1947 Indianapolis 500

Time trials was scheduled for five days. The minimum speed to qualify was set at 115 mph. In the months leading up to the race, several top drivers that were members of a union, the American Society of Professional Auto Racing (ASPAR), threatened to boycott the race over the purse size.[3] The AAA Contest Board refused to heed their demands, and when the entry list was closed on May 8, many of the top drivers, particularly several popular west coast drivers, were not on the list. A total of 35 cars were entered, but at least nine had no driver listed, and 13 of the entries were inexperienced novice drivers. After the practice began for the month, officials decreed that the boycotting drivers would not be allowed late entry. After several weeks of dispute, an agreement was made for the ASPAR drivers to participate midway through the month.[4]

• Saturday May 17 - Pole Day
  • Rain, and the holdout of several ASPAR drivers, meant only seven cars completed qualifying runs. Ted Horn claimed the pole position with a speed of 126.564 mph.
• Sunday May 18
  • Three cars qualified, bringing the field to 10 cars.[5]
• Saturday May 24
• Sunday May 25
• Wednesday May 28
  • The final day of qualifying closed with 28 cars in the field.

When qualifying closed at 6 p.m. on Wednesday May 28, the field had only been filled to 28 cars.[6] Duke Dinsmore was the final qualifier, completing his run amidst some scoring confusion by the officials, just as the time had run out.[7] Race officials initially stressed that Wednesday would be the final day available to qualify. However, a day later, they re-opened qualifying for one hour late on Thursday May 29 in an effort to fill the field. Mel Hansen and Emil Andres were the only two cars to complete attempts, and after approval by the other entries, were added to the grid to bring the field to 30 cars.[8]

The heartbreak story of the day belonged to driver Billy Devore. After failing to make the field on Wednesday, the Bill Schoof crew worked diligently to make repairs to their car, hoping that officials would re-open qualifying. When word was announced that additional time trials would be held Thursday, the crew scrambled to get the car prepared. Late in the evening, with about 20 minutes left until closing, the crew drove the race car from their garage about six miles away to the track with a police escort. When they arrived at the gate at 6:58 p.m., however, officials closed time trials, and DeVore was not permitted to qualify. [9]

Late in the race, Lou Moore teammates Bill Holland and Mauri Rose were running 1st and 2nd. The pit crew displayed a confusing chalkboard sign with the letters "EZY" to Holland, presumably meaning for him to take the final laps at a reduced pace to safely make it to the finish. Mauri Rose ignored the board, and charged to catch up to Holland. Holland believed he held a lap lead over Rose, and allowed him to catch up. The two drivers waved as Rose passed Holland, with Holland believing it was not more than a congratulatory gesture.

In reality, the pass Rose made was for the lead, and he led the final 8 laps to take the controversial victory. The race was marred by a 41st lap crash that claimed the life of Shorty Cantlon.

Rose's distance finish time of 4:17:52.17 was the second fastest finish of the Indianapolis 500 ever, at the time. Only the 1938 Indianapolis 500 had been completed in a faster total time as of 1947.[11] After Rose completed the 500 mile distance, approximately 40 minutes was given for additional drivers to finish, before any remaining drivers who had not completed the distance by then were flagged off the track.[12] The 1947 race was also the coldest on record, with an average temperature of 50 degrees and morning low of 37.[13]

Finish	Start	No	Name	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Led	Time/Retired
1	3	27	Mauri Rose  W			200	34	4:17:52.17
2	8	16	Bill Holland  R			200	143	-32.12 seconds
3	1	1	Ted Horn			200	0	-3 minutes, 00.38 seconds
4	4	54	Herb Ardinger*			200	0	-6 minutes, 40.35 seconds
5	10	7	Jimmy Jackson			200	0	-8 minutes, 00.48 seconds
6	20	9	Rex Mays			200	0	-12 minutes, 16.33 seconds
7	14	33	Walt Brown  R			200	0	-36 minutes, 59.30 seconds
8	28	34	Cy Marshall			197	0	-3 laps
9	23	41	Fred Agabashian  R			191	0	-9 laps
10	27	10	Duke Dinsmore			167	0	-33 laps
11	7	58	Les Anderson  R			131	0	-69 laps
12	17	59	Pete Romcevich  R			168	0	Oil line
13	30	3	Emil Andres			150	0	Magneto
14	15	31	Frank Wearne			128	0	Spun T3
15	9	47	Ken Fowler			121	0	Axle
16	18	46	Duke Nalon			119	0	Piston
17	12	28	Roland Free			87	0	Spun
18	25	29	Tony Bettenhausen			79	0	Timing gear
19	6	25	Russ Snowberger			74	0	Oil pump
20	16	52	Hal Robson			67	0	Universal joint
21	2	18	Cliff Bergere			62	23	Piston
22	22	8	Joie Chitwood			51	0	Gears
23	5	24	Shorty Cantlon ✝			40	0	Fatal crash T1
24	26	43	Henry Banks			36	0	Oil line
25	19	66	Al Miller			33	0	Magneto
26	13	14	George Connor			32	0	Fuel leak
27	29	38	Mel Hansen			32	0	Disqualified, Pushed
28	21	15	Paul Russo			24	0	Crash FS
29	24	44	Charles Van Acker  R			24	0	Crash FS
30	11	53	Milt Fankhouser  R			15	0	Stalled
[14]

* Cliff Bergere relieved Herb Ardinger after his own car retired from the race, and completed the race distance in the #54 car.

• 1947 AAA Championship Car season