THE LOLA T500
All pictures copyright Lola Heritage unless otherwise stated.
Al Unser in the First National City sponsored, Chaparral Cars entered T500.
Although Lola had an excellent record with Indy cars taking fifteen wins, twenty-three seconds and eight thirds it had been six years since they had last built a car, 1972's T270 but in 1978 they returned with the T500 which would show they could still make a winner as Al Unser and the Chaparral team making history by winning USAC's Triple Crown; The Indianapolis 500, the Pocono 500 and the California 500.
The T500 featured inboard front suspension with a rocker arm at the top and a lower wishbone, the steering was mounted on the top of the tub so that the steering arms emerged from the bodywork behind and in-line with the rocker arms for improved aerodynamics. At the rear the spring/dampers were outboard with a top link, lower wishbone and twin radius rods. The disc brakes were outboard front and rear and the twin water radiators were mounted at the rear of the monocoque, just in front of the rear wheels.
Aerodynamics and generating downforce were becoming more and more important in USAC racing, being driven by advances in Formula One, and the T500 featured, following testing, a rudimentary skirt to help control underbody airflow and front and rear wings were fitted, the rear wing being the, then popular, deep-dished "Banana" design. The monocoque was relatively narrow especially at the front meaning the front suspension was long to give the necessary front track and the wheelbase of 110 inches made it one of the longest cars in USAC racing that year.
Power came from the Ford Cosworth DFX, the short-stroke turbocharged version of the F1 V8 DFV, capacity was 2.645 litres which, with 80 ins of turbo boost. gave 840bhp @ 9500rpm. All this power was transmitted to the road via the 4-speed Hewland LG500 gearbox and 14X15 inch rear wheels fitted with 27.0/14.0-15 Goodyear tyres. Front wheel size was 10X15 inch with 24.0/10.0-15 tyres.
The T500 had a very successful season taking Al Unser to second in the 1978 Championship standings and, if it hadn't been for seven races where he didn't finish, he might well have won as he was only 122 points short of the champion, Tom Sneva, who ironically didn't win a race all year. The season started indifferently for Unser qualifying and finishing tenth at Phoenix but a third at the next round, Ontario, showed the Chaparral team were getting the hang of the new car. A bad accident at Texas in practice, round three, saw Unser miss the race and the next round at Trenton.
Unser was now facing sorting a new chassis for the Indy 500, but he was able to qualify fifth and won the race when the engine of leader Danny Ongais failed with fifty-five laps to run to take the first leg of the Triple Crown. The next two races saw a DNF and an eighth before The Pocono 500, the second leg of the Triple Crown, Unser was only able to qualify in tenth but a brilliant tactical race saw him do the race on one set of tyres and, by conserving fuel, was able to get by on less pit stops than his rivals to win from the McLaren of Johnny Rutherford.
Four indifferent races followed with two DNFs, a fourteenth and a fifth before the final leg of the Triple Crown, the California 500 at the Ontario Motor Speedway. Qualifying seventh Unser moved up the field until, with five laps to go, it looked as if he would have to settle for second, but leader Gordon Johncock suddenly slowed, out of fuel, and Al had taken the Triple Crown, the only driver to manage this feat. The rest of the season was a disappointment with only three DNFs, a fourth and a fifth to show.
A contemporary Autosport news item gives the price of a T500 as £31,000 and a Cosworth DFX at around £16,000, that's £157,000 and £73,000 respectively at 2023 rates.
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 110ins - 2800mm
Front Track: 62.75ins - 1593mm
Rear Track: 62ins - 1574mm
Weight: 1598lbs - 725kg
Year(s) of Construction: 1978-1979
Total Built: 5
Al Unser in the Indianapolis pitlane.
1978 Indianapolis 500 Results
| Finish | Start | Driver | Car # | Sponsor/Name | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Status |
| 1 | 5 | Al Unser | 2 | 1st National Travel Check | Lola 78 | Cosworth TC | 200 | 3:05:54.99 161.363 |
| 2 | 1 | Tom Sneva | 1 | Norton Spirit | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth TC | 200 | Finished |
| 3 | 6 | Gordon Johncock | 20 | North American Van Lines | Wildcat 78 | DGS | 199 | Flagged |
| 4 | 13 | Steve Krisiloff | 40 | Foreman Industries | Wildcat | DGS | 198 | Flagged |
| 5 | 7 | Wally Dallenbach | 6 | Sugaripe Prune | McLaren 77 | Cosworth TC | 195 | Out of fuel |
| 6 | 19 | Bobby Unser | 48 | ARCOgraphite | Eagle 78 | Cosworth TC | 195 | Flagged |
| 7 | 20 | A. J. Foyt | 14 | Gilmore/Citicorp | Coyote | Foyt TC | 191 | Flagged |
| 8 | 23 | George Snider | 84 | Gilmore/Citicorp | Coyote | Foyt TC | 191 | Flagged |
| 9 | 15 | Janet Guthrie | 51 | Texaco Star | Wildcat | DGS | 190 | Flagged |
| 10 | 8 | Johnny Parsons | 16 | 1st National Travel Check | Lightning | Offy TC | 186 | Flagged |
| 11 | 30 | Larry Rice | 35 | Bryant/WIBC | Lightning | Offy TC | 186 | Engine |
| 12 | 33 | Mario Andretti | 7 | Gould Charge | Penske | Cosworth TC | 185 | Flagged |
| 13 | 4 | Johnny Rutherford | 4 | 1st National Travel Check | McLaren 77 | Cosworth TC | 180 | Flagged |
| 14 | 28 | Jerry Karl | 88 | Machinists Union | McLaren | Offy TC | 176 | Flagged |
| 15 | 24 | Joe Saldana | 69 | Wize-Guy Carpet | Eagle 73 | Offy TC | 173 | Flagged |
| 16 | 31 | Gary Bettenhausen | 98 | Oberdorfer | King 76 | Offy TC | 147 | Piston |
| 17 | 25 | Mike Mosley | 78 | Alex Foods | Lightning | Offy TC | 146 | Broken gear |
| 18 | 2 | Danny Ongais | 25 | Interscope Racing | Parnelli | Cosworth TC | 145 | Piston |
| 19 | 10 | Dick Simon | 17 | La Machine | Vollstedt | Offy TC | 138 | Wheel bearing |
| 20 | 26 | Jim McElreath | 26 | Circle City Coal | Eagle 74 | Offy TC | 132 | Engine |
| 21 | 18 | Tom Bigelow | 43 | Armstrong Mould | Wildcat 76 | DGS | 107 | Broken connecting rod |
| 22 | 9 | Larry Dickson | 80 | Polak Construction | Penske PC-5 | Cosworth TC | 104 | Lost oil pressure |
| 23 | 3 | Rick Mears | 71 | CAM2 Motor Oil | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth TC | 103 | Engine |
| 24 | 21 | Pancho Carter | 8 | Budweiser | Lightning | Cosworth TC | 92 | Broken exhaust header |
| 25 | 11 | Roger McCluskey | 11 | National Auto Engineering | Eagle 76 | AMC | 82 | Clutch |
| 26 | 17 | John Mahler | 39 | Tibon | Eagle | Offy TC | 58 | Broken timing gear |
| 27 | 14 | Tom Bagley | 22 | Kent Oil | Watson 77 | Offy TC | 25 | Overheated |
| 28 | 22 | Salt Walther | 77 | Dayton-Walther | McLaren | Cosworth TC | 24 | Transmission |
| 29 | 16 | Spike Gehlhausen | 19 | Hubler Chevrolet/WIRE | Eagle 74 | Offy TC | 23 | Wrecked SE |
| 30 | 29 | Phil Threshie | 87 | Tutwiler | Lightning | Offy TC | 22 | Lost oil pressure |
| 31 | 32 | Jerry Sneva | 30 | Smock Material | McLaren | Offy TC | 18 | Broken rear end |
| 32 | 12 | Sheldon Kinser | 24 | Thermo-King | Watson | Offy TC | 15 | Lost oil pressure |
| 33 | 27 | Cliff Hucul | 29 | Wendy's Hamburger | McLaren | Offy TC | 4 | Broken oil line |
| -- | -- | Gary Bettenhausen | 95 | Dairy Queen | Kingfish | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Larry Cannon | 85 | Dayton-Walther | Wildcat | X | -- | DNS, too slow |
| -- | -- | Pancho Carter | 78 | Alex Foods | Lightning | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Bob Harkey | 4 | X | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | DNS, too slow |
| -- | -- | Gary Irvin | 9 | Tassi Vatis | X | X | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Jim Hurtubise | X | X | Mallard FE | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Mike Hiss | 7 | Gould Charge | Penske PC-6 | Cosworth TC | -- | Raced by Ma. Andretti |
| -- | -- | Mike Hiss | 66 | Penske Racing | Penske | Cosworth | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Bubby Jones | 18 | Simon Shopping Centers | Wildcat 2 | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Gordon Johncock | 51 | Texaco Star | Wildcat | DGS | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Lee Kunzman | 90 | X | Sugai Fox | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Al Loquasto | 8 | Frostie Root Beer | McLaren | Offy TC | -- | DNS, too slow |
| -- | -- | Graham McRae | 33 | Dayton-Walther | McLaren | Offy TC | -- | DNS, too slow |
| -- | -- | Graham McRae |
34 |
Dayton-Walther | McLaren | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | John Martin | 2 | Wheel Center | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Bobby Olivero | 78 | Alex Foods | Lightning | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Billy Vukovich, Jr. | 18 | Longhorn Racing | X | X | -- | DNS, too slow |
| -- | -- | Billy Vukovich, Jr. | 93 | McCord Auto Supply | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Eldon Rasmussen | 58 | Rent-A-Racer | X | X | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Larry Rice | 6 | Bryant/WIBC | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Larry Rice | 65 | City of Syracuse | Eagle | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Roger Rager | 9 | Dairy Queen | Dragon | Offy TC | -- | Wrecked qualifying |
| -- | -- | Roger Rager | 97 | Dairy Queen | Dragon | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Dick Simon | 27 | Bryant Heating & Cooling | Vollstedt | Offy TC | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Chuck Gurney | 57 | Crower Cam | Eagle | Crower | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Mel Kenyon | X | X | X | X | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Vern Schuppan | X | X | X | X | -- | Did not qualify |
| -- | -- | Ed Finley | X | Olmstead | Eagle 73 | Volker | -- | Did not qualify |
The T500 in the early season colour scheme.
T500 1978 USAC National Championship Trail Results
| DATE | RACE/VENUE | ENTRANT | DRIVER | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18th March | Jimmy Bryan 150, Phoenix International Raceway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 10th |
| 26th March | Ontario 200, Ontario Motor Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 3rd |
| 23rd April | Trenton 200, Trenton International Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNS |
| 28th May | International 500 Mile Sweepstakes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 1st |
| 11th June | Mosport Park 300k, Mosport Park | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNF |
| 18th June | Rex Mays Classic, The Milwaukee Mile | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 8th |
| 25th June | Pocono 500, Pocono International Raceway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 1st |
| 16th July | Michigan 200, Michigan International Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNF |
| 23rd July | Atlanta 150, Atlanta International Raceway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 14th |
| 6th August | Texas Grand Prix, Texas World Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNF |
| 20th August | Tony Bettenhausen 200, The Milwaukee Mile | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 5st |
| 3rd September | California 500, Ontario Motor Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 1nd |
| 16th September | Michigan Grand Prix, Michigan International Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNF |
| 23rd September | Trenton 150, Trenton International Speedway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 4th |
| 1st October | Silverstone Indy, Silverstone | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNF |
| 7th October | Brands Hatch Indy Trophy, Brands Hatch | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | DNF |
| 28th October | Bobby Ball 150, Phoenix International Raceway | 1st National Travel Check | Al Unser | 5th |
1978 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
2nd Al Unser 4031 points
Results courtesy of www.champcarstats.com
Al Unser at speed at the Indy 500.
T500 1979 USAC National Championship Trail Results
| DATE | RACE/VENUE | ENTRANT | DRIVER | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th March | Jimmy Bryan 150, Phoenix International Raceway | Pennzoil | Al Unser | 4th |
| 22nd April | Gould Twin Dixie 125 #1, Atlanta Motor Speedway | Pennzoil | Al Unser | 6th |
| 22nd April | Gould Twin Dixie 125 #2, Atlanta Motor Speedway | Pennzoil | Al Unser | 3rd |
| 27th May | International 500 Mile Sweepstakes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Armstrong Moulding Texaco Star |
Tom Bigelow Janet Guthrie |
14th DNF |
| 2nd September | California 500, Ontario Motor Speedway | AMS Oil | Dennis Firestone | DNF |
1979 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
5th Al Unser 2085 points (Also drove a Chaparral from Round 4 on)
Results courtesy of www.champcarstats.com
The T500 at the Lola factory on its announcement. Note the original nose with a duct and the lack of a "skirt" on the sides of the monocoque.
T500 1980 USAC National Championship Trail Results
| DATE | RACE/VENUE | ENTRANT | DRIVER | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25th May | International 500 Mile Sweepstakes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Armstrong Moulding Starcraft AV Hugger's Beverage Holder |
Tom Bigelow Greg Leffler Jerry Sneva |
8th 10th DNF |
| 8th June | Gould Rex Mays Classic, The Milwaukee Mile | Hugger's Beverage Holder Armstrong Moulding |
Jerry Sneva Howdy Holmes |
8th 15th |
| 22nd June | True Value 500, Pocono International Raceway | Armstrong Moulding Hugger's Beverage Holder |
Howdy Holmes Jerry Sneva |
8th 14th |
| 23rd July | Norton 200, Michigan International Speedway | Armstrong Moulding | Howdy Holmes | 11th |
| 10th August | Tony Bettenhausen 200, The Milwaukee Mile | Armstrong Moulding | Tom Bigelow | 14th |
| 31st August | California 500, Ontario Motor Speedway | Starcraft AV | Greg Leffler | DNF |
| 20th September | Gould Grand Prix, Michigan International Speedway | Armstrong Moulding | Greg Leffler | 15th |
| 8th November | Miller High Life 150, Phoenix International Raceway | Armstrong Moulding | Greg Leffler | DNF |
1980 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
22nd Howdy Holmes 314 points (Also drove an Orbiter)26th Tom Bigelow 260 points
32nd Greg Leffler 184 points
35th Jerry Sneva 149 points (Also drove an Orbiter and a McLaren)
Results courtesy of www.champcarstats.com
Eric Broadley stands beside the T500.
Cutaway drawing of the T500 from Autocar magazine.
The T500 in the pits.
One of three tubs destined for the Armstrong Moulding team.
Al Unser demonstrating the T500 at....
....the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Tom Bigelow at the 1979 Indianapolis 500.
Al Unser in the 1979 Pennzoil T500.
The turbocharger installation for the Cosworth engine in the T500.
The T500 drivers.
The T500 featured on the Trenton USAC round.
The T500 at the Indianapolis 500 Motor Museum.
The Ford Cosworth DFX engine. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)