A Report On The Accident That Killed Bill
Vukovich In The 1955 Indianapolis 500-Mile-Race
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A Report On The Accident That Killed Bill Vukovich In The 1955 Indianapolis 500-Mile-Race
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Indy Safety Patrol In 1955 Had Many Components
When Bill Vukovich crashed and lost his life in the 1955 Indy 500, many facets of the extensive Indy 500 Safety Patrol swung into action. They included the Indiana National Guard, Indiana State Police, Indianapolis and Speedway Police, Indianapolis and Speedway Fire Departments, track officials, AAA officials -- all of which went to make up the hundreds of safety people on hand to handle any and all emergencies that could happen to the drivers or one of the 150,000+ fans in attendance. Here is a breakdown of the different Patrols, their duties and functions as best we can determine, various vehicles and attire. In this way it is possible to look at the different pictures on the web site and identify a particular persons connection.
Speedway Safety
Patrol -- Members were the forerunner of the yellow shirts. In 1955
some
wore primarily Indiana National Guard Members. ING had headquarters on
Holt Road. Jeeps used were probably ING as well as the motorcycles, most of
which had side cars. Speedway Patrol who were members of ING wore their regular National Guard Uniforms
which were dark blue, long sleeve shirt and tie. They also wore a two
special emblems on their collar in place of their ING emblems. They were
wing and wheels and an IMS emblem.
Indiana State Police -- Wore dark blue uniforms with a "Smoky Bear" type hat.
Indiana National Guard --Wore kaki uniforms with ties and depending on the individual, either an Officers type hat or airmen's hat.
Indianapolis City Police Department.-- Wore standard Indianapolis Police uniforms.
Speedway City Police Department -- Wore standard Speedway Police Uniforms.
Marion County Sherriff --
IMS Medical -- Nurses wore uniforms and doctors wore white coats. Medical personnel required in the field usually wore white shirts and dark pants.
Indianapolis Fire Department -- Fire jackets had three stripes on the back
Speedway Fire Department -- Fire jackets had two stripes on the back
Ambulances Services -- Drivers could have been usual ambulance drivers from the companies that supplied ambulances such as Conkle Funeral Home.
Speedway Officials -- Photos show Tony Hulman and his associates usually wore suits or jackets and ties on Raceday. In the case of Clarence Cagle, Grounds Superintendent, he usually wore more casual clothes because of his duties. He was actually pictured at the Vukovich crash site.
Various Other Employees -- There were various other types of personnel who came out of the woodwork when something major occurred such as the Vukovich accident. There are some unidentified key people in some of the Vukovich aftermath pictures that are unexplained.
In those days much of the Safety Patrol were made up of volunteers who came from all over the country -- using their vacation time to spend the Month of May in Indy. Many of them were various professions from and volunteered for the honor of being there. This provided the Speedway with some very highly qualified individuals. All this has changed over the years with the modernization of American racing -- but the old timers will tell you there was nothing but magic in the air back then.
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