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Jim Clark wins at Indy: photo album/4

This copy of The Indianapolis News, published as the chequered flag flew (top) needs no introduction…  Above, I asked Jim to sign this photo (the front cover of Motor Racing magazine, August, 1965) when I met him during the 1966 Tasman in Sydney. It adorned my bedroom wall for many a year thereafter (thus its condition) but for me it says everything about that day: enormous achievement; job done. Here we see Jim in the winner’s circle. Note the bespectacled Allan Moffat on the left and Mike Underwood (right) studying said newspaper headline. And, below, here’s Jim chatting to a radio journalist before his victory lap in the Plymouth Pace Car.
Jim and Colin flew to New York two days after the race, to the Ford stand at the 1964-65 World’s Fair, and there Jim met both Henry Ford II and the company’s President, Lee Iacocca. Jim took the opportunity to ask them if he might swap the Plymouth (one of his prizes) for one of the 1964 Mustangs showcased at the Fair. They agreed (above) – but the story doesn’t end there: the Mustang was destroyed months later on the docks in England while being unloaded from its ship. Ford then gave Jim the big Ford Galaxie with which he lit up the roads of England and Scotland throughout most of 1966. (The Plymouth  meanwhile, is now owned by Dario Franchitti.) From NYC, Jim flew in a Ford company aircraft to Wabash, Indiana, there to choose a new ($1000) wardrobe of clothing from Dick’s Menswear (a local store owned by Dick Miller and part of the Indy prize fund!). After signing hundreds of autographs and chatting to Fort Wayne TV networks with Rookie of the Year, Mario Andretti, Jim then flew to Toronto to race the Lotus 30 Mk2 in the Player’s 200 at Mosport; Sally Swart (nee Stokes) recently sent me this photo of the two of them “shortly after the chequered flag” at Indy;  below, AJ Foyt, the 1964 winner, “passes the baton” to an immaculately-suited Jim at the 1965 victory dinner on the night of the race; below (right) is how the Speedway Holiday Inn – where Jim and Team Lotus stayed for the race – marked his victory the morning afterwards;Michael Turner’s Xmas card interpretation of Jim’s celebrated win (below – also from my wall!); by nominating “Duns” as his home town for the detail-crazy US audience, Jim forever changed the public’s perception of Berwickshire and the Borders (below right); and (below) Jim made it to the front cover of Time magazine, elevating his sport to heights previously unimagined  

Now make sure y’all come back again for next year’s race! Here’s the rain check: