1937 Indianapolis 500

The 25th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1937. With temperatures topping out at 92°F, it is one of the hottest days on record for the Indy 500.

Late in the race, Wilbur Shaw held a comfortable lead, and had lapped second place Ralph Hepburn. With about 20 laps to go, however, Shaw's car had been leaking oil, and had nearly lost nearly all of the oil out of the crankcase. In addition, the right rear tire was heavily worn. Shaw slowed down considerably in an effort to nurse his car to the finish line. Shaw and his riding mechanic John "Jigger" Johnson were both suffering from burns due to the leaking oil. Second place Hepburn realized Shaw's problems, and began a charge to catch him. He unlapped himself, and went on a tear in hopes of victory.

As the laps dwindled down, Ralph Hepburn was closing dramatically. Shaw was largely defenseless, as he was carefully nursing the car around. As the car went in and out of the turns, the oil pressure was raising and dropping, and Shaw was able to calculate how much time he could give up per lap and still maintain the lead. Hepburn closed to a straightaway deficit, then was nearly in reach. On the final lap, Hepburn pulled within a few seconds. Some observers claim that Hepburn took the lead momentarily down the backstretch.

With nothing to lose, Shaw floored the accelerator and pulled away down the final straight. He held off Hepburn for the win by 2.16 seconds, the closest finish in Indy 500 history to that point. The margin would stand as the closest finish ever at Indy until 1982.

Time trials

Ten-lap (25 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. During the time trials held on May 28, the car of Overton Phillips burst into flames when his crankshaft broke and punctured the gas tank. He then crashed into the pit area, killing spectator George Warford of Indianapolis.^[1] Injured were Phillips and his riding mechanic, Walter King, Anthony Caccia, the brother of Joe Caccia, who died in practice for the 1931 race, and Otto Rohde of Toledo, Ohio, a crew member for Champion Spark Plug.^[2] Rohde succumbed to his injuries five days later on June 2, 1937.^[3]

On the same day, having completed four of ten scheduled qualifying laps, Frank McGurk's car plunged through an inner rail, overturned and ejected both McGurk, who was hospitalized in serious condition but survived, and his riding mechanic, Albert Opalko, who was killed. The crash was caused by a broken connecting rod.^[2]

* Bill Cummings' tenth lap of 125.139 mph was a one-lap Speedway track record at the time.

Race details

For 1937, riding mechanics were required.^[4] Jigger Johnson served as Wilbur Shaw's riding mechanic. Johnson, who also rode with 1931 winner Louis Schneider, became the second two-time Indianapolis 500 winning riding mechanic. Johnson would be the final winning riding mechanic in Indy history. Starting in the 1938 Indianapolis 500, riding mechanics were made optional, and would no longer be utilized in the race by any entrants.

After being banned for several years, superchargers were once again permitted.

Jimmy Snyder

One of the more notable performances of the 1937 race belonged to Jimmy Snyder. During time trials on May 22, Snyder took to the track for his 10-lap attempt late in the day, nearing sundown. He ran his first lap at a track record of 130.492 mph. His second lap (129.422 mph) and third lap (127.334 mph) dropped off, and then officials waved off the run due to darkness. Snyder's run was officially incomplete, but the single-lap track record stood.

The following day, Snyder returned to the track, and while he did not match his speed from the day before, he finished his run at 125.287 mph, the fastest qualifier in the field. He would line up 19th on race day.

At the start, Snyder blew by most of the field, and was running as high as 6th at the conclusion of the first lap. By the fourth lap he was in the lead, and proceeded to lead 24 laps. On lap 27, however, he dropped out with mechanical trouble.^[5]

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	2	6	Wilbur Shaw	122.791	4	200	131	Running
2	6	8	Ralph Hepburn	118.809	15	200	9	Running
3	32	3	Ted Horn	118.608	17	200	0	Running
4	5	2	Louis Meyer (W)	119.619	12	200	0	Running
5	16	45	Cliff Bergere	117.546	24	200	0	Running
6	1	16	Bill Cummings (W)	123.343	3	200	0	Running
7	14	28	Billy Devore (R)	120.192	9	200	0	Running
8	7	38	Tony Gulotta	118.788	16	200	0	Running
9	12	17	George Connor	120.240	8	200	0	Running
10	18	53	Louis Tomei	116.437	32	200	0	Running
11	9	31	Chet Gardner	117.342	28	199	0	Flagged
12	10	23	Ronney Householder (R)	116.464	31	194	0	Flagged
13	17	62	Floyd Roberts	116.996	30	194	0	Flagged
14	11	35	Deacon Litz	116.372	33	191	0	Out of oil
15	24	32	Floyd Davis (R)	118.942	14	190	0	Crash T3
16	25	34	Shorty Cantlon	118.555	18	182	0	Flagged
17	26	42	Al Miller	118.518	20	170	0	Carburetor
18	8	1	Mauri Rose	118.540	19	127	0	Oil line
19	29	41	Ken Fowler (R)	117.421	26	116	0	Pushed
20	20	25	Kelly Petillo (W)	124.129	2	109	0	Out of oil
21	28	43	George Bailey	117.497	25	107	0	Clutch
22	3	54	Herb Ardinger	121.983	5	106	2	Rod
23	15	24	Frank Brisko	118.213	23	105	0	No oil pressure
24	33	44	Frank Wearne (R)	118.220	22	99	0	Carburetor
25	27	26	Tony Willman (R)	118.241	21	95	0	Rod
26	4	10	Billy Winn	119.922	11	85	0	Oil line
27	30	12	Russ Snowberger	117.354	27	66	0	Clutch
28	21	33	Bob Swanson (R)	121.920	6	52	34	Carburetor
29	22	47	Harry McQuinn	121.822	7	47	0	Piston
30	13	7	Chet Miller	119.213	13	36	0	Ignition
31	31	15	Babe Stapp	117.226	29	36	0	Clutch
32	19	5	Jimmy Snyder	125.287	1	27	24	Transmission
33	23	14	Rex Mays	119.968	10	24	0	Overheating
[6]

Alternates

• First alternate: Emil Andres (withdrew)^[7]
• Second alternate: Joel Thorne — Thorne purchased the entry of the first alternate, and planned to buy the qualified car of Cliff Bergere. He then planned to withdraw both of those cars in order to elevate his own car (the second alternate) into the starting field. After the officials heard word of the solicitations, they forced him to stop the effort of effectively "buying his way in" to the field, and threatened suspension.^[8]

Notes

Works cited

• Floyd Clymer's 1909–1941 Indianapolis 500 Race History
• Indianapolis 500 Chronicle

References