Maurice "Mauri" Rose (May 26, 1906 – January 1, 1981) was an American

racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...

. He started from the pole position driving a

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. ...

in the

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 o ...

, but

spark plug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/ai ...

problems put him out of the race after sixty laps. He then took over the

Wetteroth Wetteroth was a racing car constructor. Wetteroth cars competed in one FIA World Championship race - the 1950 Indianapolis 500 The 34th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1950. The ...

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 ...

car being driven by

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

that had started in 17th place. Rose went on to win. In 1947 and 1948, Rose captured back-to-back Indy 500s driving one of the Deidt/

Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials, owned and prepared by veteran driver/car owner Lou Moore. Late in the 1947 race, Rose found himself lying second to his rookie teammate, Bill Holland, when both were given a sign reading "EZY" from pit lane. Holland reduced speed, but Rose ignored the sign and continued on. Rose closed on Holland and to his amazement, Holland gave way without a battle and even gave Rose a friendly wave as he went past on his way to victory. But Holland thought he had more than a lap lead on Rose, instead of just a few seconds. Holland was furious afterward. In 1949, with Holland leading and Rose again running second late in the race, Rose set out to overtake his now-veteran teammate. Rose again ignored car owner Lou Moore's "EZ" signs from the pits and continued to push in pursuit of Holland. This time, Rose's car broke while Holland cruised home to victory—and Moore fired Rose on the spot after the race for disobeying team orders. Mauri Rose made his fifteenth and final Indianapolis 500 start in the 1951 race. Knocked out from an accident after 126 laps, the forty-five-year-old Rose retired to a home in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. For the 1967 race, officials of the

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 Sta ...

invited him to drive the

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro ...

Pace Car. While his career in racing was filled with success, Rose considered his most important accomplishment to be his invention of a device that made it possible for

amputee Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

s to drive an automobile.

Complete AAA Championship Car results

Indianapolis 500 results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

World Championship career summary

The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indy during those years were credited with World Championship points and participation. Mauri Rose participated in 2 World Championship races. He finished on the podium once and scored 4 World Championship points.

Awards

*Rose was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1967. *In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the

International Motorsports Hall of Fame The International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) is a hall of fame located adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway (formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway) located in Talladega County, east central Alabama. It enshrines those who have co ...

. *He was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycle ...

Mauri Rose
at the

in 1996. *In 2007 Rose, who was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

References

External links

The Greatest 33
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Mauri 1906 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American inventors Champ Car champions Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 polesitters Indianapolis 500 winners International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees Jewish American sportspeople Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio Racing drivers from Columbus, Ohio Racing drivers from Ohio AAA Championship Car drivers 20th-century American Jews