Yes, Foyt was lucky, especially at a time when safety measures seemed almost taboo. He went down an embankment and actually was pronounced dead by the track's doctor - only to be saved when Jones stepped in and scooped dirt from Foyt's mouth. Pretty much any successful Ind圜ar driver from that era - Johncock, Rutherford, Foyt, Mario Andretti, the Unser brothers, Parnelli Jones - felt the same way.īack then, deaths and serious injuries were the norm.įoyt, for instance, still recalls his January 1965 stock car crash in Riverside, California, caused by a brake failure. (Foyt) and I have lost so many friends in the business."
"I don't know what the rest of the guys thought, but I thought, 'Let's just get this damn thing over, you know, this has not been good,'" Rutherford recalled. And roughly a dozen spectators were burned when Salt Walther's fuel tanks ruptured as his spinning car destroyed part of the catch fence. In the chaos after Savage's wreck, pit-sign board holder Armando Teran was fatally struck by a safety truck.
David Savage died from injuries sustained in a terrifying crash on race day. Rutherford won the pole position with a record-breaking, four-lap average speed of 198.413 mph and Johncock wound up with the first of his two Indy 500 wins, but it was a grim day across the rest of Gasoline Alley.Īrt Pollard was killed in a pole day crash. INDIANAPOLIS - Johnny Rutherford and Gordon Johncock delivered spectacular results at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that were overshadowed by perhaps the worst month in the history of the storied race.
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