1953 INDIANAPOLIS 500 RACE "THE HOTTEST 500" 75814
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ย. 2024
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Produced by the Perfect Circle Corporation as a publicity project in 1954, THE HOTTEST 500 shows the 1953 Indy 500 won by Bill Vukovich in 120-plus degree heat. The 1953 race was infamous as one of the most memorable on record, with more relief drivers used than in any other year. Tragically, driver Carl Scarborough actually died of heat prostration. Bill Vukovich, who led in 1952 but ended up losing due to a mechanical failure with his car, led almost the entire race and ended up taking the checkered flag.
The highlights shown in the film include time trials with Vukovich qualifying. The film also shows pit row and various work on the cars, and footage of various drivers including Tony Bettenhausen, Freddie Agabashian, Jack McGrath, Paul Russo, Duane Carter, Duke Nalon and Marshall Teague, The race ends nearly after nearly four hours with Vukovich in the victory circle.
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This was the era, in motor racing, of MAXIMUM DANGER & RISK. Hats off to all the drivers.
No HANS, no real helmets even, no fire suits, no roll bars, no crumple zones, no seat belts, no fuel cells... man how racing and personal cars have changed...
Wasn't exactly safe for the fans either.
Very, very dangerous
Bill Vukovich deserves to have a street named for him in Speedway Indiana. Certainly a historic, larger than life man.
"Per capita", Bill Vukovich was the most dominant driver in the history of The 500-Mile Race. From 1952, when he led 150 laps, a full three-quarters of the Race, but was forced out with nine laps to go due to steering failure, to lap 57 of the 1955 Race where he literally still held the lead following his death (the only race leader, let alone two-time defending champion, to ever to die while leading), Vukovich put on perhaps the most overwhelming performance ever seen over any consecutive year period, leading 485 of a full 800 laps run in four years, well over 50%.
Vuk very easily could have won at least four straight.
@@stilichobias He should have, actually. 1952, he's going to win without the steering failure. 1955, he's 17 seconds ahead when it happens. In 1953, the Race shown here, he put on what I consider the most dominant performance ever; yes, Billy Arnold led 3 more laps in 1930, but it didn't have quite the same feel of relentless pressure on the entire rest of the field. Miles out in front, and he just kept building the lead. 1954, meanwhile, the year the Fuel-Injection Special was comparatively older and not as dominant, it took him 355 miles to get the lead, but once again his style of sheer relentlessness ground the opposition into submission.
Honestly, that relentlessness makes him among the most haunting drivers ever, in that it gives him a mystique that will probably never be matched.
Man times have changed. Vukovich's 47 second pit stop was considered fast!
it was blistering ! lol
God speed, Carl Scarborough.
Well, another good one dealing with the Indy 500. That 1954 year, I think, still has the record of the hottest temperature Indy race, so far. To see that several drivers couldn't take the heat was sort of unique...but then, the big cubic inch allowed by rules in those days I think was 270 (+ or - ) and in front of the driver. That firewall wasn't that insulated back then so plenty of engine heat was standard draw backs...especially in the "500" - the longest race of the calendar year.
Vukovich was one hell of a driver...a determined man who love his profession.
Tom Foster 1953. 1954 was also very, but not quite as, hot.
Tom Foster. thanks Tom.
Vukovich grew up in Fresno California. It gets quite hot there. I know since I live close by.
Carl Scarborough died of heat-induced heart failure shortly after retiring from the race, Chet Miller was killed in practice - and never a mention of either! Commentators didn't mention such things in those days, I guess.
They mentioned Carl but that he was out because of the heat.
Fantastic! Those were the racingdays!
Saw Duke Nalon qualify the front drive Novi for the last time (next year, 1954, he qualified, but, was bumped) in this year - 1953. Was seated on bleachers in the inside of turn #3; same same corner where his axle broke to start his infamous fiery crash in 1949!
Bill Vukovich was the man. Win on Sunday, and you could get your car filled with gas on Monday by him. By far one of the Bravest, Toughest Indy car drivers of all time. GOD BLESS HIM. True Hero.
I am editing and publishing a biography written about Vukovich in the 1950s. For some reason, it was never published. It will be out in the spring, look for it! Author is Angelo Angelopolous.
19:52 holy christ that guy faceplanted the dash and steering wheel..
Thats amazing he wasn't hurt any worse.
Vukovich deserves to be among the all-time greats. Had he not died at his peak, who knows what records he'd have set? But it's tough to compare different generations, because each generation's cars and tracks emphasize different abilities. Today's greatest might be mid-pack had they raced in the 50s, yesterday's greatest might be mid-pack had they raced today.
Wow! The track and cars were so dangerous. The drivers showed great courage and had to deal with potentially fatal heat stroke.
God bless perfect circle.!
Vucky was a beast!
Back when it was really fun to watch. Ballsey drivers with skills not seen today, and amazing little cars. Now it's all plastic techno-wizardry.
Racing drivers were the bravest on the planet back then. With their head sticking a foot above the cockpit it was almost certain death if one was in a rollover which would claim Bill Vukovich two years later.
Mel Torme had a kinda Rodney Dangerfield thing going for him as he takes a picture of the inside of his camera case.
hehehe... look at 24:37 ... the winner of this race had TWO WIFES (or the wife and the girlfriend?🤣🤣)... and they two were REALLY HAPPY to see his man as a winner... Incredible!
The film doesn't mention that Carl Scarborough died from the heat prostration.
It did mention that he "fell victim" to the heat, but didn't actually say he died.
=Far= superior to most of the Indy films of the era, for sure. And this is one fine print, as well. ... This was the first win at Indy for the offset-engined "roadsters" that would dominate until 1964. And the last gasp for the front-drivers that had dominated in the late '40s. ... Vukie led for 195 of the 200 laps. Art Cross was 2nd in #16, 1957 winner Sam Hanks 3rd in #3, Fred Agabashian 4th in Andy Granatelli's #59, Jack McGrath 5th in #5. ... Vukie and McGrath were gone by '55. Unusually for that era, the three others lived into long and happy retirements.
Walt Falkner at 14:18 was 35. He looks 55. I've seen other photos where he looked his age. That heat in his car must've been tremendous. It made a temporary old man out of him! He would be dead three years later in a USAC crash. Tough men back then. Many of them had served in at least one war, and they accepted that life could be short.
Nothing so glaringly illustrates how dangerous racing was in the 1950s as a perusal of the finishing order in this Indy 500. About half the drivers in the race eventually died from injuries sustained in crashes.
10 didn't even make it out if the 1950s.
Vukey said "If you think this is hot you should drive a tractor in Fresno in July".
30k for a race car wish it costed that much now i’d own a whole team
i think my grandparents bought their house for 7,000$ . It's unbelievable that these heavy metal coffins were priced at 30k
I winder what some of the ages were of these drivers in 1953
You could buy 10 Corvettes for the price of one of those cars in 1953.
wow!
You could buy a new Corvette in 1953 for $3,498.
I wondered how far back in history I'd have to go to win the 500 in my VW. I think I've found out.
you'd get smoked....lol
139mph in 2024 for me is hauling ace.
I had the great pleaser of waxing that car in sun city arizona when i was 15yrs old.M y dad was a good friend of merl ballanger owner of #99 an #98. Ballanger specials. Mister Ballanger was a very nice man. He let me drive a Alfa Romao. He also had a Chrysler 300 that him and Tony BETTENHOUEN WON THE MEXICAN 1000 MILE RACE IN HIS DRIVEWAY. MY DAD DROVE MIDGET RACE CARS MADE BY Johnny Paul racing from outside demotte indiana.He was friends with TONY BETTENHOUSEN from Tinley park ill and BILL VOLKIVICH. WHEN Tony B was killed at Indy Sam hanks and Henry banks HEAD OF USAC came to my house and told my dad. I was lucky to go to PIR raceway in pheniox and meet all the drivers in the driver meeting and rode in Carol Shelbys cobra mustang that was the pace car for the Jimmy Heartibese 100 in 1963. I was very BLESSED to be around midget , sprint, and silver crown Indy cars. thanks JIM SWIERINGA
Its fun to think that Neil Armstrong may have marched in the Purdue band.
Do those turns look wider than they are today or is it just me?
Your so rite about Vukovichs
Pit stop ...there wasn't any
Meth amphetamine in those
Days.
Those cars cost an astonishing $30,000!
285 miles on two tanks of fuel... They had such huge fuel tanks on those old roadsters.
I think they had 80-gallon fuel tanks back then. Another reason they went as far as they did was that they used high-octane gasoline, which got much better mileage than later fuel types used at Indy since the mid-60s, and if they wanted to, they could fill up the tank to go further on fewer pit stops (Cliff Bergere and Johnny Mantz even ran the entire race non-stop in the 40s), but not too many years after this, they wouldn't fill up the tank during pit stops because they couldn't go as far on tires as they could if they filled up the fuel tank, as well as the fact that filling up the tank would slow the car down considerably because of the excess weight.
these old cars are a death trap with the drivers exposed like that without some kind of roll bar...land upside down and you are toast
and just think what the drivers back then would say about trying to qualify for the race now at speeds of over 200 miles an hour .
Compared to what they did, it would feel as safe as the chair you're sitting on.
I believe Goggles Pisano also drove a Novi
Red Bull symbol at 3:03?
Old Mobil Logo
The hottest 500 in history and most people are in long sleeves and pants!
I noticed that too. Wear some shorts for crying out loud!
10:38
$30,000 + each? Seriously?
$340k in today's dollars!
@@PeriscopeFilm Thanks! $30,000 seemed way too high but I guess not.
Carl Scarbtough RIP, seems he was killed by climate change, wait ✋️ this 1953 ? Weird.
This happened between ...
a) Joseph Stalins death on 5 th of March
and
b) The GDR Peoples Uprising on 16/17/18 th of June!
And the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2.
Vuckie would have won 3 in a row if he hadn't got cuaght up in that pile-up in 55
Indy should go back to front engine roadsters! Let Europe keepthe formula one rear engines cars!