1985 March 85C

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.

Success for March came swiftly as their cars would go on to win the 1983, 1984, and 1985 Indianapolis 500s. The success and diversity of March made the company an attractive place to work for aspiring young engineers. One of those would be a Stratford-upon-Avon man by the name of Adrian Newey.

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.