The race, set for June 1957, would use Indy rules whereby 2.8 supercharged and 4.2 atmospheric engine restrictions were enforced, a rolling start would kick off the race and the cars would run anti-clockwise. Ten of the brickyard’s best brawlers would meet ten of Europe’s finest to battle on their terms at the fastest bowl on Earth. Three heats at 63 laps each with hour-long breaks in between would produce a winner based on aggregate top-speed across the three runs.
Predictably, the Americans practically walked it, with Indycars sitting in the top six, four and three spots in heats one two and three respectively. The powerful and slippery Kuzma and Kurtis Krafts were topping circa-170mph – a full 30mph quicker than the speeds they were seeing at Indy. It wasn’t all duck and cover for the Europeans, though, as we can thank the Le Mans-winning Ecurie Ecosse D-Types for the American’s reduced monopoly on the top spots come heat three. While many of the Indycars couldn’t hack it, all three of “Team Scotland’s” Le Mans-proven endurance racers saw it through to the end.
Monzanapolis, as the race came to affectionately be known, had clearly struck a chord, as 1958’s running saw the Europeans return with gusto in a bid to win back their pride on home soil. Ecurie Ecosse famously lead a trickle of custom-made machines with their Indy-bodied Lister-Jaguar (as driven by Jack Fairman), while Britain’s F1 star of ’57 Stirling Moss would pilot the Maserati 420M/58. Alas, it was not to be. The Lister-Jag “Monzanapolis” was nowhere, suffering from a serious power famine in the face of the mighty Offenhauser-engined Americans. Moss did slightly better in his Maserati accruing respectable fourth and fifth places in the first and second heats respectively but came a cropper in heat three. Our best ever heat standing from both runnings of the Race of Two Worlds would be Mike Hawthorn and Phil Hill in the F1 Ferrari Dino, with Hill bringing it home third.