Automobile Racing: Indianapolis

AUTOMOBILE RACING: INDIANAPOLIS

Wilbur Shaw

Wilbur Shaw was the top name in Indianapolis-type car racing in 1940 and 1941. In 1940 Shaw, driving a Maserati, won his third Indianapolis 500 and became the first driver to win the race two years in a row. He was a favorite to repeat in 1941, and with sixty-two laps to go he pulled in for a pit stop more than two minutes ahead of the second-place car. As he exited the pit, the race began to slip away. During his stop, he had damaged the spokes on his right rear wheel, and the tire began to tear loose. Before he could return to the pit, he lost control of the car, bounced off the wall, and came to rest against a concrete barrier, with a fuel-tank brace wedged against his spine. His career as a race driver was over. The race was won by the man who inherited Shaw's mantle as the track's premier driver—Mauri Rose, driving in relief for Floyd Davis.

War Casualty

Indianapolis was idle from 1942 to 1945, and it seemed, briefly, that it might be shut down. The legendary track needed repair, an infusion of capital, and expert management if it was to survive. Racing fan Tony Hulman, a businessman from Terre Haute, Indiana, had the resources to revive the track and the Indianapolis 500, held annually on Memorial Day, He bought the track in 1945 and hired Wilbur Shaw as general manager. Shaw did his job admirably. In 1946 he staged a 500 that was a financial success, despite inferior racing equipment owing to wartime shortages. Twenty-four cars dropped out of the race due to wrecks and mechanical difficulties, including Rose, who hit the wall. The race was won that year by George Robson.

Rose and Holland

The rest of the decade at Indianapolis belonged to the Blue Crown Special team owned by Lou Moore. The two team cars were driven by Mauri Rose, a veteran often Indianapolis 500 races, and rookie Bill Holland. In 1947 Holland was leading the race a minute ahead of Rose with forty laps to go. Apparently because of misunderstood instructions from the pit, Holland slowed down to reduce wear on his car, while Rose raced full out. Thinking he was two laps ahead, Holland let Rose pass him on the 193rd lap of the 200-1ap race, and Rose took the winner's purse. The drivers for that race split a $137,425 purse, and Shaw saw to it that the purse increased each year. Rose set a new track record in 1948, with Holland a lap behind in second. In 1949 the same duel developed again, this time with Rose fifty-one seconds behind Holland with 100 miles to go. Rose's ear failed in the 192nd lap, and Holland won his first Indianapolis 500, setting a new record, finishing four hours, ten minutes, and twenty-three seconds after he had begun. By 1949 the Indianapolis 500, thanks in large part to the management of Wilbur Shaw, was reestablished as the most important automobile race in America.

Source:

Wilbur Shaw, Gentlemen, Start Your Engines (London: Bodley Head, 1956).