1985 March 85C

Sold for $231,000 at 2015 Gooding & Company : Amelia Island.
After a disappointing 1984 season, things changed for Penske in 1985. The combination of the March 85C chassis and the turbocharged 2.65-litre Cosworth DFX V-8 proved to be the right setup. This car, chassis #021, was driven by Al Unser, Sr. at Long Beach, Indianapolis, Portland, Meadowlands, Cleveland, the Michigan 500, Road America, Pocono, the Detroit New 200 at Michigan, Laguna Seca, and Tamiami Park, helping four-time Indy 500 winner Unser earn his second CART Championship. He had one win, 10 top fives, and one other top ten en route to the championship, a battle that climaxed in dramatic fashion in the final race of the season. Unser, Sr. caught and passed Roberto Moreno for fourth place in the closing laps and thus won the championship by one point over his son. Afterward, he expressed some regret about snatching the championship title from his son, but felt it was his responsibility to his own team and sponsors to race to his ability all the way to the end. It was also in the best interest of sportsmanship to all competitors not to give favor to his son.

Today, Adrian Newey's genius as a car designer is without question. However, in the mid-1980s, he was still a name that people had heard of, but were still unsure of whom he was exactly. That would begin to change in 1984. In 1985, his reputation was secured. Then, in 1986, a red March would come streaking across the yard of bricks at Indy. Everything would change, practically overnight, but not just for Newey.

It would really all start with an overly-ambitious car design firm from England known by the acronym M.A.R.C.H. A group of four men would start the company with the intention of fielding cars in most of the major categories of motor racing at the time. Of course, Formula One was the biggest aim. Unfortunately, success would be sparse. This would lead to the firm looking elsewhere to earn its fame. Indycars seemed like another logical option.

March would come and go in Formula One. When it returned in 1981, it did so with an example of a Williams FW07. March would make some changes and improvements to the car and would soon realize they had a good foundation for an Indycar. Therefore, the March 81C would be fashioned for the mix of ovals and road courses used within the American series and would quickly become a popular choice with teams.

Newey, who certainly had a penchant for trouble-making when he was younger, was a talented engineer. Earning First Class honors in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Southampton, he would soon find his talents for aeronautical engineering being used in car design working under Harvey Postlethwaite in the Fittipaldi Formula One team. Then, in 1981, he moved to March lending a hand on many of the projects undertaken by the company.

Newey's first major project would be designing a prototype car for the IMSA GTP series based in the United States. Creating the famed 'lobster-claw'. This adaptable design was practically unbeatable, winning the IMSA GTP title two years in a row.

The success in IMSA racing led Robin Herd at March to bring Newey into the Indycar program to work with customer teams. Newey would come onboard and would soon meet and form a close friendship with Bobby Rahal, who was driving for Truesports at the time.

Jim Trueman and Bobby Rahal had a long-standing relationship since the 1970s, especially from the moment Trueman lent Rahal $500 to enter a race at Watkins Glen. Jim believed in the talented Rahal and ended up hiring him as his principal driver when he made the jump to Indycars in 1982. Newey's piece in this puzzle came along just a couple of years later. Rahal and Newey would become good friends and would work closely together to develop the March Indycar. The result would be 3rd place in the 1984 Indycar Championship.

Newey's work didn't just aid the Truesports team. His 85C chassis would be used by Al Unser, who would take it to the title that year. The 85C would also be driven by Danny Sullivan, the winner of that year's Indy 500. Suddenly, Newey was a man in demand. His genius solidified. March needed to take advantage of this. Therefore, Newey would be pulled from the Indycar project and would do work for the company trying to attract even greater investments and interest. He would also be hired by Kraco to serve as an engineer to Michael Andretti. His path in motorsports was now on the move and it would result in a long-standing period in Formula One where he would become perhaps the greatest designer in Formula One history, designing such cars as the Williams FW14B and FW15, championship-winning cars with McLaren and, of course, a string of multiple championship winners at Red Bull.