Great video. It should be noted that of the 33 drivers who started the 1955 Indy 500, 17 of them would be killed in racing accidents. Jerry Hoyt would be killed about a month after this race. The winner, Bob Sweikert, would be killed a year later. The list goes on and on. You truly had to want to race to be a driver, and with incredible courage. It was all about speed back then, and safety always took a back seat. Many drivers never saw old age.
This was about the time I stopped watching the 500. Vukovich's death rather ended my interest. I had followed him since watching him race midgets on dirt tracks in Southern California. But in subsequent years the cars were built more safely, with a crash-resistant cockpit, and today drivers often walk away from crashes that would have killed someone back then. Still, it's a dangerous sport.
I was there for qualifying and remember the drivers' speeches after each qualified. Bill Vukovich was very smooth with his comments and was a class person. Did not make the race as we headed home to listen on the radio. I did not return until 1969 qualifying. Such memories!
A little insight to the man who died in this race. Bill Vukovich is still considered by many to be the greatest driver to ever race in the 500. He was referred to as the Mad Russian, a name he hated because he wasn't Russian. But to all of the rest of us he was known as The Fresno Flash or just Vuky. He was the epitome of a shooting star. He raced at Indianapolis 5 times(6 if you count 1950 which he failed to qualify for the race). In 1951 he fell out after just 29 laps from an oil leak. But from 1952 till his death in this race, no driver ever dominated this race before or since. In 1952 he qualified 8th and led 150 laps only to have his steering box overheat and fail on the 192nd lap. In 1953 he led an astounding 195 of the 200 laps(the most number of laps led in the modern history of the speedway to this very day and only three shy of Ralph DePalmas record 198 in 1930)and won the race. In 1954 he only led 50 laps but again won the race. In his 5 years of competition at the speedway he led an astounding 71.7% of laps that he drove in competition at the track, and remains the only driver ever to lead the most laps in the race three consecutive years('52-'54). He was awarded 19 points toward the World Drivers Championship in Formula 1 in his career and was inducted into the Indianapolis 500 HOF in 1972, the International Motorsports HOF in 1991, the Motorsports HOF of America in 1992, and the National Midget Auto Racing HOF in 1990(2-time USAC National Midget Champion in 1948-'49). The saddest thing about this is that 1955 would probably have been his last year driving at the speedway anyway as during the month of May he had expressed the idea that this was going to be his last year coming here. RIP BILL....you earned it.
Miatacrosser My grandfather was a yellow shirt (security) at Indy starting in the 40s up until 1965. He got to know 'Vuky' quite well and said he was the greatest driver to ever set in a racecar. He also said Bill was a great guy full of great stories.
I lived in Fresno Ca at the time and we would regularly stop over on Hazelwood at the gas station. It was really something to have Bill Vukovich pump your gas for you. Johnny Boyd, Lloyd Ruby were all regular attendees at Reno’s Specialized Service on Saturday’s. They came to shoot the stuff with Reno Colletti who owned the shop and was good friends with all the local racers of the day.
@@markdinkel9006 it used to be with a very rich racing heritage. Fred Gerhardt was also from Fresno. In the 1970s one year at the Indianapolis 500 I remember 31 out of 33 cars starting were Gerhardt chassis. Fresno now has no race tracks anymore. Not even a go-kart track. They're the LA or SF of the central valley. Nothing but self absorbed woke normies and thousands of homeless people.
Was a whole different world back then. I do love the roadsters though. Those drivers earned it the hard way. That track looks totally different today. A lot safer too. Thanks for a great video.
1955 my first Indy 500, 17 years old, Lunch, ham sandwich bought from the back porch of a farmhouse on Crawfordsville rd. Midget races the night before the 500 at the 16th.Street Speedway. Big suprise, only outhouses in the infield at Indy. Still no sewers in 1955 in Speedway, Indiana.
First win for crew chief AJ Watson. Who would become a legend of his own. Had the privilege of working on a team in the 90's where we used AJ's garages in Pittsboro to house and work on our car. Talked to him quite often. Soft spoken very nice guy. He had a dyno where he would build and run old Offy's. And restore old Indy cars. Also a storage garage full of very famous cars. His roadsters were legendary at the Speedway.
The 1955 race took about three hours and 40 minutes. Today, barring a red flag or an extended caution period, an Indianapolis "500" is completed in a wee bit more than three hours.
This was the first race my Dad took us to. We were inside of the backstretch in bleachers not too far from the walking bridge. Unfortunately, witnessed the Vukovich wreck. Later sat outside, third turn for years.
i worked for jack, son of john, at zeeco back in 1988. he got me a ticket to the indy500 that year. had to stay in cincinnati the night before because no hotel rooms closer. drove in that morning. will never forget the spectacle. that was one helluva day. it's funny to hear the announcer in this video say "the crowd comes to their feet" for a particular incident. hell, we stood the entire race. sometimes stood in our chairs.
@@rehannoor4961 till Jack brought the Cooper in '61. Many Indianapolis drivers from the '50s had more career F-1 points than many of the regular drivers on the F-1 circuit. Bill Vukovich who was killed while leading here had 19 wc points with his three finishes at the brickyard
One moment the Champ was lapping the field, the next he was flipping over the guardrail to his death. so very tragic. And 16 caution laps later, the race resumed.
Bob Sweikert's 1955 victory was overshadowed by the fatal crash that killed Bill Vukovich, Sr., who had won the 1953 and 1954 races and had he not been killed in that crash, might have become the first driver ever to win the race three straight times. Vukovich was the patriarch of a racing family; his son and gransdon also competed at Indy.
+altfactor Sweikert died the next year at Salem Speedway. There weren't many survivors from that era of racing. Probably the best you could hope for is to maimed badly enough that you couldn't race any longer. In the late fiftys and early sixtys the family would go to Salem Speedway to watch stock car racing, but never for the "big cars". I wonder if dad didn't want us to see someone killed, as it was fairly dangerous for them. I was there the night Vogler got killed, sprint cars on the high banks are deadly, Vouky's son was killed on a similar track in a sprinter.
Should've won 4 straight years. '52-'55. He was going to walk away had he lived after the '55 race. He expressed that throughout the month that this would be his last 500.
Bill Vukovich arguably One of Indy's greatest Drivers should have won 1952 car broke down last 10 laps of the race, Won '53 & '54, Had a 30 sec lead when he was hit & killed
Josh Yaks when I was young my dad would take me to the midget racing in the mid 50s I have seen over those years 3 deaths and the race kept going . It was just a fact of life with no seat belts or roll bars. Fire was always a big concern
Every few weeks a driver and who knows how many spectators might die. But that's racing folks .You win some you loose some. See you all back her next week for more spills and excitement.
God bless William John "Bill" Vukovich sr. (December 13, 1918 - May 30, 1955) He was a serbian-amercian automobile racing driver and he was known variously as "Vuky" and "The Mad Russian" for his intense driving style (though Bill detested that name because he was born in Fresno, California od yugoslavian ancestry)
I believe that after the 1955 race, the bridge over the track's back stretch was replaced by a tunnel, and the front stretch was rebuilt with a new pit area and a new "master control tower" to replace the old Pagoda-style one.
@@russellmurray3964 Not a hidden secret that Vuky dying when the cockpit of his car hit the bridge and nearly decapitated him brought this change. That was the last straw and it was gone the next year. They had feared this happening for decades but like everything, nothing gets done about something dangerous till someone gets killed.
@@Miatacrosser For some reason, I haven't been able to find anything on the internet regarding it - well, except for here at TH-cam in the comments, for which I am thankful. The official Indianapolis Motor Speedway website has nothing on it, and the same with both the Wikipedia page on the Indy 500 and on the Speedway. Even the Wikipedia pages on the 1955 and 1956 Indy 500's have nothing.
Charles Brown: "Tornado Turn" is Turn 1 at the Indianapolis Speedway, where many accidents over the years have happened in the first lap of the Indianapolis "500".
@@ALLEYOOP77 Dude, can't somebody just give him credit for his accomplishments? I really don't understand why this is so offensive to you. Are you implying that when an athlete or anyone for that matter dies, they should immediately be discredited for all of their accomplishments?
It's amazing to see the track back in 55' everything looked so primitive compared to today, no safety barriers at all.The drivers back then were also nuts to drive these cars.No safety gear at all associated with those cars. Men were men back then.
It was a much different time - cigarettes were considered O.K., no problem at all healthwise, and a majority of adults smoked a lot of them. Drunk driving? Also no biggie then, just watch out for the tricky curve or the telephone pole up ahead.
@@ALLEYOOP77 men weren't stupid back then things were just different...There just wasn't technology available at the time that compares to today...At the time, believe it or not, these cars were considered the highest technology...This is a true story..The morning of this race Mr Vukovich walked the alley behind the home he was staying at in West 15th street in Speedway pondering if he should continue racing...He knew the danger and was growing weary of it and told his wife Eleanor he was thinking of quitting.. 2 hours later he laid at the Conkle funeral home that was is front of the alley he walked on earlier that morning..Over the years each major accident was addressed with more and more safety equipment being added to remedy the previous problem..As parents Both men and women of that generation were overall far superior to what we have today.. Despite today's technology, todays men and woman are a mess compared with the generations that preceded them. In a few more years todays men and women will look stupid too as the newest research has proven a cancer link with radiation from Cellular towers and Smartphones...When 5G is fully implemented there will be no where to hide from it.
@@russellmurray3964 Cigarettes will look like Cotton Candy in a few years when the majority of people discover the truth about Cellphone radiation...When 5G is implemented today's radiation levels will increase hundreds of times and there will be no where to escape it. In the past 2 years major links to cancer from these devices has been proven and many governments are already warning their citizens ...After 20 years of cumulative exposure, death rates will skyrocket, especially with 5G....as with cigarettes before, but only much worse, what you don't know will kill you...By the way Wacky Tobaccy which the states are now legalizing, and in some cases promoting, definitely is not a safe smoking alternative for cigarettes...There are far more carcinogens in marijuana smoke than tobacco smoke...
There had a lot of debate over Vukie’s cause of death. The fact is… He died from a skull fracture. Any burns that he is sustained were neither life-threatening, and probably postmortem.
Well that and the bridge nearly decapitated him but I guess the impact is what really killed him. Doubt he would've survived the landing even if the bridge wasn't a factor
With today's safety features, Bill Vukovich, Sr. probably would have survived the wreck. Even if his car had just a "roll bar" (which Indy-type cars soon would get), he might have had a chance.
no, sailing through the air at terrific speed, the cockpit made contact with the bridge abutment he was killed instantly, thankfully, because the car, full of fuel , burned for many minutes
altfactor back in the early 70's racer Larry Cannon had an actual roll cage on his car. I thought it was a very smart idea at the time. Larry was a USAC Sprint car racer and I guess thats why it crossed over to his Indy ride.
@@lotusfirebird dam near decapitated him. Lets just say, if that bridge hadn't been there then maybe, but you usually didn't walk away from a high speed crash in 1955. They thankfully removed that bridge for the '56 running of the race
@@Miatacrosser with the increased speeds today (look at two time 500 winner Dan Weldon killed in 2011 when he made contact with another car and his car was launched into the outside catch fence killing him instantly) it's just as dangerous when the cockpit makes contact with any object.....Johnny Boyd in the same Vuckovich crash also took a tumble after Vucky's car struck his.....the reason why Boyd was unhurt was his car made contact with the bridge but on the UNDERside of the car, not the cockpit. The drivers in those days were almost like gladiators, dueling with death at every turn.....as '55 champ Swiekert was killed in '56 when his sprint car went over the wall at Salem Indiana and crashed into a tree.
@@Miatacrosser Actually, that bridge was still there for the 1956 race (as was the pit area without a pit wall separating the pits from the track), which was crash-marred due mainly to the repaving of the turns that also caused an increase in speeds. They were certainly planning those changes (along with USAC taking over as the sanctioning body), but the changes in the track could not be completed in time for the 1956 race, but were completed for the 1957 race.
@@ALLEYOOP77 No. He's saying that this was unfortunately accepted at the time. Doesn't approve of mass suicide. Sorry if that offends you. In fact, I'll go get you a safety pin to make it up to you.
@@theonly52 they go twice as fast as they did back then, I dont think you can call any of them wimpy just because they have more safety gear. Maybe you should try it for yourself and see what its really like to barrel down into turn 1 with 25+ cars around you at over 150 miles an hour.
@@theonly52 You're no sissy that's for sure. Heard you're the bravest Forza 7 driver out there. You gotta be a man's man to run on XBox. It's a death trap.
After analyzing mysterious dreams, I arrived at f1, arrived at the trophy of indy 500, thought that I liked the sound of the car but I was not interested in the car. Was done. He paid attention to the differences in how Japanese people felt sports. I like sound, so I want to tell you that there are some similarities to the way music is felt. Japanese people feel like they are only interested in the results. Reputation is important for music. I think it is very strange. The middle of the process is the most interesting, why? What does result focus create? Was it the growth of engine parts? Now, f1 is focusing on fans. Now, F1 is the top entertainment person, right? He has so much experience. How do fun emotions occur? Now is the time of change in the entertainment world, right? Japanese entertainment may change a bit from the connection with the yakuza. 不思議な夢を分析してｆ1に辿り着き、ｉｎｄｙ500のトロフィーに辿り着き、車の音は好きだけれど車には興味がないと思っていたが調べて学んでいるうちに、大変面白いことに気づかされた。 そして、日本人のスポーツの感じ方について海外とは異なる点に注目した。私は音が好きなので、音楽の感じ方と似ている点があるので伝えたい。日本人は基本、結果にしか興味がないような感じ方をする。音楽であれば、評判を大事にする。 とても不思議だと思う。途中の過程こそが一番面白いのに、なぜなのだろうか？ 結果重視は何を生み出すのだろうか？エンジンの部品の成長だったのだろうか？今、ｆ1はファンを重視するようになっている。 今、Ｆ1はエンターテイメントの人がトップなんだね？彼はとても多くの経験を持っている。 楽しいって感情はどのように起きるのだろか？今、エンターテイメントの世界は変化の時だね？日本のエンターテイメントもヤクザとのつながりから少し変化するかもしれないな。 ｅｄｄｉｅｅ５５ ｈ／ｗｈｙ＝ｙｈｗｈ＝３６０°
WHY RESPECT STINKIN THINKIN? ARE YOU A BETTER FATHER TO YOUR CHILD NOW THAT YOU ARE DEAD? IS THIS THE LEGACY THAT YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN BY, I KILLED MY SELF BY RACING UNSAFE CARS AT HIGH SPEEDS, I WANT YOU TO BE JUST LIKE ME SON????????
I can hear It, I can see it, I can smell it, but I can barely taste it. How do I turn up the taste drink a big bunch of beer.? ~(:-})={>----] thems bricks they are stompi'n on.
As it was from 1950 to 1960. The winner of the 500 got credit for winning a F1 race. The season ending standings in f1 back then are filled with Americans who never saw an actual f1 track.
WARREN, OUR DAUGHTER IS A SHRINK, I CAN SET YOU UP WITH AN APPOINTMENT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN MEN WERE STUPID MEN WITH ZERO CONCERNS FOR THEIR LOVE ONES. THAT IS SOMETHING YOU ADMIRE? i AM GOING TO PUT YOU DOWN FOR A CHECK UP FROM THE HEAD UP.
just my humble opinion .. dangerous always outweighs beauty ... every time... 🙂🤔🤨😖😔😬😱🤯not worth it to be anywhere near the track , or anywhere in the stands either ... catchfences I do not trust ... folks have been injured /. killed from allegedly '**safe** for spectators' catchfences .. these fences have also killed drivers ... (D. Wheldon, R. Phillips , others ..)..paying exorbitant entrance prices , overpriced food & beverages,😵💰💰💲🖕 merchandise , souvenirs and the toxic fumes😲☠️☠️☠️...⚰️⚰️ Is just **not** worth risking injury and / or death⚰️ ... I can skip that , thank you.🚮. 👎👎🚫🚫🚫💲💲💲💲💲💲💰💰💰💰💰😲🤯😖
This was almost half a century before I was born. I am so thankful that some people made the efforts to preserve this piece of history. What a gem
Great video. It should be noted that of the 33 drivers who started the 1955 Indy 500, 17 of them would be killed in racing accidents. Jerry Hoyt would be killed about a month after this race. The winner, Bob Sweikert, would be killed a year later. The list goes on and on. You truly had to want to race to be a driver, and with incredible courage. It was all about speed back then, and safety always took a back seat. Many drivers never saw old age.
This was about the time I stopped watching the 500. Vukovich's death rather ended my interest. I had followed him since watching him race midgets on dirt tracks in Southern California. But in subsequent years the cars were built more safely, with a crash-resistant cockpit, and today drivers often walk away from crashes that would have killed someone back then. Still, it's a dangerous sport.
McGrath was killed in September.
Indy is a very haunted track.
I can see why at the 16:00 frame where the cars flip over the guard rail.
What an absolutely Horrific job!
I was there for qualifying and remember the drivers' speeches after each qualified. Bill Vukovich was very smooth with his comments and was a class person. Did not make the race as we headed home to listen on the radio. I did not return until 1969 qualifying. Such memories!
This was the first Indy 500 I attended. I was 4 years old and don't remember a whole lot except the noise and few quick flashes of the cars.
My grandma was here, she has a very clear memory of this race and the crash that killed Bill Vukovich.
A little insight to the man who died in this race. Bill Vukovich is still considered by many to be the greatest driver to ever race in the 500. He was referred to as the Mad Russian, a name he hated because he wasn't Russian. But to all of the rest of us he was known as The Fresno Flash or just Vuky.
He was the epitome of a shooting star. He raced at Indianapolis 5 times(6 if you count 1950 which he failed to qualify for the race). In 1951 he fell out after just 29 laps from an oil leak. But from 1952 till his death in this race, no driver ever dominated this race before or since. In 1952 he qualified 8th and led 150 laps only to have his steering box overheat and fail on the 192nd lap. In 1953 he led an astounding 195 of the 200 laps(the most number of laps led in the modern history of the speedway to this very day and only three shy of Ralph DePalmas record 198 in 1930)and won the race. In 1954 he only led 50 laps but again won the race. In his 5 years of competition at the speedway he led an astounding 71.7% of laps that he drove in competition at the track, and remains the only driver ever to lead the most laps in the race three consecutive years('52-'54). He was awarded 19 points toward the World Drivers Championship in Formula 1 in his career and was inducted into the Indianapolis 500 HOF in 1972, the International Motorsports HOF in 1991, the Motorsports HOF of America in 1992, and the National Midget Auto Racing HOF in 1990(2-time USAC National Midget Champion in 1948-'49).
The saddest thing about this is that 1955 would probably have been his last year driving at the speedway anyway as during the month of May he had expressed the idea that this was going to be his last year coming here.
RIP BILL....you earned it.
Wish he would've backed off a little. He was lapping the field early in the race
Thank for history Info.
Yeah I think he was actually Yugoslavian
Miatacrosser
My grandfather was a yellow shirt (security) at Indy starting in the 40s up until 1965. He got to know 'Vuky' quite well and said he was the greatest driver to ever set in a racecar. He also said Bill was a great guy full of great stories.
My dad's favorite racer, Vucky🙏👍
I lived in Fresno Ca at the time and we would regularly stop over on Hazelwood at the gas station. It was really something to have Bill Vukovich pump your gas for you.
Johnny Boyd, Lloyd Ruby were all regular attendees at Reno’s Specialized Service on Saturday’s. They came to shoot the stuff with Reno Colletti who owned the shop and was good friends with all the local racers of the day.
Bet it's a cool town too. I live about 2 miles north of Indy motor speedway
@@markdinkel9006 it used to be with a very rich racing heritage. Fred Gerhardt was also from Fresno. In the 1970s one year at the Indianapolis 500 I remember 31 out of 33 cars starting were Gerhardt chassis. Fresno now has no race tracks anymore. Not even a go-kart track. They're the LA or SF of the central valley. Nothing but self absorbed woke normies and thousands of homeless people.
That is where Bill Vukovich lost his life! RIP Bill.
Was a whole different world back then. I do love the roadsters though. Those drivers earned it the hard way. That track looks totally different today. A lot safer too. Thanks for a great video.
1955 my first Indy 500, 17 years old,
Lunch, ham sandwich bought from
the back porch of a farmhouse on
Crawfordsville rd.
Midget races the night before the 500
at the 16th.Street Speedway.
Big suprise, only outhouses in the
infield at Indy.
Still no sewers in 1955 in Speedway, Indiana.
Chuck Weyant a rookie in this race who finished 12th passed away earlier this year at 93.
A man's MAN!
RIP
Roadsters... it took a lot of guts to drive these rolling gas tanks at 150mph no one had more guts than Vukovich RIP
First win for crew chief AJ Watson. Who would become a legend of his own. Had the privilege of working on a team in the 90's where we used AJ's garages in Pittsboro to house and work on our car. Talked to him quite often. Soft spoken very nice guy. He had a dyno where he would build and run old Offy's. And restore old Indy cars. Also a storage garage full of very famous cars. His roadsters were legendary at the Speedway.
The 1955 race took about three hours and 40 minutes.
Today, barring a red flag or an extended caution period, an Indianapolis "500" is completed in a wee bit more than three hours.
This was the first race my Dad took us to. We were inside of the backstretch in bleachers not too far from the walking bridge. Unfortunately, witnessed the Vukovich wreck. Later sat outside, third turn for years.
Do you remember watching jerry Hoyt?
Sweet, beautiful roadsters! They were dangerous, but they were also a sight to behold.
That crash was vicious AF.
RIP Vuky.
i worked for jack, son of john, at zeeco back in 1988. he got me a ticket to the indy500 that year. had to stay in cincinnati the night before because no hotel rooms closer. drove in that morning. will never forget the spectacle. that was one helluva day. it's funny to hear the announcer in this video say "the crowd comes to their feet" for a particular incident. hell, we stood the entire race. sometimes stood in our chairs.
Spectators had balls as big as the drivers.
Back then the race was part of the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship, and not alot of the european F1 drivers would drive at Indianapolis
none of the team wants to bring their car to america.
@@rehannoor4961 till Jack brought the Cooper in '61.
Many Indianapolis drivers from the '50s had more career F-1 points than many of the regular drivers on the F-1 circuit.
Bill Vukovich who was killed while leading here had 19 wc points with his three finishes at the brickyard
@@plantfeeder6677 thats true, i mean the other who more focused on world drivers championship than indy500
This was like two weeks before the 1955 Le Mans disaster.
im still amazed that american race on a circuit, when european race on a street
@@rehannoor4961 More unused land in America.
Need a fire in your heart, and a steel pair to race back then. But man, do i love these racecars! Thanks for sharing man!
so cool seeing this in color
Some tough dudes and some were WW 2 vets.
One moment the Champ was lapping the field, the next he was flipping over the guardrail to his death. so very tragic. And 16 caution laps later, the race resumed.
Life goes on... back in the days faster
Bob Sweikert's 1955 victory was overshadowed by the fatal crash that killed Bill Vukovich, Sr., who had won the 1953 and 1954 races and had he not been killed in that crash, might have become the first driver ever to win the race three straight times.
Vukovich was the patriarch of a racing family; his son and gransdon also competed at Indy.
altfactor Actually Vuky's two wins were 1953 and 1954.
+altfactor Sweikert died the next year at Salem Speedway. There weren't many survivors from that era of racing. Probably the best you could hope for is to maimed badly enough that you couldn't race any longer. In the late fiftys and early sixtys the family would go to Salem Speedway to watch stock car racing, but never for the "big cars". I wonder if dad didn't want us to see someone killed, as it was fairly dangerous for them. I was there the night Vogler got killed, sprint cars on the high banks are deadly, Vouky's son was killed on a similar track in a sprinter.
I've corrected the typo.
Should've won 4 straight years. '52-'55. He was going to walk away had he lived after the '55 race. He expressed that throughout the month that this would be his last 500.
@@Miatacrosser .....and sadly it was his last !!
Bill Vukovich arguably One of Indy's greatest Drivers should have won 1952 car broke down last 10 laps of the race, Won '53 & '54, Had a 30 sec lead when he was hit & killed
So sad.
Safety equipment : T-shirt and safety hat and goggles! The days when you bet your life to race!
Don't forget the cigar in the pits!
The goggles were probably glass too.
or basically just another chemistry lesson xD
17:55 - When death on the track was so commonplace that a fatal crash merely resulted in 16 caution laps.
Josh Yaks when I was young my dad would take me to the midget racing in the mid 50s I have seen over those years 3 deaths and the race kept going . It was just a fact of life with no seat belts or roll bars. Fire was always a big concern
I think Vuky would have wanted it to continue.
I wish Vuky would have backed off. He was already lapping the field
I’ve always said that. You could see that he knew he had the best car and STILL he took chances he didn’t need to, putting the car in bad spots
Like the edited in command to start engines. Tony must have been out of town.
"the most beautiful sight in all racing"
wish I could see a reunion race or something someday
what a race
There are vintage races around here and there.
Every few weeks a driver and who knows how many spectators might die. But that's racing folks .You win some you loose some. See you all back her next week for more spills and excitement.
I don't know how to say... thanks a lot for video!!! Muito obrigado por compartilhar a história! Wonderful 500 miles!
Vukovich was a big-time driver whsoe death was through no fault of his own... Race narration excellent!
"Car racing always will be dangerous" Jackie Stewart (1939- ) Formula 1 World Champion in 1969, 1971 and 1973. Greetings from Venezuela.
Greetings as well. I love motorsports: At Daytona right now watching the Rolex 24...
God bless William John "Bill" Vukovich sr. (December 13, 1918 - May 30, 1955) He was a serbian-amercian automobile racing driver and he was known variously as "Vuky" and "The Mad Russian" for his intense driving style (though Bill detested that name because he was born in Fresno, California od yugoslavian ancestry)
I didn't know that...
I believe that after the 1955 race, the bridge over the track's back stretch was replaced by a tunnel, and the front stretch was rebuilt with a new pit area and a new "master control tower" to replace the old Pagoda-style one.
Technically the master control tower didn't become operational until 1957, but they did start planning it in 1955.
Well ya. That's what killed Vuky.
Thanks for the info. I've been researching what happened to the bridge and have come up empty.
@@russellmurray3964 Not a hidden secret that Vuky dying when the cockpit of his car hit the bridge and nearly decapitated him brought this change. That was the last straw and it was gone the next year. They had feared this happening for decades but like everything, nothing gets done about something dangerous till someone gets killed.
@@Miatacrosser For some reason, I haven't been able to find anything on the internet regarding it - well, except for here at TH-cam in the comments, for which I am thankful. The official Indianapolis Motor Speedway website has nothing on it, and the same with both the Wikipedia page on the Indy 500 and on the Speedway. Even the Wikipedia pages on the 1955 and 1956 Indy 500's have nothing.
America, were did you go? Those were the days... today is different!
Charles Brown:
"Tornado Turn" is Turn 1 at the Indianapolis Speedway, where many accidents over the years have happened in the first lap of the Indianapolis "500".
altfactor - you really like quotation marks in all of your “comments” don’t you? Lol
Skinny tires...no roll bars
Beautiful cars
This is the death of the King of Indianapolis. No man has ever come close to matching his overall glory at Indianapolis.
AGAIN HIS WIDOW MUST BE SO HAPPY.
@@ALLEYOOP77 Dude, can't somebody just give him credit for his accomplishments? I really don't understand why this is so offensive to you. Are you implying that when an athlete or anyone for that matter dies, they should immediately be discredited for all of their accomplishments?
It's amazing to see the track back in 55' everything looked so primitive compared to today, no safety barriers at all.The drivers back then were also nuts to drive these cars.No safety gear at all associated with those cars. Men were men back then.
It was a much different time - cigarettes were considered O.K., no problem at all healthwise, and a majority of adults smoked a lot of them. Drunk driving? Also no biggie then, just watch out for the tricky curve or the telephone pole up ahead.
Different times, different attitudes. Safety was not considered like it is today.
MEN WERE STUPID THEN! ARE YOU A BETTER PARENT NOW THAT YOU HAVE KILLED YOURSELF DUE TO YOU OWN STUPIDITY?
@@ALLEYOOP77 men weren't stupid back then things were just different...There just wasn't technology available at the time that compares to today...At the time, believe it or not, these cars were considered the highest technology...This is a true story..The morning of this race Mr Vukovich walked the alley behind the home he was staying at in West 15th street in Speedway pondering if he should continue racing...He knew the danger and was growing weary of it and told his wife Eleanor he was thinking of quitting.. 2 hours later he laid at the Conkle funeral home that was is front of the alley he walked on earlier that morning..Over the years each major accident was addressed with more and more safety equipment being added to remedy the previous problem..As parents Both men and women of that generation were overall far superior to what we have today..
Despite today's technology, todays men and woman are a mess compared with the generations that preceded them. In a few more years todays men and women will look stupid too as the newest research has proven a cancer link with radiation from Cellular towers and Smartphones...When 5G is fully implemented there will be no where to hide from it.
@@russellmurray3964 Cigarettes will look like Cotton Candy in a few years when the majority of people discover the truth about Cellphone radiation...When 5G is implemented today's radiation levels will increase hundreds of times and there will be no where to escape it. In the past 2 years major links to cancer from these devices has been proven and many governments are already warning their citizens ...After 20 years of cumulative exposure, death rates will skyrocket, especially with 5G....as with cigarettes before, but only much worse, what you don't know will kill you...By the way Wacky Tobaccy which the states are now legalizing, and in some cases promoting, definitely is not a safe smoking alternative for cigarettes...There are far more carcinogens in marijuana smoke than tobacco smoke...
God what I would give to be alive during these days. When sex was safe and racing was dangerous. Incredible tracks. A much simpler time.
Good old times. Driver is dead, but race is keeps going... All was different back then.
There had a lot of debate over Vukie’s cause of death. The fact is… He died from a skull fracture. Any burns that he is sustained were neither life-threatening, and probably postmortem.
Well that and the bridge nearly decapitated him but I guess the impact is what really killed him. Doubt he would've survived the landing even if the bridge wasn't a factor
Those guys had Balls of Steel , Geeezus
Back then drivers would run across the track after a crash since no one slowed down...
Not a seat belt in sight .! Death was always a possibility...
One day somebody said " we might need to repave this track surface".
With today's safety features, Bill Vukovich, Sr. probably would have survived the wreck.
Even if his car had just a "roll bar" (which Indy-type cars soon would get), he might have had a chance.
no, sailing through the air at terrific speed, the cockpit made contact with the bridge abutment he was
killed instantly, thankfully, because the car, full of fuel , burned for many minutes
altfactor back in the early 70's racer Larry Cannon had an actual roll cage on his car. I thought it was a very smart idea at the time. Larry was a USAC Sprint car racer and I guess thats why it crossed over to his Indy ride.
@@lotusfirebird dam near decapitated him. Lets just say, if that bridge hadn't been there then maybe, but you usually didn't walk away from a high speed crash in 1955. They thankfully removed that bridge for the '56 running of the race
@@Miatacrosser with the increased speeds today (look at two time 500 winner Dan Weldon killed in 2011 when he made contact with
another car and his car was launched into the outside catch fence killing him instantly) it's just as dangerous when the cockpit
makes contact with any object.....Johnny Boyd in the same Vuckovich crash also took a tumble after Vucky's car
struck his.....the reason why Boyd was unhurt was his car made contact with the bridge but on the UNDERside of the car, not the cockpit.
The drivers in those days were almost like gladiators, dueling with death at every turn.....as '55 champ Swiekert was killed in '56 when
his sprint car went over the wall at Salem Indiana and crashed into a tree.
@@Miatacrosser Actually, that bridge was still there for the 1956 race (as was the pit area without a pit wall separating the pits from the track), which was crash-marred due mainly to the repaving of the turns that also caused an increase in speeds. They were certainly planning those changes (along with USAC taking over as the sanctioning body), but the changes in the track could not be completed in time for the 1956 race, but were completed for the 1957 race.
"Hes having magneto trouble"
I was born in 1955 and lock in the Moment this Race. Amazing. 👍
I came here for Dinah....................................
Great video. Thank you.
Was that Roger Penske with the camera at 11:28?
140 mph was smoking back then, cool.
Now days they cancel the rest of the race
I don't know how any of the crowd made it out alive never mind the drivers
This is AMERICA ...When Men were Men .....Women were women and the chrome was THICK !
People are tripping about the deadly consequences of the indy 500 but back then it was a regular thing on your local short track on any given night
SO YOU APPROVE OF MASS SUICIDE? LACK OF RULES TO PROTECT PEOPLE SAFETY?
@@ALLEYOOP77 No. He's saying that this was unfortunately accepted at the time. Doesn't approve of mass suicide. Sorry if that offends you. In fact, I'll go get you a safety pin to make it up to you.
Very very good.
Would you PLEASE make that watermark a little bigger? I can still see part of the action.
At 5:23 tyres screeching on the grass...
Oklahoma Historical Society? The race is in Indiana (or whatever the name gets changed to once they determine the “Indian” in “Indiana is offensive
Home state of John Zink, owner of Sweikert's winning car and producer of the video -- er, movie footage.
@@jedgarsquink ooooooh. I figured it had something to do with winning team. I looked up driver. THANKS.
Tornado turn?
Mundial de fórmula 1 1955
Auto racing pre soiboi era
First Indy 500
ce qui fait peur, c'est la distance des spectateurs si près de la piste !!
Driver safety = Don't crash
no wonder why whis part is the most replayed its because a car whent over the wall
15:46
Damn the whole setting is a death scene... No safety at all... Thank today motorsport is much safer
Agreed! Still love these racecars!
screw safety. this was when men were men and not wimpy sissys like they are today!
@@theonly52 they go twice as fast as they did back then, I dont think you can call any of them wimpy just because they have more safety gear. Maybe you should try it for yourself and see what its really like to barrel down into turn 1 with 25+ cars around you at over 150 miles an hour.
@@theonly52 are you fucken well ??
@@theonly52 You're no sissy that's for sure. Heard you're the bravest Forza 7 driver out there. You gotta be a man's man to run on XBox. It's a death trap.
After analyzing mysterious dreams, I arrived at f1, arrived at the trophy of indy 500, thought that I liked the sound of the car but I was not interested in the car. Was done.
He paid attention to the differences in how Japanese people felt sports. I like sound, so I want to tell you that there are some similarities to the way music is felt. Japanese people feel like they are only interested in the results. Reputation is important for music.
I think it is very strange. The middle of the process is the most interesting, why?
What does result focus create? Was it the growth of engine parts? Now, f1 is focusing on fans.
Now, F1 is the top entertainment person, right? He has so much experience.
How do fun emotions occur? Now is the time of change in the entertainment world, right? Japanese entertainment may change a bit from the connection with the yakuza.
不思議な夢を分析してｆ1に辿り着き、ｉｎｄｙ500のトロフィーに辿り着き、車の音は好きだけれど車には興味がないと思っていたが調べて学んでいるうちに、大変面白いことに気づかされた。
そして、日本人のスポーツの感じ方について海外とは異なる点に注目した。私は音が好きなので、音楽の感じ方と似ている点があるので伝えたい。日本人は基本、結果にしか興味がないような感じ方をする。音楽であれば、評判を大事にする。
とても不思議だと思う。途中の過程こそが一番面白いのに、なぜなのだろうか？
結果重視は何を生み出すのだろうか？エンジンの部品の成長だったのだろうか？今、ｆ1はファンを重視するようになっている。
今、Ｆ1はエンターテイメントの人がトップなんだね？彼はとても多くの経験を持っている。
楽しいって感情はどのように起きるのだろか？今、エンターテイメントの世界は変化の時だね？日本のエンターテイメントもヤクザとのつながりから少し変化するかもしれないな。
ｅｄｄｉｅｅ５５ ｈ／ｗｈｙ＝ｙｈｗｈ＝３６０°
Rodger Ward continued to blame himself for Vukie's crash for several years and nearly ruined his career drinking and womanizing over it.
naughtmoses
No your wrong about that. That is when Ward changed his life gave up the drinking and womanizing and got serious about his racing.
In addition, Ward finally got on the winning track after he joined forces with Wilke and Watson, the "Flying W's", to form Leader Card Racers.
naughtmoses His rear axel broke
Amazing time in motor racing history. If you flip the car, it will be very bad
@Lyle Johnston I mean, considering the owner mentality at the time, that joke actually makes sense.
Nowadays pilots are sissies in comparison, these are more experimental weapons than racing cars...respect...
WHY RESPECT STINKIN THINKIN? ARE YOU A BETTER FATHER TO YOUR CHILD NOW THAT YOU ARE DEAD? IS THIS THE LEGACY THAT YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN BY, I KILLED MY SELF BY RACING UNSAFE CARS AT HIGH SPEEDS, I WANT YOU TO BE JUST LIKE ME SON????????
Vuky RIP
I CAN'T DETERMINE WHY VUKY LOST CONTROL, AND CROSSED THE FIELD, ???
HE WAS IN THE INSIDE LANE, THEN CROSSED TO THE OUTSIDE ?????
Which Motorsport is This? Formula 1 or INDYCAR?
7:47 Brazil flag
I can hear It, I can see it, I can smell it, but I can barely taste it. How do I turn up the taste drink a big bunch of beer.? ~(:-})={>----] thems bricks they are stompi'n on.
AutoCad Hooo!!!!
How many came here just for the Purdue Band?
Deth Masheen
What is this, the Indianapolis Speedway?
Tires squealing on grass...Ha!!Ha!!
18:51
1955 formula one indy 500
As it was from 1950 to 1960. The winner of the 500 got credit for winning a F1 race. The season ending standings in f1 back then are filled with Americans who never saw an actual f1 track.
Sucks for Vuki.
7:44
Good old days when racing meant men were men,not soft like know
WARREN, OUR DAUGHTER IS A SHRINK, I CAN SET YOU UP WITH AN APPOINTMENT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN MEN WERE STUPID MEN WITH ZERO CONCERNS FOR THEIR LOVE ONES. THAT IS SOMETHING YOU ADMIRE? i AM GOING TO PUT YOU DOWN FOR A CHECK UP FROM THE HEAD UP.
And we were young lol
This announcer is insufferable.
just my humble opinion .. dangerous always outweighs beauty ... every time... 🙂🤔🤨😖😔😬😱🤯not worth it to be anywhere near the track , or anywhere in the stands either ... catchfences I do not trust ... folks have been injured /. killed from allegedly '**safe** for spectators' catchfences .. these fences have also killed drivers ... (D. Wheldon, R. Phillips , others ..)..paying exorbitant entrance prices , overpriced food & beverages,😵💰💰💲🖕 merchandise , souvenirs and the toxic fumes😲☠️☠️☠️...⚰️⚰️ Is just **not** worth risking injury and / or death⚰️ ... I can skip that , thank you.🚮. 👎👎🚫🚫🚫💲💲💲💲💲💲💰💰💰💰💰😲🤯😖