IndySpeedway.com from behind at 60 mph and killed him. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Not a single lap was complete when the race was halted. google_ad_type = "text_image"; Wordfence is a security plugin installed on over 4 million WordPress sites. I think he was probably the first driver that we had who helped local people. We just took to each other, Green said. Pollard had clipped a wall, an impact that sent his car skidding into the infield grass . Johncock left the track quickly. I just walked away.". I'd splash on the alcohol and take a handful of sand and squeeze and squeese it. Then I progressed to hand grips. For these pieces, many made during his poured period, Pollock dripped paint onto canvas to convey the emotion of movement. Reality set in quickly when, in a windy practice before pole qualifying, Pollard crashed in the first turn. There was a problem getting your location. He grew up in California and Arizona, where his father worked on a string of unprofitable truck farms. It was really impressive, he said. For a while though, it was touch and go. He made speeches at schools and churches and visited the troops in Vietnam, but his pet project was the LaRueCarter Memorial Hospital for retarded children in Indianapolis. google_ad_client = "pub-8002195670072149"; Note: Prior to 1965 Artwon 83 championship events in the Western Statesand Canada and became one ofSouthern Oregons biggest stars. The second car out on the track was Graham Hill #70, who posted a four-lap average of 171.208 mph. Oops, something didn't work. My name was Salt Walther. Art was born May 5, 1927 in Dragon, Utah. May, 1972 - On May 7th Art Pollard became the 13th member of the 180 . Again on Wednesday, after another rain delay, the teams tried again. Jim Nabors, an emergency fill-in the year before, sang "Back Home in Indiana" again. Robin Miller, the long-time Indianapolis Star racing writer who now works as an IndyCar reporter for NBC Sports Network and the Speed network, recalled sitting with Pollard on the pit wall early pole day morning. The red flag flew as the rain intensified on Lap 133. He was a real nice guy and we got along very well, Green said. Plump organized charity basketball games that Pollard helped promote with other drivers, in addition to his own charity work at an Indianapolis hospital. Art was buried in McMinnville Oregon. overturned, flaming car came to rest right in front of Dallenbach, who helped firefighters | Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. They shared hamburgers at the Burger Chef restaurant on West 16th Street, just east of the track. In 1948, Green and Caskey traveled with Pollard to race tracks all over the West Coast and Canada to compete in micro-midget and hard-top events. Plain and simple. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Pollard's volume of art in the past seven years came after a five-year period when he stopped drawing after the death of his grandmother. (Jackson dropped his first name, Paul, about the time he went to New York in 1930.) In the Saturday morning practice session on May 12th, Pollard was running 191.4 mph when he lost control of his Dan Gurney Eagle car and smashed into the outside retaining wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Qualifying speeds were down nearly 10 mph, with Foyt winning the pole and Rutherford collecting the first of his three victories. He turned away from the flatbed truck he was working on when the radio news mentioned his fathers name. From the time I was a little girl, I never thought it would happen to him. My left hand was burned so bad that the tips of all the fingers were amputated. It wasnt big money, but enough to do what we needed to, Judy Dippell said. He was always racing. Driver Art Pollard was killed in an accident during a practice Driver Swede Savage and mechanic Armando Teran also died A crowd estimated at 250,000 swarmed Indianapolis Motor Speedway's. Art was a good human being; a drivers driver. We were kind of a joke. A little after 2 p.m., for the second time in three days, gentlemen started their engines. This position gave him economic security during the remaining years of the Great Depression as well as an opportunity to develop his art. Steve Krisiloff, who started the 1973 race seventh and finished sixth, recalled coming around to take the green flag on his pole day qualifying attempt. "This is why there has been such a terrible atmosphere of fear here, all weekend long.". Maybe not to dad, because I think he took the relationships he had for granted, because he was that way though his whole life. A Finally, mercifully, the "72 Hours of Indianapolis" were over. And he always made time for both kids and adults!. "Back then, it was like me sitting on this stool with a seat belt," Foyt said. His racing career started in Roseburg racing hydroplanes on the Umpqua River, and micro-midgets at the fairgrounds. The. "Very sad, about as sad as you can get," Pat Patrick said 40 years later. His early work depicts landscapes and figures with surrealist elements. google_color_url = "0033FF"; builder who was credited with discovering Savage. Try again. He hit it head-on with enough force to rip the machine in two He was a true sportsman, a very strong competitor, and wouldnt hurt a fly. Smiley died instantly from massive trauma inflicted by the severe impact. Art Pollard. He sliced and diced his way up through the field and took the lead from STP teammate and Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti. Art Pollard: The Life and Legacy of a Gentleman Racer by Bob Kehoe. And you know, hell, I was a damn good athlete. A lot of fans - and drivers too - said that Walther blew it. Pollard, an internationally known portrait painter, who painted four presidents and a pope, movie stars and basketball players, died at home last night. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Artle Lee Pollard, Jr. (May 5, 1927 May 12, 1973), was an American racecar driver. "After the second day, you started thinking: 'Who's next?'" Art shook down a pushrod Plymouth V8 in one of last year's wedge-shaped Loutus cars that wears new aero features. 'You don't want to go up there.' Failed to remove flower. Its a shame she had to hear about Art over the radio, but thats the way things happen when a sporting event is being broadcast., As Harvel Pollard (Arts cousin) remembers, One of the fellows I coached with for a number of years wasnt feeling well that day. Another Southern Oregon racer began his career at Indianapolis just a few years after Bob Christie retired. Drivers and crews were taut. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? All I asked was if theyd give me time to call his family in Oregon, Pat recalls. Photo courtesy of Mike Pollard. Magazine and eBay Motors. //-->,