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1958 Indianapolis 500
The 42nd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1958. The event was part of the 1958 USAC National Championship Trail, and was also race 4 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers. The race is best known for a massive first-lap, 15-car pileup that resulted in the death of fan-favorite driver Pat O'Connor. Jimmy Bryan was the race winner. This marked the first time that one car would carry two drivers to separate wins at the race, in back-to-back years, with Sam Hanks winning the previous year's race in the same car. The race featured young rookie A. J. Foyt's debut at Indy. On lap 148, he spun in an oil slick, blew out the tires, and dropped out of the race. Juan Manuel Fangio arrived at Indy under much fanfare as he attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 and score points towards the World Championship. He practiced early in the month, but withdrew when he could not get up to speed. Time trials Time trials were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately west of Downtown Indianapolis. Constructed in 1909, it is the second purpose-built, banked oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a 'speedway'. It is the third-oldest permanent automobile race track in the world, behind Brooklands and the Milwaukee Mile. With a permanent seating capacity of 257,325, it is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world. Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. It has two straightaways, four geometrically identical turns, connected by two short straightaways, termed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Sachs
Edward Julius Sachs Jr, (May 28, 1927 – May 30, 1964) was a United States Auto Club driver who was known as the "Clown Prince of Auto Racing". He coined the phrase "If you can't win, be spectacular". Early life Sachs was born May 28, 1927 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Professional racing career His career included eight USAC Championship Trail wins, 25 top-five finishes in 65 career AAA and USAC starts, including the 1958 USAC Midwest Sprint Car Championship. He was an eight time starter of the Indianapolis 500, 1957–64, winning the pole position in 1960 and 1961, with his best finish being second in 1961. Leading the race with only three laps to go, he saw his right rear tire begin to delaminate and pitted to replace it, handing victory to A. J. Foyt. Sachs never regretted his decision not to gamble on the tire, saying, "I'd sooner finish second than be dead". Death at Indianapolis Sachs and sports car driver Dave MacDonald, a 500 rookie, were killed in a fiery crash involvi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novi Engine
The Novi engine is an American dual overhead cam supercharged V8 engine used in racing cars in the Indianapolis 500 from 1941 to 1966. Designed by Bud Winfield and Leo Goossen, it was built by Fred Offenhauser. Early years The Novi was first used in 1941 at the Indianapolis 500 under the "Winfield" name; it produced over , an amazing output for the time. It was fitted to a 1935 frame built for a Miller engine, but its power made the vehicle very difficult to handle.Andy Granatelli recounts the difficulties and fatalities involved with the Novi in Karl Ludvigsen, ''Novi V-8: Indy Cars 1941 through 1965.'' After World War II, the Novi was used again in 1946 in the Indianapolis 500, developed with 510 horsepower and fitted in a more advanced Kurtis Kraft front-drive chassis. It performed well in a car driven by Ralph Hepburn, who set the track record and led the field for 44 laps. Drivers such as Paul Russo and Duke Nalon later drove cars powered by the engine at notable speeds, but d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Cheesbourg
William Bernard Cheesbourg (June 12, 1927 Tucson, Arizona – November 6, 1995 Tucson, Arizona) was an American racecar driver who participated in six Indianapolis 500 races. Biography He was born on June 12, 1927 in Tucson, Arizona. Cheesbourg started racing jalopies in Tucson and successfully moved into midgets racing all over Arizona after World War II. He drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1956-1962 and 1964-1966 seasons with 31 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 races in 1957-1959, 1961, 1964, and 1965. He successfully bumped his way into the Indy 500 field after initially being bumped out three times, which is the race record. He finished in the top ten in stock cars 8 times, with his best finish in 7th position in 1959 at Daytona and in 1966 at Fuji. Cheesbourg returned to the local dirt short track racing scene after his Indy Car career was finished. He is known for the help he offered to many other racers. He won several Arizona Late Model ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Johnson (auto Racer)
Eddie Johnson (February 10, 1919 – June 30, 1974) was an American race car driver. Born in Richmond, Virginia, Johnson grew up in Los Angeles, where he was a high school acquaintance of 1950 Indianapolis 500 winner Johnnie Parsons. He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1950–1952 and 1955–1966 seasons with 33 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 races in all of those years but the first two. He finished in the top ten 9 times, with his best finish in 3rd position, in 1959 at Trenton. Late in his career, Johnson frequently came to Indianapolis without an assigned car only to be signed on to a team which needed a driver to put a struggling car in the race. In 1965, Johnson became the last person on the track in the Indianapolis 500 mile race with a naturally aspirated Offenhauser in a roadster. Johnson was flagged to finish in 10th place. Johnson died in a plane crash near Cleveland, Ohio. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jud Larson
Eugene Wesley (Jud) Larson (January 21, 1923 Grand Prairie, Texas – June 11, 1966 Reading, Pennsylvania) was an American racecar driver. Larson drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1956-1959 and 1964-1965 seasons with 53 starts, including the 1958 and 1959 Indianapolis 500 races. He finished in the top ten 38 times, with 7 victories. Larson died as a result of injuries sustained in a sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ... crash that also claimed the life of Red Riegel. Larson is buried at Cook-Walden Capital Parks Cemetery and Mausoleum in Pflugerville, Texas. Complete AAA/USAC Championship Car results Indianapolis 500 results World Championship career summary The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phillips (constructor)
Phillips was an American racing car constructor. Phillips cars competed in seven FIA World Championship races - the - Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi .... World Championship Indianapolis 500 results References Formula One constructors (Indianapolis only) American racecar constructors {{f1-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Freeland
Don Freeland (March 25, 1925 – November 2, 2007) was an American racecar driver who is best known for competing in the Indianapolis 500 eight times. Born in Los Angeles, California, Freeland served in the Navy as a mechanic during World War II. After the war, he began racing. He raced in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series from 1952 to 1962, with 76 career starts. He finished in the top ten 41 times, with a best finish of second place occurring 3 times. Freeland competed in the Indy 500 each year from 1953 to 1960. He appeared headed for a second-place finish in 1955 before a transmission failure ended his day 22 laps prior to the end of the race. He came back with a best Indy finish of third the next year. He also finished in the top ten in 1954 and 1958. Freeland died in San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 populati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Rathmann
Jim Rathmann (July 16, 1928 – November 23, 2011), born Royal Richard Rathmann, was an American race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1960. He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series in the 1949–1950 and 1952–1963 seasons with 42 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in each of those seasons. Rathmann also participated in the two runnings of the Race of Two Worlds at Monza, Italy, winning the 1958 event. He had 6 victories in addition to his Indy 500 win. He also drove in 3 races in the NASCAR series from 1949 to 1951. Rathmann and his older brother swapped names while teenagers. As a 16-year-old going by the name of "Dick Rathmann," he wanted to start racing. To enter races, he borrowed his older brother's I.D. and assumed the identity of "Jim Rathmann." The name change stuck for life in public circles. On August 15, 2007, Rathmann was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurtis Kraft
Kurtis Kraft was an American designer and builder of race cars. The company built midget cars, quartermidgets, sports cars, sprint cars, Bonneville cars, and USAC Championship cars. It was founded by Frank Kurtis when he built his own midget car chassis in the late 1930s.Biography at the Kurtis built some very low fiberglass bodied two-seaters sports cars under his own name in between 1949 and 1955. |
Quin Epperly
Quincy David "Quin" Epperly (March 3, 1913 – January 7, 2001) was an American racing car constructor. He was born in Floyd, Virginia, to John Wesley and Iowa Texas Epperly. After completing a correspondence course in "Theory of Aircraft Construction", Epperly moved to Southern California in 1940 to work for Lockheed and Pacific Airmotive. During the war, he joined the Coast Guard Reserve to spend evenings after work on watch at the Wilmington Coast Guard Patrol Base. In the late 1940s, he went to work for Frank Kurtis building racing car bodies; this led to a lifelong career in the racing business. During the mid-1950s Epperly opened his own shop in Lawndale, CA, where he came up with a radical approach in racing car design, by placing the four-cylinder Offenhauser engine on its side, rather than in the upright position, as was the usual custom for the Indy roadsters of that era. Called the "laydown Offy", it allowed for better high-speed aerodynamics and oval-track weight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Offenhauser
The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. History The Offenhauser engine, familiarly known as the "Offy", was an overhead cam monoblock 4-stroke internal combustion engine developed by Fred Offenhauser and Harry Arminius Miller. Originally, it was sold as a marine engine. In 1930 a four-cylinder Miller engine installed in a race car set a new international land speed record of . Miller developed this engine into a twin overhead cam, four-cylinder, four-valve-per-cylinder racing engine. Variations of this design were used in midgets and sprints into the 1960s, with a choice of carburetion or Hilborn fuel injection. When both Miller and the company to whom he had sold much of the equipment and rights went bankrupt in 1933, Offenhauser opened a shop a block away and bought rights to engines, special tooling and drawings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
