Wednesday 4th December 1974

Race car designer Leo Goossen (82) died in Los Angeles. As chief engineer at Meyer and Drake Engineering he continued to develop the Offy throughout the 40s, 50s, and into the 60s; often filling the engine bays of all 33 Indy 500 starters either with Offy engines or their close cousins the V8 Novi engines. After Lou Meyer sold out of Meyer and Drake in the 1960s to form his own company which sold Ford double overhead-cam V8 racing engines in competition with the Offy, Dale Drake and Leo Goosen persevered and reorganized Meyer and Drake as Drake Engineering.