Memorial Day Winner

At the flag drop, 33 low-hung, overpowered racing cars, almost blacked out by clouds of dust and exhaust smoke, roared down the brick and asphalt Indianapolis Speedway track last week in the first lap of the 500-mile Memorial Day grind. The Speedway rightfully prides itself on being the proving ground for most of the automotive advances in the past 40 years, and this year improved cars and equipment produced a whole roster of shiny new records. But speed outstripped design. Only six of the starting thoroughbreds managed to last the full distance.

Led at a record-breaking clip by Lee Wallard in his black and gold Belanger Special for the first 100 miles (130.625 m.p.h.), the souped-up speedsters soon began to fall by the wayside. One of the first to make a repair stop (after only five laps) was favored Duke Nalon in his eight-cylinder, front-drive, supercharged Novi, the sleek white car that set a new qualifying record of 136.498 m.p.h. Nalon's trouble: fouled-up fuel injection nozzles, used instead of the standard downdraft carburetor.

Magneto & Crankshaft. On the 87th lap, Defending Champion Johnny Parsons dropped out with magneto trouble. A broken crankshaft put third-place Walt Faulkner out at 300 miles. Moments later, Mauri Rose, three-time winner, fishtailed into the infield with a collapsed wheel. The car turned turtle, but Mauri crawled out unhurt in the only serious accident of the day.

From there to the finish it was all Wallard and his Belanger Special, but not without some troubles. He drove the last 50 miles virtually without brakes, lost a shock absorber with twelve laps to go. But by the time he got the black & white mish flag, 40-year-old Lee Wallard, down to his last dollar four years ago, had won auto racing's biggest jackpot: $63,612 ($15,900 of it for leading in 159 of the 200 laps). His average speed: 126.244 m.p.h., nearly 5 m.p.h. faster than Bill Holland's 1949 record (121.327).

Tires & Pistons. Wallard's victory, like most, was won before the race began. Owner Murrell Belanger, a wealthy Crown Point, Ind. auto dealer (Chrysler-Plymouth) and ex-racer who dabbles in the sport for the fun of it, knew that the new "beefed up" (i.e., fatter) tires would produce more speed, particularly on the turns. Belanger also figured that a light, rear-drive car, though it gives a rougher ride, would require fewer fuel stops, that a simple, four-cylinder power plant would require fewer pit stops. As a result, Belanger's aluminum-shelled special turned out to be the lightest (1,530 Ibs.) in the race, but it packed plenty of power in its 330 h.p. engine (piston displacement: 262 cu. in.).

His gamble on simplicity (about $30,000 to build and race his car) paid off. Getting better than six miles a gallon out of the special fuel (40% alcohol, 40% gasoline, 20% benzol), Belanger's racer had to make only one pit stop (for a cracked exhaust pipe, fuel and two tires). Oil-smeared Driver Lee Wallard, grinning happily from ear to ear, had a modest explanation for his part of the winning gamble: "I just tried to keep moving and stay out of trouble."

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