When McLaren conquered F1 and the Indy 500

Today marks 50 years since McLaren clinched its first F1 titles as Emerson Fittipaldi won a head-to-head with Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni at Watkins Glen, mere months after taking glory in America’s greatest race with Johnny Rutherford. Here’s how the papaya outfit wrote itself into history, with input from some of the key players

Only Lotus and McLaren have managed to win the Formula 1 world championship and America’s greatest race, the Indianapolis 500, in the same season. After Lotus’s 1965 double with Jim Clark, McLaren managed the feat twice in the 1970s with two truly great single-seaters that followed soon after the death of team founder Bruce McLaren.

We’re at Pembrey with McLaren’s Heritage team, the M16C/D in which Johnny Rutherford won the 1974 Indy 500, and one of the M23s that helped Emerson Fittipaldi to his second F1 crown a few months later. Both cars are the work of designer Gordon Coppuck, who joined McLaren when its total staff numbers had only just got into double figures, and follow the same basic concept.

In this article

Kevin Turner

Formula 1

IndyCar

Emerson Fittipaldi

Johnny Rutherford

McLaren

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Author Kevin Turner

Kevin Turner is Autosport’s Chief Editor. While studying History at the University of York, Kevin began covering UK club events as a freelance reporter for Autosport and Motorsport News. He joined the Autosport staff as Editorial Assistant on the magazine in 2006, winning what is now known as the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award. He became National Editor in 2008 and over the next few seasons covered a range of international events, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as the British Touring Car Championship and British GT. Kevin became Features Editor before switching to edit Motorsport News in 2014.

He returned to Autosport in 2016 to become editor of the magazine, a dream job that is still part of his role.

He became Chief Editor in 2020, helping to plan content for autosport.com and Autosport’s podcast as well as seeing the magazine through the coronavirus pandemic. Kevin also led work on the special publication celebrating 70 years of Autosport and has been a judge on the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, formerly known as the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, since 2008. He lives in Warboys with his wife and two children.