SWC75
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The tributes to Dan Wheldon got me wondering how many Indy 500 winners had died in crashes- and how many had died the year of their victory. Normally for a driver and his family the year of winning the 500 would be a year they would remember fondly. It seems particularly tragic if the driver also lost his life that year.
Dario Resta, the 1916 winner, died in a 1924 crash at Brooklands in England, trying to set a land speed record.
Howdy Wilcox, 1919 winner, died in a 1923 race at Altoona.
Gaston Chevrolet, the 1920 winner, died the following November in a crash at of all places, Beverly Hills, California.
Jimmy Murphy, the 1922 winner, died in a dirt track race in Syracuse in 1924.
Joe Boyer, a replacement driver for Lora Corum, got “co-winner” credit with Corum for winning the 1924 race but was killed in another crash at Altoona in September of that year.
Frank Lockhart down the 1926 race and died in 1928 trying to set the world land speed record at Daytona Beach.
Ray Keech won the 1929 500 but became the third winner to die at Altoona on June 15th of that year.
Floyd Roberts, the 1938 winner, was famously leading the race when he died a 1939 Indy crash at about the same point on the track Bill Vukovich would die at in 1955.
George Robson won the first post-war Indy in 1946 but died at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta that September.
Bill Vukovich, of course, lost his life in a famous crash in the 1955 500. Like Roberts he was leading although Bill was not going for his second straight win: he was going for #3.
Bob Sweikert won that 1955 race but lost his life at Salem Indian the following year.
Jimmy Bryan was riding high, having won the AAA/USAC national championship in 1954, 1956 and 1957 and the “Race of the Two Worlds” at Monza in 1957 when the won the 1958 500. He was killed at Langhorne in 1960.
Jim Clark, the 1963 and 1965 Formula 1 champion and 1965 Indy 500 champion, was killed in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany April, 1968.
Mark Donohue, the 1972 champion, died testing a car for the Austrian Grand Prix in 1975.
Dan Wheldon, the 2005 and 2011 champion, died in a race in Las Vegas last October.
In addition, Bill Cummings, the 1934 winner died in a passenger car crash near Indianapolis in 1939. Lee Wallard was badly burn in a crash at Reading Pennsylvania just a week after winning the 1951 500 and his death in 1953 was attributed to complications from his 1951 burns. Graham Hill, the 1968 champion died in a private plane crash in 1975. He was the pilot.
So 15 Indy winners, (two of them multiple winners), have been killed in racing or land speed crashes. For five of them the crash came in the same year that they won 500, thus wiping out any joy the memory of winning might have given them or their loved ones.
At least it is an indication that the sport has gotten a lot safer that Wheldon was the first Indy winner in 39 years to have his life end in a crash and the first in 65 years to have it happen in the same year in which they won. But racing cars will never be a completely “Safe” sport.
Dario Resta, the 1916 winner, died in a 1924 crash at Brooklands in England, trying to set a land speed record.
Howdy Wilcox, 1919 winner, died in a 1923 race at Altoona.
Gaston Chevrolet, the 1920 winner, died the following November in a crash at of all places, Beverly Hills, California.
Jimmy Murphy, the 1922 winner, died in a dirt track race in Syracuse in 1924.
Joe Boyer, a replacement driver for Lora Corum, got “co-winner” credit with Corum for winning the 1924 race but was killed in another crash at Altoona in September of that year.
Frank Lockhart down the 1926 race and died in 1928 trying to set the world land speed record at Daytona Beach.
Ray Keech won the 1929 500 but became the third winner to die at Altoona on June 15th of that year.
Floyd Roberts, the 1938 winner, was famously leading the race when he died a 1939 Indy crash at about the same point on the track Bill Vukovich would die at in 1955.
George Robson won the first post-war Indy in 1946 but died at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta that September.
Bill Vukovich, of course, lost his life in a famous crash in the 1955 500. Like Roberts he was leading although Bill was not going for his second straight win: he was going for #3.
Bob Sweikert won that 1955 race but lost his life at Salem Indian the following year.
Jimmy Bryan was riding high, having won the AAA/USAC national championship in 1954, 1956 and 1957 and the “Race of the Two Worlds” at Monza in 1957 when the won the 1958 500. He was killed at Langhorne in 1960.
Jim Clark, the 1963 and 1965 Formula 1 champion and 1965 Indy 500 champion, was killed in a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany April, 1968.
Mark Donohue, the 1972 champion, died testing a car for the Austrian Grand Prix in 1975.
Dan Wheldon, the 2005 and 2011 champion, died in a race in Las Vegas last October.
In addition, Bill Cummings, the 1934 winner died in a passenger car crash near Indianapolis in 1939. Lee Wallard was badly burn in a crash at Reading Pennsylvania just a week after winning the 1951 500 and his death in 1953 was attributed to complications from his 1951 burns. Graham Hill, the 1968 champion died in a private plane crash in 1975. He was the pilot.
So 15 Indy winners, (two of them multiple winners), have been killed in racing or land speed crashes. For five of them the crash came in the same year that they won 500, thus wiping out any joy the memory of winning might have given them or their loved ones.
At least it is an indication that the sport has gotten a lot safer that Wheldon was the first Indy winner in 39 years to have his life end in a crash and the first in 65 years to have it happen in the same year in which they won. But racing cars will never be a completely “Safe” sport.
