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Fact For the Day: October 31st.
On the night of October 30th 1954, a light aircraft came down near Detroit. On board was Wilbur Shaw, a man generally regarded as the saviour of Indianapolis after World War II. He was lost one day shy of his 52nd birthday.
W.Wilbur Shaw was quite a driver. His rookie year at Indy saw him earn a 4th place. He went on to win the 500 miles race in 1937, 1939 and 1940.
Appalled at the decay of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after the war years, he persuaded Tony Hulman to dip into his pocket to resurrect the old circuit. The rest - as they say - is history.
I'm not an expert in Indy heritage. Has anyone else got any good Wilbur Shaw stories?
And if the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hadn't been revived, is it possible that American tracks might have taken a very different path in the postwar era?
Could Brooklands have benefited from a British Wilbur Shaw?
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