BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE 1955 INDIANAPOLIS 500

before the challenge of courage speed and endurance as time runs out the Purdue University band entertains in traditional ceremonies on the main straightaway behind the flags and excitement of race day there are many other stories [Applause] there's the story of the men behind the driver and the car the mechanics who have sweated out the tests and time trials the race begins in the garages here is plain hard work applied with skill and experience and as important as engine power is the way this power is transmitted to the track special attention is paid to the chassis and suspension which must be rugged and perfectly balanced to carry car and drivers safely over one of the most brutal surfaces in the racing world these wheels must stay solidly on the track putting power where it belongs at the instant command of the driver to win the 500 you must have chassis control that provides for blazing straightaway speeds together with high speed cornering hour after hour mile after pounding mile [Music] and now they are moving to the starting line these cars and their drivers who are legends of skill and daring the fans wonder if these sleek monsters and at the men who in a moment will hurl a ton of streamlined metal down a straightaway at 180 miles an hour and then crowd into the groove with 32 other Thunderbolts each car as it is filled out carries the hopes and memories of months of work and planning the mechanics job is done and the drivers take over flying Jack McGrath in number three is his own chief mechanic when it doesn't go he says he stands on it a little harder there's no one to blame but himself but he remembers when it did go like a bomb [Music] [Applause] it's two weeks before the race McGrath ready to qualify lukovitch has set the track of plays with new one lap and four lap records now with these records only three hours old McGrath cranked up and got away on a warm-up lap the green flag pointed at mcgrath screaming out of the north turn he was on it rocketing through the first turn faster than any man in Speedway history one lap completed a new record of 143 point seven nine miles an hour watching his records crumble bill Vukovich coming up to the checkered flag and a new four lap record 142 point five it for the ten-mile run driver mechanic the fastest of them all 500 miles to go [Music] to the line big number one a new machine for Jimmy Brian national big car champion Brian finished second here last year he drove a car with broken shock absorbers broken front Springs but unbroken determination for a hundred and thirty laps he went wheeled a wheel with Vuckovich until vicky grabbed the winning margin as Brian was forced to pit for the third time pounded black and blue by his disabled car Jimmy collapsed after the race [Music] Brian takes his luck as it comes this year a new car can make the difference bill book a [ __ ] the man to beat now came to the Speedway as [ __ ] champion to prove himself in the big cars he came with the first roadster a new design built especially for Indianapolis racing he rolled to the line an unknown driver in an unknown car but steering failure sent book of each against the wall nine laps from victory he became the man to watch and watch they did as Luke erased a thousand miles without relief to win twice in a row only two other Speedway immortals Wilbur Shaw and Maury Rose have accomplished the same feat Vuckovich biggest money winter in Indianapolis history and holder of more records trying now for the record no one has three wins back-to-back other veterans here today have helmets full of Indianapolis memories former national champion Tony Benton housing knows what it means to take the wheel here on the bricks Tony in a qualifying run three years ago he was on his way to break the record in number 99 and ran into real trouble another car another year out of the north turn into the homestretch tail first [Music] and another 500 this time with the temperature breaking records heat exhaustion forced him out of the race ready now for 200 more grueling laps number 39 moves up its pilot rookie Johnny boy his freshman year at the Speedway but he piled up some memories in a hurry during practice runs [Music] the spin wasn't too bad it wasn't as long as some of them I've seen around here except at the wall looked like the side of a 10-story building I'm remembering the heat of 1953 he was cutting a wide path through the blazing afternoon until no I don't realize what happened up there I don't think I can figure the heat might have got me a little punchy I wasn't tired but when I woke up in the hospital asked him what happened they said you crashed as it will fix the car let's get going in here is number 33 a new stream liner with Jim Rothman the jockey Jim was driving relief for Sam Hanks last year thanks Jeff locked up and that automatically locks your rear wheels up and then only the good Lord didn't take care of you from that on the drivers climb into the cockpits tents rookies like shorty Templeton seasoned veterans like Johnny Parsons 1950 winner the driver with one leg Hal Knight a fourth fastest qualifier art cross wall partner rookie al Herrmann Jimmy Davies fifth fastest in the field Bob swaggered who makes his home in the shadow of the Speedway the balloons drift away a breathless moment then [Music] gentlemen start your engines the waiting is over [Applause] [Music] 33 of the mightiest men and machines of the racing world the fastest field ever to compete at Indianapolis move away behind the pace car they must go once around in parade formation the fury of their engines in check until they make a full circuit moving smoothly Gerry Hoyt at the pole position inside front row benton Heusen next to it and mcgrath on the outside in the second row all eyes on book of itch in the center Hank's next to him on the outside through the second turn heading for the long backstretch now under the bridge and the pace quickens as the pack moves up the backstretch in the short straightaway between the third and the fourth turn [Music] and here they come the most beautiful sight in all racing 12,000 horsepower wheeling through the fourth turn and heading into the main straightaway and the green flag [Music] they're all beautiful start [Music] McGrath cuts across from the outside and dies into the turn first ten thousand roars after pike drops to third Bank evasion is for Vukovich is myth safely through tornado turn and into the second listen to these engines say [Music] a graph streaking away lukovitch is now forthcoming out of the back stretch boogy closes in on Hoyt at the end of black one and he passes fight to take third place in a lab to tries to patent his li as book of itch fights Benton house on for second place the crowd comes to its feet watching Vukovich make his move on the backstretch Vukovich passing moving into second place now third Vukovich racing to a showdown with McGrath [Music] Metin Howsam loses brown as cookie barrels away Belem Howl's powering Vukovich [Music] a thin wisp of smoke trails from a grass scar as Vukovich keeps up the pressure [Music] to the first turn of lap three Vukovich fights McGrath for the groove he's passing Malkovich is in first place McGrath second Bevan housands earned tanks for [Music] [Music] Vuckovich keeps right on charging mcgrath is in some kind of trouble [Music] after 25 miles Buki opens up a two second lead [Music] Jimmie Reese pulls into the pits a broken connecting rod makes him the first out of the race which begins to lap the tail of the field the grads having magneto trouble man what our battle Boogie's crew flash him his lap speed he's traveled 50 miles in 22 minutes and McGrath hangs on [Music] and trouble Arnold trouble he's passing Vuckovich cuts dangerously go to pull even but flying jack won't give way let putting it all the way turns the fastest race lap of Speedway history a hundred and forty one point three five miles per hour and takes the lead again after one hundred miles lukovitch moves smoothly as ever showing his tailpipe to the field but grants ten and a half seconds behind his car fouled with exhaust Ian's Jerry Hoyt heads for the pit oil pump failure and he's out of the race his uniform is spattered with oil but none left in the engine tough luck for this 26-year old pole position winner he tells his sad story to Jimmie Reese the first man out of the race there's nothing left of Jerry's victory hopes but an oily spot on the apron mcgrath engine is still giving him trouble Bob's my Kurds true signaled the end of a hundred and twenty-five miles a quarter of the race slacker in fourth position bleeds Brian by a split second McGrath comes into the pits after 135 miles Vukovich has moved away to a 17-second lead before McGrath did it so I could and Brian flash by as McGrath screw changed wheels McGrath is leaving his car jack is his own chief mechanic the only driver mechanic in the race and he's calling for a wrench they say in the pits if you raise the hood you might as well give it up but sometimes you keep trying with McGrath in the pits Brian charges in the second place McGrath is through Magneto failure sends him to the garage flat 56 Vukovich is flying he's lapped some cars five times and is running through the field with magnificent skill Roger Ward spins on the backstretch the way Claire Boyd and Vukovich moved right along a point directly opposite the bridge the incident looked like this Boyd's car number 39 is thrown on its back and skids to a stop Boyd is trapped underneath Heller in the car that started at all waves frantically to warn other drivers a deletion a close friend of lukovitch stops his car and risks his life crossing the track to go to movies a killer rushes to boy trapped under his car still in the path of the other drivers Mookie's car of blazing and battered wreck Keller and Speedway guards roll Boyd's car upright miraculously Boyd has only friction burns from skidding on his back with his car on top of him a mile away in the pits McGrath senses something all cars are slowed down by the caution light Tony Benton Howsam heads for the pits Mookie's crew on the pit wall search anxiously for their man Kelln I tape it says bookies true weights Jim Brian Pitz he was running second behind Vukovich Vukovich is now long overdue Paul Russo takes over in Benton house ins car these two men had a relief driver agreement to share the ride Whiteface tony Benton Heusen passes the news of what he has seen on the backstretch then the announcement Vuckovich two-time winner of the 500 has suffered fatal injuries in the four car crash Jimmy Brian now in first place rolls on to the track under caution signal the track is clear after 16 caution laps that green flag flies again Brian in the lead Bob swaggered only 5 seconds behind Brian suddenly begins to lose power and the field moves in on Brian has passed in the first turns by a straggler and Brian's chief mechanic Clint Brawner asks what's wrong brian is trailing smoke the North turn Jimmy Davis and car number 15 bears down and passes Spiker right behind down the stretch spykor takes the lead on the next lap swaggered is alone where's Brian Jimmy slows down to pit his exhaust ports covered with smoke it looks like the national champion is through fuel pump trouble and a broken magneto drive gear Brian is definitely out and is he man Swigert screw watch as he pounds out the last laps [Applause] hell my day moving through the fourth turn his front axle snaps he slams into the wall then rolls across the track to the infield 9a is hurt and his car which was fifth at 425 miles is washed out on the green signal they're moving again but Don Freeland in number 12 heads for the fence Freeman is spy Kurtz last major threat and he's out of the race leaving only 14 of the 33 starters still racing 50 miles to go and Swaggart's crew isn't through worrying with a lead of less than a minute and a half they don't want another pit stop but swagger is running low on fuel is he using his reserve tank yet the bar dal crew checked the time of their car now running third [Applause] my curds timers sweats it out Bob has eased off the throttle to save fuel dinosaur leads the trophy to Victory Lane Butz why Kurt's worries aren't over he's down to the last few gallons and Jimmy Davies in the bar dog special is ready to move if Swagger fails where is he does he have fuel to make it [Applause] the crowd comes to its feet [Applause] two wallets [Applause] out of the fourth turn and one lap to go there's the white flag [Music] thousand in second place gets the white flag the last lap the checkered flag for Bob swagger the waiting hoping sweating is over for the mechanics the fellow in the dark coat going wild his car owner John Zink a big pat on the back goes to his chief mechanic on to the winner's circle the mechanical masterminds who prepared Spikers car including his car owner a man who paid $30,000 for a roadster just to have the privilege of changing a tire here he is 500 miles in 3 hours 53 minutes [Music] swaggered LED for 85 lakhs for a total of two hundred and twelve and a half miles and he wins seventy six thousand dollars for his skill a share of the record-breaking purse of two hundred and seventy thousand dollars Swigert gets a victory kiss from Dinah Shore and from his wife Dolores to end an unforgettable 500 [Music] [Applause]