RACER: Robin Miller's Tough Guy Series on Roger McCluskey
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Roger McCluskey was a tough guy who came barreling out of the sprint-car ranks in the early '60s with Parnelli Jones, Bobby Marshman and Jim Hurtubise and went to become one of USAC's most accomplished racers,
A two-time USAC sprint car champion and two-time USAC stock car king, McCluskey captured the 1973 national championship in the highlight of his IndyCar career that included five victories.
But his bad luck at Indianapolis (in 18 starts never completed 200 laps) prevented him from becoming a household name like A.J. or Mario or Parnelli and a third place in '73 was his best showing.
After retiring in 1979, McCluskey became USAC's competition director and was universally applauded as the perfect man for the job because he cared and knew so much about USAC.
After his death at age 63, he was inducted into the IMS, Motorsport and sprint car Hall of Fames.
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As Roger McCluskey's granddaughter I thank you very much for this!! My dad, Roger McCluskey Jr., found this and sent it to my siblings and I. Sadly, we never got to meet grandpa, but if we did all of us would've been the bestest of friends. He seemed like the greatest person ever.
Hi Rayna, I went to school with your dad, then lived next door to your great grandma in the 80's. Your Grandpa was a great man for sure, one of the best racers ever to come out of Tucson. Tell your dad I said hello, from Jeff Furrier, have him get in touch through FB or at UPR Racing Supply in Tucson.
I watched your grandfather race for many years, and he was a phenomenally gifted race car driver.
Great video. Thanks
Thank you Robin. May you Rest In Peace.
Oh Robin! I just love this piece you did on Roger. You are so right about him as a person and his career. My step-dad Billy Hypes was one of Roger's best friends so I got to see the personal side of Roger and just loved him and his wife Jean. He and dad worked together at USAC after they both quit the driving/pit crew world and they were inseparable
until Roger passed. They are both gone now, but certainly not forgotten thanks to you and many other "ole timers". Another legacy of Roger's is the Rookie Orientation program I believe he started for Indy drivers. Thanks for remembering him!
My first race was Langhorne in 1966. Of course my favorite was Andretti, but I always remember McCluskey as we went to both the Langhorne race (till they closed the track) and the Trenton race (until we moved from NJ). He was always in the running.
Get well soon Robin!
Here here!! Couldn't agree more.
How am I not surprised that my lord and saviour posted a comment on an Indycar video?
McCluskey deserved a top Indy ride. He never rot it.
McCluskey was typical of the men of the era...he didn't complain and drove his best. He was a gentleman.
tom krayg AMEN!!!
Thanks so much Robin for the Tough Guy Series.
At pocono in 1973, roger was leading foyt bigtime. then he slowed on the back straight ,with one lap to go.
he was out of fuel, Foyt took the win,,,,minutes later,,, i snapped roger in the myriad crowd, as he walked right up to me, helmet in hand. he stopped, smiled and mussed my hair, i had that photo for years, great gentleman,,,,i was only 15, but will never forget he was a real hard racer, and real nice guy,,
Thank you robin,
Robert
Torino,Italy
McCluskey was always a crowd favorite. He ran Indy for a long time and "yeah!" Nothing seemed to go that well.
One of the best out of Arizona along with Jimmy Bryan, Bobby Ball!
McCluskey was my first racing antihero. My first attended races were at Milwaukee Mile and McCluskey had a Norm Nelson Superbird that gave my earliest heroes AJ Foyt and Jack Bowshers (among many others) all they could handle in it. By 1975 I was a fan.
Would the 1963 "spin in the oil" be cryptically referring to Parnell Jones dumping oil out of "Old Calhoun" aka: The Willard Battery Special???
Nice job - as alway Robin.
Great video get well soon robin
He was before my days, but only just. I knew his name, but not his story. Great video. Thanks, Robin and Racer.
Watch your videos about racing is for me, above all, LEARN. Awesome video. Amazing channel.👍👍
Get well soon!
Roger was the 1973 Champion and did it in a 2 year old McLaren M16 from Lindsey Hopkins.
saw roger run out of fuel at pocono on lap 198,,,then passed him in the crowd after the race, in 1973,
i was 15 and shot a photo,wow,,halycon days,,,,!
Roger,in my opinion,hasn't gotten his props.In addition to winning titles on the dirt and USAC stock cars,he won the National Championship in a year that many are only beginning to talk about:1973.A tip of the hat to him.R.I.P.
The sprint cars and Indy cars separate the men from the boys,
Great to see Robin back!
Yes...Robin, you look "under the weather". Looks like a cold. (Damn! I hate those things!)
As to a gentleman - Roger was a nice guy...serious in his career of driving and yes...he did want to keep U.S.A.C. going as the Champ car sanctioning body to a great auto sport series: open wheel racing.
My uncle (who's 91 now) and I were given pit/garage passes by Atlanta, GA native, Lindsey Hopkins back in May, 1977. (My uncle knew a lot of professional people in his lifetime...Lindsey was one.) Back in the '70's as you know, Roger drove a few of the Hopkins cars. In 1977 at the "Carb-Day Test" at I.M.S. we got about 15 or so minutes opportunity to talk with Roger in the garage area where his car (# 11 - the "First National City Travelers Check" Special ['77 Lightning/Drake-Offy]) was being worked on for some reason (I think Hopkins told us in the pit area where we stayed for the practice/testing that McCluskey's car had a bad magneto). My uncle, a popular Methodist church minister in Atlanta at that time, asked Roger this: "Tell me, Roger...what is your pattern of driving this track?" Roger had a good reply...one that I have been using in my own road driving ever since: "When I approach a turn, I touch the brakes just a bit, then at the half way point of the apex, I throttle up enough to get through the short straight, and maintain that speed to half way then give it the gas."
Roger was a man who loved joking...his laugh was unmistakable in a crowd of drivers. Some of his better times was when he teamed up with A.J. Foyt.
I wish, like you stated, Robin, that Roger had finished the '63 race in third. It might have been his "ticket" to better things the following years. And...I had forgotten that he had broke his arm(s) in a Sprint Car race in early '64. [Johnny Rutherford, as you know, did in '66. That is why both guys weren't at Indy in those accident years.]
Well, I hope you get better. If it's a cold...try a product called "Cold-Eeze" lozenges. They cut the common cold duration about half. Also, "Emergen-C" . Once a day literally everyday wards off them "bad cooties". [I'm not a doctor...just one who hates colds.]