1960 Braun Plywood Special

[pylonguy2003]

I am hoping some of you can help me confirm the history of the Epperly lay down that raced in 1960 as the "Braun Plywood Special" or something like that. It was race 45 and I believe it showed up at Indy in 1960 with Bill Cheeseborg as the driver. It was a late arrival and did not make the field. A week later at Milwaukee it did race with Dick Rathman as the driver. Parnelli Jones drove in the August race at Milwaukee and led the race for part of the time. Is this the lay down that Parnelli wanted to that Tony Bettenhausen fell in love with? I was speaking tonight with Gary Doucette and discussing if his Autolite Epperly could be used to model this car. Thanks!

Tim

[jamesharvey]

Tim,
Please look on p. 417 of Jack Fox' "The Indianapolis 500 1911-1994." There is a picture of the #45 Braund Plywood. If you compare it to the picture on p. 200 of the 1961 Autolite, it looks to me that they are much the same. I don't if it were the same car, but they appear alike so Gary's model could be a good choice. Good luck!
Jim

[gwstexas]

Hi Guys,
Same car. Here's the scoop. The car arrived too late at Indy. Parnelli thought the car was great when he drove it and he asked Aggie to buy it for the 1961 500. Tony Bettenhausen wanted it as well and Lindsey Hopkins bought it for him before Aggie could make up his mind. Bettenhausen thought he could get the car to 150 mph, but died testing Paul Russo's car before he had the chance. Parnelli had to settle for Aggie's Watson, which did become the first 150 mph car. That's the one Parnelli called "Calhoun."
Sorry, got carried away again.

Gary

[pylonguy2003]

Hey Gary and James!

Thanks for the replies. I have seen the photo in the Jack Fox book. There is also one in the Dick Wallen "Roar of the Sixties" book with Dick Rathman driving. My question would be does anybody have enough photos to make decals for the car as raced by Parnelli in August at Milwaukee?