Just finished reading "Black Noon The Year They Stopped The INDY 500" an excellent book on the 1964 Indy 500. Much of the book deals with the terrible second lap accident that claimed the lives of Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald. Among the people interviewed for the book was Bobby Unser who was driving the STP Novi and was able to escape with very minor burns.
In the book Unser tells how his friend Parnelli Jones got Andy Granatelli to let Unser take a Novi fora test drive that lead to a contract (for $1,500 doallars & 40% of the winnings) for the 1963 race. Granatelli wanted Unser back in 1964 and Unser was "...invited to Granatelli's office in South Bend to discuss a new contract. Unser spent the flight psyching himself up to demand $10,000....Granatelli gave Unser the hard sell,.....Unser left South Bend driving a new Studebaker pickup with a camper on the back but with the same $1,500 contract.....back in Albuquerque...he took it down to the local Studebaker dealer and sold it for $3,000."
The book doesn't state the date of this meeting so we don't know if it was in 1963 or 1964 but one wonders if the pickup was the one pictured in the 1963/1964 literature as I don't imagine there were a lot of pick-ups in Studebaker's inventory with camper shells. Perhaps Mr Quinn or someone else with access to the records can find more details. In any event the miles Unser drove the truck were minimal as the book says he go a friend to drive it back to Albuquerque.
In the book Unser tells how his friend Parnelli Jones got Andy Granatelli to let Unser take a Novi fora test drive that lead to a contract (for $1,500 doallars & 40% of the winnings) for the 1963 race. Granatelli wanted Unser back in 1964 and Unser was "...invited to Granatelli's office in South Bend to discuss a new contract. Unser spent the flight psyching himself up to demand $10,000....Granatelli gave Unser the hard sell,.....Unser left South Bend driving a new Studebaker pickup with a camper on the back but with the same $1,500 contract.....back in Albuquerque...he took it down to the local Studebaker dealer and sold it for $3,000."
The book doesn't state the date of this meeting so we don't know if it was in 1963 or 1964 but one wonders if the pickup was the one pictured in the 1963/1964 literature as I don't imagine there were a lot of pick-ups in Studebaker's inventory with camper shells. Perhaps Mr Quinn or someone else with access to the records can find more details. In any event the miles Unser drove the truck were minimal as the book says he go a friend to drive it back to Albuquerque.
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