BonzoHansen
02-01-2006, 11:55 AM
To The Great Racetrack In The Sky
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
By HARRY BLAZE
Assistant Metro Editor
The Times of Trenton
I have lost a good friend and so has auto racing.
John Wyckoff Jr., who shepherded New Jersey auto racing through some rough years in the period from shortly after World War II until he retired with 35 years of service with the state, went to the great racetrack in the sky last Wednesday.
Wyckoff was plucked from the ranks of the Department of Motor Vehicles enforcement wing -- the highway patrol -- and given the task of enforcing auto racing rules, a job he did with gentle firmness.
He knew from the start that auto racers by nature resented law enforcement and viewed state supervision as an infringement on their rights. But John's great tact won most of them over. He didn't have to do it with gentleness -- he could have used the "big stick" of government power -- but he got more cooperation and accomplished more through persuasion.
Perhaps his proudest moment came in 1960.
There were times Wyckoff had to lay down the law, and that year was one of those times. Wyckoff told the United States Auto Club (USAC), which at the time was the powerful sanctioning body for all Indianapolis-type car racing, that none of its cars could race at the Trenton Speedway without a rollbar -- a tubular steel loop behind the cockpit that protected the driver's head.
Trenton Speedway was the last race before the Indianapolis 500 for what was then the highest class of auto racing in the United States. (NASCAR was still experiencing growing pains in the '60s.)
To nobody's surprise, the drivers and car owners didn't like the idea of having to put a steel hoop on the back of their racers. Who was this cop from New Jersey telling big time auto racers what to do anyhow?
It took but one race to convince the drivers Wyckoff's rollbar was a good idea.
On April 10, 1960, Rodger Ward ran away and hid from the rest of the field, leading every lap.
Ralph Ligouri of Tampa, Fla., known as "Ralphie the Racer," was in the Federal Engineering Special, trying to catch up. He was running in about fourth place, when it happened. "I remember it vividly," Ligouri, now 80, said Monday in a telephone interview from his Florida home. "The left rear tire went down, I lost traction in turn two, hit the fence then went upside down and slid across the track and into the dirt. I was conscious all the way," Ligouri said.
Even now there was a slight tone of amazement in his voice when he went on to say, "The top of my helmet was worn right through -- and it was a good helmet, too -- but my head wasn't injured because of the rollbar."
Ligouri was injured enough that he had to miss the 500, but Wyckoff had won the battle of the rollbars.
Auto racing historians may overlook Wyckoff's feat of devising a rollbar and insisting it be used, but it was a highly significant contribution to increasing safety in the sport at a time when crashes were taking many drivers' lives.
Thousands and thousands of drivers may not be aware of Wyckoff's safety breakthrough in 1960, but their lives have been saved by it.
The next time the "Indy cars" came to Trenton Speedway, the Race team presented Wyckoff with the beat and battered rollbar that had been cut off the virtually demolished car.
It would take time for him to get the owners of all open-wheel race cars to use rollbars, but it was done. Today the Wyckoff rollbar has been turned into a four-legged cage of steel tubing protecting the driver.
Harry Blaze, an assistant metro editor, lives in Hamilton.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
By HARRY BLAZE
Assistant Metro Editor
The Times of Trenton
I have lost a good friend and so has auto racing.
John Wyckoff Jr., who shepherded New Jersey auto racing through some rough years in the period from shortly after World War II until he retired with 35 years of service with the state, went to the great racetrack in the sky last Wednesday.
Wyckoff was plucked from the ranks of the Department of Motor Vehicles enforcement wing -- the highway patrol -- and given the task of enforcing auto racing rules, a job he did with gentle firmness.
He knew from the start that auto racers by nature resented law enforcement and viewed state supervision as an infringement on their rights. But John's great tact won most of them over. He didn't have to do it with gentleness -- he could have used the "big stick" of government power -- but he got more cooperation and accomplished more through persuasion.
Perhaps his proudest moment came in 1960.
There were times Wyckoff had to lay down the law, and that year was one of those times. Wyckoff told the United States Auto Club (USAC), which at the time was the powerful sanctioning body for all Indianapolis-type car racing, that none of its cars could race at the Trenton Speedway without a rollbar -- a tubular steel loop behind the cockpit that protected the driver's head.
Trenton Speedway was the last race before the Indianapolis 500 for what was then the highest class of auto racing in the United States. (NASCAR was still experiencing growing pains in the '60s.)
To nobody's surprise, the drivers and car owners didn't like the idea of having to put a steel hoop on the back of their racers. Who was this cop from New Jersey telling big time auto racers what to do anyhow?
It took but one race to convince the drivers Wyckoff's rollbar was a good idea.
On April 10, 1960, Rodger Ward ran away and hid from the rest of the field, leading every lap.
Ralph Ligouri of Tampa, Fla., known as "Ralphie the Racer," was in the Federal Engineering Special, trying to catch up. He was running in about fourth place, when it happened. "I remember it vividly," Ligouri, now 80, said Monday in a telephone interview from his Florida home. "The left rear tire went down, I lost traction in turn two, hit the fence then went upside down and slid across the track and into the dirt. I was conscious all the way," Ligouri said.
Even now there was a slight tone of amazement in his voice when he went on to say, "The top of my helmet was worn right through -- and it was a good helmet, too -- but my head wasn't injured because of the rollbar."
Ligouri was injured enough that he had to miss the 500, but Wyckoff had won the battle of the rollbars.
Auto racing historians may overlook Wyckoff's feat of devising a rollbar and insisting it be used, but it was a highly significant contribution to increasing safety in the sport at a time when crashes were taking many drivers' lives.
Thousands and thousands of drivers may not be aware of Wyckoff's safety breakthrough in 1960, but their lives have been saved by it.
The next time the "Indy cars" came to Trenton Speedway, the Race team presented Wyckoff with the beat and battered rollbar that had been cut off the virtually demolished car.
It would take time for him to get the owners of all open-wheel race cars to use rollbars, but it was done. Today the Wyckoff rollbar has been turned into a four-legged cage of steel tubing protecting the driver.
Harry Blaze, an assistant metro editor, lives in Hamilton.