Danny Ongais.

[charleselan]

Very sad to read this morning that Danny Ongais had passed away at the age of 79 years from heart complications. An unbelievably fast and brave driver who came from Hawaii and is so often associated with the glorious and sinister black Interscope cars of team owner Ted Field. Formerly a great Drag Racer who then went circuit racing and matched his speed on both ovals and road courses.

Danny suffered some truly monumental crashes during his career some unfortunately emblazoned across the internet, however he survived and continued to race even though his last crash kept him out of action for over one year. Danny even had some drives in FI all with Interscope backing but never in anything like a fully competitive machine or with the kind of back up needed to succeed.

My best memories are of him in the beautifully prepared black Parnelli Indycar or the similarly liveried Porsche 935. He never got to win at Indy although one of the very fastest there on many occasion, I believe he made an amazing return nine years after he last raced there at the age of 54 when he drove the Team Menard entry that was to have been driven by Scott Brayton who tragically as killed in practice. Starting 33rd on the grid he finished in a praiseworthy seventh at race end.

I saw him once when he came over with the Indycars to the UK racing at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, the beautiful black Parnelli was his ride on that occasion and he was quick.

[chrisb]

I am so sorry to hear this sad news, Danny was to me a larger than life individual who was awesomely quick and very brave, a great racer and from memory a very approachable individual who seemed not to phased by anything,

rest in peace Danny

[René]

Thanks John for posting this.

Danny Ongais, I never saw him race in real life but a well known name of course in racing. Always fast and apparently without fear.

The images of his frightening accident at Indianapolis went around the world. How he ever survived that remains a miracle!

I have a splendid slot car model of the Lola T600 in Interscope colors driven by Danny. Did a few laps in his honor!

Rest in peace.

[robmarsh]

Yep very sad. I always liked Danny Ongais. RIP

[charleselan]

Mar 2, 2022 15:09:19 GMT René said:

Thanks John for posting this.

Danny Ongais, I never saw him race in real life but a well known name of course in racing. Always fast and apparently without fear.

The images of his frightening accident at Indianapolis went around the world. How he ever survived that remains a miracle!

I have a splendid slot car model of the Lola T600 in Interscope colors driven by Danny. Did a few laps in his honor!

Rest in peace.

What better way in paying tribute than taking a few laps in his Lola T600 on your track. I am certain Danny "On The Gas" (as he was known) would appreciate that. I always liked the Lola T600 and there were some superb liveries available as well as the glorious Ted Field car.

[Carl]

I never saw Danny Ongais race in USAC, but several times in IMSA with the awesome Interscope Porsche 935. Somewhat of a mystery as he was a very private man, he spoke behind the wheel (and early in his career behind the handlebars) with superb eloquence. I was one of many dubious at first that anyone could successfully transition from top-level drag racing to oval and road courses, all of us soon astonished by his great versatility.

He was handily on pole and won Mosport's USAC race in 1978 driving for Parnelli Jones, the chassis derived from the team's earlier Maurice Phillippe Formula One design, which proved an advantage on the road course likely envied by Roger Penske. This was Danny Ongais' best year in Indycar, with Mosport one of 5 victories.

  At the wheel of the Interscope 935                     

                                                                                                                        

                                                      After a good result 

[mikael]

Mar 4, 2022 18:08:48 GMT Carl said:

 ... but several times in IMSA with the awesome Interscope Porsche 935 ...

I would have loved to see a (real) Porsche 935 in action, but never did. (There are quiet a number of cars I would have loved to see in action but never did :-D )

I always thought the 935 was one of the most impressive cars ever. One of the most impressive things is that the factory (Porsche) found that a four-speed gearbox worked just fine, as the torque produced by the turbo-charged engine was phenomenal. To imagine a top speed of 300+ km/h (190 mph) with just a four-speed gearbox ... Amazing!

In the late 70's I saw several 911's modified to look like 935's in the Danish "special saloon car" category. The rules there were rather relaxed, so they were quite fast; but still, not the real thing ...

[René]

Mar 4, 2022 19:42:10 GMT mikael said:

Mar 4, 2022 18:08:48 GMT Carl said:

 ... but several times in IMSA with the awesome Interscope Porsche 935 ...

I would have loved to see a (real) Porsche 935 in action, but never did. (There are quiet a number of cars I would have loved to see in action but never did :-D )

I always thought the 935 was one of the most impressive cars ever. One of the most impressive things is that the factory (Porsche) found that a four-speed gearbox worked just fine, as the torque produced by the turbo-charged engine was phenomenal. To imagine a top speed of 300+ km/h (190 mph) with just a four-speed gearbox ... Amazing!

In the late 70's I saw several 911's modified to look like 935's in the Danish "special saloon car" category. The rules there were rather relaxed, so they were quite fast; but still, not the real thing ...

I agree, the 935 was a very impressive race car. One of the coolest Porsche racers ever. 

[charleselan]

I saw the very first Porsche 935 run at Silverstone in the 1976 Silverstone 6 Hours, this being the works Martini car of Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass. To me it looked better than the works variants that followed over the next few years. However i have to say my favourite version was the Erwin Kremer 935K3 which is the one used by so many teams in the late 1970's early 1980's including the Interscope car that Danny Ongais drove.

Kremer also made K4 version that was as far as I am aware less well known and just before last Christmas i managed to get  a lovely model version of that at a most reasonable price, it has the iconic orange Jaegermeister colours and was driven by "Brilliant" Bob Wollek in a DRM race at Zolder in 1981. A much sought after K3 is the beautiful emerald green Vaillant car also driven by Bob that as yet i haven't been able to source at anything like a realistic price, a very collectable model.

Below the original Martini Porsche 935 at Silverstone in 1976, here driven by Jochen Mass.

[charleselan]

Here we have the Kremer Porsche 935K4 with Brilliant Bob at the wheel, but not from Zolder. Obviously from a race weekend taking place in higher temperatures by the look of all the trunking directed into the cockpit which couldn't have done much for the aero.

[René]

Mar 5, 2022 16:10:37 GMT charleselan said:

Here we have the Kremer Porsche 935K4 with Brilliant Bob at the wheel, but not from Zolder. Obviously from a race weekend taking place in higher temperatures by the look of all the trunking directed into the cockpit which couldn't have done much for the aero.

Must be in Germany given the Foto-Quelle signs in the background. That is a German company.

Love that Porsche!

[charleselan]

Yes it looks monstrously beautiful. Of course Germany, could be the Norisring I seem to remember that it was usually hot there.

Here is a picture of it without the huge ducts on a wet track somewhere.



This is the 1/43rd scale Spark model, not mine I hasten to add as that is tucked away in the display cabinet alongside another recent purchase of Bob's equally gorgeous Kremer Porsche 934 in the green Vaillant colours.

[chrisb]

I think I saw Walter Rhorl race a 935 at Silverstone one year, can't remember if he won in it or was second, but it was so spectacular and I just remember the flames spitting its fire and sounded brilliant, love those cars

[René]

Wonderful. I have this 935 (DRM 1977, Zolder) by Scaleauto as slot car. A fantastic model and very good performer also.