As I mentioned previously in my article about the 1973 Indianapolis 500, danger still remains an ever-present threat surrounding motor sport even today, especially in an event such as the Indianapolis 500 where the margin of error for drivers is so much smaller then in other disciplines. For all the accidents that have taken place at the speedway however, it is arguably a second lap crash at the 1964 race that remains the most horrific of them all; an accident that would claim the lives of two drivers each at opposite ends of their successful racing careers. In today’s update I will be looking at the accident in more detail, seeing how a combination of poor car design and driver inexperience led to a moment still etched in the minds of racing fans even to this day.

Heading into the 1964 Indy 500, one man who entered the Month of May with more optimism then most was car owner Mickey Thompson. The former Land Speed Record holder had made his name competing on the hot rod circuit during the 1950s, and come 1964 was preparing to enter his third successive Indianapolis 500 as a manufacturer. Despite his relatively young ownership career at the Brickyard, Thompson had already become noted at the speedway for controversial car designs that pushed the boundaries of aerodynamics and driver safety, most notably in his ‘Mickey Thompson Special’ in 1963 which incredibly wide and flat design run on 12 inch diameter tyres, earning the car the nickname ‘the roller-skate’ in the process.

Despite his team’s 12 inch tyres being outlawed following the 1963, Thompson remained committed to the low profile concept first season in the Special, and over the off-season designed a streamlined body-kit designed to take advantage of aerodynamic effects to increase top speeds. Although the machine was one of the first modern attempts to introduce aerodynamics to the Brickyard concerns soon began to be raised over the safety of the machine around the paddock, with many believing that flaws in the all-encompassing shell, combined with the forced introduction of larger tyres, made the car too difficult for drivers to handle. Graham Hill had tested the machine prior to the Month of May but pulled out of the project through safety fears, while Maston Gregory also made the decision to quit the team following a practice caused by the cars ill-handling.

With a host of established drivers choosing to disassociate themselves with the project, Thompson approached youngster Dave MacDonald over the prospect of driving the machine for the 500. The 27 year old was hailed as one of the most promising stars in American sports car racing at the time, being one of the factory drivers for the Shelby Cobra outfit, and just three weeks prior to the 500 had won a USRRC race in Washington to move to the top of the Championship standings, and Thompson believed that this success, aided with his previous relationship with the driver, made MacDonald the ideal man to handle the machine going into the 500. Although MacDonald managed to place the car safely into the field for the race, fears over the safety of his machine were continuing to gather pace. The Thompson machine had been considered difficult to handle even at the best of times, but in the hands of a rookie driver yet to fully understand his machine was considered an incredible risk, particularly as MacDonald had yet to practice in the car with a full tank of fuel due to Thompson’s obsession with top speeds during practice. Such was the level of concern surrounding MacDonald’s safety that Jim Clark told the youngster to “Get out of that car and just walk away”, a suggestion MacDonald refused due to remaining committed to his contract with Thompson.

As race day finally approached MacDonald was determined to prove the critics wrong surrounding his maligned machine, and come the drop of the green flag began carving his way through the field to move up five places from his 14th place grid slot by the end of lap one. Rookie Johnny Rutherford was one of the drivers to comment on MacDonald’s driving on that lap, reportedly commenting that MacDonald was either going to crash early or go on to win the whole thing. Unfortunately for everyone however it would be the former that would come to fruition. As the field approached the end of the second lap MacDonald lost control of his machine coming out of two four, slamming into the inside retaining wall side on and rupturing the car’s fuel tank in the process, causing a huge explosion that caused the entire front stretch to be engulfed in a mix of flames and smoke. Seeing the accident in front of him, veteran driver Eddie Sachs moved to the outside of the track hoping to make it past the scene of the accident, only for MacDonald’s car to slide into his path, causing Sachs to hit the Thompson machine side on and ignite yet another explosion from Sachs’ machine.

Such was the ferocity of the incident that for the first time ever the Indianapolis 500 was red-flagged, as safety crews and officials rushed to the scene of Sachs and MacDonald’s stricken machines. Despite the best efforts from the crews however their efforts would be futile; Eddie Sachs was found dead at the scene of his accident whilst Dave MacDonald would be transferred to Methodist Hospital where he would succumb to an acute pulmonary edema just a few hours later. Although AJ Foyt would go on to win the race newspare reports the following day remained focused on the accident, with criticisms thrown at both Thompson for his decision to hire MacDonald to hire the difficult machine and USAC for their fuel regulations which reportedly allowed MacDonald to carry nearly eighty gallons of fuel for the start of the race. In response to significant media pressure USAC made sweeping changes to fuel regulations for 1965, switching from gasoline to methanol fuel and limiting the amount of fuel a car could carry during the race.

The main emotion in the weeks afterwards however was one of sadness; MacDonald had been one of the most highly regarded young drivers in America going into the race, whilst the colourful Sachs had earned a reputation in the paddock as a jovial and popular figure who had been hopeful of challenging for his first 500 success that afternoon. With the accident taking place just six days after the fatal NASCAR accident of Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts, the 1964 500 helped to cap off one of the darkest weeks in motor sport history. Lessons must always be learned when it comes to safety in motor racing, and significant improvements in this field over the past 50 years have made accidents the scale of MacDonald and Sachs’ largely a thing of the past, and one which hopefully will never see the likes of again in future 500 races.

I don’t feel comfortable about showing the fatal crash as part of this series, so instead here is a Eddie Sachs talking about his career during a radio interview in 1963.

PS. I should also recommend that if people wish to know more about the background of this race that check out Art Garner’s book ‘Black Noon’, which covers both the build-up and aftermath of this incident in far more detail then I ever could.