TRAGEDY PART OF INDIANAPOLIS 500
More than 70 have died since track opened in 1909
For some, danger is one of the attractions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With great speed comes the potential for disaster.
Since the track opened in 1909, more than 70 have died there, most from racing-related action. Here are 10 notes about the tragic side of racing.
Deaths before 500 was created
Six people died at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in accidents during races contested before the first Indianapolis
500. Five of those — one driver, two riding mechanics and two spectators — occurred in a three-day span in 1909.
According to an Indianapolis Star report about the second such incident, driver and survivor Charles Merz testified before a local coroner that the right front tire on his car exploded, sending the car to swerve into a fence and over an embankment. “We were going about
60 or 70 mph, and after the machine turned over I crawled part way out and that is all I remember,” Merz said, according to the story.
Riding mechanic Claude Kellum and two spectators were killed in that crash.
A difficult job
Riding mechanics were used by most cars in the Indianapolis 500 from 1911 to 1922 and from 1930 to 1937. These mechanics sat in a passenger seat, typically to the outside of the driver, close to the retaining wall. Riding mechanics had it rough; 13 died between 1909-39.
1930s particularly hazardous
Twenty-three people died at the track during that decade. Five people died in a three-day span in 1933. Driver Bill Denver and riding mechanic Bob
Hurst were killed during qualifying. Two days later, driver Mark Billman was killed early in the race, and driver Lester Spangler and riding mechanic G.L. Jordan were killed later in the race.
Two champs died in race action
They were Floyd Roberts, the 1938 winner who perished in 1939, and Bill Vukovich, who had won the two previous races before his death in the 1955 installment.
Roberts’ car struck another, sending it through an outer wall and into a tree.
Vukovich was leading in his effort to win a third consecutive 500 when he got caught in an accident involving slower- running cars. Vukovich’s car wound up cartwheeling outside an outer wall and caught fire.
Indianapolis News reporter Jess Gilson recounted Vukovich’s crash from the backstretch: “In the split second that my head was turned, it sounded like all hell was breaking loose. Looking back, I saw Vuky’s racer go up in the air and turn end over end on the outside of the wooden retaining rail. ... Then it burst into flames.”
Two drivers died in the same 500
On May 30, 1964, Dave MacDonald’s car spun and hit a wall, exploded and bounced into oncoming traffic. Eddie Sachs hit MacDonald, and his car also caught fire.
They both drove rear-engine cars (rare in that day) fueled by gasoline, which was more combustible than the alcohol mixture many other cars used.
The accident prompted significant rule changes regarding car fuel tanks.
Most recent racing death at IMS
On Aug. 29, 2010, 13-year-old motorcycle racer Peter Lenz fell off his machine during a warm-up lap and was run over by another competitor.
Most recent IMS death in Indy car
Tony Renna, who had recently signed with the Ganassi racing team, crashed during testing on Oct. 22, 2003. “This was his big break, the one he had been waiting for his whole life,” teammate Scott Dixon said at the time, according an Indianapolis Star story.
Most recent driver death
On May 30, 1973, Swede Savage lost control of his car exiting Turn 4 and hit the inside wall. The car exploded on impact. Savage died on July 2.