The 52nd International 500 Mile Sweepstakes (AKA the Indianapolis 500) was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday May 30, 1968. For the second year in a row, one of Andy Granatelli’s STP Turbine-powered machines was leading late in the race, but once again, it failed within sight of victory.
On lap 174 Lloyd Ruby’s engine misfired allowing Joe Leonard to take the lead in the Lotus 56 Turbine “whooshmobile”. Leonard, however, suffered a flameout on the lap 191 restart, and rolled to a silent and shocking halt. Bobby Unser in the venerable piston-powered Offenhauser, inherited the lead, and despite gear linkage trouble, went on to win his first of three Indy 500 victories.
This was the final Indianapolis 500 to feature a front-engined car in the starting field. Of the 33 cars, 32 were rear-engined machines (including three turbines). Jim Hurtubise’s entry, which dropped out after only nine laps, was the last front-engine car to race in the 500. This was also the first 500 won by a turbocharged engine. My dad, Uncle Harry Mac, cousins Gene and Dick, and I all witnessed this historic event. We were there to help celebrate my 21st birthday. That was 50 years ago.
During the prior month, film crews were on hand to film various action shots and stock footage of the race proceedings to be used in the upcoming movie Winning, starring Paul Newman. I didn’t run into Paul during the race and I’m not sure if any of the other four in our party did. If they had I’m confident that they would have introduced me. That would have been a nice birthday perk, and who knows, it may had led to a change in my intended career. Paul and I did meet in the late 80’s at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. He was hanging out with some of the drivers in the garage area while I was passing through on a tour with some school officials. Our eyes met, we gave each other a quick nod, and I thought about stopping to share our almost meeting in Indy in 1968 but I decided to let the opportunity pass. Who knows how long the conversation might have lasted and we were both too busy to break away to discuss “our might have been”.
The 1968 Indianapolis 500 was still being held on the “real” Memorial Day, May 30th. May 30th was the traditional Memorial day until The Uniform Holiday Act became the “new” law of the land on January 1, 1971. That’s when the government decided that it was more important to have three-day week-ends than celebrate the original, traditional date.
Memorial Day was originally established as Decoration Day to honor the fallen of the civil war. Established in 1868 the day was observed under that name until 1970 (103) years. Ultimately, the day became of day to honor all who had given their life for their country.
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 moved Washington’s Birthday (February 22), Memorial Day (May 30), and Veterans Day (November 11) from fixed dates to designated Mondays, and established as a federal holiday Columbus Day. The Act was designed to increase the number of three-day weekends for federal employees, a favorite goal of the travel industry. Veterans Day was removed from this list of “always-on-Monday” holidays when it was moved back to its traditional date of November 11, by act of Congress in 1975, effective 1978. Attempts to include the moving of Memorial Day back to its original May 30 have all failed. Although the Act was passed in June of 1968, it didn’t become the law of the land until January 1, 1971. I suspect that this was due in large part because members of Congress needed time to alter their holiday travel plans.
The Monday holiday dates this act established are:
Washington’s Birthday: third Monday in February (formerly February 22)
Memorial Day: last Monday in May (formerly May 30)
Labor Day: first Monday in September
Columbus Day: second Monday in October (formerly observed in some states on October 12)
Veterans Day: fourth Monday in October (formerly November 11; subsequently returned to November 11 effective 1978)
It took Congress about ten years to partially recognize the error of its ways when it comes to Veterans. They moved Veterans Day back to its original spot on the calendar but have continued to ignore the issue of Memorial Day.
Now that you have the background, here’s the story.
The celebration of my 21st birthday began as the clock rolled from 11:59 on Tuesday, May 28, to 12:00 on Wednesday, May 29. Several of my “legal” friends accompanied me to Coral Gables to share my first legal drink. I don’t recall the drink of the day, but there were several. My roommates, a couple of the girls from across the hall, and several of my other fraternity brothers joined the celebration. As time passed others – both guys and gals joined us. If we didn’t close the bar, we came close. Ultimately, we returned to our apartment where the celebration continued. Twenty-first birthdays were meant to be shared and I was sharing.
As the night wore on, some revelers went home but several – both men and women – fell asleep in the apartment. There weren’t dozens of stayers, but their were several, including the three girls from down the hall. (One wasn’t 21 yet so she couldn’t join us until we returned to the apartment.)
I knew that my dad, uncle, and two cousins were coming to pick me up for our drive from Kalamazoo to Speedway, Indiana later in the morning. They couldn’t leave metro Detroit for the almost four-hour drive until my cousins got off of the work from their shift assignments in their respective auto plants. I didn’t expect them to arrive until at least noon so when the phone rang at 6:30 a.m. I was totally shocked when I woke up, answered, and my mother asked, “Is your dad there yet?”
“What? Eh? No, he’s not.”
“Well, he should get there shortly. They pulled out of our drive at 3:00. Have him call me when he gets there.”
“OK”
“Have a great birthday!”
“Thanks mom. I will. Talk to you later. Good-bye”
I turned, and as calmly as I could, I yelled. “Everybody up! Everybody out! My dad’s gonna be here any minute.”
And so …