Ever since Carl Fisher took a procedural lap alongside the field in his Stoddard-Drayton in 1911, the ceremonial pace car has become just as much a part of the pomp and ceremony of the Indy 500 as anything else associated with the Brickyard. More often then not however the pace car has often found itself lost in the mire compared to the 500’s more visually prominent traditions, but that all changed in 1971 thanks to one of the strangest incidents in 500 history.

Between 1911 and 1970 the job of driving the pace car was seen as one of the most highly regarded honorary positions of the Indianapolis 500, with former race winners, celebrities and notable figures from the automotive industry all given the privilege of leading the 33 car field to the drop of the green flag. The ceremonial action also had a strong effective on the motor industry, with the big three manufacturers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors all using the status of the pace car as a chance to showcase their upcoming models on a global scale. Traditionally these machines came in the form of muscle cars, with the mid-sixties seeing the field led by the likes of the Ford Mustang, Plymouth Sport Fury and Chevrolet Camaro to name but a few.

By the late 60’s however American motoring habits had begun to change, the traditional all American muscle car had fallen out of vogue with the public, and come the time of the 1971 Indy 500 the Big Three made the decision to refuse and lease a car for the 500 event, instead choosing to place their marketing efforts away from motor sport. Seeking a last minute replacement following the snub, IMS president Tony Hulman struck a deal with local Dodge dealer Eldon Palmer for his company to supply machines for the upcoming race at the Brickyard. A fleet of cherry red machines were provided on short notice for the month of May, with a 1971 Dodge Challenger given preference as the machine to lead the field to the drop of the green flag itself. In return for his charitable gesture, Hulman allowed Palmer to drive the Challenger for the start of the race; carrying with him a selection of passengers that included US Astronaut turned Senator John Glenn, ABC sports broadcaster Chris Schenkel as well as Hulman himself.

On the day of the race Palmer led the field to round the track in fairly orderly fashion, and as per instructions pulled into the pit lane on the final pace lap to allow pole-sitter Peter Revson to lead the field into turn one. Rather then slow down however, Palmer continued to accelerate; reaching a reported speed of 125mph and in the process missing an orange cone intended to be used as a braking reference point. Realising he was going too fast, and not wanting to rejoin the track Palmer slammed on the brakes, causing the car to lose control and crash into a photographers stand situated just on the exit of pit road. The force of the impact caused the stand to collapse, sending the positioned journalists all careering to the ground with at an alarming rate. Although nobody was fatally injured in the accident 29 people suffered injured that required medical attention from on-site professionals. Tony Hulman himself suffered a sprained ankle in the crash, while Chris Schenkel was so shaken by the incident he was forced to sit out of the remainder of ABC’s broadcast of the race.

Although Al Unser went on to claim victory in the 500, most of the public attention in the days afterwards were directly firmly on the pace car crash, with speedway officials coming under criticism for their decision to allow Palmer to lead the field despite his lack of motor racing experience. Although Palmer accepted blame for causing the accident, IMS bosses were quick to react, and in 1972 the decision was made to limit the pace car driver selection to either former 500 participants or those with a satisfactory level of racing experience, a rule which would stay in place at the speedway for over 20 years.

The 1971 pace car incident may be looked back at now with a level of bemusement, but such was the level of scrutiny surrounding the Indianapolis 500 that the incident was held as a black mark that went a long way to overshadowing the race itself. The likelihood of such an incident happening again in the 500 is improbable, but it helps to show that sometimes the action at Indianapolis can come from the most unlikely of places.

For today’s video there’s nothing else I could really show you other then the incident itself:

In tomorrow’s update we look at not one, but five drivers, all linked by a certain name in particular.