Iconic off-road race-Bronco was inherently unstable, even Parnelli Jones rolled it, several times.
- The iconic Oly Bronco, raced to victory in two Baja 1000s by Parnelli Jones, was rolled twice in the recent NORRA Mexican 1000.
- Big Oly has always been notoriously difficult to keep upright, even Parnelli Jones rolled it numerous times while racing.
- The drivers this time were Meyers Manx’ new owner Phillip Sarofim and Mark Porsche, great grandson of Ferdinand Porsche.
As you may have heard, the great icon of an off-road racer the Oly Bronco rolled over last week when it was in the NORRA Mexican 1000. Actually it rolled twice, with two different drivers. No one was hurt and the tubeframe chassis appears to have survived intact. The only damage was to the rear end bodywork and the big wing that served as a roof.
Since the accident, there have been many commenters who have said something to the effect of, “If I’da’ been drivin’ that sucker it would nevera’ rolled, I’ll tell you that!” Fact is, even the great Parnelli Jones rolled it back when he was racing it to victory in two Baja 1000s.
The problem is the basic dimensions of the big brute. And its rear differential—or lack thereof. The Bronco was thought up by racing legend Parnelli Jones and designed by him and fabricator Dick Russell. Earlier Broncos Jones had tried off-road were four-wheel drive and heavy. They were also based on production frames. Parnelli wanted a tube frame with a fiberglass body. Along with master fabricator Russell, Parnelli drew it out on a napkin, according to longtime Vel’s Parnelli Jones team member Jim Dilamarter. The resulting car was built at Bill Stroppe’s shop and driven by Jones—with Stroppe in the passenger seat yelling for him to slow down—to two wins in the Baja 1000, 1971 and 1972. The off-road racing world was never the same after that and you can trace the lineage of today’s million-dollar Trophy Trucks to the Big Oly Bronco.
The famous rig has always had some design shortcomings that made it a real handful to drive, however. To find out more, we called up Dilamarter himself and asked him what Big Oly was like to drive.
“The Bronco has several things that kind of would contribute to the flip,” Dilamarter said. “One: it’s a short wheelbase, two, it’s a narrow track, three, it has a high center of gravity, and four, it has a spool rear end. Those are the things that contribute to that. Plus, you know, over exuberance, whatever.”
This is how Big Oly appeared just before it was sold at auction for $1.87 million at Mecum’s Indy Auction last May.
Mecum
Those in touch with rear end componentry, so to speak, know that a spool rear end differs from an open rear differential, limited-slip diff, and locking diff in that it’s just a 90-degree bend for the torque to go from the driveshaft and through before going to each rear wheel equally.
“For a dedicated drag car that goes in a straight line, it’s pretty much a no-brainer that a spool is the way to go,” says the spool page at Mark Williams Enterprises, which specializes in axles and other parts for drag racing. “With torque applied equally to both rear wheels, it makes for optimum acceleration potential. Of course, with both rear wheels ‘locked’ in unison, when it comes time to make a turn the rear end is ‘fighting’ it, as opposed to a car equipped with a differential that allows the outboard wheel to rotate slightly more than the inboard wheel and go through an arc smoothly.”
“Spools are all about getting full lockup on a budget… 100% lockup 100% of the time,” says Yukon Gear and Axle’s page. “There are two types of spools: full spools and mini spools. Each attains the same objective, ensuring both drive wheels on a given axle receive full torque and rotate at the same speed all the time. They create a solid axle.”
Back to Dilamarter: “So when you have a spool rear end, obviously, if you’re turning left, the left wheel turns just as much as the right turns. So if you try to make a sharp turn you’re gonna flip, it’s just automatic.”
An example of a spool from Yukon Gear & Axle catalog.
Yukon Gear & Axle
Dilamarter said that Parnelli warned Oly’s new owner, off-road racing enthusiast Phillip Sarofim when Sarofim bought Big Oly at a Mecum’s auction last year for $1.87 million.
“He’s warned everybody who’s ever driven it,” said Dilamarter.
Many others have rolled the Bronco, too.
“One time, at one of his (Firestone Tire) store openings, one of the mechanics was goofing off in a parking lot and he tipped over exactly how Parnelli was talking about. That was on pavement, but it doesn’t matter, dirt or pavement.”
Indeed, Parnelli’s son, former Indycar racer PJ Jones, who finished 18th in the NORRA Mexican 1000 this year driving his own Evolution Modified Turbo Can AM X3 4 UTV, compared the damage of the Bronco this time to what his father used to do to it in a race.
“It’s in better condition now than when Parnelli brought it back,” Jones reportedly said at the finish line in Cabo San Lucas.
Dilamarter, who was there for Oly’s Baja 1000 wins in 1971 and ‘72, said, “There’s a great picture of one of the 1000-mile races, I don’t know which one. Anyway, he (Parnelli) flipped it more than once in the same race. And the wing is all battered. There’s nothing left of the front fender. I mean, it looks like a total wreck—and he won the race. A friend of his at the finish line said, ‘Geez, if you won the race, what does the second-place car look like?’”
That thing’s hard to keep upright, true, and it certainly not the only vehicle to roll over in the NORRA Mexican 1000. Just the most famous. (No one was talking smack when I was in a rolled Kia Sportage in the 1995 Baja 1000. But then, I’m nobody.) Still, the fact remains the Oly wasn’t actually competing outright and was simply a participant in the Slow Baja Safari class.
Numerous sources have stated that the drivers of the Oly Bronco were Phillip Sarofim, the billionaire new owner of another legendary name in desert racing, Meyers Manx, and famous scion of the Porsche family Mark Porsche, son of Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, grandson of Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche, and great-grandson of the original Ferdinand Porsche. If the family tree posted on Wikipedia is right, then Mark is the brother of Ferdinand Oliver Porsche, who may be the Ferdinand who puts on the GP Ice Race at Zell am See. Sarofim has participated several times in the Porsche family’s GP Ice Race at the ancient Porsche family hometown of Zell am See, Austria. One might assume that is how the two know each other.
Driving a 911 sideways on ice on the frozen Zell am See lake is probably different than driving a tippy desert racing icon in the Baja dirt. But that’s just an assumption. Regardless, it’s good to see the youngest Porsche out enjoying cars. And good to see that the iconic Meyers Manx is also in the hands of an enthusiast. We should be happy to see these guys out driving. It’s good for their respective companies and good for us as enthusiasts since we will maybe get to buy more cool cars as the automotive world progresses through its biggest changes in over 120 years.
In the meantime, consider entering the NORRA Mexican 500, the organizer’s next event, due September 29-October 2. That may inspire you to try the full NORRA Mexican 1000, likely to happen around this same time next year. Keep a flying eyeball on the news at norra.com.
Keyword: No, You Couldn’t Have Driven the Oly Bronco Any Better