Fifteen drivers have died as a result of racing in the "500". Eleven races involved accidents claiming the lives of drivers.
- 1919
- Louis LeCocq
- Arthur Thurman
- Thurman's car turned over on lap forty-four, and he was killed instantly. LeCocq's car similarly turned over on lap ninety-six, causing the fuel tank to rupture and burst into flames, killing LeCocq and his riding mechanic.
- 1929
- Bill Spence
- Spence turned over in turn two on lap ten, throwing him from the car. He was taken unconscious from the track, but died en route to the hospital from a fractured skull.
- 1933
- Mark Billman
- Lester Spangler
- 1935
- Clay Weatherly
- Weatherly was driving the same car Johnny Hannon had fatally crashed ten days earlier while testing. Moreover, in a practice run the throttle had stuck, forcing Weatherly to kill the engine to avoid another crash. In lap 9 of the race, Weatherly went into and over the wall in turn four. He was already dead when rescue crews arrived. His riding mechanic was critically injured but survived.
- 1939
- Floyd Roberts
- 1947
- Shorty Cantlon
- Cantlon swerved to avoid Bill Holland's car, which had gone onto the inside grass and skidded back across the track. Cantlon's car went into the outside wall, causing severe chest, leg and internal injuries. He died at the track hospital shortly afterward. Holland went on to finish second.
- 1953
- Carl Scarborough (expired, evidently from heat exhaustion, approximately one hour after calling for a relief driver)
- According to Donald Davidson, when Scarborough pulled into the pits, smoke or a small fire may have broken out on the car, wherein crews quickly doused with fire extinguishers. In the process, Scarborough may have inhaled CO2, which may have contributed to, or been the actual cause of death.
- 1955
- Bill Vukovich
- Vukovich, the two time reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, was leading the race when Rodger Ward spun his car coming out of turn two. Al Keller and Johnny Boyd touched wheels as the two were trying to avoid Ward, causing Boyd's car to hit Vukovich, who was attempting to lap the other three drivers. Vukovich's car hit and went over the outer wall, sending it into a high-speed cartwheel outside the track. Vukovich died of a basilar skull fracture before any help could reach the scene.
- 1958
- Pat O'Connor
- 1964
- Eddie Sachs
- Dave MacDonald
- Coming out of turn 4 on lap 2, MacDonald spun and crashed into the inside wall. The car exploded and went back onto the track, into the path of oncoming traffic. Sachs hit MacDonald's car, and his car caught fire as well. Sachs was killed instantly of injuries and severe burns. MacDonald was declared dead a short time after in the infield hospital.
- 1973
- Swede Savage (died in hospital July 2, death may have been from contaminated blood transfusion rather than directly from the crash)
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, fatal and/or accidents:
“I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.”
—Linda Pastan (b. 1932)
“Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of women’s issues.”
—Charlotte Bunch (b. 1944)
“Late hours, nocturnal cigars, and midnight drinkings, pleasurable though they may be, consume too quickly the free-flowing lamps of youth, and are fatal at once to the husbanded candle-ends of age.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“Depression moods lead, almost invariably, to accidents. But, when they occur, our mood changes again, since the accident shows we can draw the world in our wake, and that we still retain some degree of power even when our spirits are low. A series of accidents creates a positively light-hearted state, out of consideration for this strange power.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)