1964 INDIANAPOLIS 500® WINNER 
Driver: A.J. Foyt  Car#1
Sponsor: Sheraton Thompson Special
Order Item# 4406

 
At the 1964 Indianapolis 500^®, A.J. Foyt, Jr. was racing for the Sheraton-Thompson team owned by Bill Ansted and Shirley Murphy and run by crew chief George Bignotti.  The rear-engine revolution was in progress, and among the 61 entries there were 24 rear-engine "funny cars."  Foyt had a rear engine available, but chose to race his Watson Roadster.  

When the race began, Clark jumped into the lead. On the second lap of the race there was a terrible accident back in the field, which took the lives of Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs, and brought out the first red flag because of an accident in Speedway history.  When the race was restarted, Marshman led from Clark, but both fell out from separate mishaps.  Jones then led until his first pit stop, when a spectacular fire on pit road ended his race.  From Lap 55 to the end of the race, Foyt commanded the race from first place.  Rodger Ward finished second, a lap behind Foyt.  Foyt's winning speed was 147.350 mph, which was faster that the qualifying record five years earlier.  Foyt's victory would prove to be the last ever at Indy for front-engine cars, which had won every Indy 500® from 1911 through 1964.

After the race, Foyt said, "A lot of guys mad fun of me driving an antique car with an antique engine, (but) these antiques have made me an awful lot of money around here."