The previous instance of an F1 driver’s family taking legal action over a fatality resulted in a US$9.6 million settlement by tyre company Goodyear and Roger Penske’s organisation for the family of Mark Donohue, the American who died in a Penske car at the 1975 Austrian GP. Donohue remains the favourite of all the drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500 for Penske.
That was in 1972 and Penske has had 15 more victories in the American classic since.
In 42 years as an entrant at The Brickyard (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) the man known as ‘The Captain’, now 79 and celebrating half a century in motorsport, has an amazing 38 per cent win rate.
Aussie Will Power is one of his four drivers in the 100th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Monday morning, Australian time, and will hold a special place in Team Penske history too if he can land the Borg-Warner Trophy for the first time and drink the traditional glass of milk.
Penske’s other drivers are Brazilian three-time Indy 500 victor Helio Castroneves, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who beat Power by a car length a year ago, and Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, winner of the past three road races in the IndyCar series.
Power will start sixth in the field of 33, with the other Australian in the field – 22-year-old rookie Matt Brabham – in 27th and on the ninth row of the grid in a similarly Chevrolet-powered car prepared by KV Racing.
Brabham is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, the late Sir Jack Brabham, and father Geoff.
Sir Jack began the rear-engine revolution at the Indy 500 when he showed up from Europe in 1961 with a Cooper-Climax against the big American Offenhauser-powered roadsters, finishing ninth – his best result in four starts.
Geoff Brabham, now 64, raced in 11 Indy 500s with a best finish of fourth in 1983.
Severe storms have hit Indianapolis in recent hours, with the traditional pit stop competition and ‘Carburetion Day’ final tune-up for cars and drivers on the famed 2.5-mile (4km) oval.
Forecasters say there is a 30 per cent chance of rain on race day.
The 235,000 grandstand seats were sold out weeks ago, extra temporary corporate facilities have been built in addition to the permanent suites, and another 75,000-100,000 people expected in the venue.
Autoweek magazine has predicted a crowd of 325,000-350,000 – certainly the biggest since the great split in American open-wheeler racing in the mid-1990s.
And they’re no Ron Walker or Tony Cochrane figures.
The Indy 500 pulls the biggest one-day sporting attendance on the planet.