Video of 1968 Champ Car race at Hanford

I've been on the lookout for the long-rumored video of Champ Cars at Hanford, so it was thrilling for me to stumble across footage on YouTube. 

The graphic on this episode of "Car and Track" hosted by Bud Lindemann says the footage is from 1970, but it's in fact from the November 1968 "California 250" race at the track, as an astute YouTube watcher pointed out. ABC originally broadcast the race, paying $3,750 for the rights. 

One thing you'll notice quickly is the sandy surface, which was among Bobby Unser's main recollections of the track. 

"We had good races there but I distinctly remember sand when we raced there," Unser told me in a 2011 telephone interview from his home in New Mexico. "It was a "big slide for life" type of deal, that's what Hanford was."

At the 1:30 mark, the video shows several cars sliding in the dusty conditions and leaving heavy rooster tails behind, and it's clear from watching the entire race that few cars dared to venture outside a very narrow racing line along the apron on what was a wide track. That line kept cars from drifting up very far into the high-banked Turn 1. 

And while the racing line was narrow, the video captures quite a few passes. 

Here are a few specific things to watch for:

• At 4:20, you see new vs. old as Mario Andretti's rear-engine Brawner-Offy blows by the front-engine Lesovsky-Offy dirt car driven by Greg Weld.  
• At 4:44, you see the crash involving Mel Kenyon and Johnny Rutherford unfold, and Rutherford's wheel come loose and roll down the track. 
• A panoramic shot at the beginning of the race shows the mostly barren infield, which doubled as a drag-boat lake during the wet season. At 8:55, you can see water from that lake near Turn 1, and not too far from the track surface. 

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RELATED STORIES: Read more about Marchbanks Speedway and Hanford Motor Speedway in my Marchbanks section, including the regularly updated "History of Marchbanks Speedway, aka Hanford Motor Speedway."