Floyd Davis
The winning car from the 1941 Indianapolis 500 - Mauri Rose took over the car from Davis on lap 73
BornFloyd Eldon Davis
(1905-03-09)March 9, 1905
Oakford, Illinois, U.S.
DiedMay 31, 1977(1977-05-31) (aged 72)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Championship titles
Major victories
Indianapolis 500 (1941 (co-winner))
Champ Car career
18 races run over 9 years
Best finish4th (tie) (1941)
First race1935 St. Paul 100 (St. Paul)
Last race1948 Atlanta 100 (Lakewood)
First win1941 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles
1 1 0

Floyd Eldon Davis (March 9, 1905 – May 31, 1977) was an American racing driver, and the co-winner of the 1941 Indianapolis 500.

Floyd Davis drove the first 72 laps of the 1941 race before being replaced by Mauri Rose, who completed the race in the lead.[1]

He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis (Section 53 Lot 320).[2]

During the 1941 Indianapolis 500, Floyd Davis had been driving the Noc-Out Hose Clamp car for sixty laps,[1] moving from 17th to 12th place when teammate Mauri Rose, the pole sitter, began experiencing problems with his car, the Elgin Piston Pin. The films show that he wasn't too happy when at lap 72, team owner Lou Moore pulled Davis from his car and replaced him with Rose. “I was ready to go into the lead when they called me in,” he later joked.

That is exactly though what Rose did do, winning the first of his three 500 championships, and earning Davis an asterisk in the history books as a co-winner, despite the fact that he never led a single lap in any of his races.[1] And though Davis received a 50-50 split of the prize money, he never drove in another 500, some say because of his disgust in having been relieved. His serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II might also have had something to do with his leaving racing.

He had driven in three previous 500s, coming in 15th in 1937, 27th in 1939, and 20th in 1940.[2]

Motorsports career results

AAA Championship Car results

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Points
1941 INDY
1		 MIL
 NYS
5		 4th (tie) 450
1946 INDY
 LAN
 ATL
 ISF
6		 MIL
 GOS
 54th 80
1948 ARL INDY
 MIL
 LAN
 MIL
 SPR
 MIL
 DUQ
9		 ATL
7		 PIK
 SPR
 DUQ
 36th 87.5
  • 1946 table only includes results of the six races run to "championship car" specifications. Points total includes the 71 races run to "big car" specifications.[3][4]

Indianapolis 500 results

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hankinson, Bob (June 1941). "Mauri Rose Wins at Indianapolis". Motor Age (Cover story for magazine issue.). Vol. LX, no. 7. Philadelphia: Chilton Company. pp. 18–20, 132. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  2. 1 2 "Indianapolis Auto greats" (PDF). Celebrating Automotive Heritage at Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
  3. ↑ "1946 AAA National Championship Trail". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  4. ↑ Capps, H. Donald (October 2009). "The Curious Case of the 1946 Season: An Inconvenient Championship" (PDF). Rear View Mirror. 7 (2): 1–16.
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