1941 Indianapolis 500

The 29th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1941. The start of the race was delayed due to a fire that swept through the garage area on race morning. No persons were injured, but one car in the field was destroyed. The race rolled off with only 31 cars, and ran to its scheduled distance. This would be the final "500" prior to the United States involvement in WWII. It was not known at the time, but it would be the final race organized by Speedway president Eddie Rickenbacker, and due to the war, the race would not be held again until 1946.

29th Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning bodyAAA
DateMay 30, 1941
WinnerFloyd Davis & Mauri Rose
Winning EntrantLou Moore
Average speed115.117 mph
Pole positionMauri Rose
Pole speed128.691 mph
Most laps ledWilbur Shaw (107)
Pre-race
Pace carChrysler Newport Phaeton
Pace car driverA.B. Couture
StarterSeth Klein[1]
Honorary refereeGuy Vaughn[1]
Estimated attendance160,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next
1940 1942-45 (cancelled-WWII)

Race details

Sam Hanks was injured in a practice crash the day before the race and withdrew. Rather than elevate the first alternate to the starting field, Hanks was credited with 33rd place.

Garage area fire

On the morning of the race a fire broke out in the garage area. George Barringer's revolutionary rear-engined car was destroyed. At the time, the car was being refueled (with gasoline). In a nearby garage, another car which was owned by Joel Thorne was being worked on with a welder. The fumes caught fire from the sparks of the welding, and a huge fire broke out which burned down about a third of the southern bank of garages. The start of the race was delayed by a couple hours, and fire fighters had trouble getting to the Speedway to put out the blaze due to the heavy race day traffic. Barringer's car was withdrawn, and he was credited with 32nd finishing position. With Sam Hanks and Barringer out, the race lined up with only 31 cars.

Various equipment, tools, parts, and other supplies were lost in the fire. Two other cars that did not qualify for the race were reported to have been damaged. However, all of the other cars that qualified for the race were safely evacuated, and no injuries were reported. The fire was put out, but the site smoldered throughout the day, and smoke continued to rise even after the race had safely started.

Wilbur Shaw

Two-time defending champion Wilbur Shaw crashed while leading on lap 152, and failed in his bid to become the first driver to three-peat at the Indianapolis 500. As of 2020, no driver has ever won the Indianapolis 500 three consecutive years. He would have also become the first four-time winner of the 500. Going down the mainstretch, the car lost control, and hit the outside wall, rupturing the gas tank. Shaw was drenched with fuel, and suffered a back injury which left him immobile for several minutes. Despite the fuel spill, the fuel did not ignite, and Shaw was brought to safety by the medical staff.

It is believed that the morning fire had an effect on Shaw's efforts. At some point before the race, Shaw's crew was preparing his tires for race day, and used chalk to write notes on the spare tires. One particular wheel was determined to be out of balance, and rather than being discarded, it was labeled in chalk with the words "USE LAST". However, the firefighters' water hoses are believed to have washed off the chalk message.[3] Shaw inadvertently took on the bad wheel during a pit stop, which caused his crash.[4]

Shaw never drove another competitive lap at the Speedway, although he did participate in a special private tire test at the Speedway during World War II.[5]

Floyd Davis & Mauri Rose, the end of an era

Floyd Davis was the starting driver for the #16 car. On lap 72, Davis came in for a pit stop, and was relieved by Mauri Rose. Rose had started the race in another car and dropped out earlier. Car owner Lou Moore was apparently unsatisfied with Davis' performance thus far in the race, and ordered Rose to take over. Rose charged up the standings and took the lead in the #16 car, and went on to win. Both drivers were credited as "co-winners," similar to what occurred in the 1924 race. This marked the last time that one car would carry two drivers to victory at Indy.

Box score
Finish Start No Name Qual Rank Laps Led Status
1 17 16 Floyd Davis (laps 1–72)
Mauri Rose (laps 73–200)		 121.106 25 200 39 Running
2 2 1 Rex Mays 128.301 2 200 38 Running
3 28 4 Ted Horn 124.297 8 200 0 Running
4 10 54 Ralph Hepburn 120.653 28 200 0 Running
5 7 34 Cliff Bergere 123.890 13 200 10 Running
6 9 41 Chet Miller 121.540 23 200 0 Running
7 4 15 Harry McQuinn 125.449 4 200 0 Running
8 6 7 Frank Wearne 123.890 12 200 0 Running
9 18 45 Paul Russo 125.217 5 200 0 Running
10 20 27 Tommy Hinnershitz 121.021 27 200 0 Running
11 24 53 Louis Tomei 121.070 26 200 0 Running
12 31 55 Al Putnam 121.951 20 200 0 Running
13 26 26 Overton Phillips  R  116.298 33 187 0 Flagged
14 27 25 Joie Chitwood 120.329 29 177 0 Flagged
15 30 17 Duke Nalon 122.951 17 173 0 Flagged
16 13 14 George Connor 123.984 10 167 0 Transmission
17 12 47 Everett Saylor  R  119.860 31 155 0 Crash T4
18 3 2 Wilbur Shaw  W  127.836 3 151 107 Crash T1
19 8 23 Billy Devore 121.770 21 121 0 Rod
20 25 62 Tony Willman 123.920 11 117 0 Rod
21 11 42 Russ Snowberger 120.104 30 107 0 Water pump
22 29 32 Deacon Litz 123.440 15 89 0 Oil trouble
23 22 8 Frank Brisko 123.381 16 70 0 Valve
24 5 36 Doc Williams 124.014 9 68 0 Radiator
25 16 10 George Robson 121.576 22 66 0 Oil leak
26 1 3 Mauri Rose 128.691 1 60 6 Spark plugs
27 19 22 Kelly Petillo  W  124.417 7 48 0 Rod
28 14 12 Al Miller 123.478 14 22 0 Transmission
29 21 9 Mel Hansen 124.599 6 11 0 Rod
30 15 19 Emil Andres 122.266 19 5 0 Crash T1
31 23 5 Joel Thorne 121.163 24 5 0 Crash T1
DNS — 35 George Barringer 122.299 18 0 0 Garage fire
DNS — 28 Sam Hanks 118.211 32 0 0 Practice crash
[6]

Alternates

Failed to Qualify

Other Notes

Speedway president Eddie Rickenbacker did not attend the race, and instead listened to it on the radio.[9] He was recovering from injuries suffered in a near-fatal plane crash a few months before the race.

gollark: There was one bot which appeared to be harvesting messages and posting them elsewhere by webhook, although that MAY have been an actual mistake.
gollark: Some.
gollark: Interesting.
gollark: Also, are you one of those bot developers who uses their bot to randomly get server invites?
gollark: Which bot?

See also

References
  1. Fox, Jack C. (1994). The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994 (4th ed.). Carl Hungness Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-915088-05-3.
  2. Wilkins, Lloyd H. (May 31, 1941). "Nervous, Dusty, Affable Crowd Sees Race—Well, Part of the Time". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved June 2, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Cadou Jr., Jep (April 13, 1985). "Speedway to replace all-wooden garages". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved October 12, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Stories of the 500: 1941, Wilbur Shaw
  5. The Talk of Gasoline Alley – WFNI, July 22, 2009
  6. "Indianapolis 500 1941". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  7. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
  8. "1941 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  9. The Talk of Gasoline Alley. May 10, 2010. WFNI.
1940 Indianapolis 500
Wilbur Shaw		 1941 Indianapolis 500
Mauri Rose
Floyd Davis		 1946 Indianapolis 500
George Robson
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.