Jimmy Gronen was dozing in front of the TV 40 years ago when he heard the words that shook his young world. Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, appeared and said, ‘Well, ladies and gentlemen, there is one boy in America unhappier than Richard Nixon this evening, and it’s little Jimmy Gronen,’ Bob Lange Jr., won the 1972 event, and for 1973, Lange’s cousin Jimmy Gronen drove a car that was visually identical to Lange’s. Gronen won the 1973 event, but was stripped of the title two days later. Officials had already replaced Gronen’s wheels and tires after they were seen to be chemically treated to reduce rolling resistance. Suspicious derby officials carted Gronen’s vehicle to what was then the Goodyear Airdock for X-rays, then held a news conference at which they sliced the car apart for dramatic effect. But X-ray examination showed that Gronen’s car also had an electromagnet in the nose, which was attracted to the steel paddle used to start the race; it allowed Grone...
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