Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History

Lee Kunzman: The Unforgettable Journey of an American Racing Legend

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

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EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode, Tim shares the story of one of his great friends, Lee Kunzman.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Tim Coffeen, the host of “Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History,” will share stories and memories from his long career with top Indy car teams. As a winner of seven championship rings, Tim not only understands the history of open-wheel racing, he has lived it!

Thanksgiving and Football (or maybe Vice Versa) - Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Thanksgiving Day, 1924. The recently-established tradition of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team hosting the Pennsylvania State Nittany Lions on the afternoon of the national autumnal holiday continues.

Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is sent to cover the Pitt-Penn State “Keystone Classic” of 1924; in so doing, he discovers a throughline of the football-on-Thanksgiving tradition going back to 1621 (okay, actually, that’s going back to 1869) and reminds us that high-level football games on Thanksgiving are nearly as old as the official Thanksgiving holiday itself.

Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is an audio drama podcast from Number 80 Productions and the Sports History Network.

Thanksgiving and Football (or maybe Vice Versa) script & story by Os Davis.

Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer stars Doug Fye, Ilona Fye, and Eric Bodwell. Thanksgiving and Football (or maybe Vice Versa) co-stars, in order of appearance, Caedmon Holland, Forrest Hartl and Wayne Brett.

Additional direction by Eric Bodwell. Sound recording and primary editing by Don McIver.

The theme song of Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is “the Dayton Triangles Rag” and was arranged and performed by Bruce Smith.

Other tracks in this episode include

• “Jazz Club” by Kriss (available through fair-use agreement via FreeMusicArchive.org);

• “Litany of the Street” by Silverman Sound Studios;

• “Bimini Bay” (1921) by the Benson Orchestra of Chicago; and

• “Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer (Outro)” by David Liso of Dynamo Stairs.

Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer is produced by Os Davis and Darin Hayes. Series concept by Darrin Hayes.

Stay tuned for more episodes of Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer – coming soon!

Remembering Michael Andretti's Magical CART Championship Season (1991)

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

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Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

1991 was a great year for the Newman-Haas Racing Team. Our driver, Michael Andretti, had a magnificent season — 8 race wins, 8 pole positions and nearly 1,000 laps led.

The 1991 season-ending race was held at Laguna Seca, California. Mike won the pole position, the Marlboro Challenge and lead every lap of the race on Sunday to clinch the PPG Indy Car Championship.

In this episode, I’ll talk about Michael and Mario Andretti — the first father-son Indy Car Team and pay tribute to my NHR teammates, who made it all possible.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Remembering Bubby Jones with Author Bones Bourcier

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

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NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Norman “Bubby” Jones was an American short-track racing icon, an open-wheel master whose trail of victories dotted the map and led him, ultimately, to the Indianapolis 500.

In this week's episode, Tim is joined by his longtime friend and author, Bones Bourcier. They reminisce the life and memories they have of the legendary driver, Bubby Jones.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

GUEST BIO

Mark “Bones” Bourcier has covered American automobile racing since 1976, contributing columns and feature stories to a number of magazines and newspapers. He is a two-time winner of the “Miller Racing Award of Excellence,” one of motorsports journalism’s most coveted annual prizes, and a past recipient of the Eastern Motorsports Press Association’s “Frank Blunk Memorial Award” for outstanding contribution to motorsports journalism. Among his books are several widely acclaimed motorsports autobiographies, including “As a Matter of Fact, I AM Parnelli Jones,” co-written with the 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner; “True Speed: My Racing Life,” with two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart; and “The People’s Champ” with USAC legend Dave Darland. A Connecticut native, Bourcier now resides in Indianapolis. Most of his books are available at www.coastal181.com

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Conflict of Interest: The Summer of Jan Opperman

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In the seventh episode of “Tim Coffeen Talks Indy Car and Racing History,” Tim looks back at his relationship with driver Jan Opperman, an American racing legend who left us way too soon. Opperman was a competitive racer, but also a man of the cloth, and those two seemingly opposite interests were quite unusual in the world of Sprint and Indy cars.

While he was driven to win, Opperman also wanted to assist those in need. His miraculous season in the summer of 1972, when he won 44 main events, helped him to accomplish both of those objectives…as well as to attract attention from the upper levels of the U. S. racing hierarchy.....

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

A Day in the Life of a Retired Lead Mechanic

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In retirement, do we always seek the refuge of our favorite golf course or the comfort of that familiar rocking chair? While Tim Coffeen has retired from Indy Car racing, he has never truly retired from the challenge of working on race cars. In Tim’s case, rocking chairs and golf clubs have been replaced by the lure of vintage race cars.

As a kid, Tim remembers the swift Offy-powered machine driven by A. J. Foyt in the 1960 Indianapolis 500. Now, over six decades later, Tim is part of a team restoring and maintaining vintage Indy race cars, including that very same Foyt racer.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Christiano da Matta's Magical Season

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

It was 2002 and driver Cristiano da Matta roared to the CART championship with the Newman-Haas race team. With seven wins and seven pole positions, it was a glorious season for the Newman-Haas crew. However, Tim notes that this was also the last great year for the CART series with the schism between the Indy Car leagues also splitting the competition and the loyal fan base. The triumphs of 2002 soon faded away in 2003 as the unfortunate racing civil war took its toll on both circuits.

Now in the 20th anniversary year of that championship season, Tim recalls the brilliance of da Matta, the individual talents of his exceptional teammates, as well as the lost opportunities when the CART teams largely did not participate in the legendary Indianapolis 500.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Racing Camelot: Nigel Mansell

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of “Tim Coffeen Talks Indy Car and Racing History,” Tim shares the experience of welcoming a celebrity driver who possessed entirely different skills and tactics than his predecessor in the Newman-Haas garage. Along the way, Tim will discuss how difficult it is for Formula One or even NASCAR drivers, such as Jimmy Johnson, to make the jump to Indy Car competition. In his familiar honest fashion, Tim also reveals some of the tension that accompanied the arrival of Mansell and the inevitable competition between the crews of Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Riding the Back Roads: My Life in Sprint Car

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

It sounds like a nightmare…

When your race car transport truck stops for gas, you hop out for a moment only to return and find the truck gone! In the days before cell phones, you’re left without your wallet, your shirt, and no visible means of catching up with the truck. What do you do?

Before he traveled around the world in a style befitting a championship Indy Car team, Tim Coffeen worked his way up through a never-ending trail of dirt tracks, tough competition, and a lack of hotel accommodations on the Sprint Car circuit. Usually sleeping on floors or in his truck, Tim pursued his auto racing dreams as both a driver and a mechanic in Sprint Car competition.

In this episode of “Tim Coffeen Talks Indy Car and Racing History,” Tim recalls the hardships and determination that this lifestyle required of a young man…but it was all necessary if he expected to move up in the auto racing universe.

He'll discuss the personalities that he met along the way, including his mentors Bubby Jones and Jan Opperman, explain how he was accidentally abandoned at that long ago rest stop, and who helped him accrue the funds needed to purchase his first race car. Sprint drivers were accustomed to driving all night to reach the weekend races and Tim Coffeen will never forget the generous gesture made by his friend Robin Miller when Tim was offered the opportunity to get behind the wheel early in his career.

Among the other topics discussed in this program are:

The locations of the dirt tracks he frequented during those early years.

His own success as a driver before his first big break as a crew member.

The best and worst times he experienced as a Sprint Car driver.

How Sprint Cars (and their drivers) were financed.

How his Sprint Car team helped prepare Tim for his future career in Indy Car.

Why some of Tim’s favorite Sprint Car drivers remain so special to him personally.

Finally, Tim shares (as only he can), some of his favorite stories from behind the scenes of his Sprint Car days.

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Indy 500 Race Day: On The Grid

Wed, 25 May 2022 02:15:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode, Tim Coffeen will take you inside the garage as an Indy Car team prepares for the legendary Indy 500 on race day. You’ll learn how the team operates on that one incredible day, from entering the track in the pre-dawn darkness with a police escort, to its meals together, to the tension of the long wait before the start of the race.

FULL POST ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Where It All Started: The Brickyard

Wed, 11 May 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this inaugural episode of “Tim Coffeen Talks Indy Car and Racing History,” Tim dips into his phenomenal knowledge of racing history to uncover the very beginnings of the Indy 500, along with sharing his own experiences from the greatest spectacle in auto racing.

CARS WITH RIDING MECHANICS!

The Indianapolis 500 looked much different back then with most race cars including a driver and a riding mechanic with no seat belts required! And where did the term “The Brickyard” originate? Tim tells us that after some disastrous results during very early races at the Speedway (built-in 1909), the owners arranged for the track to be “paved” with 3.2 million bricks, hence the word “Brickyard.”

DAYLIGHT RACING REQUIRED

The memories and stories from Tim Coffeen are never-ending, from sharing the escapades of a driver who drove two different cars during the very first race in 1911, to why the 500-mile distance was determined (there were no floodlights!), and how the Indy 500 developed the rolling start for the competing race cars.

THE STARTING GRID

The starting grid for the first episode of “Tim Coffeen Talks Indy Car and Racing History,” is ready for your review as follows:

When did the Indy 500 start?
Where does the name “brickyard” come from?
Way back when, why did mechanics also sit in the car with the drivers?
What were some of the key influences that changed the 500 in terms of speed?
Are there drivers from the past that you greatly admire?
What is your greatest memory from the Indy 500 either before, during, or after your own career?
Is it the team or the driver that has the biggest impact on a team’s Indy success?
What is the biggest fear of a crew during a race?
What is the future of the Indianapolis 500?

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

SHOW BIO

Sports History Network Presents: Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History

Sun, 08 May 2022 03:00:00 -0500

Tim Coffeen Talks Indy car and Racing History is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

NETWORK SPONSORS

Row One - the vintage shop for sports history fans!

CONTACT TIM COFFEEN

Head to Tim's Page on the Sports History Network to leave a message.

EPISODE SUMMARY

EPISODE ON SHN WEBSITE

EPISODE CREDITS

Tim Coffeen - the man with the stories

Joe Ziemba - host and interviewer

Ross Blilie - intro/trailer production

TIM COFFEEN BIO

Long ago, the racing bug bit him. Hard. Growing up in Indianapolis, it is not difficult to imagine how the lure of speed, excitement, and powerful engines snared Tim Coffeen at an early age. He was hooked by the sport of Indy Car racing and determined that there could be no better way to make a living than doing something that he truly loved.

While still in grade school, Tim would hitchhike to the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) each spring and carefully watch the competing race teams prepare for the annual Indianapolis 500, the biggest event in all of auto racing. His initial break occurred while he was still in high school when he was hired to assist in the garage area at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the filming of the movie “Winning” starring Paul Newman.

He interacted with car mechanics and other racing personnel, and no job was too intimidating, or too uncomfortable, for the young man.

Little did he envision back then as a high school “rookie” that his career would span decades and his role as a team member with some of the biggest open-wheel organizations in the racing industry would result in winning seven, that’s seven, Indy Car championship rings!

But there is more to Tim Coffeen than his impressive racing credentials. He is an author, commentator, speaker, and historian with unsurpassed knowledge of Indy Car racing history. From his humble start as a lower-level assistant during the production of “Winning,” Coffeen quickly jumped into sprint car racing (both as a driver and as a mechanic) on old-fashioned dirt tracks throughout the country.

He worked with his mentors and friends Bubby Jones and Jan Opperman for many years on the sprint car circuit, then eventually graduated to the big leagues at the IMS with drivers Opperman and Jones. During this time period, Coffeen also worked for the famed Bettenhausen brothers.

In the 1980s, he joined the team headed by the respected George Bignotti as a mechanic for drivers Gordon Johncock and Mario Andretti. From 1983-1988, Coffeen worked with driver Josele Garza and the successful Machinists Union Racing. But in 1989 (and concluding in 2011), Coffeen began a long-time role with Newman-Haas Racing owned by businessman Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman.

With a stable of notable drivers, the team captured seven championships. As Lead and Chief Mechanic, Coffeen worked with such well-known drivers such as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Cristiano da Matta, Bruno Junqueira, Oriol Servia, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, James Hinchcliffe, and Sebastien Bourdais.

With his podcast on the Sports History Network, Tim Coffeen will take you into the pits and into the garages of Indy Car racing history. He’ll open the curtains to a racing world that has been seen by very few and share the drama, personalities, disappointments, successes, and laughs that have made open-wheel racing such a worldwide phenomenon. And what better person is there than Tim Coffeen to lead this journey? He not only understands the importance of Indy Car history, he has lived it!