McLaren are best known to Indianapolis Formula One fans as the team gave Mika Hakkinen his last Formula One victory - and the only McLaren-Mercedes win - at the Brickyard.
But thirty years earlier, in 1970 and 1971, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd had its most impressive open-wheel success on the oval track at the Indianapolis 500, bringing to Indy a car so novel and so fast that it increased lap speeds over the prior year by an astounding 8-10 mph, a quantum leap in Indy 500 terms.
This is not to say that Bruce McLaren's cars had not been a success in Europe in Formula One before coming to Indy. By 1970, team boss Bruce McLaren and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme had racked up four wins on the Grand Prix circuits. McLaren had also enjoyed success in North America in big-block, Group 7 Can-Am sports car racing.