The roadster/ Offy 270 era was the greatest of all time. Man that was racing! I wish it was still like that and I wish the Brickyard still looked like that! I was growing up in Indiana during that time and the Indy 500 was the absolute Mecca of the racing world. It was one of the truly big events of the year for our family and the atmosphere there was so festive and at race time was positively electric!
This was the first Indianapolis 500 for two future 2-time winners, Rodger Ward and the legendary Bill Vukovich, as well as the last for 3-time winner Mauri Rose. Of special note, this race also marked the first appearance for Roger Penske at the Indianapolis 500. Penske watched this race from the stands.
@@musicstewart9744 Penske would've been fourteen years old at the time. After that '51 race, I wonder if he ever went back to Indy again, or decided that once was quite enough...
My grandparents were here too! This was actually just a few weeks before they got married. They had to have their wedding much sooner than anticipated as Grandpa was drafted as an engineer into the US Army.
Good old Indy - when the rollcage was your head. And the stretch of bricks at the start/finish - every lap must have been like "hmmmmm YUH YUH YUH YUH hmmmmm".
Attrition was high in this race as only eight cars finished. 5th place finisher Bobby Ball was from my home state of Arizona and is still remembered there. He died in February, 1954. A number of others who were in this race would not be around before the decade was over.
Thanks for posting this video. It was a treat to watch the Indy roadsters. I shared this video with my friend who owns Andy Linden's No. 57 Indy car, Leitenberger Special, that finished in 4th place.
@canals22 I'm glad you enjoyed this and thanks for watching and your comment! Videos such as this are meant to be shared. They don't do anyone any good hidden behind copyrights where no one can enjoy them!
Knew a man named Ray Hart who was a friend of Lee Wallard's. Seems Lee never forgot his friends after wining the Indy 500. He must have been quite a person.
A week later in reading, Pa. Wallard's car suffered a fuel line break and caught fire. Lee steered the car around a turn to avoid an explosion in front of the grandstand before exiting the car, on fire. He suffered burns over half his body, basically ending his career. it may also have contributed to his early death a dozen years later at age 52. I'm glad he had this moment of triumph.
Check out Mauri Rose's crash at 6:04. The guys in the infield react like "oh, yeah, that's right - the Indy 500 is going on all around us, maybe we should pay attention". And they couldn't even blame checking Facebook.
@buckzx12r Hi James! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this film. I am glad that so many have enjoyed them, including yourself and yours truly. These films are of days long gone....a special era in the Indianapolis 500 history. Thanks for watching!
unixd0rk My grandfather and father also worked on that car. I have pictures of them around it during the development. My grandfathers name was Clarence "Chick" Pearson.
Lee Wallard from Altamont n.y on the race had a bad crash and fire and had to retire became a steward at my home track and here i grew up Fonda Speedway "The Track of Champions"
Midway into the "West Coast" driver domination era at Indy, tho Wallard was not one of them. McGrath, Faulkner, Ruttman, Parsons, Hanks, Agabashian, Vukie and Ward were all big names at places like Gilmore, Orange Show, Culver City and Carroll Speedways. Four of them had been or would be 500 winners; seven would sit on the pole.
Yet further proof that you don't need to have artificial parity to keep fans and viewers interested: you just need to allow the drivers to push their (different!) machines to whatever their max is.
@buckzx12r You'd have been in paradise at Graham Heath's then. He and Bill Cantrell, who ran Indy in the Twin Coach Special, had a drive-line shop togeather in Madison Indiana. Bill ran thunderin unlimiteds also, plus was a pro rassler and game warden, kind of an intresting fellow. Graham had tons of stuff, and an Offy midget, lots of Allison/Merlin parts, stuff , great stuff. I ate in Madison one morning and followed two V-12s on a trailer till I met Graham and got to know him over time.
@buckzx12r Damn you're gettin old ain't ya. I may have heard this race, probably sittin on a brand new father's lap. I was his first kid and he was my first dad too, coincidence, I don't think so LOL . This particular race always kinda bumed me out, Lee Wallard was badly burned the very next week at Reading Pa, his celebration was short, then 27 skin grafts began. On the 27th I'll turn another decade, I thought by now I'd be grown up. Welcome to the 60s, I just sold my last race car, shit.
