1949 Indianapolis 500

33rd Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1949
Winner	Bill Holland
Winning Entrant	Lou Moore
Average speed	121.327 mph (195.257 km/h)
Pole position	Duke Nalon
Pole speed	132.939 mph (213.945 km/h)
Most laps led	Bill Holland (146)
Pre-race
Pace car	Oldsmobile 88
Pace car driver	Wilbur Shaw
Starter	Seth Klein[1]
Honorary referee	J. Emmett McManamon[1]
Estimated attendance	150,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next 1948 1950

The 33rd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was an automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1949.

After two years of failures to his teammate, Bill Holland finally won one for himself, giving car owner Lou Moore his third consecutive Indy victory. Mauri Rose was fired by the team after the race when he again ignored orders and tried to pass Holland, only to see his car fail with 8 laps to go.^[3]

Spider Webb suffered a broken transmission the morning of the race and failed to start. Rather than utilize an alternate starter, officials awarded Webb 33rd finishing position.

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	4	7	Bill Holland	128.673	9	200	146	Running
2	12	12	Johnnie Parsons  R	132.900	2	200	0	Running
3	6	22	George Connor	128.228	13	200	0	Running
4	13	2	Myron Fohr  R	129.776	3	200	0	Running
5	16	77	Joie Chitwood	126.863	27	200	0	Running
6	7	61	Jimmy Jackson	128.023	15	200	0	Running
7	9	98	Johnny Mantz	127.786	18	200	0	Running
8	19	19	Paul Russo	129.487	5	200	0	Running
9	32	9	Emil Andres (Relieved by Walt Brown)	126.042	31	197	0	Flagged
10	24	71	Norm Houser  R	127.756	20	181	0	Flagged
11	21	68	Jim Rathmann  R	126.516	29	175	0	Flagged
12	18	64	Troy Ruttman  R	125.945	32	151	0	Flagged
13	10	3	Mauri Rose  W	127.759	19	192	0	Magneto strap
14	5	17	Duane Carter	128.233	12	182	0	Spun T3
15	15	29	Duke Dinsmore	127.750	21	174	0	Radius rod
16	14	8	Mack Hellings	128.260	11	172	0	Valve
17	22	4	Bill Sheffler	128.521	10	160	0	Rod
18	28	32	Johnny McDowell  R	126.139	30	142	0	Magneto
19	11	14	Hal Cole	127.168	24	117	0	Rod bearing
20	25	38	George Fonder  R  (Relieved by Mel Hansen)	127.289	22	116	0	Valve
21	30	74	Bill Cantrell	127.191	23	95	0	Drive shaft
22	17	57	Jackie Holmes  R	128.087	14	65	0	Drive shaft
23	20	6	Lee Wallard	128.912	7	55	19	Gears
24	29	69	Bayliss Levrett  R	129.236	6	52	0	Drain plug
25	2	5	Rex Mays	129.552	4	48	12	Engine
26	3	33	Jack McGrath	128.884	8	39	0	Oil pump
27	31	15	Fred Agabashian	127.007	25	38	0	Overheating
28	33	52	Manny Ayulo  R	125.799	33	24	0	Rod
29	1	54	Duke Nalon	132.939	1	23	23	Crash T3
30	23	18	Sam Hanks	127.809	17	20	0	Oil leak
31	27	10	Charles Van Acker	126.524	28	10	0	Crash T4
32	8	26	George Lynch  R	127.823	16	1	0	Crash T1
33	26	37	Spider Webb	127.002	26	0	0	Transmission
[4]

Alternates

• First alternate: Ralph Pratt  R  (#34)^[5]

Failed to Qualify

Les Anderson (#74) Henry Banks (#35) Frank Beardsley  R  Randall Beinke  R  (#42) Tony Bettenhausen (#16, #46) Lindley Bothwell  R  (#66) Frank Brisko (#48) Walt Brown (#18) Jim Brubaker  R  (#79) Frank Burany  R  (#24) Jimmy Daywalt  R  (#56)

Billy Devore Ted Duncan  R  (#72) Kenny Eaton  R  (#55) Milt Fankhouser (#73) Pat Flaherty  R  (#43) Dick Fraizer  R  (#59) Eddie Haddad  R  (#47) Mel Hansen (#44) Tommy Hinnershitz (#15, #18) Byron Horne  R  (#39) Danny Kladis (#58)

Tommy Mattson  R  Johnny Mauro (#16) George Metzler  R  (#67) - Fatal accident Chet Miller (#65) Hal Robson (#23) Mike Salay (#49) Wally Stokes  R  (#75) Bill Taylor  R  (#51) Joel Thorne (#81) Louis Tomei (#42) Doc Williams (#65)[6]

Broadcasting

Radio

The race was carried live on the Mutual Broadcasting System, the precursor to the IMS Radio Network. The broadcast was sponsored by Perfect Circle Piston Rings and Bill Slater served as the anchor. The broadcast featured live coverage of the start, the finish, and live updates throughout the race.

Mutual Broadcasting System
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Roving reporters
Booth Announcer: Bill Slater Analyst: Gordon Graham	South turns: Sid Collins Backstretch: Gene Kelly North turns: Jim Shelton	Barry Lake

Television

The race was carried live for the first time in history on local television on WFBM-TV channel 6 of Indianapolis. The station signed on for the first time race morning May 30, 1949, with a documentary about the race entitled The Crucible of Speed, then covered the race itself. The race broadcast utilized three cameras located along the main stretch. Earl Townsend, Jr. who had worked previously as a radio reporter, was the first television announcer. Dick Pittenger and Paul Roberts joined Townsend along with engineer Robert Robbins. The telecast reached approximately 3,000 local households.

WFBM-TV Television
Play-by-play	Pit reporters
Announcer: Earl Townsend, Jr. Color: Dick Pittenger Color: Paul Roberts	Robert Robbins

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1949 Indianapolis 500.

• 1949 AAA Championship Car season

Notes

Works cited

• 1949 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Mutual: Re-broadcast on "The All-Night Race Party" – WIBC-AM (May 28, 2005)
• Van Camp's Pork & Beans Presents: Great Moments From the Indy 500 – Fleetwood Sounds, 1975

References

1. Fox, Jack C. (1994). The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994 (4th ed.). Carl Hungness Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-915088-05-3.
2. Stranahan, Bob (May 31, 1949). "Sizzling Pace Sets New Record; Nalon Burned in Crash". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Career Summary:Maurice 'Mauri' Rose". www.snaplap.net. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
4. "Indianapolis 500 1949". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
5. The Talk of Gasoline Alley – 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
6. ""1949 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes"". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved 26 June 2015.

1948 Indianapolis 500 Mauri Rose	1949 Indianapolis 500 Bill Holland	1950 Indianapolis 500 Johnnie Parsons
Preceded by 119.814 mph (1948 Indianapolis 500)	Record for the fastest average speed 121.327 mph	Succeeded by 124.002 mph (1950 Indianapolis 500)