Phoenix 1980 Indy car-by-car histories
Tom Bagley in the #40 Kent Oil Phoenix at Watkins Glen in August 1980. Copyright Peter Viccary (gladiatorroadracing.ca) 2021. Used with permission.
Built by master fabricator John Thompson in England as a copy of the Williams FW07, the 1980 Phoenix Indy car was supplied to Jerry O'Connell's team and to Patrick Racing. Gordon Johncock took pole position in his first race with a Phoenix, and Tom Sneva won one race in his car later in the season.
The first suggestion that John Thompson was building an Indy car came in December 1979, when Jerry O'Connell's driver Tom Sneva was interviewed by Chuck Stewart in his local Spokane Chronicle and let slip that "John Thompson, who built the ground-effect cars which Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni drove that dominated Formula 1 last year is building us two cars". The first car was expected in February. Two weeks later, Ron LeMasters in The Muncie Star confirmed that O'Connell had two cars on order from Thompson, and added that Salt Walther was getting a new car from Thompson.
Patrick Racing then bought two of the new Thompson cars as backup for the Bob Riley-designed Wildcat Mk 6 and the Gordon Kimble-designed Patrick PR1, both of which were already testing but proving ineffective. Gordon Johncock and Tom Bagley used the Phoenix cars for most of the season, before Kimball designed a new Wildcar for 1981, based significantly on the Phoenix.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Tom Sneva in the Sugaripe Phoenix at Watkins Glen in August 1980. Copyright Peter Viccary (gladiatorroadracing.ca) 2021. Used with permission.
Kevin Cogan in Jerry O'Connell's Phoenix at Mid-Ohio in 1981. Copyright Kurt Oblinger 2021. Used with permission.
The first Phoenix was built for Jerry O'Connell's Sugaripe Prune team with Jud Phillips as chief mechanic and Tom Sneva driving (Autosport 22 May 1980 p37). It was "totalled" in Sneva's accident on 14 May and Sneva drove an older McLaren in the race. The car was rebuilt later in the year (Hungness says the 1981 Indy 500 car had raced at the 1980 Indy 500) and won the last race of the season, appropriately at Phoenix. Sneva moved to Bignotti-Cotter for 1981 but "borrowed" the Sugaripe Prune Phoenix for the opening race of the season: Phoenix again. Kevin Cogan then took over the drive, taking fourth at Indy and second in the next race at Milwaukee but the car was sold in September to Tony Bettenhausen's team (On Track 1 Oct 1981 p7) leaving Cogan out of a drive. Bettenhausen raced the Phoenix at the last three races of 1981 and a single race in 1982. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Tom Sneva, Kevin Cogan and Tony Bettenhausen II. First race: Milwaukee Mile (R8), 10 Aug 1980. Total of 14 recorded races.
Gordy Johncock's #20 North American Van Lines Phoenix at Watkins Glen in August 1980. Copyright Peter Viccary (gladiatorroadracing.ca) 2021. Used with permission.
New to Patrick Racing Team for 1980. It arrived at Indy during May and took over as Tom Bagley's #40 entry from his Riley-designed Wildcat Mk IV. Bagley returned to the Wildcat after a breakage on the Phoenix so the Phoenix was reassigned to Gordon Smiley. Smiley drove it as the team's #70 Valvoline-Diamond Head entry, qualifying well but retiring with turbocharger problems. Bagley took over the Phoenix again at Milwaukee as the #40 Kent Oil entry, qualifying well in sixth but retiring. Bagley had three accidents in his other six outings in the Phoenix in 1980 but finished fourth at Milwaukee in August and sixth at Watkins Glen. Unknown after 1980 but possible consumed in the construction of the Wildcat Mk8s.
Driven by: Gordon Smiley and Tom Bagley. First race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (R2), 25 May 1980. Total of 6 recorded races.
Tom Bagley's #40 Kent Oil Phoenix at Watkins Glen in August 1980. Copyright Peter Viccary (gladiatorroadracing.ca) 2021. Used with permission.
New to Patrick Racing Team for 1980, and first seen at Milwaukee in early June where it was Gordon Johncock's #40 North American Van Lines entry. Johncock qualified on pole position and finished third. He crashed it in practice at Pocono, but it was back for Mid-Ohio, where he finished second. Either accidents or retirements put him out of the remaining races of the year. Unknown after 1980 but possible consumed in the construction of the Wildcat Mk8s.
Driven by: Gordon Johncock. First race: Milwaukee Mile (R3), 8 Jun 1980. Total of 8 recorded races.
Bignotti-Cotter had a 1980 Phoenix as a backup car for 1981, which had been modified with suspension modelled on that of the team's March 81C. It was used in practice at the Indy 500 by Tom Sneva but he decided to use the March instead. Roger Rager then used it, but his qualifying attempt was flagged off. Finally Johnny Parsons Jr completed an attempt but was too slow. Sneva then raced it at Milwaukee, finished fourth, and then Salt Walther raced it at Pocono and Michigan later in the year. Unknown after 1981.
Driven by: Johnny Parsons Jr, Roger Rager, Tom Sneva and David "Salt" Walther. First race: Milwaukee Mile (R2), 7 Jun 1981. Total of 3 recorded races.
The fates of the two Patrick Racing Phoenix cars are unknown, but when Gordon Kimball was working on his new design for the team in early 1981, the team's new team manager, Jim McGee, commented that the prototype car tested at Ontario and Phoenix was built out of a bare Phoenix monocoque. McGee told the Indy Star's George Moore in January 1981 that "we installed new front and rear bulkheads, new suspension and new geometry, a new body, underparts, side panels and a new engine exhaust configuration". So it is distinctly possible that the team's two 1980 Phoenix cars were consumed in the four Wildcat Mk8s that had been built by the time of the Indy 500.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Simmo Iskül and 'gbl' for their help on this subject. The interview with Tom Sneva in the Spokane Chronicle was on 28 December 1979, p15, LeMasters' was 13 Jan 1980 page C7.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
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