A piece of the Cooper history not covered here took place at Indianapolis. Roger Ward, who won the 500 twice, was very interested in road racing. He won the inaugural race at Lime Rock in a midget. His competition was the best in the country at the time. He also competed in the first two United States Grand Prixs in a midget. At the time there was a lot of interest in combining Formula 1 and Indy Car racing. The Indy 500 was on the formula 1 schedule, and points were awarded towards the formula one championship. In 1960 Roger, the current Indy 500 winner, invited Jack Brabham, the current F-1 champion, to bring his Cooper F-1 car to Indy and try it out. Unlike most European drivers, Brahham had raced midgets in Australia, before he went to Europe to race formula cars. The story goes that the F-1 car with its smaller engine was slow, but the corner speeds were much faster. The ability to get on the gas sooner was seen as a big deal. Cooper used Dunlop tires, and Indy cars used Firestone tires. The Dunlop tires would only last a few laps before they were down to the cords on the big oval, but the Indy regulars said that was the day they knew the roadster was dead. Cooper entered a car with 270 HP in the 1961 Indy 500. The car ran as high as third and finished ninth. This was against roadsters that had 430 HP. Lotus gets credit for the rear engine revolution at Indy. It certainly helped to have Ford Motor Co. Backing, and be the first to win, but it was Cooper that started the rear engine revolution, first in F-1 and then at Indy.
