Noc-Out Special

More than 150,000 race fans turned out last week to celebrate Memorial Day in Indianapolis, i.e., the Indianapolis Auto Race, a 500-mile grind over a two-and-a-half-mile, brick-&-asphalt oval. Just before the start, the crowd listened to a radio message from the speedway's president, onetime Driver Eddie Rickenbacker, still in hospital in Atlanta from the plane crack-up that killed eight of his fellow passengers last February. "I hope and wish," said Captain Rickenbacker, "that this great outdoor laboratory will be permitted to carry on to help national defense. . . ."

To the crowd this was just grace before meat. Their dish was excitement. Would there be any smashups? Two of the cars that had qualified in test runs had already been wrecked: one the day before, in a last-minute tune-up; another only a few hours earlier, when a fire burned down a row of garages on the edge of the speedway. Would anyone break the record of 117.2 m.p.h.? Could Wilbur Shaw win the 500 for the third year in a row? It had never been done.

Driving the same Italian-made Maserati he drove last year and the year before, Shaw shot in front early. At the 100-mile mark, he was passed by another Maserati, owned by onetime Driver Lou Moore and driven by little Mauri Rose. When Rose was forced to drop out after 152 miles because of carburetor trouble, it looked like a cinch for Shaw. Then, rounding a turn on the 151st lap (380 miles), Shaw's car threw a tire, did a triple spin, crashed into the retaining wall. Shaw was not seriously hurt and the crowd soon forgot about him.

In front now was indomitable Mauri Rose, who had replaced Floyd Davis at the wheel of the Noc-Out Special, also owned by Lou Moore. Replacing Davis at 177 miles, Rose had pushed the American-made Noc-Out from the ruck to the front of the parade, was a full lap ahead at the finish line. Time: 4 hr., 20 min., 36.24 sec.--for an average speed of 115.117 m.p.h. Of 31 starters, twelve finished.

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