As we talked about his win in 1974, Johnny Rutherford, who has won the Indy 500 three times, told me that this race track is called the “Old Lady,” and it can throw turns at you like you wouldn’t believe. In retrospect, the 36-year-old Texan wasn’t the only one who gained from his first win at the Brickyard. It also helped McLaren reach the first of the Triple Crown’s three achievements, which neither Ferrari, Mercedes, nor Porsche had done before. In 1984, Alain Prost won the second Formula 1 race, the Monaco Grand Prix. In 1995, JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas, and Masanori Sekiya raced an F1 GTR and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team will enter four race cars with different designs in this year’s Indy 500. This honors that they were the first racing company to win the Triple Crown. It also sent four McLaren GT supercars to Indianapolis. One was a tribute to each of the three famous wins, and one was a combination of all three. Similarly, Monaco is also active in F1. The team drivers were then given these GTs to drive around Indianapolis for the next month. They did much better than the other drivers, who were given Chevy Tahoes and Honda Pilots as team cars. The 1974 GT is the most valuable because it was part of an important event. It was given to 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, but McLaren let me borrow it for a few days. I wasn’t worried, of course. This GT has the same mechanical build compared to the model I looked at in 2020—the same “wow”-inducing doors and the same 612-hp, 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. The look and past of this GT make it very different from other versions. The Papaya Orange GT would always stand out, but now that it has a new paint job, it stands out even more. Over the top of the windshield, you can see blue letters that say “McLaren Cars.” This is the same decal that was on Rutherford’s race winner. On the sides, it has the same blue race numbers as the last car, but this time they say “7 for Rossi” instead of “3 for Rutherford.” A kiwi symbol was added to the design to honor the designer, Bruce McLaren, born in New Zealand. The plan already has a solid retro feel, so the Kiwi symbol fits right in. Even though McLaren was a British team, these stickers were still on their cars as late as the 1980s. Rutherford, who was 85 years old, had just moved to Indianapolis. Unlike the IndyCar stars of today, he did not fly first class or even on a private plane. From Fort Worth, Texas, Rutherford drove alone in his pickup truck. “Straight through,” he said, stopping only to get gas. Because of his past, Arrow McLaren gave Rutherford a job as an adviser, and he offered advice to people on both sides of the pit wall. After a few days of strange people taking pictures of me around town instead of the McLaren GT and people risking their lives to see the car, Rutherford and I finally sat down and talked. I requested that he transport me to May 1974, a significant month in both of their lives, and he complied. In 1973, my first year driving for McLaren, we averaged 198 mph over four laps at Indy and got the starting position. Rutherford says that it also set a new record. “That goal was reached until 1974. We knew how fast we were going and how fast [AJ] Foyt was going. We thought we would win the pole race against Foyt until a piston broke during Saturday’s practice, and we had to take the car back to the shop. In about 58 minutes, McLaren was done with the engine, oil lines, and everything else. We returned for a second qualifying run, but the rules were changed according to the new Chief Steward, Tom Binford. “Binford sent us back in line,” Rutherford said. Since we were no longer able to qualify due to a lack of time, we were eliminated from contention for the pole position. Despite the fact that we were in contention for the pole position, we were required to start in the 25th position on the ninth row. Since Al Unser had the same problem, he started next to me. When the green flag came out, my car was so strong that I was racing third after 12 laps, even though I had started 25th. Then I went into battle with A.J. Foyt. My McLaren was remarkable. I let AJ go by because his slight edge was enough to keep him ahead of me on the straightaway, but my McLaren was much faster in the turns. So we fought, and I remember thinking, Man, the fans are going to love this! We never stopped working toward the goal of staying one step ahead of the other. One of Foyt’s oil lines burst all of a sudden, and oil began to pour out of the broken pipe. Because I was drenched in oil, I can’t believe I didn’t lose control of the vehicle. I had to use the shop towel on my thigh to clean the visor in the cabin. We fought until Foyt got a black flag for spraying too much oil. At that point, I moved up to first place. That was good. It was wonderful. Rutherford went on to win the 500 in 1980 and 1976 in the famous No. 4 Chaparral with the Pennzoil logo. JR had driven many cars in his life, but the McLaren GT, based on his race car, was one he had never seen before. Rutherford hadn’t seen the car, and I didn’t know I’d been driving it, so there was a nice chain of events that included assumptions and misunderstandings. After that, we walked to where I had just put the McLaren and left the tent where the team was staying. He had a priceless reaction, and I will keep that image in my mental filing cabinet forever. As he went around the car, Rutherford said, “Wow, this is it.” There are also plates from Texas on the list. I gave him room to think and time to do so. He grabbed the door, threw it open, and started looking around inside the car before asking me a few questions about it. He asked about the price, how it was to drive, and if there was enough room for his things. Even though the situation was strange, I answered all of his questions. I usually ask a professional driver how a particular car drives instead of vice versa. Rutherford was told that my father and I had gone camping in the same McLaren and that I had put firewood in the trunk. After he opened his mouth, he started to laugh. He said he could do it and drive it back to Texas with all his stuff if I could. I told Johnny, “I don’t know, but I’m sure Alex Rossi wouldn’t mind.” I also think that Zac [Brown] owes you one or two favors. With you, the Triple Crown is possible.
