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The Indy 500 1931 and the great Wilbur Shaw goes over the rail in practice.

Shaw won the Indy 500 three times, 1937, '39 and '40, he was the first driver to win back-to-back races at the brickyard.

He died in an airplane crash near Decatur, Indiana on October 30, 1954.

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Dave Buck and his mechanic were both killed in this crash at the Elgin track in 1911.

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Norman Batten's Miller Special catches fire on the main straight during the 1927 Indy 500. Norman passed the pits before jumping out so that none of the pit crew were injured.

His best finish at Indy was 5th in 1928.

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September of 1914 at the Tacoma Speedway and The Seattle Bug, driven by Meagher and his mechanic slid off crushing the rear end.

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Two very lucky escapes for Louis Chevrolet, the first in 1905 in his Fiat when he crashed during a practice run during the Vanderbilt Cup which took place on a route throughout Long Island, New York.
The huge chain-driven beast had its front end taken off by a tree but Louis walked away without a scratch.

The second photo is from the same event in 1910 driving a Marquette-Buick. He crashed on the 16th lap coming to rest upside down outside of a porch of a Hicksville home on Old Country Road.
The third photo is a parked car that Louis vehicle hit during this accident. The car was parked in a yard with three women in it, all of which walked away. Louis was thrown from the car and survived with a broken arm but his riding mechanic, Charles Miller was trapped under the car and died.

[AlvinKarpis]

Those old school classics just made my day

[AlvinKarpis]

I hope this makes someone elses day

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Frenchman Jean Behra hits the chicane hard at the Glover Trophy meeting at Goodwood. This was a non-Championship race for F1 cars, Jean was driving a BRM and had qualified 2nd before losing his breaks, but walked away uninjured.

Jean was one of F1's top drivers during the 50's but never managed to win a Championship race, although he won a number of non-Championship races and many Sportcar events. He also had a number of crashes and in 1955 had his ear sliced off, he would get a plastic one made for him and wore this while he raced.

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Italian Luigi Fagioli or 'The Abruzzi robber' as he was known, was one of the top racing drivers of the thirties driving first for Maserati, then the Ferrari run Alfa Romeo team, then for the Mercedes team in 1934, and for a number of races, the Auto Union team.
He won many races during this time but also gained a reputation as being an absolute nutter. During his first drive for Mercedes he was told to stay behind his teammate this led to a huge argument in the pits and to Luigi parking his car up on the curcuit and walking in, he did this a number of times. He also attempted to attack a number of teammates, once with a knife!

He suffered with illness in the late '30's but after the war was invited to join the Alfa team again and finished 3rd in the Championship with four 2nd places and a 3rd. He shared a win with Fangio at the French GP 1951.

In 1952 the Monaco GP was run for sportcars and Fagioli lost control of his car at the end of the tunnel, broadsiding into a stone barrier, suffering a broken arm and leg as well as many other injuries. He woke up four days later and appeared to be making a recovery but sadly after three weeks he relapsed, and died aged 54.

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This is from the 1952 Monaco race, on lap 24 Reg Parnell spun his Aston Martin (72) into the barrier. Just as the marshals are helping the driver out and away, Anthony Hume (84) in an Allard and Robert Manzon (56) in a Gordini have their own accident and send people flying. No one was badly injured.