1978 McLaren M24B

Bruce McLaren founded McLaren in 1963, and the team raced at Indianapolis from 1970 to 1982, winning on three occasions. Mark Donohue piloted the McLaren M16B to victory in 1972, and Johnny Rutherford scored two victories in 1974 and 1976.

McLaren has been involved in all forms of motorsport including Formula 1, Can Am and Indy. In recent years, they were battling for the lead in the 2010 Formula 1 World Championships. In May 2017, McLaren returned to Indianapolis after a 38-year hiatus from Works competition at that track.

The McLaren M24B was built in 1978 and used during the 1978 and 1979 seasons. The 1979 CART season was marred by legal difficulties resulting from the USAC/CART split. Nevertheless, Rutherford and the M24B finished 4th in the Indy Car standings.

The McLaren M24 was based on the McLaren M23 Formula 1 car and proved very successful, winning more finishes on the podium than any other competitor's model, including 8 victories by Johnny Rutherford. The M23 was designed by Gordon Coppuck and John Barnard and was a development of the McLaren M16 Indianapolis 500 car. Power was sourced from a Ford Cosworth DFV engine and tuned by the Nicholson-McLaren Engines company, helping to boost power to nearly 500 bhp. The aluminum monocoque chassis was suspended by double wishbones all round while the front employed inboard coil-over shock absorbers. The 2,993CC V8 engine was backed by a Hewland FG400 manual transmission and placed behind the driver in the 101-inch wheelbase chassis.

McLaren's 1977 Indy team was run by Tyler Alexander, and the car driven by Rutherford took pole position at each of the opening four races and won at Phoenix (the second race). Sneva driving for Team Penske in an M24 won the third race at Texas World Speedway and took the pole position at the Indianapolis 500. Later in the season, Rutherford won three more races and Sneva won the Pocono 500 and the USAC title.

For the 1978 season, Team Penske built their own cars and Rutherford drove a new M24B car. A second car was built for him in 1979, the same year the team's sponsorship changed from First National City Travelers Checks to Budweiser. During the 1978 season, Rutherford won two races in the M24B. The following year, two races were won at Atlanta in April of 1979 before Budweiser withdrew their sponsorship at the close of the year. McLaren left Indy racing at the end of the 1979 season.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2017