"Impossible!" growled Andy Granatelli, the Illinois millionaire who developed the controversial turbine-powered car that came within a hair of winning this year's Indianapolis 500. ;"A terrible mistake!" grumbled Parnelli Jones, the Californian who drove Granatelli's flame-colored STP Special at Indy and was only eight miles from victory when a $6 ball bearing failed. What angered Granatelli and Jones was a regulation adopted by the U.S. Auto Club last week that sets new limits on the power of turbine engines — thereby banning the STP Special from Indy.
The U.S.A.C. ruling reduces the size of a turbine racer's air intake from...