Drivers Killed During The Indy 500

The term "catastrophic" can often be misused when it comes to sporting events: A bad call, a dropped ball, a flubbed play. But the 1958 Indy 500 really was catastrophic, and it kicked off with a risk taken by the same Ed Elisian who had stopped to help his friend Bill Vukovich after his deadly crash just a few years prior. It was on the very first lap that Elisian and another driver, Dick Rathmann, played a deadly game of chicken, collided, and started what would be a 15-car wreck and — according to the Indy Motor Speedway — the worst the race has ever seen. 

Driver Pat O'Connor had started just behind Elisian and Rathmann, and when his car was flipped, he was killed instantly. Then, it burst into flames. Can it get more tragic? Yes.

O'Connor left behind a wife and an 18-month-old son, and in 2018, IndyStar spoke with one of the other drivers who had been on the track that day. It was A.J. Foyt's rookie year as a professional driver, and O'Connor had been his mentor. "When I turned around to see the car burning and his arm hanging out, I figured maybe I better go back to Texas," Foyt said. "It was [hard]. When someone helps you, and then you see them burn ... you know, it's hard. I don't care who you are. After that ... I had a lot of close friends, but I never really did get close with anybody after that." Elisian, meanwhile, was ostracized by other drivers and died in a crash the following year.

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