Forum: Oklahomatidbits.com General Forum (go)
Moderators:  /  David Smith Jr

Galen, I'm going to try to bait you on giving us your story.

Here's what I found so far-

Jimmy started on the front row outside of Elisian and D. Rathmann. he was watchful in their pursuit of the lead after the first lap. The first thing that went strange was the pace car was too slow requiring another lap. The race started and Rathmann and Elisian were going at it hammer and tongs. Going into the third turn Elisian had the groove with Rathmann on the outside. Niether lifted and Elisian went into Rathmann. Reece slows down and Bob Veith goes into him. Pat O'Conner had no place to go and went over Reece high into the air and came down onto the track. Reece later blamed himself for O'Connors death because he felt he used his brakes too harsh. Later that year he was in a similar situation with Johnny Thomson and chose not to use his brakes and crashed through a retaining wall at I think it was Trenton, which is the last day he lived.

His grief over O'Conners death may have been one reason he didn't pursue the truth of the outcome of the race even if he knew of the mixup.

The above photo is from the IMS archives. It is of Jimmy in 1958. In the background you can see a young AJ Watson.

A little background on why the first two drivers went so far without backing off. D. Rathmann had always looked up to his brother Jim. One thing they didn't do was back down from a fight. Although they raced on the west coast which is where Elisian is from, the Rathmanns were really from I think Florida. After they left California, they went to Chicago to run t-roadsters at Soldier Field. Along with Pat Flaherty ('56 Indy winner) they raised each others intensity level. They were almost as afraid of losing as they were of coming up short on acheivements compared to each other. Rathmann had a fast car and a legit chance at making the statement he had been waiting to make. At the time, he hated the guy who would start next to him--Ed Elisian.

Ed was a bad boy some say was given to bouts of depression. He drank, chased women and gambled considerably. Vukovich and Watson still liked him a lot though and tended to take him under thier wing. He lost Vuky in '55 and was determined to get somewhere at Indy. The rumor was he owed a lot of money to some Chicago mobsters and if he led the first lap he would be absolved of the debt. Word got around and Rathmann took it as a challenge to his pride.

Reece and everyone else knew this could be bad so they were ready as could be when the show started.

The standard procedure for doing a lap at Indy in those days was to let off just after the flagstand before turn one, and about the same distance going into turn3, then at just the right time ease into the throttle to exit going into the shortchute letting off, possibly using a little brake then easing into the throttle a little harder to exit for the straight.

The marks are differently placed today but NASCAR drivers use the same method. This is a basic analogy yet he who does this best the longest usually wins.

OK, I posted the basics of the '58 story on Tidbits From the Past. There were so many personalities and strained relationships involved in just the front row it's surprising they even made it to the track that year. Must have been a wild garage to be around.

Wow. The tension must have been so thick they could have cut chunks of it off the thin air above and patched the Reece car.