A comprehensive review of the Vukovich family racing legacy
The Accident: Photos
Hand drawn diagram of the accident site.
A recent aerial view of the appoximate location of the cars following the accident.
Aerial view of the accident site from the mid 1950s.
The Sports Illustrated diagram of the accident site.
A view from the exit of turn 2 (SE turn) looking north down the back straight.
A recreation of the approximate position of Rodger Ward as he spins exiting turn 2, followed by Keller, Boyd and Vukovich.
Rodger Ward spins and hits the backstraight wall with the left rear (from video).
The Ward car begins to ride up upon the wall.
A composite photo showing the Ward spin and roll over.
Rodger Ward spins at the exit of turn 2.
Rodger Ward spins at the exit of turn 2 (SE turn).
Rodger Ward rolls over nearing the footbridge.
The Rodger Ward car is obscured by dust as he hits the wall after spining exiting turn 2. Keller, Boyd, and Vukovich are begining to consider their options.
Closeup of Vukovich exiting turn 2 for the last time.
The Ward car rolls over. Al Keller has taken an inside line and his left side tires raise dust on the verge of the pavement. Boyd has moved to the inside and Vuky seems to be pondering the direction that the Ward car may take.
Close up of the Keller car on the verge of the pavement.
Ward rolling over along the outside lane near the fence.
The Keller car shoots across the track, perhaps in response to pulling the hand break while the left side wheels were on the grass or dust covered verge causing a loss of traction as the right side wheels have more grip pulling the car right.
Keller slides right with Boyd and Vukovich moving to the left to avoid Ward as he continues his roll down the outside lane of the track.
Keller hits Boyd as Ward comes to a stop. Vukovich may have enough room to pass between Ward and the wall. Elisian alertly raisess his arm as he sees the trouble unfold in front of him.
Keller slams into Boyd in front of Vukovich, who makes a last second attempt to dive right and avoid the accident.
The Vukovich car hits Boyd’s right rear and is launched into the air and heads towards the very low ouside fence.
Enhanced view of the Vukovich car leaping over the fence.
The Vukovich car clearing the fence as Boyd begins to roll down the track.
The Vukovich car heads nose down outside of the track after clearing the fence. There is no clear evidence that the Hopkins car hit the bridge abutment.
The Vukovich car now cartwheels towards parked cars.
The Vukovich car tumbles towards the parked vehicles outside of the speedway.
Vukovich cartwheels down the service road past the bridge.
Rex Dean composite of the path taken by the Vukovich car.
8 mm movie taken rom the inside of the track catches the Vukovich car as it begins to carwheel while Boyd and Keller crash into the fence.
Cartwheeling down the service road (8 mm Dynamic).
Close up image from the 8 mm video of the cartwhelling Hopkins Special.
From the infield 8 mm film. The Vukovich car has passed the bridge as it tumbles along the parked cars.
Photo from the infield, north of the bridge, looking south at the accident as Keller hits Boyd. Ward is on the left and Vukovich is obscrured by the Boyd and Keller collision.
Another view from the North looking South. Vickovich clears the fence.
The Vukovich car tumbles under the bridge. Another view from a16 mm infield camera looking south.
The Keller car obscures the Boyd car that has Slamed the bridge abutment with a burst of dust upon impact.
The Hpkins Special tumbles downt he service road.
The vukovich car at the approximate site of the Studebaker.
The Vukovich car continues to flip after striking a Studebaker and hitting the hood of the Ford F-100 pickup truck tail first.
The Vukovich car hits the Safety Patrol Jeep on the drivers side.
The Vukovich car slams upside down after hitting the Jeep. The forces on the driver are suggested by the drivers position.
Boyd rolls on the track while Keller remains upright.
The accident comes to a conclusion with the photo showing cars in the position where they stopped. Ed Elisian brings his car to a stop a on the inside grass and leap out to help his friend Bill Vukovich.
Ed Elisian gets out of his car and sprints across the track wtih a glance for oncoming cars.
Al Keller and others turn over the Boyd car that landed upside down. The red vehicle tot he left is the pickup truck that was hit by the Vukovich car.
The scene from the inside fo the track looking south towards turn 2. The final position of the wrecked vehicles with the exception of Boyd’s Sumar Special that has been turned upright.
The Vukovich car in flames after coming to a rest and awaiting the fire and rescue crew. This is the cropped United Press photograph.
Block of wood near the drivers cockpit.
Looking North, the Vukovich car has come to a rest upside down with flames engulfing the rear of the car.
Cropped version of the previous image. Image by Bettmann/CORBIS
An early shot of the Vukovich car, in flames, awaiting the arrival of the fire crew. The Elisian and Keller cars are in background.
Fire truck sits on the back straight while the fire extinuishing equipemnt is put into use.
A shot of the Vukovich car upside down where it came to rest. The number is visible behind the damaged front. View is from the north looking south. The bridge in the distance illustrates the distance travelled outside of the track as the the car cartwheeled out of control.
Cropped from the previous image. Track officials look on helplessly as the car burns with the driver pinned underneath. The fire crew has lnearly extinguished the flames at this point. (CORBIS)
Extinuishing the fire.
A view from across the track at the accident scene wih the ambulance in view.
The scene from the inside of the track looking north illustrating how far Boyd’ car rolled down the track after crashing into the bridge.
The accident scene with Ward’s car in the foreground and Boyd’s car on the left with the ambulance on the scene.
Adultered photograph. Life Magazine copy
The yellow flag slows the race as the track is cleared. The Boyd Sumar Special is being moved over the fence.
The Boyd Sumar Special being prepared to move over the fence.
A color photo of the Boyd car after removal from the track.
The badly damaged Boyd Sumar Special after removal from the race track.
The Boyd Sumar Special after removal from the track
The damaged Ford pickup truck hit by Vukovich’s tumbling car.
The Hopkins Special inspected by the crew in Gasoline Alley.
