Mario bests Parnelli at the 1966 Bobby Ball Memorial race
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| Andretti on pole leads the field to the green |
Held on Nov. 20, 1966 at Phoenix International Raceway, the Bobby Ball Memorial race, the USAC’s 200-mile season-ender, took place in front of a record crowd of 14,896 (or so reported in the Dec. 10, 1966 issue of Competition Press & Autoweek).
That crowd got a heck of a show, in part because of the carnage: Of the 44 cars that showed up to qualifying, only 26 started — and just seven managed to finish. The race didn't follow the expected script; though it was billed as a showdown between Gordon Johncock and Jim McElreath for second in the '66 USAC championship standings (again, or so we wrote), the first driver wrecked in qualifying; all McElreath needed to do to clinch second was finish. So there went that angle.
Fortunately, the battle between Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones — who delivered an applause-provoking "virtuoso performance" in qualifying — spiced things up. You can read about the race, harrowing flips and crashes and all, down below.
As to the name of the event: It was a tribute to driver Bobby Ball, a Phoenix native who died following a crash in 1953. Read AutoWeek Report from 1966