1973 Indy 500 Salt Walther Crash

The start of the 1973 Indy 500 saw a big crash on the front stretch. Salt Walther's car spews fuel and burns violently.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• motor
• sport
• accident
• wreck

[altfactor]

This was also the last time that the starter stood to the side of the track to wave the various flags (green, yellow, white, checkered).

Since 1974, the starter has been in an overhead booth.

Had Salt Walter's car sailed into the crowd, several hundred could have been killed from the fire, and maybe hundreds--maybe thousands-- more would have been killed in a stampede to escape.

Auto racing as a sport may not have been able to survive such a disaster.

[wrshero]

I met Walther at Pocono along with Tom Sneva and Al Loquasto Jr. at qual in the 80's. You could see the effects of this crash. His face was very scarred, and I believe it was his right hand that the fingers were fused together, like a mitten. But he said he loved racing and woudln't want to do anything else. All 3 treated me like I was their friend for 10 years instead of a kid that talked to them for 10 minutes.This was the real Indy racing, i don't even know drivers names anymore

[cjs3872]

@1957thack

If you go to my channel, you can watch the entire 1973 Indianapois 500 race broadcast, along with qualifying and pre-race coverage from the 1973 episode of Indy 500: The Classics. Part two deals with the original start and the crash with expanded coverage from the original broadcast. Part three of my look at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 deals with the analysis of the crash, which for some reason completely ignores Krisiloff's mechanical problem that led to the crash.

[1957thack]

@cjs3872 You are so right! I never noticed that S.K car was having difficulties.! I

[musicmandon1]

@waterfordjim You're as wrong as you can be. At Le Mans in 1955, car parts went flying, 88 were confirmed killed and many more hurt. The result was the Swiss banned racing entirely, a ban that remains today. the USA considered banning it but didn't. Death isn't why the fans watch-they watch to see racers defy_ death and survive. Dan Wheldon's death in October was a tragedy, one which will cost Las Vegas speedway a chance to hold a race in 2012.

[cjs3872]

@wrshero

He loved it so much that he was at Indy throughout the remainder of the decade, including 1974. He also participated in two Daytona 500s in 1976-'77, and scored his best NASCAR finish of 12th in the 1976 Daytona 500, despite an early race spin that brought out that race's first caution period. He returned to Indy in 1990, and was the last man bumped out of the field. He attempted to requalify, but failed.

[cjs3872]

@mango66666

I've just uploaded this part of the race broadcast, which I've combined with the speedway's official film, which includes the qualifying coverage, as well as Peter Revson's crash, Mario Andretti's dropping out of the race, and eventually Joe Leonard's spin, none of which were seen on the ABC telecast of the race, [I'm currently up to the part just before bob Harkey's car breaks down], and you can definately see Walther's legs dangling from his car.

[cjs3872]

@1957thack

That's the way they started the race back then. What happened was that Steve Krisiloff's car, which started seventh, had a mechanical problem. If you watch the start closely, you'll notice a puff of smoke from his car. As a result, even though he moved over to let the field go by, he was a rolling road block. As the part of the field that Walther was in approached Krisiloff's car, they were just about FIVE abreast. I have this part of the race uploaded, if you want to watch it.

[waterfordjim]

@altfactor Had the car sailed into the crowd, MANY times more fans would have started watching races! People are fascinated with DEATH and this would have attracted many new people to the "sport". -Hail Lord SATAN! :-)

[lacidy]

Salt said he was conscious the entire time.

[TheSubstituteGnome]

Besides Walther, the other cars involved in the crash were Bob Harkey, Jerry Karl, Wally Dallenbach, Jim McElreath, Jerry Grant, Mike Hiss, David Hobbs, Mike Mosley, John Martin, and Lee Kunzman.