There is some evidence that the car was wrecked, and rebuilt around a replacement chassis, or that there were two cars in the first place, or maybe a "show car replica" - I never really got to the bottom of this. The third car, built in 1968, was different in many aspects, and apparently rebuilt into the '69 wedge. The second Hawk was built in 1967, essentially still a Brabham copy but with a few changes, and was the main car in '67 and the short track car in '68 - it's the Tom Brawner car today. It's been returned to original spec and is the Ray Evernham car now. It's been ages since I researched this, so apologies if my memory plays tricks, but the Brawner Hawk story goes essentially like this: Jim McElreath wrecked the original Brabham BT12 during testing, and the Zink team asked Eddie Kuzma to build a replica chassis, which he did, and while he was on the job he built a second one for Clint Brawner, who then commenced to build the first Hawk - this car served through the 1965 and '66 seasons, was rebuilt to the specification of the second car and a spare in '67 and then sold to Jack Adams in '68 it reappeared several times at Indy, barely recognizable as a Hawk. The winning car is now in the Smithsonian and an unraced (?) replica is on display at the Speedway museum. The car Mario drove in 1968 was a Brawner Hawk III and this same designation was also used for the 1969 winning car. The car Mario drove in 1967 was a Brawner Hawk II and I believe it was driven by Larry Dickson in the 1968 500 (before Mario took over). At some point it ended up racing at Oswego as a Modified with the original parts and chassis travelled different paths but the car has now been reassembled and restored, first with an new chassis and now with the original restored frame. The car that Mario raced in 1965 appears to have also been raced in 1966. There is also a car that was named a Moore and I don't know if that was one of these or a different chassis. There were either two or three made with one going to Zinc and the other one (or two) being retained by Brawner. What I have determined is that the original 1965 car that Mario drove in the 500 was copied from John Zink's wrecked 1964 Brabham-Offy. Is there a good source for the history of the Brawner-built Indy cars? There apparently was a Brawner Hawk website at one time but it's gone. I did some research on the Internet and searched this forum but can find little information. I've always wondered if Mario's winning car was newly built with the wedge-ish side pods or was it an upgrade of the '68 car.
Just watched the ABC coverage of the 1969 Indy 500 on YouTube.
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