Vintage Indy: 1957-58 and the O'Connor Crash

[SWC75]

There is no highlight film of the 1957 Indy 500 on U-Tube, but I found this combined highlight film of the 1957 and 1958 races, done some years later, so I’ll do both of those years today.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMmB3UYLcNQ


The 1957 race was won by veteran Sam Hanks in his 12th try since 1940. San decided to retire after this race, having finally won it. I was interested in the shots of Jimmy Bryan operating his car around the track from the 1958 portion, (obviously taken prior to the race). Note how his steering wheel seems to jerk back and forth yet the car remains stable in the turns. Bryan is driving the same car Hanks won the 1957 race with.
Here’s an interesting event that didn’t quite come off: “The Race of the Two Worlds”, which was supposed to pit the top American and top European Drivers in a three part race at Monza in Italy, which had both an oval track, (the American preference), and a road course, (which the Europeans like better). But the European drivers basically chickened out, leaving it to the Americans, including Jimmy Bryan who won it. It left the Americans with a sense of superiority that lasted until the European invasion of Indy in the middle of the next decade.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu-2SsGiESc

The most dramatic part of the Indy 500 is often not the finish but the start when all 33 cars are running and doing it in close quarters. One mistake and there could be a chain-reaction crash endangering the lives and chances of many drivers. There was a such a crash in 1958, (and would be in 1964, 1966 and 1973). The race started out with some confusion as the last three cars in the field lagged behind and were still running the pace lap when the rest of the field got the green flag. They tried to organize a re-start but decided it was too late. It’s not clear from the highlight tape that that had anything to do with what happened next.

What is known is that Ed Elisian, in the middle of the front row, suddenly spun and started a crash that eventually claimed 8 of the 33 cars, (7 more were involved but able to continue the race). One car, driven by Jerry Unser, the older brother of Bobby and Al Unser, went flying over the wall in dramatic fashion. Incredibly, Jerry emerged unhurt from his flying crash, (only to die during a practice run at Indy a year later). Less lucky was popular Pat O’Connor, whose car sailed 50 feet and landed upside down and caught fire. O’Connor was incinerated, although track officials said that he was probably already dead of a broken neck. (What else are they going to say?) As a result of this accident, roll bars and standardized helmets were made mandatory, a bit late for Pat, who had announced his intention to retire and open an insurance business if he won, (just as Hanks had retired the year before after finally winning).

Elisian was suspended by USAC, (which had taken over from AAA in running auto racing), then unsuspended a while later. But he was blamed by his fellow drivers for the accident and O’Connor’s death. There were rumors that Elisian was trying to take the lead in the first lap to pay a gambling debt. Then he was involved in a crash at St Mary’s Ohio a month later in which driver Jim Davis was killed and the other drivers contempt for him grew. Elisian crashed in the “Milwaukee Mile” race in August 1959 and, like O’Connor, his car wound up upside down with a ruptured fuel tank, with the same result. I assume that satisfied his fellow drivers.

http://www.vukovichaccident.com/TheDeathof%20EdElisian.htm

There are some interesting comments on Elisian in this thread, including a suggestion that could make a movie of his life and it would be like “Raging Bull”.


http://www.trackforum.com/forums/showthread.php?105708-Ed-Elisian&highlight=elisian

Some more about the accident, including the points of view of Elisian and Jim Rathman:

http://walterzoomiesworld.blogspot.com/2008/09/ed-elisian-i-thought-there-was-enough.html

Sports Illustrated's Article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1002350/index.htm

 

[SWC75]

The official highlight film of the 1958 race has a montage of every driver in the race but there are certain new faces of interest:
AJ Foyt, who survives the crash and some major mechanical problems only to spin out just before the end of the race. The narrator says “there’s always another race”. There would be for the 23 year old AJ, in the first of his 35 Indys.
Jerry Unser, who had been the 1957 USAC stock car champion. The Unser clan had been competing on the Pike’s Peak Hill climb since 1926. Bobby and Al had already begun their illustrious racing careers, which would produce 7 Indy wins. You wonder what Jerry might have accomplished.
Bob Christie competed in every Indy 550 from 1956-63 but never finished higher than 13.
Bill Cheesebourg had a similar career, competing in 6 Indys from 1957-65. His best finish was 10th.
Jimmy Reece had been at Indy since 1952 and been in top 10 three times. He died in a crash at Trenton later in the year.
Cactus Jack Turner raced at Indy from 1956-1962 but could no better than 11th.
Bob Veith had a long Indy career, 1956-68 and had three top ten finishes in his first five years.
George Amick finishes second as a rookie but that was his only Indy start. His crew thought he might have chance to catch Bryan but felt that it would be risky to try and told him to be satisfied with a “comfortable” second. He was killed in a race at Daytona the next April.
Bill Garrett, from the 1957-58 highlight film, had a very limited Indy career, appearing in only the 1956 and 1958 races and finishing 16th and 21st.

Here is the full 1958 highlight film, in two parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvO2N-Q6JFwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHL3qR63B0s&feature=related
　
Note that the image of the Purdue band is reversed. You can see that from the interlocked “UP” on their uniforms, with the “P” backwards.