Although the material on this page (photographs and/or Downloads) is offered freely for download, all items remain the copyright of Lola Heritage or Lola Cars (except where indicated) and may not be further distributed for profit or personal gain. If you wish to use any of these items for public display (e.g. web site, books or magazines etc.) please contact Lola Heritage first.

THE LOLA T80

All pictures copyright Lola Heritage unless otherwise stated.

Sitting in the T80 is Bud Tingelstad, to the left is entrant Lindsay Hopkins, on the right chief mechanic Jud Phillips and crew chief Jack Beckley.

Lola's first assault on the world of Indy Car racing was in 1966 when they built two cars for that year's Indianapolis 500. As a warm up one car was entered, as the American Red Ball, at the Trenton 100 for Bud Tingelstad and, despite the race being shortened from 100 to 87 laps, the T80 finished 4th on its debut.

The next race was the big one, the Indy 500, and two cars were entered, once again Bud Tingelstad in the American Red Ball and he was joined by Al Unser in the Sheraton-Thompson. However late completion of the cars had meant very little running time and inexperience with the design saw Tingelstad qualify 23rd and Unser 29th of the 33 starters. Both drivers complained particularly of a handling problem that caused the car to "heave" as it entered a corner, this was later discovered to be caused by a flaw in the suspension geometry. Despite this, and a number of other teething troubles, Unser finished ninth and Tingelstad ran as high as fifth until a broken casting (not Lola-made) caused a rear wheel to fall off after 115 laps.

The T80s continued to race in that year's USAC Championship but with very little success (see results below).

For details of the individual chassis histories please visit OldRacingCars HERE.

Al Unser in the Sheraton-Thompson and Bud Tingelstad in the American Red Ball T80s at Indianapolis. (Indycar.com)

T80 Specification.

Engine:Ford V8 4.2 litre 500 BHP.
Construction:Steel and alumnium monocoque.
Gearbox: ZF Three-speed.
Height: 2ft 8ins (81.3cms.)
Length: 13ft (13.96m)
Weight: 1250lbs (567kgs.)
Tyres: Firestone.
Brakes: Girling.



The T80 under construction at the Lola factory.

T80 1965 USAC National Championship Trail Results

DATE	RACE/VENUE	ENTRANT	DRIVER	RESULT
25th April	Trenton 100, Trenton International Speedway	American Red Ball	Bud Tingelstad	4th
31st May	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Sheraton-Thompson American Red Ball	Al Unser Bud Tingelstad	9th Retired
18th July	Trenton 150, Trenton International Speedway	Mecom Racing Team	Rodger Ward	DNS
25th July	Hoosier Grand Prix, Indianapolis Raceway Park	Mecom Racing Team	Rodger Ward	Retired
14th August	Milwaukee 150, The Milwaukee Mile	Mecom Racing Team	Bud Tingelstad Rodger Ward	Retired Retired
22nd August	Tony Bettenhausen 200, The Milwaukee Mile	American Red Ball Mecom Racing Team	Bud Tingelstad Rodger Ward	Retired Retired
26th September	Trenton 200, Trenton International Speedway	Mecom Racing Team	Rodger Ward	Retired
21st November	Bobby Ball Memorial, Phoenix International Raceway	Mecom Racing Team	Rodger Ward	Retired

1965 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS

19th Al Unser 495 points (Also drove a Weisman, Eisert and Kuzma Sprint Car)
20th Bud Tingelstad 460 points (Also drove a Halibrand, Kurtis, Kuzma and Silnes and Blum Sprint Cars)
49th Rodger Ward 30 points (Also drove a Watson RE)

Results courtesy of www.champcarstats.com



T80 front suspension. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)

T80 1966 USAC National Championship Trail Results

DATE	RACE/VENUE	ENTRANT	DRIVER	RESULT
30th May	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes, Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Michner Petroleum Western Racing Associates Western Racing Associates	Larry Dickson Ronnie Bucknam Bruce Jacobi	Retired DNQ DNQ
5th June	Rex Mays Classic, The Milwaukee Mile	Western Racing Associates	Bruce Jacobi	19th
12th June	Langhorne 100, Langhorne Speedway	Western Racing Associates	Bruce Jacobi	DNS
26th June	Atlanta 300, Atlanta Motor Speedway	Michner Petroleum Lucy	Larry Dickson Arnie Knepper	19th
7th August	Langhorne 150, Langhorne Speedway	Michner Petroleum	Sam Sessions	DNS
25th September	Trenton 200, Trenton International Speedway	Michner Petroleum	Sam Sessions	Retired

T80 1968 USAC National Championship Trail Results

DATE	RACE/VENUE	ENTRANT	DRIVER	RESULT
7th April	Jimmy Bryan Memorial, Phoenix International Raceway	Michner Petroleum	Rick Muther	DNQ
9th June	Rex Mays Classic, The Milwaukee Mile	Michner Petroleum	Norm Brown	DNF

Results courtesy of www.champcarstats.com



The rear suspension of the T80. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)

1965 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS

20th Bud Tingelstad 460 points
49th Rodger Ward 30 points

1966 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS

24th Larry Dickson 320 points
30th Sam Sessions 210 points
38th Bruce Jacobi 100 points

Results courtesy of www.champcarstats.com



Parnelli Jones tested the T80... (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)



...but opted to race a Lotus. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)



...as did AJ Foyt.(From the Collections of The Henry Ford)



Bud Tingelstad retired as the result of an accident. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)



Al Unser finished 9th. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)



Larry Dickson in the Michner Petroleum T80 at the 1966 Indy 500, he was involved in the opening lap accident. (Indycar.com)



The Dayton Disc Brake T80 at Indianapolis in 1967. Ronnie Duman, Bruce Jacobi and Bob Bondurant all tried (and failed) to qualify the car and Jacobi managed to wreck it. (From the Collections of The Henry Ford)