All but one of the 33 gaudy, snub-snouted racers that roared past the fluttering starter's flag in last week's Indianapolis 500 rolled on identical Firestone tires and were powered by identical 350-h.p. Meyer-Drake Offenhauser engines.* In the family feud that followed, what counted were the driver's skill, the speed of his pit crew—and pure luck.
With 100 miles still to go, mechanical failures and accidents had sidelined 21 starters. Most spectacular of the pile-ups occurred when Driver Don Davis lost his crankcase and piled into the retaining wall. Recklessly trying to sneak past Davis' stalled car, Rookie Driver A. J. Shepherd spun...
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