1958 INDIANAPOLIS 500

The '1958 Indianapolis 500' was held on Friday, May 30, 1958 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event was part of the 1958 World Drivers' Championship.
It is best known for a massive first lap incident that resulted in the death of driver Pat O'Connor.
Dick Rathmann and Ed Elisian started the race on the front row, with Jimmy Reece on the outside of the front row. Elisian spun in turn 3 of the first lap, and collected Rathmann, sending them both into the wall, and starting a 15-car pileup.
According to AJ Foyt, O'Conner's car hit Reece's car, sailed fifty feet in the air, landed upside down, and burst into flames. Although O'Connor was incinerated in the accident, medical officials said that he was probably killed instantly from a fractured skull. ^[1]
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. Allegedly, drivers prevented firefighters from reaching Elisian's burning car the following August at Milwaukee, and Elisian died in the fire.
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.^[2]

Contents

Classification

Notes

Classification

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Team	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	Points
1	7	1	'Jimmy Bryan'	'Epperly-Offenhauser'	144.18	1	200	139	3:44'13.80	'8'
2	25	99	'George Amick'	'Epperly-Offenhauser'	142.71	8	200	18	+ 27.63	'6'
3	8	9	'Johnny Boyd'	'Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser'	144.02	24	200	18	+ 1'09.67	'4'
4	9	33	'Tony Bettenhausen'	'Epperly-Offenhauser'	143.91	9	200	24	+ 1'34.81	'4'
5	20	2	'Jim Rathmann'	'Epperly-Offenhauser'	143.14	10	200	0	+ 1'35.62	'2'
6	3	16	Jimmy Reece	Watson-Offenhauser	145.51	14	200	0	+ 2'16.95
7	13	26	Don Freeland	Phillips-Offenhauser	143.03	3	200	0	+ 2'21.06
8	19	44	Jud Larson	Watson-Offenhauser	143.51	16	200	0	+ 5'34.02
9	26	61	Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.67	11	200	0	+ 6'15.76
10	33	54	Bill Cheesbourg	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	142.54	25	200	0	+ 8'03.59
11	21	52	Al Keller	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.93	29	200	0	+ 9'14.20
12	6	45	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.68	18	200	0	+ 9'40.85
13	30	19	Johnnie Tolan	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.3	6	200	0	+ 9'52.24
14	17	65	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.25	30	189	0	Spun off
15	32	59	Dempsey Wilson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	134.27	32	151	0	Fire
16	12	29	A.J. Foyt	Kuzma-Offenhauser	143.13	33	148	0	Spun off
17	31	77	Mike Magill	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.27	15	136	0	''Disqualified''
18	14	15	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	142.95	31	122	0	Throttle
19	23	83	Shorty Templeman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.81	17	116	0	Brakes
20	11	8	Rodger Ward	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	143.26	20	93	0	Magneto
21	15	43	Billy Garrett	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.77	13	80	0	Magneto
22	18	88	Eddie Sachs	Kuzma-Offenhauser	144.66	21	68	1	Transmission
23	22	7	Johnny Thomson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.9	7	52	0	Steering
24	29	89	Chuck Weyant	Dunn-Offenhauser	142.6	19	38	0	accident
25	10	25	Jack Turner	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	143.43	28	21	0	Fuel pump
26	4	14	Bob Veith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.88	12	1	0	Accident
27	1	97	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	145.97	4	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	Fatal Accident
30	16	31	Paul Goldsmith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.74	23	0	0	Accident
31	24	92	Jerry Unser	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.75	22	0	0	Accident
32	27	68	Len Sutton	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.65	26	0	0	Accident
33	28	57	Art Bisch	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.63	27	0	0	Accident

Notes

★ Fastest Lead Lap: Tony Bettenhausen 1'02.370

★ A 15 car pileup accident on the opening lap involved and dealt fatal injuries to Pat O'Connor,who had appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the week leading up to the race and had finished 8th in the previous year's Indy 500.