[h=2]CART at Road America, 1985[/h] Tuesday, 29 November 2016


Marshall Pruett (words and images)

When: 1985

Where: Road America
What: CART IndyCar Series
Who: Alan Jones
The cars and working conditions have changed quite a bit since IndyCar teams visited Wisconsin's finest road course in 1985.
CART's visit to the sprawling Road America facility that year took place without fan favorite Mario Andretti, who was injured at the previous event on the Michigan oval. Finding a replacement was easy for Andretti's Newman/Haas Racing team.
With NHR's new Beatrice-sponsored Formula 1 program being prepared for a late-season debut, borrowing Alan Jones – the 1980 F1 world champion – to drive the team's Beatrice-sponsored Lola T900-Cosworth IndyCar entry was the easy solution.

The longstanding relationship between the Australian and Carl Haas from their time together in Can-Am accelerated the transition, and with a supremely talented crew – including renowned crew chief/engineer Darrell Soppe (top, left), Jones was able to finish third on his debut after years away from top-tier open-wheel competition.
The Provimi Veal 200 also featured the first and only win for Jacques Villeneuve – the uncle of future CART champion and Indy 500 winner of the same name born to his brother Gilles. Andretti's son Michael was second.
The simplicity of the T900 is also striking. Large, upswept ground effect tunnels make for unobstructed viewing of the front of plywood and grass where teams were left to work in the paddock during Road America's pre-pavement days.
The Lola's airjacks are tucked behind the gearbox – out of the airstream – and only the driveshafts and pullrod suspension interrupts the downforce-generating underwing.
Andretti would return for the next round at Pocono and go on to finish fifth in the 1985 championship. Jones helped NHR and Beatrice to get an early start by appearing in three F1 races at the end of the season. His turbocharged Hart inline-four-powered Lola failed to finish on each occasion.
After reading REAR VIEW on Tuesday, former NHR manager Tony Dowe reached to add a few nuggets to the story.
"I was sent to O'Hare [Airport] to meet Alan as I was the only guy that knew what he looked like, other than Carl and Bernie [Haas]!" Dowe wrote. "We had to dye [Jones's] nomex undergarmets red; [he was] very superstitious! Carl had initally asked [Patrick] Tambay [to drive], but Patrick hated Elkhart."
Dowe also recalled the bizarre history of the Beatrice motorcoach below.
"The motor home actually belonged to Mike Murphy, with his wife Anne, they were the original Lotus [F1] motorhomers and [it] was ex-Electrolux," he continued. "Mike then sold it to me for TWR/Jaguar GTP racing in 1987 and later in life it even went to Mexico City and was liveried as a Benetton motorhome for a F1 race there!"