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Indy 500 Accidents

Indy Racing would not have its same appeal if crashes were not a part of it. While they are often life threatening occurrences, they are also one of the most thrilling and breathtaking events for spectators. In this article, Jimmy Boyd takes a look at some of the best, or worst, depending on how you look at it, Indy 500 accidents.

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The Indianapolis 500 is a hot zone for crashes with 33 cars on top of each other racing at an average speed of 150 miles per hour. Fortunately modern technology has made fatalities rare in recent years.

We haven't had a death at Indy since 1973 and accidents don't get any flukier than the one which caused it. A patch of oil in turn four caused Swede Savage to skid and smash into the inside wall. He was then thrown back across the track and crashed into the outside wall. There was hope as he left the track conscious, but he ended up passing in a hospital 33 days after the race. Perhaps even more tragic, Armando Teran, one of Savage's crew members, was killed when a fire truck racing to save Savage hit him.

As if the 1973 race wasn't plagued enough, Salt Walther also crashed in the front straightaway early in the race and was severely burned. 11 other cars were damaged in this pile up.

We probably shouldn't ever find humor in Indy Car racing accidents, but after opening with that depressing 1973 story, we will try here with this 1971 accident. Car dealer Eldon Palmer had the prestigious honor of driving the pace car, but he made a fool out of himself by loosing control and crashing into the photographer's stand. He could not longer fool his buddies into believing that he could be an Indy Car driver.

In 1995, we witnessed a heart-dropping accident which did not cause any fatalities, but left all those who witnessed it wonder how. Eddie Cheever hit Stan Fox's car just 10 seconds into the race and ripped that car in two. The car went airborne, but somehow Fox was unharmed.

While the prospect of a wreck brings some fans to the track, it keeps some drivers off of it. Louis Meyer is known as one of the Indy 500 greats with wins in 1928, 1933, and 1936. But in 1939, he crashed into the inner guard rail with just three laps remaining. It was about as harmless looking of a crash as one can imagine and he was completely unscathed, but it was enough for him to call his Indy Racing career quits right after the race.

Many people forget that accidents have injured and killed spectators attending the Indy 500 also. Because of major safety improvements, we haven't seen an accident of this variety since 1987. In that race, Tony Bettenhausen lost a wheel. Roberto Guerrero then hit the loose tire and catapulted it into the air. It came down in the top row of the grandstand and nailed Lyle Kurtenbach who was killed instantly.

I'll leave you with the deadliest Indy crash in recent history. In 1964, a horrid crash causing a huge blaze of fire killed both Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald. MacDonals was responsible for the accident by loosing control and drilling the wall. This caused his gas tank to ignite and explode. Later in the race, the reigning Indy champ, Parnelli Jones, had to leap from his car in the pit to save himself after it had gone up in flames.

Be sure to check out all of Jimmy Boyd's Indy 500 articles including his 2008 Indy 500 odds and predictions to find out who Jimmy likes to win the biggest race of the year.

May 19th, 2008