1973 Indianapolis 500

A short summary of the 1973 Indianapolis 500.

Winner - Gordon Johncock

The race was rain shortened to only 133 laps.

Art Pollard was killed in an accident during practice. Swede Savage would die from his injuries.
Armando Teran, a crew member for Savage's teammate was killed after he was struck by the firetruck while running to Savage's aid.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 1973
• indianapolis
• 500
• indy
• bowessealfastspecial
• swede
• savage
• gordon
• johncock

[MrCo2manchris]

salt was called" salt" because he liked to visit salt licks in local state parks

[kqr573v2]

It was the 1973 Indy 332 1/2.

[Ex77Thruxton]

God, Savage wouldn't die from injuries. That is a massive lie which is blatantly covering up the massive failure from the safety crew and doctors supposedly tending Swede.

[lakelandchief]

@cjs3872 can u send it to me?

[cjs3872]

@lakelandchief

Yes. I just finished uploading it today. It's in a 14-video collection and features not only the race broadcast from ABC Sports, but also qualifying coverage from the official film of the 1973 race from "Indy 500: The Classics", which was a series that SpeedVision, the fore runner to the current SPEED network did from 1996-2000. All three host segments are also included. The ABC commentators were Jim McKay, Chris Economaki, Chris Schenkel, Dave Diles, and Don Hein.

[cjs3872]

@MrCo2manchris

No. He got the name Salt due to his powerboat racing prowess before he cam into auto racing.

[thevmanvj]

1973 was by far the worst MONTH in IMS history. Art Pollard was fatally injured during an accident in practice earlier in the month. Salt Walther badly burned in the accident at the start on Day-1, 12 spectators injured by the spray of burning fuel. Swede Savage's crash coming out turn-4 on Day-3, Savage died 35 days later. Armando Teran struck and killed on pit lane by a safety truck rushing the scene of Savage's accident. It was just a terrible month at Indy as a whole.

[cleancab]

Swede Savage did not die from his injuries. He died from blood poisoning.

[AutoRacer5]

I know the VHS this clip comes from. Amazing tape that goes through the 500 year by year from 1911 through 1988.

[erasetoimprove]

@sir945 think the 1970s as a whole are Indy 500's that everybody wants to forget. A very dark decade in the event's history.

[vince065us]

@sir945 In the aftermath of it,major safety improvements were made.