1942 Indianapolis 500

Background

Rex Mays took the 1941 National Championship after that year's race. As World War II intensified overseas, talk started in the summer of 1941 that the 1942 event might be called off, but track officials pushed back, saying the race was still on. The AAA Contest Board put out its 1942 rules, and since the U.S. wasn't in the war yet, planning moved ahead. Rules and specs stayed the same because war-related parts shortages were already hitting the sport.

A fire broke out in the Gasoline Alley garage area the morning of the 1941 race, wrecking George Barringer's car and burning roughly a third of the southern garage row. About a month later, plans were made to rebuild, and the work got done over the summer and fall of 1941. As usual, a few non-points exhibition races were held at the Speedway in July, August, and September 1941. On September 9, 1941, a match race entertained delegates from the National Association of Postal Supervisors convention.

Duke Nalon won a 10-mile race, and Cliff Bergere took a 15-mile race. That was the last event at the Speedway before the war stepped in. Ticket order forms came out in November 1941. Less than a month later, Pearl Harbor was attacked, pulling the United States into World War II. Within days, public and political pressure started building on Speedway management to cancel the race.