Lola that almost brought Jackie Stewart an Indy 500 win to be auctioned

With ten laps to go of the 1966 Indy 500, Jackie Stewart was in the lead with this Lola T-90. He may not have won, but the car will still carry a $1m estimate when it's auctioned this summer

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Jackie Stewart 1966 Indy 500

Tartan Army: Jackie Stewart, pictured here in the Lola T-90 chassis 90/2 with his John Mecon Racing team, almost won Indy at the first attempt in '66

IMS

The Lola T-90 in which Jackie Stewart came within ten laps of winning the 1966 Indy 500 is going up for auction, 55 years after its most famous race.

Chassis 90/2, which the three-time Formula 1 champion also drove to victory in that year’s Fuji 200 IndyCar race, will be auctioned by Gooding & Company at the Pebble Beach Concours on August 13/14 and is expected to fetch between $1m – $1.4m (£725,000 – £1m).

The ’66 edition of the Brickyard race was eventful to say the least, and saw Stewart announce himself as a force to be reckoned with Stateside.

The Scot qualified for John Mecom Racing in a solid 11th place, on a grid which featured defending 500 champion Jim Clark and JMR team-mate Graham Hill (also Stewart’s team-mate at BRM in F1), as well as a bevy of American stars including Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt, Bobby Unser and Dan Gurney.

Lola T90

The Lola T-90 is expected to fetch between $1,000,000 to $1,400,000

Gooding & Company / Teddy Pieter

Towards the end of the 500-mile race, the running order was Stewart – Clark – Hill with an all-British podium looking on the cards.

Unfortunately, with nine laps to go, the scavenge pump on Stewart’s Lola failed, filling the engine with oil and forcing him to make an unscheduled pitstop.

From the archive

The Scot ultimately finished sixth, with Hill winning in another Lola T-90, but there was controversy as there appeared to have been a lap counting error, with Jim Clark possibly actually having won. Hill ultimately kept his Brickyard victory, and is now the only man to have won motor sport’s unofficial ‘Triple Crown’ of Monaco, Indy and Le Mans.

The Lola T-90 was an update of the T-80, which retired early from the ’65 race due to reliability problems put down its rushed development.

90/2 was owned after its racing life by renowned Indy 500 car collector David Uihlein before being bought by the current seller in 1995.

The ’66 effort featured an aluminium monocoque supported by steel subframes. It’s powered by a Ford four-cam V8 and remains in the striking livery which made it stand out with Stewart.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Auctions, run by Gooding & Company, begins on August 13 at 5pm PDT and ends August 14 11am PDT. More information can be found here.

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