view raw text
Lee Wallard Wins 500-Mile Race Averages 126.244 To Set New Mark Takes Down Honors in Fourth Start in Indianapolis Event; NazarukTwo Laps Off Victor s By ED SAINSBURY I United Press Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., May 30. — Lee Wallard, a 40-year-old speed demon from Altamont, N. Y., today captured the fastest 500-mile auto race in history in his fourth start in the annual Indianapolis event. Wallard, who qualified for the 00,000-plus event on the first day of trials to gain the middle position in the front row of starters, never was far off the pace. He set some of the early pace and after 80 laps, moved to the front never to be headed. ! Second to the New York speed demon was rookie Mike Nazaruk, East Meadow, Long Island. He was a good two laps behind the rambling winner. Third went to Jack McGrath, though he had relief driver Manuel Ayulo in the car at the finish. Bob Ball, another rookie from Phoenix, Ariz., was fourth. Henry Banks, Compton, Calif., took fifth. Only Eight Cars Finish It was a gruelling race, and only eight of the 33 starting cars managed to hang together for the finish, an all-time low in the 35-year history of the event. Previously the low mark was in 1946 when nine cars were still going as the winner went past the 500-mile marker. Wallards speed average for the entire distance was 126.244, far surpassing the 121.327 speed record with which Bill Holland won it in 1949. The race today set another mark. The yellow caution light . flashed for only 90 seconds as Mauri Rose, a two-time winner, spun into the infield on the northeast turn. Roses car turned over, and the dapper driver crawled from under the wreckage with only a scratch on his arm. Wallard, never far out of the lead, except for one brief moment after he stopped in the pits, was cracking records at every mile post. For part of the first 250 miles, he was averaging more than 130 miles per hour, more than five miles an hour higher than the previous mark. His effort already had earned him ,000 in lap prize money, at the rate of 00 for each lap he was in first place. Sixth Last Year Wallard, in his previous starts, finished seventh in 1948 and sixth last year. On that record, his car seemed able to stand the gaff for the rest of the event. Only 19 cars remained in the running when Wallard passed the half-way point, 17 of them on the track and two in the pits. Walt Faulkner, who set one-lap and four-lap qualifying records, was running second to Wallard. Behind this pair" were Jack McGrath, Mike Nazaruk, Henry Banks, Fred Agabashian, Jimmie Davies, Mauri Rose — a two-time winner — Toney Bettenhausen and Gene Force. Wallards speed atthe halfway mark was 127.219 miles per hour, compared to the record of 125.839 set last year by Johnnie Parsons. The yellow caution light was not turned on in the first 250 miles and the only mishap which resembled an accef, was wv* n Charles Stevensons car caught fire on the 92nd lap and he pulled into the grass. Stevenson leaped from the car and was not burned. The fire was extinguished quickly. Defending champion Johnnie Parsons was one of the unlucky ones whose cars wouldnt permit them to continue. Parsons, who was one of the slower qualifiers for the event, was running up in the first five when his car stalled on the backstretch and he had to give up.
