Inspired by Jack
Brabham's rear-engine Cooper/Climax in 1961, Pete designed and
built his own car. He is standing on the right in this photo.
The first 3 rear
engines cars to run at Indy were a Brabham, a Lotus, and a Weismann.
The car had engine
problems and didn't qualify and Pete fueled for Jim Clark's rear
engine Lotus!
Pete can be seen
here just about the plug in the fuel hose during their one
and only pit stop
while Colin Chapman overlooks the team on the pit wall.
Notice the offset
chassis is suspended off the ground by a pneumatic platform that
lays flat on the ground when the air line is disconnected.
Parnelli Jones'
front-engine roadster was loosing oil and smoking badly. Colin
Chapman was sure they were going to get black flagged so and he
told Clark not to push.
Meanwhile the
car owner pleaded with the race official (a good friend) that
they couldn't show Jones the flag because a green,
english, rear-engine car was running 2nd!
(Green was considered
bad luck in racing, nobody painted their car green at Indy!)
PJ won the race with Clark about a half a lap behind.
. . . and at
the awards banquet, Eddie Sachs (I think) made some sort of rude
remark to him about the win and Parnelli punched him out right
there in front of everybody!
Al Unser Sr. passed his rookie test in this car in 1964. And in
qualifying for the Indy 500, the Maserati engine suffered what has been
referred to by Pete, as the "biggest blow up in history -
right down the whole front straight !".
In those days
(and probably today too), engines were literally held together
with glue, and Pete had a Maseratti engine in that car. He meticulously
removed all of this epoxy-glue throughout the insides of the engine
block. What Pete didn't realize at the time was that all this
glue was used to stop all the leaks in the porous block.
"All the
oil just puked out of it, and it went up in the biggest cloud
of smoke you've ever seen!
He was real proud
of that blowup!
"(A. J.)
Foyt then took that scared kid by the neck and put him one of
his cars.
He coached him
a little, and Big Al qualified for his first Indy 500."
Note the shape of the nose, Dan Gurney Eagles would later have
the same shape.
Pete had some
friends that helped him with this remarkable achievement.
Larry Shinoda
(show Here) penned the shape of the car from Pete's preliminary sketches. Larry penned the original Corvette.
John Mulrine
was the chief mechanic and helped Pete build and design the car.
Harry Turner
was a good close friend of Pete's.
Pete and
John teamed up also at Ford to create the
GT40
MK II.
In 1969, Pete
designed Traction Products' first 4 speed longitudinal transaxle
for Jack Brabham's Indy car in 1970. After meeting in 1966, Pete
and Jack became great friends.
Jack nick-named
the transaxle the "Fits All - Ends All" - since Pete's
design was so universal. It was used in Indy cars, Formula A,
Can-Am, Formula 5000, and land speed vehicles!
Note the clean
"coke-bottle" shape of the rear of the car. Many years
later, it became one of the hottest "new" ideas Formula
1 !
Bobby Unser gave us our first Pole at Indy in 1972 using our new
4 speed longitudinal transaxle. The Eagle was designed by Roman
Slobodynskj. This would be the first in a series of Slobodynskj's
innovative cars which used our transmissions. This car was the first car to
qualify at over 200 mph at Indy. It was roughly 24 pmh faster than the cars the
previous year! Pete is second fromt the right.
In 1975, Bobby
Unser gave us our first win at Indianapolis with a descendant
of this car.
Bobby went on
to win several races and the National Championship !
Bobby cruising
the Milwaukee Mile.
A.J. Foyt winning the California 500 in 1976 using our 4 speed
longitudinal transaxle becoming the first driver to win all three
triple crown 500 races. Pete Weismann can be seen behind the man
in the yellow jacket.
The great A.J. Foyt drove this car to his 4th Indy 500 in 1977,
becoming the first driver ever to win the Indy 500 4 times!
The 4 speed transmission
case was the 13th one of it's kind. We decided to stamp the case
14 to avoid any superstitions A.J. might have had! This transmission
case was machined entirely on the mill by Michele Weismann.
In 1980, Johnny
Rutherford won his 2nd Indy in a Chaparral designed by John Barnard
using the best transmission available to create a ground effect, our 4 speed
with sleek sides
In 1982, Gordon
Johncock won his 2nd Indy 500, our 4th, and the 1st ever using
a Transverse Transaxle.
This transmission
is a 4 speed evolution of the Brabham BT49 Transverse 5 speed
designed specifically with aerodynamics and low center of gravity
in mind.
In 1982, we teamed
up again with Roman Slobodynskj. Roman's "Batmobile"
is arguable the most beautifully, sleek car ever to race at Indy.
This car had a custom version of our Indy Transverse 4 speed.
In 1991, Chris
Weismann designed his first Indy 6 speed Transverse Transaxle
for Truesports. Don Halliday worked closely with Chris to design
this extremely low cg car for Scott Pruett and Geoff Brabham.
1728 Monrovia St. Costa Mesa, Ca. 92627
Tel: 949-645-4064 Fax: 949-645-2424
