Originally Posted by Keith Seymore (Post 1586710)

Plus some guy from Texas at the wheel.

K

Originally Posted by 70 copo (Post 1586696)

It is all theories at this point.

What is known is that the engineering build order should have stated the change but did not.

The pace car activity book (which survives today) specified Dave Welday as the individual responsible for all at track modifications on the pace cars. Since Dave did not recall authorizing a tire change he concluded that the tires must have been cosmetically marked because the tire reps from both Goodyear and Firestone were image conscious and blemished tires were being identified after arrival at the track.

Nobody reached the conclusion that there would be a deviation in complete tire specification, yet here we are. The whole set including the spare.

My theory at this point is that the original tires were examined for wear prior to the actual race and somebody at Firestone convinced GM that the original firestones needed to be changed for "safety". The new Larger gold letter tires were then prepped by the racing division in Akron, and express transported by Firestone to Firestone to Speedway Indiana for the swap.

Here is a Replica staged at the gate with what is believed to be a cosmetic Blem identified by the on site Goodyear reps. This car is equipped with Goodyear speedways. You can tell by the position of the red stripe on the sidewall.

"X" Marks the Blem.

Originally Posted by 70 copo (Post 1586620)

Good photo of Pete Estes in a replica from the commitment fleet.

Originally Posted by 70 copo (Post 1586707)

More Dave Welday, Chevrolet ZONE, and Norwood Trivia: The Pace Car program in 1967 was a local Indianapolis Zone under taking that was backed, in full, by the Central Office.

According to the surviving Zone managers and Norwood Management Blue top was the appearance that Chevrolet Officials actually wanted the Pace Car to look like and there was political pressure involved and friction between IMS and Chevrolet in advance of the race.

Anton Tony Holman of IMS strictly specified "white cars with white tops" and then after pressure to accept Blue toppers by Chevrolet- Holman got mad and then pushed back politically He visited Norwood to see the cars being built and further required Chevrolet to pre-deliver two pace car replicas to IMS one full week in advance of the scheduled delivery of the remaining Zone 25 Norwood Built commitment fleet to IMS - all for simple cosmetic approval by Holman at the track.

Norwood Plant Manager Herb Leitz personally represented Chevrolet at the pre-delivery meeting at IMS.

The Leitz recollection is corroborated by the NICB reports on the commitment fleet indicating that indeed two replica's were released a week ahead of the remaining commitment fleet. These were the cars driven to the speedway for the meeting with Holman. (Good news: Both of these cars survive today and are enthusiast owned)

Chevrolet then pushed back on the Holman decree and decided to have it their way with blue top replicas at IMS. These cars made an appearance with Zone managers and Chevrolet Brass driving in the Blue Toppers to the track just prior to the race.

So based upon interviews of Zone personnel, and Management, including the Norwood Plant Manager, - there should be a total of 10 Blue Top Camaro Super Sports used by the 10 Top Indy Metro Area Zone Managers and another batch of 7 or 8 Blue Top Pace Car Replicas that were used for the visiting Brass from Chevrolet Central Office.

Below:

Holman at Norwood

Indy Manager David Welday with his blue top at IMS with his "Official blue Vest" on.

Ground zero for these last minute shenanigans appears to be Indianapolis dealer Bill Kuhn.

Finally Herb Leitz who was extensively interviewed prior to his passing.

Originally Posted by DW31S (Post 1586785)

His name was “Hulman” not “Holman” and he owned IMS.