Floyd Eldon Davis (March 5, 1909 – May 31, 1977) was the co-winner of the 1941 Indianapolis 500. Floyd Davis drove the first 72 laps of the 1941 race before being replaced by

Mauri Rose Maurice "Mauri" Rose (May 26, 1906 – January 1, 1981) was an American racecar driver. He started from the pole position driving a Maserati in the 1941 Indianapolis 500, but spark plug problems put him out of the race after sixty laps. He then ...

, who completed the race in the lead. He is buried at

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high poi ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

(Section 53 Lot 320). In the 1941 Indianapolis 500, Floyd Davis had been driving the Noc-Out Hose Clamp car for sixty laps, moving from 17th to 12th place when teammate Mauri Rose, the pole sitter, began experiencing problems with his car, the Elgin Piston Pin. The films show that he wasn't too happy when at lap 72, team owner Lou Moore pulled Davis from his car and replaced him with Rose. “I was ready to go into the lead when they called me in,” he later joked. That is exactly though what Rose did do, winning the first of his three 500 championships, and earning Davis an asterisk in the history books as a co-winner, despite the fact that he never led a single lap in any of his races. And though Davis received a 50-50 split of the prize money, he never drove in another 500, some say because of his disgust in having been relieved. His serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II might also have had something to do with his leaving racing. He had driven in three previous 500s, coming in 15th in 1937, 27th in 1939, and 20th in 1940.

Complete AAA Championship Car results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

1909 births 1977 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 winners People from Menard County, Illinois Racing drivers from Illinois AAA Championship Car drivers Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery United States Navy personnel of World War II {{US-autoracing-bio-stub