting in second, with Bobby Unser and John Surtees right behind him, stole the lead from Gurney and held it until lap 25 when his exhaust began to smoke. According to Vollstedt, Clark had “…missed a shift, over revved the engine and tagged a valve.” Nevertheless, that brief showing was spectacular enough to cause Brock Yates to report in Car & Driver that Clark had driven the Vollstedt “faster than was thought capable by a mortal man.”
Three-time Indy 500-winner Dario Franchitti at the Brickyard’s centennial celebration in 2011, lost in the moment in the Vollstedt that Jimmy Clark, his countryman and hero, raced at the Rex Mays 300 in ’67. Photo by Marc Prentice.
Some devotees still wrestle a lump in their throats when they retell the story that Clark is said to have felt so bad about what he considered his error at Riverside that he went to each member of the team and apologized. In other versions of the tale, he shared the small purse and even the driving fee with them.
Ultimately, Clark’s teammate, George Follmer, in the #17 car (Vollstedt 67-A) would come up from 12th to finish sixth, while Gurney, having recovered from a spinout and a puncture, clawed his way past the likes of Foyt, Andretti and Bobby Unser, to reassert his supremacy at Riverside. National Speed Sport News, called it, “a magical day in 1967 when the best drivers in the world put on a race for the ages.”
Vollstedt driver George Follmer and the car’s co-owner Mike McKinney.
Ever the engineer, Vollstedt asked Clark what he could do to make the car better. Clark replied: “First, get a rev-limiter. Second, get a longer gearshift lever, so one can shift more aggressively. Third, more suspension travel.”
Vollstedt continued to make improvements to the cars, which went on to race for the better part of a decade under a variety of colors and numbers. In ’68, the rounded fiberglass rear-end fairing was traded for a ducktail design, yielding improved aero and room for the new turbocharger, which blew the Ford’s power ratings up from 425 hp at 8,000 RPM to 825 hp at 9,600 RPM.
The rear end and engine area were cleaned up for ’69, and the oval nose was made more rectangular, lowered and fitted internally with two small upward-sweeping vanes—all toward improving efficiency and increasing downforce. In the future, a full-fledged tail wing became part of the design. Occasionally, 67-B’s turbocharged, methanol-swilling Ford engine was swapped for a naturally aspirated, gasoline-powered Chevy small-block for use on some road courses.
Mike McKinney, current co-owner of 67-B, when he first met Rolla and Kurt Vollstedt at the elder’s shop 10 years ago. Rolla holds the trophy for design excellence that was originally presented to A.J. Watson for ostensibly pioneering the rear-engine-Offenhauser-powered architecture at Indy. But Watson acknowledged that he had gotten the idea from Vollstedt and in-turn awarded the trophy to him.
From their debut in 1967 until 1976, by which time they had both ceased appearing on the rosters, the nearly identical twin Vollstedts had been campaigned admirably, with six Indy 500 starts between them—one resulting in a ninth-place best finish at the Brickyard in 1969—13 top-10 Indy car finishes, including three top-fives and one second-place podium (67-B) at Saint Jovite/Mont Tremblant. The list of their capable pilots includes John Cannon, Wally Dallenbach, Larry Dickson, George Follmer, Gordon Johncock, Arnie Knepper, Art Pollard, Dick Simon, Carl Williams and Cale Yarborough.
After Vollstedt sold 67-B to Art Sugai late in 1972, it immediately suffered a crash in Phoenix that wrecked its suspension and crushed the left side of its fuselage. Tom Fox, Sugai’s chief mechanic, acquired the damaged car, along with a trove of spare parts—including an original wooden body buck Vollstedt had thought he destroyed.
Meanwhile, some Portland, Oregon, enthusiasts restored the 67-A car—likely unaware that 67-B still existed—as a tribute to Clark’s #21. This car ultimately made its way to Australia.
Chassis 67-B as it was stored in a machine shop in Washington state until 2007; though numbered 17 here, when it was driven by Clark, it was #21. Photo courtesy of Mike McKinney.
In fact, 67-B and its collection of parts had ended up safely stored in Ron Yurich’s Silverdale, Washington, machine shop until 2007 when Michael McKinney—a part-time National/Regional Club Formula Atlantic driver—and friends Ron Hjaltalin and Marc Prentice, purchased it with the intention of driving it in exhibition races.
Mike McKinney and daughters (back to front) Lauren and Meagan and wife, Lisa, co-owner Marc Prentice (left) and Al Unser Jr. (right). Photo courtesy of Brady A. Schwartz.
Still in its damaged state, 67-B also lacked its engine, gearbox and right-side suspension. The good news was that Rolla Vollstedt himself was able to confirm that it was indeed Clark’s car. At one point, as the then-89-year-old Vollstedt looked over the car, he chuckled, “Geez, I was pretty good back then!”
Rolla Vollstedt sits atop the wheel of his restored creation at his 95th birthday party in 2013. Photo courtesy of Marc Prentice.
Once the restoration got under way, which Mike explains was careful “to preserve as much of the original car, its construction and parts as possible,” it took approximately 15 months to complete. An appropriate powerplant—Mario Andretti’s Indy 500-race-winning Ford four-cam engine—was sourced from Al Unser Sr. and converted back from its turbocharged form by legendary engine builder Joe Boghosian. Many talented and helpful hands—including Bob Talbert, Rhody Hayes and Mike’s wife and daughters—worked to make 67-B come together in time for the centennial celebration of the Indianapolis 500 in 2011.
Over the shoulder of Mike McKinney in Vollstedt 67-B coming out of turn four at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Legends Day 2014; Mario Andretti leads the group in his Indy rookie car. Photo courtesy of Mike McKinney.
When Mike was a kid, he had dreamed of racing at Indy with all of his favorite drivers. Little did he know that he’d get that chance at the 500, driving, of all cars, Jimmy Clark’s Vollstedt.
[This article is a “Vintage Racer” story appearing in Hemmings Muscle Machines, June 2015. For this article, and many like it, subscribe here.]
