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Winners of Races for Championship Cars, 1940-1949
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"Rex Mays Bowes Seal Fast Special, Langhorne, Pa., 1940's" by Peter Helck (detail)
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Rex Mays' car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum
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Driver of the Decade:
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Rex Mays
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7 Victories
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Car of the Decade:
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Kurtis/Offy
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13 Victories
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Wilbur Shaw wins his third Indianapolis 500, May 30, 1940.
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| Rex Mays |
| National Champion |
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Photo by Thomas Burnside from the Fall 1963 issue of Automobile Quarterly
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The Maserati driven by Wilbur Shaw to win the 1940 Indianapolis 500. Photographed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
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Courtesy of Mary Wyatt
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Bust of Wilbur Shaw believed to have come from a car dealership he once owned in the Midwest.
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Indianapolis Motor
Speedway Photo
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Indianapolis, May 30, 1941
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Indianapolis, May 30, 1941. Mauri Rose, driving relief for Floyd Davis, wins the 500.
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| 1941 |
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| Rex Mays |
| National Champion |
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From "Speedway
Photos" by Bob Sheldon
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Milwaukee, Aug.
24, 1941. Rex Mays wins the pole and the race. Starting outside
on the front row was George Robson.
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Left: Ralph Hepburn in the powerful car developed by Bud Winfield that finished 4th in the 1941 Indy 500. After World War II, the Winfield cars became known as Novis, and while they never won the 500, they were nearly always the fastest cars on the track and had a huge following among auto racing fans.
Below: The car as displayed in a catalog for an auction by Bonhams & Brooks at Carmel, Calif., on Aug. 18, 2001
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Morning, Indianapolis, May 30, 1946: Championship racing resumes after World War II.
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Indianapolis, May
30, 1946: George Robson in Victory Lane.
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| 1946 |
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| Ted Horn |
| National Champion |
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Milwaukee, Sept. 22, 1946: Rex Mays wins the 100-miler.
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Tony Bettenhausen, winner, Goshen, N.Y.,
Oct. 6, 1946
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George Robson, winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1946, died in the race at Atlanta on Sept. 2, that same year. The photograph at left was taken at Langhorne, Pa., in June, 1946. The Goshen program is from Oct. 6, 1946.
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From
the November 1946 issue of Automotive Digest.
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Fortune Magazine
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Langhorne, June 22, 1947. The lineup for the 100-miler included Walt Brown (31), Tony Bettenhausen (15), George Connor (14), Billy Devore (41) and Bill Holland (8), who won the race. Out of the picture at the left were the front-row starters, Emil Andres on the pole, and Duke Dinsmore.
Read the entire Fortune article.
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| 1947 |
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| Ted Horn |
| National Champion |
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Courtesy of Luke@deezalrecords.com
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Pace lap for the 1947 Indianapolis 500. The pole-sitter was Ted Horn. Cliff Bergere started in the middle of the front row and Mauri Rose, who won the race, was on the outside.
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Mauri Rose, winner of the Indianapolis 500,
May 30, 1947
Mauri Rose with Lou Moore
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From a program for
the George Robson Memorial 100-miler at Goshen, N.Y., Aug. 17,
1947. The circled finishing positions are slightly inaccurate.
The first six were Bettenhausen, Horn, VanAcker, Dinsmore, Connor
and Warke.
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Indianapolis, May 31, 1948, pace lap. Rex Mays on the pole, Bill Holland, center, and Mauri Rose, who won.
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Armin Krueger Photo
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Ted Horn leads Rex Mays.
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Indianapolis 1948. Billy Devore drove
the six-wheeled Pat Clancy Special to 12th place. The car
was converted to a conventional four-wheeler and won races
in 1949 and 1950 with Jimmy Davies driving.
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Mauri Rose in Victory Lane, Indianapolis, May 31, 1948.
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| 1948 |
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| Ted Horn |
| National Champion |
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Bruce Craig Collection
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DuQuoin, Ill., Sept. 4, 1948. Lee
Wallard won, starting 7th behind these drivers: Rex Mays,
the pole-sitter, Tony Bettenhausen, Ted Horn, Paul Russo,
Mel Hansen and Myron Fohr.
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Armin Krueger Photo
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Myron Fohr, second to Ted Horn in the 1948 championship season, ready to qualify for the 100-miler in Milwaukee, June 5, 1949. Fohr won the race. Standing at left is Carl Marchese, chief mechanic.
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| 1949 |
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| Johnnie Parsons |
| National Champion |
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Walter Imlay Photo
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Langhorne, Oct. 16, 1949: Johnnie Parsons wins from the fourth starting position. The pole-sitter is Paul Russo; next to him, Walt Brown. Starting third is Duke Dinsmore, and behind him Neal Carter.
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King on the Hill: Al Rogers wins at Pikes Peak in 1949, his second victory in a streak of four straight, 1948-1951.
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Bill Holland, 1949 Indianapolis winner, with
Lou Moore
Johnnie Parsons, 2nd at Indianapolis and
the 1949 national champion.
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Parsons in trouble at DuQuoin, Sept. 3, 1949
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Milwaukee, Aug. 28, 1949. Johnnie Parsons
started fifth (red car, bluish shirt) and won.
* Believed to be the youngest driver ever to win a championship race. He was 20 years, 2 months and 19 days old but driving on the basis of a birth certficate purporting to show he was 6 years older.
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