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 For obvious reasons it wasn't widely publicized, but Parnelli Jones blew up the Marmon Wasp
last year. Ray Harroun drove the car to victory at the Indy 500 in 1911
and for the 100th anniversary, IndyCar champ Jones was tapped for
parade laps. Unfortunately, the Wasp apparently threw a rod through the
side of the crankcase.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, which owns the
car, found someone who attempted to repair the damage, but their welding
attempts just made it worse - thermal shock formed a spiderweb of
cracks next to almost every weld.
After that, they turned to the court of last resort, Steve Babinsky's
famed Automotive Restorations in Lebanon, New Jersey (not to be
confused with Kent Bain's Automotive Restoration in Connecticut, another
highly regarded facility). I visited Steve's shop earlier this month,
and took a look at the progress they were making. It had been held up
over the summer while they competed three restorations for Pebble Beach,
but they're back on the job now.
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