The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 1

I The Indianapolis Star IWEATTIER TODAY Cloudy, Warmer High, 80; Low, 60 Yesterday High, 78; Low, 55 TODAY'S CIIUCKLE Usher1, passing collection plate at church wedding: "Yes, ma'am, It Is unusual, but the father of the bride requested It" Where the $pirit of the Lord there is Liberty" II Cor. 3-17 ME 8 2411 VOL. 55. NO. 360 SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 31, 1958 w7fPi Gfnifni3n fnMwnfni) pyrin JIMMY DRIVES THROUGH NIGHTMARE Fatality Puts Chill On Bryan's Victory National Champ Noses Out Amick; Boyd Finishes 3d By JEP CADOU Star Sports Editor Jimmy Bryan escaped a 15-car pileup on the first lap which snuffed out the life of Pat O'Connor yesterday and went on to score his first victory in the 500-Mile Race.

Bryan averaged 133.791 miles an hour in the No. 1 Belond A.P. Special, same car in which Sam Hanks won last year's race. The dirt track ace from Phoenix, edged Rookie George Amick of Venice, by 27.6 seconds in a thrilling finish. By BOB COLLINS It could have been the happiest, most riotous celebration ever in Victory Lane.

For the young man who won the 500-Mile Race generally is acknowledged as the greatest of all race drivers. He also is one of the most quotable. But Jimmy Bryan drove through a nightmare yesterday and the sickening memory stayed for 200 laps. The usually uninhibited cowboy took both hands off the wheel and waved after the 200th lap that was for the crowd. He flashed a photogenic smile upon arriving in Victory Lane that was for the photographers.

Then, quickly, he turned A Alr possible racing title, Bryan said, "This is wonderful. It's just like a dream. I'm a little elated. But I'm a little tired. And I feel this victory is marred by whatever happened on the first lap." Bryan reversed the usual Victory Lane procedure by first kissing his Chief Mechanic George Salih.

Then he kissed Movie Star Shirley MacLaine. Then he kissed his wife, Luella. Then he kissed Miss MacLaine. Then he kissed his wife. Now he was warming to the task.

'When Miss MacLaine asked for another kiss, Jimmy replied, "certainly, if you don't mind getting your face dirty. I like it." FINALLY, unable to retain a smile he felt did not belong to the moment, he looked away from the frantic mob and softly asked a friend, "Was it Pat?" And the celebration was over for Jimmy Bryan. Minutes later he told Sam Hanks, who won the 1957 race in the same car Bryan took the checkered flag in yesterday, "It 'was awful. I never saw anything like it in my life. I was sick the whole race." But the crowd and the photographers and the newspaper guys were clamoring for the champion.

So Bryan turned, stuck the smile back in place and faced the idolatrous multitude. HOW MANY days had he dreamed of this moment? But yesterday, with a terrible sickness choking the joy, Jimmy Bryan was a man alone in a crowd. 'WHY DID IT HAVE 4 to member of his crew and asked, "What happened down there?" that was to quiet the searing memory of machines out of control and spinning crazily that Bryan fought after the first lap. But it is the immutable law of racing that what is past is to be immediately forgotten and all celebrations should be joyous. So someone quickly shushed him with "Not now, Jimmy," and Bryan, still unaware that Pat O'Connor was dead, composed him- self and began acting like a THREE TIMES a National Champion and now, with the Speedway victory, the holder-of just about every never saw the race.

They were strewn fast asleep in double-jointed disarray under blankets, canvas, hats, newspapers, cars, box lunches and other people. Some snoozed in the sun to awaken parboiled. CONCESSIONAIRES did a crackling business. Soda pop, lemonade and snowballs flowed like soda pop, lemonade and snowballs. Some turned their attention to other amusements like games and expeditions through the infield to bend automobile Antennas.

They were all there: Girls and grandmas in shorts and halters, shirtless men, shoeless men, men, toothless men. Big Turn to Page 4, Column 5 The Weather Joe Crow Says: Jimmy Bryan was A 1 (able) when he flew like a Boyd to win the 500-Mile Race. Indianapolis Partly cloudy and slightly warmer today. To morrow warm with scattered thundershowers. uyiuS KMfUff vir Race Fans Put On Own Show (left) and Movie Actress Shirley MacLaine after winning yesterday's 500-Mile Race.

(Star Photo By Ed Lacey Jr.) National Driving Jimmy Bryan relaxes (some relaxing!) in Victory lane with his pretty wife Luella By FRED D. CAVINDER The Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield, the central stage at the 500-Mile Race, presented its annual performance of "Coney "Island yesterday and the seta were perfect. Nona of the estimated people missed the sand or the surf under a blistering sun in 78-degree temperature. A NEW NOTE of efficiency was added to some infield towers, the architecture of picnicking "500" goers. One group, a sneer of engineering superiority on its collective faces, spread its equipment out like a do-it-yourself kit and in fast Section-A-into-Section-B-into-Slot procedure built a spectator's throne in seconds.

Taking a stand down was a little more difficult for one man in a quarter-ton truck. He tried to buzz through the tunnel under the southeast turn with tall lumber uprights still attached to the truck. He came to a neck-snapping halt when the lumber hit the top of the tunnel and wedged the truck tight under the track. Hundreds of outbound cars were delayed while he whipped out a saw and chewed off enough lumber to get loose. As usual, several thousand Death Wife Takes O'Connor's Death Bravely TO BE ashen-faced interns' and the driver, carefully and almost reverently, rolled the stretcher carrying popular Pat O'Connor into a tent a few feet away from where his wife sat waiting.

Only minutes before as the starting bomb exploded and a sky full of balloons mushroomed in the blue, the Rev. L. A. Lindemann, pastor of St Christopher Catholic Church, had remarked somberly: By CAROLYN PICKERING Madonna-like Ann O'Connor sat quietly under the tent at the track hospital. Her hands were clasped tightly as she waited, suspecting the worst, praying that her fears were unfounded.

In the distance, a siren-high pitched and desperate as if tuned to the'frightful summons which had called it grew near. It screeched to a halt It was the sloppiest start in Speedway history with the three front-row cars getting completely out of control of officials. They charged around Hanks' pace car and caused two extra laps before the race O'Connor died of a fractured skull In the crash on the northeast turn which cleaned out the entire first two rows of the race. O'Connor's Sumar Special turned over and burned but Speedway medical officials said he probably was already dead. Bryan, who started on the inside of the third row and was thus immediately behind the awful tangle of spinning race cars, didn't care to talk much about the accident.

ALL HE WOULD say was, "It was a nightmare. I lived with it for 200 laps." The chain-reaction accident that had a sobering effect on the estimated 175,000 specta tors was touched off by two of the front-row cars, pole-sitter Dick Rathmann of Speedway City in the No. 97 MacNamara Special and Ed Elisian of Oak land. in the No. 5 John Zink Special.

PAT O'CONNOR Killed On First Lap But, unlike last year, no one seemed to know just how the race was going or who was in the lead. A RADIO was blaring right there and the drone of motors rocked your eardrums. No one cared much foi quite a while. But, there were a good many siient prayers said that it wouldn't happen again before the checkered flag was waved. Off in a corner sat 11-year-old Joan Hanna, daughter of Dr.

and Mrs. T. A. Hanna. Only a few days ago she and Pat her favorite driver had carried a real chummy conversation.

He was her idol and the heartache was bad. But the seconds ticked away. An 18-y ear-old barefoot girl from Brownsburg, who doesn't like to wear shoes, came in limping. She had stepped on a burning cigarette. Dr.

Bohner munched an apple. Some of the other docs tried to joke. It was 2:15 p.m. Not many more laps to go. The day already had seemed an eternity.

Rathmann and Elisian blamed each other for the crash. Rathmann said that Elisian passed him going "about 25 miles an hour too fast" going into the turn. Other Stories And Pictures On Pages 4, 6, 7, 13, -14, And IS. Elisian contended that Rath-mann "shut off right in front ef me." HERE'S WHAT happened, according to eyewitnesses: Elisian's car went into a spin right after he passed Rathmann. Rathmann tried to go between Elisian and the wall to miss the spinning car, but the opening closed up and Elisian's car hit Rathmann's, cutting it nearly in two.

O'Connor's car hit one driven by Jimmy Reece of Speedway City and overturned in the middle of the track at the start of the short straightaway, catching fire. Bob Veith of Oakland, and Johnnie Parsons of Van Nuys, the other second- row starters, piled into the wreckage. From there on, cars were bouncing back and forth off each other like balls on a billiard table. ONB CAR, the No. 92 McKay Special driven by Jerry Unser of Long Beach, went up over the rear end of the No.

31 City of Daytona Beach Special driven by Paul Goldsmith of St Clair Shores, Mich. Unser escaped with a dislocated rght shoulder when his car landed upright in a field just outside the track. Goldsmith had tire prints on the back of his coveralls where Unser's "wheel went up over him, but wasn't hurt seriously. Top 10 Drivers And Speeds The first 10 finishers and their speeds were: 1. Jimmy Bryan, 133.791.

2. George Amick, 133.517. 3. Johnny Boyd, 133.099. 4.

Tony 1 1 hausen, 132.853. 5. Jim Rathmann, 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 149. Jimmy Reece, 132.443. Don Freeland, 132.403.

Jud Larson, 130.550.' Eddie Johnson, 130.156. Bill Cheesebourg, Neither were any of the other drivers except O'Connor, although Art Bisch of Phoenix, said, "I was flying through the air there for awhile." It was the worst crackup in Speedway history by far, surpassing a previous nine-car smashup. The 29 year old O'Connor was the first driver to die in the race since the late Billy Vukovich was killed whila leading in a try for an unprecedented, third straight victory; in 1955. BRYAN, WHO finished second to Vukovich in 1954 and third to Hanks last year, was national driving champion in 1954-56-57. His victory gave him 1,000 championship points and a long lead toward a fourth crown.

Bryan, a cigar- smoking 31-year-old Arizona cowboy who has been trying unsuccessfully to win this race Turn to Page 13, Column Closes In On O'Connor "I hope they don't get too anxious." But they did and a nauseous cloud settled down over the hospital. Somebody said "why did it have to be Pat?" No one answered. But everyone felt the same way. It was a while before they told Ann and Pat's mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Roseberry.

Words couldn't soften the blow. Only time might. Ann, whose real name is Analice, took it bravely. Courageously, she walked inside the hospital, picked up a telephone and called her mother at North Vernon. Her lip was quivering as she spoke the first words: "Mother, he's gone." DOWN AT North Vernon, Ann's mother broke into sobs.

But. this stoic partner of one of the game's most respected gentlemen, replied: "It's all right, mother. We still have Jeffrey." Jeffrey is the 1 '5-year-old son of Pat and Ann O'Connor. He'll never know his daddy, but he'll grow up with the knowledge his dad not only was a great race driver, but a gentleman as well. OUTSIDE THE hospital, hysteria ensued as wives of other drivers involved in O'Connor's death ride flocked to the grounds, fearing their men might be seriously injured.

Only other driver suffering more than a scratch was Rookie Jerry Unser, who miraculously escaped death when his racer flipped over the wall. Jerry's right shoulder was dislocated. That didn't bother him nearly so much, however, as when Dr. C. B.

Bohner broke the news that he couldn't climb back behind the wheel for at least two months. That's the stuff race drivers are made of. Later, after those first awful moments, in the tent hospital, the patching, swabbing, tending to blisters and sobering the drunks went on as usual. That was the job entrusted to Dr. Bohner, his staff of 23 physicians and Head Nurse Barbara Webb and her 34 game nurses.

Want Ads 19-25 Weather ....11 Werner 10 Women .6, 7 Mv t' i i 5 At i vO 4 INSIDE TODAY'S STAR TWO UNKNOWN DEAD BURIED Solemn services headed by President Eisenhower accompany en-shrinement of unknown soldiers from World War II and Korean War Page 2 DE GAULLE GAINS-Socialists discuss switch to World War II hero as new premier of France 3 UAW, BIG THREE DEADLOCKED G.M., Chrysler and Ford workers may be without contract Monday Page 9 SOVIET STANDS AlOOF-Russians give notice they'll keep hand off French situation, at least for present Page 1 1 Editorials 10 Obituaries .16 Radio-TV ...11 Theater ....12 down, fatally injuring the young driver. Front-running Ed Elisian (No. 5) and? Dick Rathmann, are shown smacking the northeast retoining wall. (Photo by Merlet George) It's the beginning of the end for Pot O'Connor, popular North Vernon race driver, as his No. 4 Sumar leaps over the skidding car of Jimmy Reece ot the Speedway yesterday.

O'Connor's car landed upside Campbell .19 Church ..8, 9 Comics 1 8 Crossword 9.