A couple of years ago I wrote about the Lotus 29, #29/3, that Jim Clark drove in his first appearance in the Indy 500 in 1963. That car was wrecked at Phoenix at the end of 1964 in an accident that would claim the life of Bob Marshman.

Today’s post features the other two Lotus 29’s #29/2 in white above and #29/1 in green below, which were both driven by Dan Gurney the driver who personally paid for Colin to visit the Indy 500 for the first time in 1962.

Dan attempted to qualify the car painted white and seen carrying the #91 Indy 500 start number, but crashed it on Pole Day.

Instead of repairing the car, chassis 29/2, the team put Dan in the original green #93 Lotus 29, chassis 29/1, which he qualified 12th. By race day the #93 29/1 was repainted white and Dan drove it to a 7th place finish.

After the disappointment of loosing the ’63 Indy 500 on their debut Jim and Dan returned to take on the USAC Champ Car establishment at Milwaukee, with Jim in 29/3 and it would appear Dan drove 29/1 if one accepts that the race number #93 stayed with the chassis. Jim easily won the race from AJ Foyt whom he cleverly avoided lapping with Dan coming home third despite his car being fitted with over size carburetors.

So far as I have been able to determine Bob Marshman was orginally given chassis 29/2, Gurney’s intended ’63 Indy 500 #91 race car, to drive in 1964 and it is this car which Bob qualified 2nd next to Jim Clark’s Lotus 34 at for the 1964 Indy 500.

Bob appears to have crashed #29/2 at Milwaukee in ’64 and his owner Lindsey Hopkins bought #29/3 as a replacement apart from qualifying 2nd and 3rd at Indy and Trenton Bob had little luck in racing either of the Lotus 29’s never finishing in the top ten in either of them despite finishing 2nd three times in the Lindsey Hopkins Kuzma Offy that he was obliged to drive in the USAC Champ Car dirt track events.

These days the white #29/2 belongs to Skip Barber and when it is not on loan is to be found at his Barber Museum in Birmingham Alabama.

Lotus 29/1 with Jim Clark’s #92 on it belongs to the IMS Hall of Fame Museum and has often been confused with the car Jimmy drove at Indy and Milwaukee in ’63 that was crashed by Bob Marshman in ’64.

Thanks for joining me on this “Dan’s 29’s” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for “Maserati Monday”. Don’t forget to come back now !