Join The World's Best Iconic & Vintage Car Community >>

Jimmy Clark Honored at Indy Brickyard 2015

Jimmy Clark Honored
Jimmy Clark Honored
Jim Clark at the 1965 Indy 500
Jim Clark at the 1965 Indianapolis 500

Racing great Jimmy Clark will be celebrated at the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) Brickyard Invitational 2015, to be held June 11-14 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana. A display of Clark’s Indianapolis 500 cars will honor his many accomplishments in the 50th anniversary year of his 1965 Indy 500 win.

Nicknamed ‘The Flying Scot’, Clark’s Indianapolis career alone would have made him a legend but the two-time Formula 1 World Champion (1963 and ’65) was one of those versatile drivers who not only won but dominated in numerous branches of the sport from Formula One to Indy cars to saloon cars, stock cars and sports cars. He tackled NASCAR once and scored a third-place overall very early in his career at Le Mans in a private entry Aston-Martin behind two factory-backed Ferraris.

In just five Indianapolis 500s Clark not only won once but also came home second twice, both in controversial finishes that bench racers continue to debate today. He could easily have been a multiple winner. Victory was within sight in 1964 when tire chunking triggered a suspension failure on his pole winning car. On the Formula One front Clark established the all-time record for race victories when he won his final Grand Prix outing at South Africa in 1968. While that record has been surpassed by several drivers Clark’s mark was set in just seven full seasons during an era that conducted about half as many events as are presented today. He still ranks at the top in winning percentage at nearly 35 percent. His record of F1 pole positions (33) even now ranks fifth in the history books.

While the Clark tribute has yet to be defined it will involve an array of his Indianapolis 500 cars, all Lotus, including the entry he won Rookie-of-the-Year with in 1963, his ’65 winner and the Lotus Turbine he took his last laps around the Brickyard in just before his fatal accident weeks later in Germany on April 7, 1968.

The SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 will feature 11 groups of race cars spanning 100 years, including pre-war machines, sports cars, Formula One and Le Mans prototypes as current as 2009.

[Source: SVRA; photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway]