1947 Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway | |||||
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Indianapolis 500 | |||||
Sanctioning body | AAA | ||||
Date | May 30, 1947 | ||||
Winner | Mauri Rose | ||||
Winning Entrant | Lou Moore | ||||
Average speed | 116.338 mph (187.228 km/h) | ||||
Pole position | Ted Horn | ||||
Pole speed | 126.564 mph (203.685 km/h) | ||||
Most laps led | Bill Holland (143) | ||||
Pre-race | |||||
Pace car | Nash Ambassador | ||||
Pace car driver | George W. Mason | ||||
Chronology | |||||
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The 31st International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1947. The 1946 winner, George Robson, had been killed in the meantime.
Late in the race, Lou Moore teammates Bill Holland and Mauri Rose were running 1st and 2nd. The pit crew displayed a confusing chalkboard sign with the letters "EZY" to Holland, presumably meaning for him to take the final laps at a reduced pace to safely make it to the finish. Mauri Rose ignored the board, and charged to catch up to Holland. Holland believed he held a lap lead over Rose, and allowed him to catch up. The two drivers waved as Rose passed Holland, with Holland believing it was not more than a congratulatory gesture.
In reality, the pass Rose made was for the lead, and he led the final 8 laps to take the controversial victory. The race was marred by a 41st lap crash that claimed the life of Shorty Cantlon.
Time trials & ASPAR boycott
Time trials was scheduled for five days. The minimum speed to qualify was set at 115 mph. In the months leading up to the race, several top drivers that were members of a union, the American Society of Professional Auto Racing (ASPAR), threatened to boycott the race over the purse size.[1] The AAA Contest Board refused to heed their demands, and when the entry list was closed on May 8, many of the top drivers, particularly several popular west coast drivers, were not on the list. A total of 35 cars were entered, but at least nine had no driver listed, and 13 of the entries were inexperienced novice drivers. After the practice began for the month, officials decreed that the boycotting drivers would not be allowed late entry. After several weeks of dispute, an agreement was made for the ASPAR drivers to participate mid-way through the month.[2]
- Saturday May 17 - Pole Day
- Rain, and the holdout of several ASPAR drivers, meant only seven cars completed qualifying runs. Ted Horn claimed the pole position with a speed of 126.564 mph.
- Sunday May 18
- Three cars qualified, bringing the field to 10 cars.[3]
- Saturday May 24
- Sunday May 25
- Wednesday May 28
- The final day of qualifying closed with 28 cars in the field.
When qualifying closed at 6 p.m. on Wednesday May 28, the field had only been filled to 28 cars.[4] Duke Dinsmore was the final qualifier, completing his run amidst some scoring confusion by the officials, just as the time had run out.[5] Race officials initially stressed that Wednesday would be the final day available to qualify. However, a day later, they re-opened qualifying for one hour late on Thursday May 29 in an effort to fill the field. Mel Hansen and Emil Andres were the only two cars to complete attempts, and after approval by the other entries, were added to the grid to bring the field to 30 cars.[6]
The heartbreak story of the day belonged to driver Billy Devore. After failing to make the field on Wednesday, the Bill Schoof crew worked diligently to make repairs to their car, hoping that officials would re-open qualifying. When word was announced that additional time trials would be held Thursday, the crew scrambled to get the car prepared. Late in the evening, with about 20 minutes left until closing, the crew drove the race car from their garage about six miles away to the track with a police escort. When they arrived at the gate at 6:58 p.m., however, officials closed time trials, and DeVore was not permitted to qualify. [7]
Results
Finish | Start | No | Name | Qual | Rank | Laps | Led | Status |
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1 | 3 | 27 | Mauri Rose | 120.040 | 20 | 200 | 34 | Running |
2 | 8 | 16 | Bill Holland (R) | 128.755 | 1 | 200 | 143 | Running |
3 | 1 | 1 | Ted Horn | 126.564 | 3 | 200 | 0 | Running |
4 | 4 | 54 | Herb Ardinger | 120.733 | 19 | 200 | 0 | Running |
5 | 10 | 7 | Jimmy Jackson | 122.266 | 11 | 200 | 0 | Running |
6 | 20 | 9 | Rex Mays | 124.412 | 7 | 200 | 0 | Running |
7 | 14 | 33 | Walt Brown (R) | 118.355 | 25 | 200 | 0 | Running |
8 | 28 | 34 | Cy Marshall | 115.644 | 30 | 197 | 0 | Flagged |
9 | 23 | 41 | Fred Agabashian (R) | 121.478 | 13 | 191 | 0 | Flagged |
10 | 27 | 10 | Duke Dinsmore | 119.840 | 22 | 167 | 0 | Flagged |
11 | 7 | 58 | Les Anderson (R) | 118.425 | 24 | 131 | 0 | Flagged |
12 | 17 | 59 | Pete Romcevich (R) | 117.218 | 28 | 168 | 0 | Oil line |
13 | 30 | 3 | Emil Andres | 116.781 | 29 | 150 | 0 | Magneto |
14 | 15 | 31 | Frank Wearne | 117.716 | 26 | 128 | 0 | Spun T3 |
15 | 9 | 47 | Ken Fowler | 123.423 | 9 | 121 | 0 | Axle |
16 | 18 | 46 | Duke Nalon | 128.082 | 2 | 119 | 0 | Piston |
17 | 12 | 28 | Roland Free | 119.526 | 23 | 87 | 0 | Spun |
18 | 25 | 29 | Tony Bettenhausen | 120.980 | 17 | 79 | 0 | Timing gear |
19 | 6 | 25 | Russ Snowberger | 121.331 | 15 | 74 | 0 | Oil pump |
20 | 16 | 52 | Hal Robson | 122.096 | 12 | 67 | 0 | Universal joint |
21 | 2 | 18 | Cliff Bergere | 124.957 | 4 | 62 | 23 | Piston |
22 | 22 | 8 | Joie Chitwood | 123.157 | 10 | 51 | 0 | Gears |
23 | 5 | 24 | Shorty Cantlon ✝ | 121.462 | 14 | 40 | 0 | Died in crash at T1 |
24 | 26 | 43 | Henry Banks | 120.923 | 18 | 36 | 0 | Oil line |
25 | 19 | 66 | Al Miller | 124.848 | 6 | 33 | 0 | Magneto |
26 | 13 | 14 | George Connor | 124.874 | 5 | 32 | 0 | Fuel leak |
27 | 29 | 38 | Mel Hansen | 117.298 | 27 | 32 | 0 | Pushed |
28 | 21 | 15 | Paul Russo | 123.967 | 8 | 24 | 0 | Crash FS |
29 | 24 | 44 | Charles Van Acker (R) | 121.049 | 16 | 24 | 0 | Crash FS |
30 | 11 | 53 | Milt Fankhouser (R) | 119.932 | 21 | 15 | 0 | Stalled |
[8] |
Failed to Qualify
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Broadcasting
Radio
The race was carried live on the Mutual Broadcasting System, the precursor to the IMS Radio Network. The broadcast was sponsored by Perfect Circle Piston Rings and Bill Slater served as the anchor. The broadcast feature live coverage of the start, the finish, and live updates throughout the race.
Barry Lake served as "roving reporter," stationed on an Army Jeep. Larry Richardson was stationed in the new Press Paddock (constructed underneath the Paddock Penthouse upper deck) on the outside of the mainstretch, relaying scoring and official information.
Mutual Broadcasting System | ||
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Booth Announcers | Turn Reporters | Pits/roving reporters |
Announcer: Bill Slater |
South turns: Mike Dunn |
Norman Perry Barry Lake |
See also
Notes
Works cited
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1947 Indianapolis 500. |
- 1947 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Mutual: Re-broadcast on "The All-Night Race Party" - WIBC-AM (May 29, 2004)
References
- ↑ "Indianapolis 500 Centenary Countdown: Not 33 (times 3)". Racer magazine. 2010-10-14. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
- ↑ Way Is Cleared for Auto Racers - May 20, 1947
- ↑ Owners Wave In Aspar Drivers
- ↑ Speedway Race Has Its Smallest Field - May 29, 1947
- ↑ Milwaukee Car Last to Qualify for 500 - May 29, 1947
- ↑ Racing Classic at Indianapolis - May 30, 1947
- ↑ Schoof Car Misses Race Dead Line After frantic Dash to Speedway - May 30, 1947
- ↑ "Indianapolis 500 1947". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ↑ ""1947 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes"". ChampCarStats.com.
1946 Indianapolis 500 George Robson |
1947 Indianapolis 500 Mauri Rose |
1948 Indianapolis 500 Mauri Rose |