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 fan-favorite 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 A. J. 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.

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]

[edit] Classification

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	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

[edit] Quotes

[edit] Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network

"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..."

- Lou Palmer, with his first words ever spoken on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, calling the third turn on the first lap of the race, and reporting the immediate aftermath of the resulting incident to Sid Collins

[edit] References

[edit] 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.

• Last Appearances: George Amick (killed in 1959 USAC race at Daytona)