Stan Sutton is a member of the Indiana Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame. During his career, Sutton worked for six newspapers in the Midwest, including 25-years with the Courier-Journal. He is author (with John Laskowski)of Tales from the Indiana Hoosiers Locker Room and (with Landon Turner)Tales from the 1980-81 Indiana Hoosiers.

The Curse of the Indy 500

1958's Tragic Legacy

Red Lightning Books

Contents

A Convoluted Account of the Crash

IN THE SPRING OF 1958 THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 COULD ARGUABLY CLAIM to be one of America's top five sporting events. In the same category were the World Series, the Kentucky Derby, the next heavyweight championship fight, and probably the Rose Bowl. The Final Four basketball tournament carried less impact then, and the Super Bowl wasn't even on the horizon.

The 500, the longest and most unique race until stock cars copied the format in the '50s, prospered because of America's growing fascination with the automobile. Fans that went to races in Model T's were obsessed with speed and noise, not to mention danger. Critics of the sport, and there were many, often accused followers of attending races only to see accidents, and perhaps even fatalities. Despite 11 deaths in the first 10 years of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, crowds continued to come.

Even two world wars failed to stymie the interest, although the 500 was abandoned from 1942 to 1945, and the Speedway was overgrown with weeds. When the race resumed it was popularized by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. While obviously primitive, the IMS Network drew vast numbers of listeners who appeared to be mesmerized by the sound of racing engines.

There were few options available to the announcers except to occasionally give the standings, conduct a few interviews, and keep the microphones open to the sound of racing engines.

Much of the time was filled by announcers' remarks such as, "That was Ted Horn," or, "That sound was Rex Mays moving into the lead."

On May 30, 1958, thousands of cars rolled into the infield at dawn, maneuvering for a prime spot where they could see race cars go past. In those days fans were allowed to construct scaffolding alongside their cars from which to better watch the race.

As the eleven o'clock start approached, tension mounted as in no other sport. Thirty-three cars lined three abreast suddenly lurching up to speed seemed to carry the risk of military battles.

One of the first-time announcers at the 1958 race was Lou Palmer, an Indianapolis radio personality hired to announce happenings in the third corner of the 2.5-mile track. The chief announcer was the golden-voiced Sid Collins, who was supported by five subordinates around the track. When an accident occurred, it was up to this crew to describe the incident.

Being a rookie, Palmer was assigned to the third turn, where the chances of a first-lap crash were considered less likely than in the first two corners. Although drivers are warned not to try to win the race in the first turn there was more concern than usual that pole-sitter Dick Rathmann and second-fastest qualifier, Ed Elisian, might take undue chances.

Palmer, who had lived in Indiana only five years, settled into his spot outside the third-turn wall. He couldn't know how quickly bad things were to happen. Rathmann and Elisian began their duel with Rathmann jumping in front, but as the two front-runners approached the third corner Elisian pulled in front.

However, according to numerous onlookers, he failed to adequately slow for the turn and began a spin that collected Rathmann and put them both into the outside wall.

Several hundred yards into the infield a fan atop one of the scaffolds shouted to fans below, "There are cars spinning all over the third turn."

Palmer, undoubtedly overwhelmed by the scene in front of him, began a convoluted description to his radio audience:

"And we've had an accident here! Car No. 5, the Zink Special [Elisian], is the first to wreck.

"Another over the wall [Jerry Unser]! And we've got one, two, three, four, five, six cars piled up here on the northeast turn! The 54 Novi [Bill Cheesbourg] into the infield ... Car No. 19 [Johnnie Tolen] in the infield ... 68 [Len Sutton] now down into the infield and it's almost impossible to identify the others.

"Out of car No. 5, now, is Ed Elisian and, er, car 91 [probably 97, Rathmann] against the wall. That is all we can see at the moment.

"Further down the track there are still others. One car has left this track, Sid, and did go over the retaining wall. That's all of the information we can give you at the moment. We will check each car for you and will report on all of them as soon as we can."

What Palmer didn't describe, but almost certainly saw, was the burning blue No. 4 car of popular Pat O'Connor. The crash of Elisian and Rathmann happened in front of Jimmy Reece, the third first-row starter. O'Connor, whose car started in the middle of the second row, had no place to go, and his car ran up on Reece's, rolling over in the air and landing upside down with a loud clang before stopping on its wheels. The 29-year-old O'Connor was trapped, although probably already dead, in a burning car.

Of the 15 cars involved, eight couldn't return to the race. Others continued with damaged vehicles, and only 13 completed the entire two hundred laps.

Jimmy Bryan, whose racing success peaked on dirt tracks, won his lone Indianapolis 500, but his biggest moment was spoiled by the day's tragedy.

A Race-Day Shootout

UNTIL 1957 THE RACE STARTED WITH CARS LINED UP ON THE MAIN straightaway in 11 rows of three abreast. But in accordance with remodeling of the Speedway this was changed in 1957 and 1958, and in each instance things did not go as intended.

The primary improvement in '57 was the construction of a new control tower at the start-finish line that replaced the outdated 30-year-old pagoda. Also, the pit lane was separated from the main straightaway by a concrete wall and grass strip that would help protect crewmen in the pits.

Race officials decided to line up the 33 cars in the pits and start them off in a single line. During the pace lap the cars would assemble in the 11-row formation. Previously, a single pace lap had preceded the flying start, but in 1957 officials added another warm-up lap, and that resulted in confusion in each of the two starts.

Elmer George, who was married to track owner Tony Hulman's daughter, Mari, ran into the back of Eddie Russo's car as the cars shuffled for a starting position, and both drivers were out of the race before it started.

George was a rookie at the Speedway in 1957 and was scheduled to start from the outside of the third row. He didn't make the race again until 1962, when he started 17th and went out after engine problems surfaced on the 146th lap. His only other 500 was in 1963, when he started in the 10th row and went out after 21 laps, finishing 30th.

George raced champ cars throughout the 1950s and won one race. In a 1962 race in Phoenix, his car broke through a chain-link fence and injured 22 spectators.

Elmer and Mari had three daughters and one son, Tony George, former CEO of the Speedway and founder of the Indy Racing League.

Mari filed for divorce from Elmer on May 3, 1976, and on race day that month George went to Terre Haute, Indiana, and confronted Guy Trolinger, an alleged friend of Mari's. Early the next day George died of multiple gunshot wounds. Trolinger was cleared by a grand jury, which ruled the shooting was in self-defense.

May Was Busting Out All Over

IN 1958 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER WAS PRESIDENT AND ELVIS PRESLEY was king. A postage stamp cost three cents, and schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, had been ordered to integrate. Life expectancy was a fraction short of 70 years.

The flattop haircut was still popular, and saddle oxfords were the shoe of choice for many teenagers. Kentucky had won its fifth NCAA championship, and the Yankees won the World Series in seven games. LSU, led by Billy Cannon, had been crowned as the best in college football.

A couple of hours south of Indianapolis the horse racing world was gaga over Silky Sullivan, a colt famous for coming from far behind to win races.

Silky once won from 41 lengths off the pace, but in the Kentucky Derby he came in 12th out of 14 horses as Tim Tam triumphed.

In Indianapolis there were no Colts or Pacers, and only the minor league Indianapolis Indians provided professional sports. Breakfast at Tiffany's was a best-selling book, and Vertigo and South Pacific were popular movies. Indianapolis newspapers couldn't write enough about Connie Nicholas's shooting of her wealthy lover, Forrest Teel.

Within days of the Indianapolis 500 Charles de Gaulle was brought out of retirement to rule France, and the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was launched in the Great Lakes. In May large numbers of fans flocked to the track to celebrate the rite of spring and racing, a perfect marriage in Indiana.

Time trials traditionally drew the second largest crowd in sports, yielding only to race-day attendance. The Speedway never announced the size of its crowds, which probably caused the estimates to be inflated to as much as three hundred thousand on pole day.

Time trials stretched over two weekends, and in the 1950s the track's one-and four-lap qualifying records could be broken multiple times. The first-day crowd had come to see a battle for the pole that had been developing throughout the opening week of practice. It would be a duel between Ed Elisian and Dick Rathmann.

Tensions built during the week before the pole winner was determined. There was the normal speculation about what speed would be needed to win the pole and about what it would take to make the 33-car field. Each year there were fans who thought cars were going as fast as they could go at the 47-year-old Speedway.

Bill Marvel, a longtime official with the US Auto Club (USAC), vividly recalled the week before pole day.

"That thing that happened at the Speedway started that month. I remember it just as well as I can see the sun shining" Marvel recalled. "Ed Elisian and Dick Rathmann, every evening they would go out and go fast. The other guy would go out and try to go faster, it was that way all month. The two of them, every evening. And that's what led to that first lap, to that thing on the first lap of the race."

Marvel, who began part-time work at the track in 1953, said everyone could sense a potential problem.

"Of course," he said. "Jimmy Reece was caught up in front of them later that year and we lost him at Trenton. I used to run around with Jimmy, and he was like a brother whenever he'd come to the Speedway. You could see that something was going to happen. One of those guys was going to lead the first lap and that's what it amounted to. It was so obvious."

Pat O'Connor made his first appearance on the third day the track was open and turned a practice lap of 143.946 mph. The four-lap track record was 145.596, set in 1956 by Pat Flaherty.

"I don't believe there's a ceiling on speed here," O'Connor said. "We should be doing 150 mph laps in a couple more years."

Pat was driving for the second straight year in the Sumar Special, the same vehicle in which he won the pole in 1957. He had put the yellow Ansted-Rotary Special on the outside of the front row in 1956.

O'Connor noted that the Sumar car had received an overhaul from mechanic Ray Nichols before the race. "It's had a $5,000 tune-up and that's hardly the kind you'd get at your neighborhood gas station," O'Connor said.

The Sumar Special that O'Connor drove in 1958 was easily identified. Royal blue except for a wide white stripe down the middle, O'Connor's race car had multiple exhaust pipes extending from the engine. Chapman Root of Terre Haute was the principal owner.

Three years earlier Root had brought a car to the Speedway with a revolutionary new look. Driven by Jimmy Daywalt, the car appeared much like a sports car, with fenders front and back. However, it wouldn't get up to qualifying speed until the fenders were removed, giving the car an unfinished appearance. Nevertheless, Daywalt qualified it in the sixth row and finished ninth in the race.

Root and co-owner Don Smith used their wives' first names in labeling the car "Sumar" (Sue and Mary).

Although high winds raged the track during midweek practice sessions, a total of 31 cars were on the track one day, a high number by past standards. It was a couple of days before Jimmy Bryan brought out his car, the same one in which Sam Hanks had won in 1957. The car, designed by George Salih, had a lay-down Offenhauser engine that was a trendsetter.

Johnny Thomson, one of several contenders to win the race, was unhurt in a long slide down the straightaway during practice. Two days before pole day O'Connor had a lap at 141.6 during another busy day at the track.

Fast Friday, on the eve of pole day, saw some of the pole favorites open up. Ed Elisian appeared to have an edge after going 145.723 mph. Jimmy Reece threated to challenge him after going 144.7, and Bryan also went 144.7. No one was overlooking Dick Rathmann.

The day before pole day Rathmann turned a lap at over 147 mph, causing a near panic in Elisian's garage where Smokey Yunick officiated. Yunick vowed that Elisian would surpass Rathmann's speed, and Ed did by going 148.148 mph. But that speed wouldn't be matched when push came to shove a day later.

On Saturday, May 17, Elisian wasted no time setting a new one-lap qualifying record of 146.508 mph, and he recorded a four-lap reading of 145.920. Elisian then was forced to wait to see if his tentative pole time could stand up all day. Only first-day qualifiers were eligible to sit on the pole.

Rathmann went out later and won the pole with a 10-mile speed of 145.974 mph. Rathmann's one-lap speed was slower than Elisian's. Veteran Jimmy Reece would be third quickest, followed by Bob Veith, Pat O'Connor, and Johnnie Parsons.

Once the pole was determined, it would be 13 more days before the race, enough time for Rathmann and Elisian to extract another flick of speed from their cars. Also enough time for them to concoct possible ways of beating each other around the first 2.5 miles of the race. Tension continued to build as the gates opened at 5:00 am on race day and a crowd of some two hundred thousand entered the hallowed grounds, many of them worrying what the start of the race might bring.

The day before the 500 the 33 drivers met with the chief steward, who in 1958 was first-year official Harlan Fengler. Fengler had driven one race there, finishing 16th in 1923. Above everything else he was called on to keep the race safe.

In his meeting with the drivers Fengler pleaded with them, as had his predecessors, to not try to win the race on the first lap. He also warned drivers not to improve their positions during caution periods and not to drive consistently under the white line on the inner part of the track. Such violations, Fengler said, would result in a black flag calling the driver in for consultation. Such a penalty would result in a driver losing about two laps to the field.

O'Connor expressed optimism while being interviewed over the public address system the morning of the race. Jimmy Bryan, who would start from the inside of the third row, was favored to win, but O'Connor also received heavy support.

For the second straight year the field lined up along pit row instead of in eleven rows of three on the main straightaway. The 33 cars started rolling off pit lane onto the track itself with the intention of falling into position for the start of the race

Somehow, and with deadly consequences, the first row of Rathmann, Elisian, and Reece got ahead of the pace car. Before the race could start they had to go fast enough to circle the track, catch the other 30 cars, and squeeze past them on the narrow track before getting into the predetermined position. Confusion, and undoubtedly anxiety, reigned supreme.

Normally, drivers in the first two rows feel safer at the start than those deep in the field. There is considerably less risk in front because there are fewer cars that could lose control. Also, drivers back in the pack often have less experience and may have more trouble finding a lane in which to circumvent the first turn.

While O'Connor undoubtedly felt anxiety, he was starting in the first two rows for the third straight year. If he was worried about a Rathmann-Elisian duel, he didn't say anything publicly.

Defending champion Sam Hanks was driving the pace car, and the front row was staggered somewhat as the green flag fell. Rathmann led by about two car lengths over Elisian exiting the first turn. Elisian darted below the white line and cut into Rathmann's lead through the second turn.

Down the lengthy backstretch Elisian took the inside position and pulled even with Rathmann, moving just ahead before losing control in the third turn. The rear end of Elisian's car spun 180 degrees and slid toward the outside wall, collecting Rathmann's car. At almost the same time they hit the wall O'Connor's car began its ascent of Jimmy Reece's racer. Bob Veith, who started the race directly to the left of O'Connor, managed to get his damaged car to the pits, finishing eight positions ahead of the cars immobilized by the accident.