1935 Indianapolis 500

The 23rd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1935. Despite attempts to improve participant safety by requiring crash helmets and installing green and yellow lights around the track, the event that year would prove to be one of the worst in terms of fatalities.^[1]

Kelly Petillo won the race, accompanied by riding mechanic Jimmy Dunham. Pete DePaolo, the 1925 winner, was the team principal, becoming the first individual to win the race separately as a driver and an owner.

The race was part of the 1935 AAA Championship Car season.

Pre-race and qualifying

Ten-lap (25 mile) qualifying runs were utilized.

On May 21, nine days before the race, three prospective participants lost their lives. Rookie Johnny Hannon, on just his first lap at racing speed, had his car go over the outside retaining wall and was killed from a fractured skull. Later that day, driver Hartford "Stubby" Stubblefield also had his car go over the outside wall, and both he and his riding mechanic Leo Whittaker died from injuries they received being thrown from the vehicle.^[2] Kelly Petillo, the eventual winner, had his own difficulties getting into the field. His initial qualifying run (a record-breaking 121.687 miles per hour (195.836 km/h) was voided when his car was ruled to have exceeded the fuel limit. Returning to the track, he had an engine blow, before finally having a qualifying run of 115.095 that placed him 22nd in the field.^[3]

Race

Driver Clay Weatherly would beg Leon Duray, the owner of Hannon's crashed car, to allow him to drive it in the race. The car would prove no luckier for Weatherly, who would be killed when the car crashed through the inner guard rail coming out of turn four on lap nine. Rex Mays would lead most of the first 300 miles (480 km) before being forced out with mechanical failure. Petillo had climbed to second, and after Mays' departure led most of the remainder other than briefly following a pit stop. Petillo easily broke the record for the fastest average speed (106.240 mph) despite being slowed somewhat by rain near the end of the race.^[4] Petillo received approximately $33,000 in winnings for the race.

Aftermath

The driver deaths in 1935 caused the Speedway to develop a program to test rookie drivers which was instituted in 1936. Adjustments were also made to the configuration of the turns.^[3] Petillo would race in five more 500s, never again finishing higher than 18th. Six of the thirty-three drivers who started the race would end up having their lives ended in accidents at the Indy Speedway.

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	22	5	Kelly Petillo	115.095	15	200	102	Running
2	20	14	Wilbur Shaw	116.854	7	200	5	Running
3	5	1	Bill Cummings (W)	116.901	6	200	0	Running
4	3	22	Floyd Roberts (R)	118.671	3	200	0	Running
5	7	21	Ralph Hepburn	115.156	13	200	0	Running
6	19	9	Shorty Cantlon	118.205	4	200	0	Running
7	9	18	Chet Gardner	114.556	17	200	0	Running
8	13	16	Deacon Litz	114.488	18	200	0	Running
9	15	8	Doc MacKenzie	114.294	20	200	0	Running
10	17	34	Chet Miller	113.552	24	200	0	Running
11	8	19	Fred Frame (W)	114.701	16	200	0	Running
12	4	36	Louis Meyer (W)	117.938	5	200	0	Running
13	16	15	Cliff Bergere	114.162	23	196	0	Out of gas
14	31	62	Harris Insinger (R)	111.729	30	185	0	Flagged
15	21	4	Al Miller	115.303	12	178	0	Magneto
16	26	43	Ted Horn (R)	113.213	27	145	0	Steering
17	1	33	Rex Mays	120.736	1	123	89	Spring shackle
18	23	7	Lou Moore	114.180	22	116	0	Rod
19	14	37	George Connor (R)	114.321	19	112	0	Transmission
20	10	2	Mauri Rose	116.470	9	103	0	Studs
21	6	44	Tony Gulotta	115.459	11	102	0	Magneto
22	30	39	Jimmy Snyder (R)	112.249	29	97	0	Spring
23	24	41	Frank Brisko	113.307	26	79	0	Universal joint
24	27	42	Johnny Seymour	112.696	28	71	0	Grease leak
25	12	17	Babe Stapp	116.736	8	70	4	Radiator
26	29	35	George Bailey	113.432	25	65	0	Steering
27	11	3	Russ Snowberger	114.209	21	59	0	Exhaust pipe
28	32	26	Louis Tomei (R)	110.794	32	47	0	Valve
29	33	46	Bob Sall (R)	110.519	33	47	0	Steering
30	2	6	Al Gordon	119.481	2	17	0	Crash T4
31	28	27	Freddy Winnai	115.138	14	16	0	Rod
32	25	45	Clay Weatherly (R) ✝	115.902	10	9	0	Died in crash at T4
33	18	66	Harry McQuinn	111.111	31	4	0	Rod
[5]

Alternates

• First alternate: Dave Evans^[6]

Failed to Qualify

Race details

For 1935, riding mechanics were required.^[8]

References