1958 Indianapolis 500

1958 Indianapolis 500
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Winning car of the 1958 Indianapolis 500
Race details
Date	30 May 1958 (1958-05-30)
Official name	42nd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.023 km (2.5 mi)
Distance	200 laps, 804.672 km (500 mi)
Attendance	175,000[1]
Pole position
Driver	Dick Rathmann	McNamara
Time	4:06.62 (4 laps)
Podium
First	Jimmy Bryan	Belond A.P. Muffler (George Salih)
Second	George Amick	Demler
Third	Johnny Boyd	Bowes Seal Fast (George Bignotti)

The 42nd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1958. The event was part of the 1958 USAC National Championship Trail, and was also race 4 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers.

The race is best known for a massive first-lap, 15-car pileup that resulted in the death of fan-favorite driver Pat O'Connor.

Jimmy Bryan was the race winner. This marked the first time that one car would carry two drivers to separate wins at the race, in back-to-back years, with Sam Hanks winning the previous year's race in the same car.

The race featured young rookie A. J. Foyt's debut at Indy. On lap 148, he spun in an oil slick, blew out the tires, and dropped out of the race.

Juan Manuel Fangio arrived at Indy under much fanfare as he attempted to qualify for the Indy 500 and score points towards the World Championship. He practiced early in the month, but withdrew when he could not get up to speed.

Time trials[]

Time trials were scheduled for four days.

• Saturday May 17 – Pole Day time trials
  • Ed Elisian set a new one-lap track record of 146.508 mph to sit tentatively on the pole position. His four-lap average stood at 145.926 mph. Later in the day, Dick Rathmann qualified at 145.974 mph to win the pole position. Rathmann was not able to beat Elisian's single-lap record, but his four-lap record eclipsed Elisian overall by a mere 0.08 seconds.
• Sunday May 18 – Second day time trials
• Saturday May 24 – Third day time trials
• Sunday May 25 – Fourth day time trials

Race summary[]

Opening lap crash – Death of Pat O'Connor[]

For the second year in a row, the starting grid was assembled single-file in the pit lane. The cars were instructed to pull away and assemble into the official eleven rows of three after they entered the racing surface. Confusion occurred on the pace lap, however, as the three drivers of the front row (Dick Rathmann, Ed Elisian, and Jimmy Reece) pulled away, and inadvertently escaped the pace car. The three cars were alone, and rather than wait for the grid to catch up, they rushed around to catch up to the back of the field. Sam Hanks pulled the pace car off the track and into the pits, but chief starter Bill Vanderwater displayed the yellow flag to wave off the start. An extra pace lap was allowed, and the front row re-took their position at the front of the pack. By the time Hanks was ready to pull the pace car back out on the track, the field had re-formed, and Vanderwater gave them the green flag.

At the start, Dick Rathmann took the lead in turn 1, Ed Elisian was second, and Jimmy Reece third. As the cars went down the backstretch, they battled into turn three. Elisian spun and took Rathmann to the outside wall, triggering a huge 15-car pileup. Reece braked and was hit from behind by Pat O'Connor. O'Connor's car sailed fifty feet in the air, landed upside down and burst into flames. Several other cars spun to the wall and into the infield. Jerry Unser touched wheels with Paul Goldsmith, and flipped over the outside wall. Unser suffered a dislocated shoulder.

Although O'Connor was incinerated in the accident, medical officials said that he was probably killed instantly from a fractured skull.^[2] Widely blamed for the accident, Elisian was suspended by USAC for the accident (reinstated a few days later), and was shunned by many in the racing community.

Following the accident, race officials announced that they would change the starting procedure, abandoning the single-file trip down pit lane that was used in 1957 and 1958. Also, for the 1959 Indy 500, metal roll bars welded to the frame behind the driver's head were mandated, and helmets were required to pass safety certification by Speedway medical officials.

First half[]

Jimmy Bryan escaped the opening lap crash, and came around to lead the first lap. Eddie Sachs and Tony Bettenhausen also got by unscathed, to run second and third. Due to the crash, the yellow light stayed on for the first 25 minutes (18 laps). Four of the top five starting positions were out of the race from the crash, including polesitter Dick Rathmann, who placed 27th.

When the green flag conditions came out, Bryan, Sachs, Bettenhausen, and rookie George Amick all traded time in the lead. There were 14 lead changes in the first half.

The second yellow came out on lap 38 when Chuck Weyant crashed in turn 4.

Eddie Sachs, a contender in the first quarter of the race, dropped out on lap 68 with transmission trouble.

Second half[]

The second half of the race settled down to a battle between Jimmy Bryan and Johnny Boyd, with George Amick also in contention. However, Boyd lost the lead during a pit stop on lap 126. Bryan's team had fast pit stops (three stops for 1 minute and 31 seconds), which allowed him to hold the lead.

Rookie A. J. Foyt spun out on lap 149.

Bryan led the final 75 laps (139 total) en route to victory. Bryan was victorious in the same car in which Sam Hanks won the 500 a year earlier. Amick, a rookie, stayed within striking distance of Bryan for the last part of the race, but Amick's crew chief decided to accept a safe second-place rather than risk pushing his rookie driver into a mistake.

During the race as the news of Pat O'Connor's death spread around the track, the mood among the spectators became somber and glum. Reportedly, some in attendance left the grounds upon hearing the news of the fatality, some never to return.

Box score[]

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	WDC points	USAC points
1	7	1	Jimmy Bryan	Salih-Offenhauser	144.18	8	200	139	3:44:13.80	8	1000
2	25	99	George Amick  R	Epperly-Offenhauser	142.71	25	200	18	+ 27.63	6	800
3	8	9	Johnny Boyd	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.02	9	200	18	+ 1:09.67	4	700
4	9	33	Tony Bettenhausen	Epperly-Offenhauser	143.91	10	200	24	+ 1:34.81	41	600
5	20	2	Jim Rathmann	Epperly-Offenhauser	143.14	15	200	0	+ 1:35.62	2	500
6	3	16	Jimmy Reece	Watson-Offenhauser	145.51	3	200	0	+ 2:16.95		400
7	13	26	Don Freeland	Phillips-Offenhauser	143.03	17	200	0	+ 2:21.06		300
8	19	44	Jud Larson  R	Watson-Offenhauser	143.51	11	200	0	+ 5:34.02		250
9	26	61	Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.67	26	200	0	+ 6:15.76		200
10	33	54	Bill Cheesbourg	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	142.54	30	200	0	+ 8:03.59		150
11	21	52	Al Keller	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.93	19	200	0	+ 9:14.20		100
12	6	45	Johnnie Parsons  W	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.68	6	200	0	+ 9:40.85		50
13	30	19	Johnnie Tolan	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.3	31	200	0	+ 9:52.24
14	17	65	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.25	33	189	0	Spun off
15	32	59	Dempsey Wilson  R	Kuzma-Offenhauser	143.27	13	151	0	Fire
16	12	29	A. J. Foyt  R	Kuzma-Offenhauser	143.13	16	148	0	Spun off
17	31	77	Mike Magill	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.27	32	136	0	Disqualified
18	14	15	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	142.95	18	122	0	Radiator
19	23	83	Shorty Templeman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.81	21	116	0	Brakes
20	11	8	Rodger Ward	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	143.26	14	93	0	Magneto
21	15	43	Billy Garrett	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.77	22	80	0	Magneto
22	18	88	Eddie Sachs	Kuzma-Offenhauser	144.66	7	68	1	Transmission
23	22	7	Johnny Thomson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.9	20	52	0	Steering
24	29	89	Chuck Weyant	Dunn-Offenhauser	142.6	29	38	0	accident
25	10	25	Jack Turner	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	143.43	12	21	0	Fuel pump
26	4	14	Bob Veith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.88	4	1	0	Accident
27	1	97	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	145.97	1	0	0	Accident
28	2	5	Ed Elisian	Watson-Offenhauser	145.92	2	0	0	Accident
29	5	4	Pat O'Connor ✝	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.82	5	0	0	Died in crash
30	16	31	Paul Goldsmith  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.74	24	0	0	Accident
31	24	92	Jerry Unser  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.75	23	0	0	Accident
32	27	68	Len Sutton  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.65	27	0	0	Accident
33	28	57	Art Bisch  R	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.63	28	0	0	Accident

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lead lap

All cars on Firestone tires

Alternates[]

• First alternate: Gene Hartley (#24)^[3]

Failed to qualify[]

Broadcasting[]

Radio[]

The race was carried live on the IMS Radio Network. Sid Collins served as chief announcer. The broadcast reached 302 affiliates across all 48 states, as well as Armed Forces Network and Voice of America. For the final time, a 15-minute pre-race was used.^[5] The following year, the pre-race would be expanded to 30 minutes. The broadcast featured the debut of Lou Palmer, who reported from the normally quiet and remote third turn. However, on the opening lap, Palmer was quickly thrust into duty, as his first words on the network were to describe the massive 15-car pileup and fatal accident of Pat O'Connor.

And we've got an accident here! Car #5! Car #5, the Zink Special, is the first to wreck! Another over the wall! And we've got...one, two, three, four, five...six cars, piled up here, on the northeast turn! The 54 Novi into the infield...car #19 in the infield, 68 now down into the infield...and it's almost impossible to identify the others. Out of car #5, now, is Ed Elisian...and, er, car #91 against the wall...that is all that we can see at the moment. Further down the track, there are still others. ...One car has left this track, Sid, and did go over the retaining wall. That's all of the information we can give you at the moment...we will check each car for you, and report on all of them as soon as we can. Right now, better send it to you Sid, in the tower...

Among the guests that visited the booth was Pete DePaolo.

In 2019, this entire race's radio broadcast became available as a paid digital download form the Indianapolis Motor Speedway website.^[6][7]

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Pit/garage reporters
Chief Announcer: Sid Collins Statistician: Charlie Brockman	Turn 1: Bill Frosh Turn 2: Bob Rhodes Backstretch: Bernie Herman Turn 3: Lou Palmer Turn 4: Jim Shelton	Jack Shapiro (north) Luke Walton (center) Greg Smith (south) Bob Hoover (garages)

Race notes[]

• Fastest Lead Lap: Tony Bettenhausen – 1:02.370 (144.300 mph)
• Pat O'Connor had appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the week leading up to the race. His subsequent death is considered an early example of the perceived "Sports Illustrated cover jinx."
• Only Appearance: George Amick (killed in 1959 USAC 100-mile race at Daytona)
• First Appearance: A. J. Foyt (First 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner.)

Formula One Championship standings after the race[]

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Also, points scored in the 500 did not count towards the F1 constructors championship.

USAC points standings after the race[]

Note: Only the top 10 are listed

Rank	Driver	Points	Diff	Pos Change
1	Jimmy Bryan	1000	0	Previously unranked
2	George Amick	880	-120	+4
3	Tony Bettenhausen	760	-240	-1
4	Johnny Boyd	700	-300	Previously unranked
5	Jim Rathmann	500	-500	Previously unranked
5	Jimmy Reece	500	-500	Previously unranked
7	Jud Larson	350	-650	-2
8	Don Freeland	300	-700	Previously unranked
9	Eddie Johnson	200	-800	Previously unranked
9	Len Sutton	200	-800	-8

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1958 Indianapolis 500.

External links[]

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats – Official Site
• 1958 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
• "O'Connor Killed In 12-Car Crackup During First Lap". St. Petersburg Times. May 31, 1958. Retrieved January 16, 2016.

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