Bill Vukovich fatal Crash @ Indy 500 1955

[guyfroml]

This is what I love about old footage...they were not afraid to show you details of everything. In today's world they would have taken this down and not shown anyone. I say let people see athletes, etc. get seriously hurt or killed so it properly informs others who would think to enter the sport or activity. Since when is seeing something horrible but true considered a bad thing. We have grown weak as a society.

[zenmachinefilms]

@guyfroml As long as there is a warning beforehand, I agree.

[guyfroml]

@zenmachinefilms Absolutely!

[Zebonka]

REAL MEN.

[RRaquello]

I don't think Vukovich was thrown out of the car. LIFE magazine did a big two page spread on this incident in their issue of the next week, which I have, and they showed one pretty graphic picture of the car turned upside down after the fire was put out and Vuky's gloved hand sticking out from underneath, which is something I don't think they'd print in the papers or magazines nowadays.

[niniquadgrl]

This is my great uncle. His brother Eli was my great grandfather. He was an amazing race car driver and it's sad that he's not recognized like the Andrettis, Foyts, etc.

He wasn't thrown from his car, he was underneath the car when it landed upside down. Him and little Billy are missed dearly.

[Veryslowwriter]

My family were big fans of Vuckovich. We were listening on the radio when he crashed and I remember everyone being upset. This is the first time I've actually seen film of the crash. Terrible and sad.

[ballsthatclank]

Al Keller had ZERO talent. Must suck knowing that you're the guy that killed a racing legend.

[oceanking18]

I lived off of 30th and my grandfather who was a plant superintendant at Coca-Cola (Speedway grounds) was always at the track and he actually helped pull Vuckie from the wreckage. It was horrible and he didn't talk about it much but overall these drivers love doing what they do even at the risk of the most horrible results. I always loved listening to the cars when I was in grade school at school #61 especially during tire testing in April. It was exciting growing up with Indy Cars!

[PhilipTheBigOne]

So sad about Elisian going to help Vukovich... Three years later, everyone thought he caused the big wreck that claimed Pat O'Connor's life (started on the front row, but spun on lap 1 and collected the pole-sitter - don't remember his name)... A few weeks later, he crashed, the car caught fire, the other drivers didn't let the fire marshals help him and Ed died... That's hard man...

RIP to Bill as well...

[kaykay362]

@PhilipTheBigOne My late friend Denny Ebert was at the Milwaukee Mile when Elisian was killed. He said they tried to get Eddy out of the burning car, but could"nt free him from the wreckage.

[PhilipTheBigOne]

@kaykay362: I hope it's that, because if what I said is actually true, THAT'S CRUEL!!! If what you said is true, then it reminds me of Roger Williamson and David Purley at Zandvoort in 1973... Roger crashed, flipped over, caught fire, Purley stopped by, ran towards the fire and desperately tried (ALONE, fire marshalls were not involved) to save Roger (he died because of the fire)...

[vuk1058]

But for this crash and the one in '52 (lap 192), Vukovich could have won 4 consecutive Indy 500's. He led 71% of the total laps that he raced over multiple Indy 500's. That my friends is being dominant.

[Nascarfan880]

wow indy looks a lot diffrent, RIP to Bill Vukovich

[CRWrestlingfan]

Its really hard to take in the severity of the situation with commentators sounding like they do, i mean the guy talks like hes not even sympathetic, just keeps rambling on like a documentary. I know it was in the mid 50s, but still

[conductorinblack]

@CRWrestlingfan The announcers who narrarated these old highlight films were all like that during the "refrigerator white" 1950's. Watch a few more of these films and you'll notice that most of the film sponsors didn't want to dwell on the graphic, unpleasant consequences of auto racing during that period.

The really sad part of Vukovich's 1955 accident at Indy was the fact that he wasn't even taken to a hospital. He was brought to the nearby Conkle Funeral Home after the accident.

[KennedyElizabeth100]

Bill is my great(x3 or 4) Uncle. 

[Sincopare]

'only has friction burns on his back from his car skidding on top of him'

[racefan32]

Sadly his grandson Billy was killed in a sprint car race at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, California, in 1990.

[altfactor]

Today, Bill Vukovich, Sr. would have survived this crash thanks to the roll bar and the "survival capsule".

[aviatechnisong]

@altfactor and fences!

[TheeNinja250R]

Fatal crash?? Huh??

[sssarsss]

BV- the greatest driver of all time !

[3338MAN]

His real name was William Vukovich and he was born in Alameda, California. He was raised in Fresno, California. Nice try 16119890. You're wrong.

[wayupinya1]

No telling how many more Indy's Vuky would have won. Would have loved to see how he would have done vs. Foyt.

[16119890]

his real name vas Vaso Vuchurovich, and he was from Montenegro...:)

[sedeug36]

1955 foi um ano negro para o esporte automobilístico internacional, pois quatro dias antes do norte-americano Bill Vukovich morrer nas 500 Milhas de Indianápolis em 30 de maio, o italiano Alberto Ascari morreu em um acidente durante treinos particulares em Monza, na Itália, no dia 26 de maio. E em 11 de junho aconteceu o trágico desastre nas 24 Horas de Le Mans, em que morreram o piloto francês Pierre Levegh e mais 86 espectadores.

[Jmw5283]

F5 skips adds. You may have to press it several times though.

[JimmyR1rider]

Those guys back then had BIG BIG BALLS!!! All the guys racing now a days have these gentlemen- both that survived and died in crashes for all the safety features they have today that lets them survive 200+ mph crashes.

[Annook12]

Bill Vukovich was probably the most fearless driver ever to race at Indianapolis. He was on pace to win three in a row, I have no doubt.

[BMC1100]

Bill Vukovich was not thrown out of his car. He was still in it when the fire was put out.

[jeffpace60]

Stories I'd heard about this incident had Vukovich leading this race well into his bid to become the ONLY man to win 3 consecutive Indy 500's. While still very young, and in the days when the first 10 numbers were given to the top 10 points leaders, I got Bill Jr.'s autograph. As I recall, Billy usually drove #2 during those years, with Mario Andretti most often driving #1.

[jstrahan2]

Poor video quality. Can't see much.

[scook120]

It is 1955, and that was what Colour looked like in 1955.

[jstrahan2]

You mean 'color'. :) (This is the U.S. after all.)

[scook120]

My country came from England originally, and we decided to keep the UK English language, as you've worked out already, I assume.

[13bpprx3]

@jstrahan2 May be spelt COLOR in the US but most of the world spell it COLOUR. but of course most ppl in the US think they are the only country and know fk all about the rest of the world

[jstrahan2]

No. Most of the world does NOT spell it colour. Only Britain and its former possessions. Most other countries, when using English, spell it color.

[13bpprx3]

@jstrahan2 LOL why do you think the language is called english.its not called american. so if the english speak english and spell colour colour then they must be right

[jstrahan2]

The language 'Spanish" is not called 'Mexican' or 'Puerto Rican', yet it is spoken there. They also have different spellings of words than that of Spain. I am not saying one way is 'correct' and the other is not. What I am saying is that the spelling 'color' is used by many more people around the world when using the language called English than the spelling 'colour'.

[13bpprx3]

@jstrahan2 and maybe scook120 isnt a yank so he or she can spell it the correct way if they want too

[19thSFGA]

Keller the killer!

[powertone36]

Al Keller did not cause the accident... he was a very good guy, a deputy sheriff during the off seasopn...

[ratmotor396]

These were the mystery days when Champ cars and Sprint cars were merging their technology.Great historical significance,here.I remember Bill's photo in the newspaper.He was dubbed " the Mad Russian", wherever his heritage began. Years later I have a Trenton 100 program and photo signed outside his trailer by a smiling and mustached Bill Jr. Just couldn't get a good enough ride. Penske and Mark owned the game. Even Andretti,the Unsers went begging.Gurney,Vels PJ,Jim Hall....Goodbye Andy ,Clint.

[niniquadgrl]

I know it's been six months since djj has posted by Little Billy didn't have a brother, he had two sisters that died after birth. He was the only one. And what uncles? Eli and Bill Sr were the only ones to race. Obviously Bill died in 1955 and Eli died in 2001. And Mike, Bill Sr's brother didn't race. There were no other racers in the family.

[niniquadgrl]

First off I'd like to say I enjoy seeing all those that send out their blessing to Bill. This is a rather difficult video to watch. I am related to Bill, his brother Eli was my greatgrandfather. Bill died doing what he loved and had he survived, meaning no crash, he WOULD have won and been one of the only men in Indy history to win three consecutively. Just sad he doesn't get as much publicity as the Andretti's and all them get.

R.I.P. Uncle Bill

[Waitingforriki]

Bugger those google ads', they're so flippin' annoying! They should put them in their bottoms this minute!!

[BigAngeloSantorini]

@Waitingforriki Install Ad Blocker Plus to get rid of them. I didn't even know they existed until i used a computer wihout Ad Blocker.

[Bronzzennsea4ever]

I wanna see Teran get struck by the truck.

[gazork123]

I understand that Vukie was actually of Ukranian descent.

[koritnica]

He is a SERB! Look it up at wiki or elsewhere!

[VanHoorelbeke]

Yes to all the morons, Vuky was a SERB!

[Amonfobious]

vukovich is a legend

only man from croatia who came ti indycar

[VanHoorelbeke]

He was born in Fresno California, not Croatia!

[RTBaLLa]

he wasn't thrown from the car, just fyi...

[marko00385]

bill (ivan) vukovich is a croat..not a serb or russian

[cow3435]

@ 0:05 thats my grandad

[pdas1996]

who's your granddad Al Keller? Vuky? Roger Ward? Johnny Boyd?

[cow3435]

no in the red swetter on the side

[BitchTits48]

LOL ^ funny convo

[RRaquello]

I have the LIFE magazine (June 13, 1955) that had a 4-page spread of photos of this crash, mostly, I think, taken from frames of these films. There is one gruesome close-up picture of thestill smoking car overturned after the fire was put out with Vukovich's hand sticking out. Even at the time people thought this was tasteless, but LIFE wasn't squeamish. When actress Grace Moore was killed in a plain crash, LIFE printed a picture of the bodies lying on a ground with an arrow pointing at her.

[88wildcat]

The scariest part of this video is how close the backyards and houses look like they are to the race track. It looks fairly easy for one of those old front engine roadsters to end up in someone's living room back then,

[CourtyardPigeon]

I'm stunned anyone lived back then doing racing.

[Kw12345ff]

Is this a race track? That shit looks more like a ranch that anything else. Rave over there smells like suicidal tendencies.

[ilovetogofast88]

Fuck, I can't even fucking WATCH that!

[TheeeeeJ]

how many drivers have died at this track? it just seems like theres an endless supply of videos of fatal indy wrecks

[Fan48]

Indy is a very tough, demanding track, and in the early part of the century, there were little safety precautions.

[cj52racers]

Plus the fact that they have raced their for over 100 years.

[frankisfunny2007]

R.I.P Bill Vukovich, well atleast there are more safety features, in 1955, all they had to wear was just a leather helmet & there street cloths

[djjenesis]

my family was friends with his grandson, billy vukovich the third. He also died in racing accident. Billy the first died, billy the third died and billy the third's brother and unlce all died in racing related wrecks. Billy the third was actually pretty heavy into the Super modifieds when we knew him. It was a sad day when he died. We had to relive all the past deaths to his. Pretty tough for the family as well..

[frankisfunny2007]

well I feel bad for you, but those who say 'oh, he sucked really bad, I'm glad he died" you should NEVER say taht on a fatal crash, but if you are those who didn't like him but respected him, but you get the picture, that was a REALLY bad crash, but I feel bad for you, & the Yukovich family, R.I.P Bill Yukovich, & Bill Yukovich III

[natureboy99]

I once read where Bob Sweikert (the winner that year) wasn't sure who was involved until he saw Elisian in near hysterics trying to get to the car & then he realized it was Vuky and also that it was very serious. That was from an article in open wheel magazine in the 70's or 80's. So many drivers lost before (and sadly after) they started to really figure out what they were doing safety wise. So sad.

[tslick1951]

Both Swekert and Elisian lost there lifes in crashes not long after this

[crvorhees]

yeah.  heroic effort on Elisian's part but he caused the death of a driver (who i cannot recall) on the first lap of his rookie race. Ed was not well liked and it is theorised that when he had his accident the other drivers kept up a fast pace so the track people couldn't reach his burning car.

[flyontheguy]

I guess it was said Elisian in the '58-500 had to pay gambling debts that year, and needed to lead the first lap for the 1st lap prize money or something, and he recklessly went too hard into turn 3 and caused a 15 car pile up, killing well liked Pat O'Connor because of that. A year later he crashed and, as you said, the drivers didn't slow down, not allowing track people to get to the car, and allowed Elisian to burn to death before track workers could put the fire out.

[crvorhees]

you're right. i had forgotten about the gambling debts. thats a good thing to bring to a race. i have tried to find footage of that accident but there seems to be none on here. my dad (a 500 historian if ever there was one) says he has it on a video tape somewhere but finding it in his collection would take forever.

[soulcornflake1]

Tell him not to give up hope finding it. A few years ago someone found an old film of the Daytona 500 that nobody knew existed and is at least 50 years old, and may be one of the few films from that era in color of the race.

[tslick1951]

Your correct..I think you thinking of 1959,,Not his rookie year..He and Dick Rathman had a month long battle for the pole which Ellisian i believe won..He was determined to lead the 1st lap and caused the accident in turn 3 which cost the life of Pat O'Conner..He was looked down because of this accident

[adturner14]

The gambling was an escalation of the bet between Rathman and Ellisian for the pole. They also had a bet to see who would lead the first lap. The race was never actually started when the wreck happened. The starter waved the yellow flag instead but Rathman and Ellisian nor it would seem many others saw the yellow.

My grandfather was a USAC official and can be seen in the TIME mag picture running across the track.

[Swartzie6]

Why was there a yellow? I thought the accident happened on lap 1 under green

[adturner14]

The race never started under green. The start was waved off. The received the yellow coming down to what would have been the start had they received the green. Unlike a sprint style race the first lap is the first lap in a "Champ car" race. Regardless if the green or the yellow is displayed. They did not receive the green flag. They should have remained in formation and come around for the green flag possibly on lap 2. Instead they were "racing" because they thought the green flag was out.

[adturner14]

They were under yellow because of the aborted start. They didn't receive the green because the starter did not feel they were lined up properly. I believe the starter at the time may have been Pat Vidan. Vidan was known for being very strict about maintaining the proper formation prior to giving the cars the green flag.

[Swartzie6]

The announcer Tom Carnegie said the the race is on..lets wish them well..They had to take and extra pace lap because the front was lined up wrong due to a new format of lining the cars failed..But they were racing when the wreck occurred

[tiburon0676]

Just the sound of those cars crashing is horrible. Everything on the car must have been made out of iron and heavy guage steel. The carbon fiber cars of today don't sound like that when they crash.

[natureboy99]

A lot of the audio from those dats was dubbed in. It's very rare to clearly hear the sounds of a crash over the sounds of the engines unless the mics are very close to the accident scene. Same with WW2 documentaries, very little camera equipment for field work was synced to sound due to the bulk and complexity. I'm not saying for sure the sound was dubbed in here but it is very likely it was so don't take it to heart that this was the sounds here.

[tslick1951]

According to Johnny Boyd also involved in this crash...Bill's head hit the Golf Bridge when flipping..he was nearly decapitated

[ZONEGIANTTROOPER]

R.I.P.

[ethicomm]

I have a 1940's Life magazine that has a series of photos showing a race car driver in a vehicle like this. Somehow his car became airborne and one of his legs was amputated I believe below the knee. You could clearly see his leg flying through the air.

[indelible721]

mickyhunt what the fuck kinda comment was that???

[vladsomb]

Nek mu je vecna slava(r.i.p.)

[mickyhunt]

weird

that cars looked like fucking shoes.

[ProWrestlingProvider]

I guess thats more important than a human being dying to you...

[bigaussie68]

Obviously so I guess. There should be an IQ test for people posting on Youtube. RIP Bill...

[DEP717]

Well, back in the day what was for streamlining. Engines, etc. were put in a package like a plane fuselage. I don't know what the roll bars were like on them though, and not much body at the sides to take shock from a crash. The steering must have been a pretty narrow track compared to today as well.

They were basically going with the best they had at the time.

Old MGs look like that if you ever see them in something like the old "Prisoner" TV show. That was the sports car look then.

[jimgreene68]

Looks like he tore up a buttload of cars on the outside of the track as well. Them cars were like tanks back them.

[Bitemyshinymetalass1]

8/10 triple back flip

[rubble435]

wow i know my grandpa said my home track (IMS) was the track that had the most # of deaths but i didnt know it was like this

[State0fChaos]

Wow, things were much different back then. It doesn't look like there is even any fencing....and is that a shed? Times have changed, for the better of course.

[vlado7777]

he was a serbian how me

5 race 2 won 1 poles 2 podium

r.i.p.

[VanHoorelbeke]

Yes thats right--everyone called him the "mad russian" he wasnt at all. With any luck he could have won 4 in a row!

[nascarfanjl24]

my granfather was there..he can remember it to this day...thanks so much for uploading!

[Showtimethemusic2]

if you want us to stop talking, we stop speak.

You are wasting my time too.

eat shit. chao.

if you really want to stop talking, then you will not respond to this message. :)

[Showtimethemusic2]

and go to your shit, which is where your room

:)

[Showtimethemusic2]

I haven´t got reason for go it , go you...

:|

[Showtimethemusic2]

And it's not my intention to ofenderte, I do not know if you realize that it is sad that users like you insult deceased pilots.

Many pilots died from fulfilling his dream, did what they wanted and enjoyed for a while, nobody forces you to admire those pilots, you are free to insult, but it's just sad that you spend to insult and how alegrarte lost their lives.

Spaniards as being uneducated, I admit, but I wonder what kind of defect will have your country.

[Showtimethemusic2]

Express yourself better than you do not understand.

I must say that only das lot of punishment.

:(

[Showtimethemusic2]

you need a girlfriend.

[Showtimethemusic2]

be quiet ,  gay

[Showtimethemusic2]

when you die your car running on your street, everyone we laugh at you, because I do not understand how you can have people who do so much grace death of a pilot.

[surfab13]

It has been suggested that Vukie was checking his tires for wear upon exiting turn two and was therefore slow to react to Ward's accident. This is based on the apparent angle of his head in some photos, the fact he was yet to pit and that the start of the back straight was the best place for a driver to check for tire wear, as the cars are below top speed and on smooth asphalt instead of bricks.

[ojgreat]

That may be true, but I don't think it has much to do with his death. You can see that he reacted in plenty of time to Ward's accident and was pulling to the inside to go around it. Then Keller hit Boyd and knocked him into Vukie's path. Vukie, with nowhere to go and no time to get there, hit Boyd and the rest is history.

[bubby3190]

If you Google Bill Vucovich you can find some photos that prove he was indeed pinned underneath his car. Of course he was gone long before his car came to a rest on top of him.

[Revigoe7]

OMG! RIP

[MrDowntownLA]

Don't buy a Jeep. What is that about. Vuky died. 2K8 OK TK

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

yeah ok i was just saying that it sounded like he was trying to make light heartedness out of a tragic situation i wasn't being disrespectful it is a complete tragedy!

[raceway24]

And whoever posted this, their description us wrong. He was never thrown from the car. Car landed upside down with him trapped under it.

[freqeist1]

did they add sound effects??

[Razhead]

AyrtonSennaGODsPilot> yeah, and sound of this vid is faked right? ...... Annoying.

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

the commentator makes it sound like a big joke which it isn't

[TeamAmericaNo1]

why do the cars bounce?

[anthonystuart69]

because they were going roughly 150 mph...these days roughly 230

[malcolmyoungi]

when his car went over the railing and into the trees it flipped like something seen in crappy NASCAR movies like Days Of Thunder or other crappy movies like Driven where a car spins out and then its in the air barrelrolling

[raceway24]

His car actually hit some parked emergency vehicles after he left the track.

[jcnickle]

I was sitting in D grandstand in 1955. We knew from the smoke and the fact that Vuky didn't come around anymore that he was involved. It took forever to make the announcement of his death. I can still hears the official announcement much later in the race. I still cry when I talk about it.

[FatDavidFTW]

What a horrific crash.

I don't want this to sound bad or whatever, but these crashes from in the 50s and 60s really fascinate me. Like, they are real brute machines, none of the high-tech restricted crap like F1 is these days.

If you get what I mean. Not fascinating he died, thats awful and may he RIP.

[bubby3190]

According to what I've read in several different books and web sites, Vucky was dead before the car even stopped rolling, from head injuries, right? (Skull fracture?)

[darthbimmer]

Yes, he died almost immediately of a basal skull fracture when the car hit the wall.

[raceway24]

His car never hit the wall, it launched right over it. It did hit a truck, car and jeep while it was flipping over outside the track.

[mst3kster]

I wasn't born yet, but my parents were at that race and had seats near turn 1. They still have the Floyd Clymer "Indy 500" yearbook for this race.

Bill V. was a tremendous talent in an Indy car. He was even better on dirt.

There was so much tragedy in racing back then before roll bars, good helmets, seat belts, etc. With today's equipment, he would have probably survived.

God rest his soul.

[raceway24]

What do you mean it's not real??

[JUMALA24]

RIP Bill

[gcrav]

The worst month in auto racing history. 2x formula 1 champion Alberto Ascari killed testing a sports car at Monza, a national tragedy for Italy. 2x Indy winner Vukovich killed. Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators killed at Le Mans. Hardly a thought given to safety at that time.

[andromeda78f]

10 seconds of investigation on the internet would make it clear. that's stupidity.

[lpdoby]

Give the announcer a break. The broadcasting of races, like the racing itself, was still in it's early years at that time.

[brattsveen]

He was killed all right, it was a terrible accident. It was Rodger Ward that started the accident, first hitting Johnny Boyd, pushing into Vukovich car that became airborne.

[hermitcrabbot]

@brattsveen

Technically, it was Rodger Ward's car that started the accident. His axle broke exiting turn 2.

The rest was just pure horror. Maybe God should have reconsidered......

At least Vuky can rest in peace knowing that he was the greatest driver of the roadster era.

[18babbfan]

Thank you for posting. Great historical value. It was a true shame. Vukovich was well on his way to 3 in a row. Crashed and died while leading. Truely a shame.

[dpate23]

Might have been the greatest driver of all time. Could have won 4 in a row.

[VampireYoshi]

ww w.vukovichaccident .c om tells the entire story.

"Boyd has only friction burns, from..." Vukovich died in the crash. The resulting public outcry helped cause the AAA to pull out of sanctioning motorsports events, and USAC was subsequently created.

[TRCizzle]

Safety sucked back then ... Was he the one who fliped over the fence ?

[andromeda78f]

Ja!

[verstappenalbers]

NO, I AGREE tic tac2

[andromeda78f]

you are stupid too. type his name into google and you will see that he died in this accident!

[TicTac2]

fatal? Not according to the commentator.

[andromeda78f]

you are stupid!

[lpdoby]

Yes he did die in this crash. I've been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and learned about it there.