1941 Indianapolis 500

29th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1941
Winner	Floyd Davis & Mauri Rose
Winning Entrant	Lou Moore
Average speed	115.117 mph (185.263 km/h)
Pole position	Mauri Rose
Pole speed	128.91 mph (207.46 km/h)
Most laps led	Wilbur Shaw (107)
Pre-race
Pace car	Chrysler Newport Phaeton
Pace car driver	A.B. Couture
Chronology
Previous Next 1940 1942-45 (cancelled-WWII)

The 29th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1941.

Floyd Davis was the starting driver for the #16 car. On lap 72, Davis came in for a pit stop, and was relieved by Mauri Rose. Rose had started the race in another car and dropped out earlier. Car owner Lou Moore was apparently unsatisfied with Davis' performance thus far in the race, and ordered Rose to take over. Rose charged up the standings and took the lead in the #16 car, and went on to win. Both drivers were credited as "co-winners," similar to what occurred in the 1924 race. This marked the last time that one car would carry two drivers to victory at Indy.

Speedway president Eddie Rickenbacker did not attend the race, and instead listened to it on the radio.^[1] He was recovering from injuries suffered in a near-fatal plane crash a few months before the race.

Race details

Sam Hanks was injured in a practice crash the day before the race and withdrew. He was credited with 33rd place.

Garage area fire

On the morning of the race a fire broke out in the garage area. George Barringer's revolutionary rear-engined car was destroyed. At the time, the car was being refueled (with gasoline). In a nearby garage, another car which was owned by Joel Thorne was being worked on with a welder. The fumes caught fire from the sparks of the welding, and a huge fire broke out which burned down about a third of the southern bank of garages. The start of the race was delayed by a couple hours, and fire fighters had trouble getting to the Speedway to put out the blaze due to the heavy race day traffic. Barringer's car was withdrawn, and he was credited with 32nd finishing position. With Sam Hanks and Barringer out, the race lined up with only 31 cars.

Wilbur Shaw

Two-time defending champion Wilbur Shaw crashed while leading on lap 152, and failed in his bid to become the first driver to three-peat at the Indianapolis 500. As of 2016, no driver has ever won the Indianapolis 500 three consecutive years. He would have also become the first four-time winner of the 500. Going down the mainstretch, the car lost control, and hit the outside wall, rupturing the gas tank. Shaw was drenched with fuel, and suffered a back injury which left him immobile for several minutes. Despite the fuel spill, the fuel did not ignite, and Shaw was brought to safety by the medical staff.

It is believed that the morning fire had an effect on Shaw's efforts. At some point before the race, Shaw's crew was preparing his tires for race day, and used chalk to write notes on the spare tires. One particular wheel was determined to be out of balance, and rather than being discarded, it was labeled in chalk with the words "USE LAST". However, the firefighters' water hoses are believed to have washed off the chalk message. Shaw inadvertently took on the bad tire during a pit stop, which caused his crash.^[2]

Shaw never drove another competitive lap at the Speedway, although he did participate in a special private tire test at the Speedway during World War II.^[3]

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	17	16	Floyd Davis (laps 1–72) Mauri Rose (laps 73–200)	121.106	25	200	39	Running
2	2	1	Rex Mays	128.301	2	200	38	Running
3	28	4	Ted Horn	124.297	8	200	0	Running
4	10	54	Ralph Hepburn	120.653	28	200	0	Running
5	7	34	Cliff Bergere	123.890	13	200	10	Running
6	9	41	Chet Miller	121.540	23	200	0	Running
7	4	15	Harry McQuinn	125.449	4	200	0	Running
8	6	7	Frank Wearne	123.890	12	200	0	Running
9	18	45	Paul Russo	125.217	5	200	0	Running
10	20	27	Tommy Hinnershitz	121.021	27	200	0	Running
11	24	53	Louis Tomei	121.070	26	200	0	Running
12	31	55	Al Putnam	121.951	20	200	0	Running
13	26	26	Overton Phillips (R)	116.298	33	187	0	Flagged
14	27	25	Joie Chitwood	120.329	29	177	0	Flagged
15	30	17	Duke Nalon	122.951	17	173	0	Flagged
16	13	14	George Connor	123.984	10	167	0	Transmission
17	12	47	Everett Saylor (R)	119.860	31	155	0	Crash T4
18	3	2	Wilbur Shaw (W)	127.836	3	151	107	Crash T1
19	8	23	Billy Devore	121.770	21	121	0	Rod
20	25	62	Tony Willman	123.920	11	117	0	Rod
21	11	42	Russ Snowberger	120.104	30	107	0	Water pump
22	29	32	Deacon Litz	123.440	15	89	0	Oil trouble
23	22	8	Frank Brisko	123.381	16	70	0	Valve
24	5	36	Doc Williams	124.014	9	68	0	Radiator
25	16	10	George Robson	121.576	22	66	0	Oil leak
26	1	3	Mauri Rose	128.691	1	60	6	Spark plugs
27	19	22	Kelly Petillo (W)	124.417	7	48	0	Rod
28	14	12	Al Miller	123.478	14	22	0	Transmission
29	21	9	Mel Hansen	124.599	6	11	0	Rod
30	15	19	Emil Andres	122.266	19	5	0	Crash T1
31	23	5	Joel Thorne	121.163	24	5	0	Crash T1
DNS	—	35	George Barringer	122.299	18	0	0	Garage fire
DNS	—	28	Sam Hanks	118.211	32	0	0	Practice crash
[4]

Alternates

• First alternate: Louis Durant (R)^[5]

Failed to Qualify

• Shorty Cantlon
• Ira Hall (#38)
• René Le Bègue (#21)
• Bill Lipscomb (R) (#57)
• Roy Russing (R) (#22)
• Jean Trévoux (R) (#24)^[6]

See also

• 1941 AAA Championship Car season

References

1. The Talk of Gasoline Alley. May 10, 2010. WFNI.
2. Stories of the 500: 1941, Wilbur Shaw
3. The Talk of Gasoline Alley – WFNI, July 22, 2009
4. "Indianapolis 500 1941". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
5. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
6. "1941 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.