30 Days in May: No. 23, Floyd Roberts, 1938 Burd Piston Ring Special

OK, so this year’s Indianapolis 500 won’t be run in the month of May. For many of us, however, May is more than just a month – it’s a state of mind. So let’s still celebrate great cars and drivers of the past anyway!

 

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Floyd Roberts started from the pole and led 92 laps to win the

1938 Indianapolis 500.

30 Days in May: No. 23, Floyd Roberts, 1938 Burd Piston Ring Special Wetteroth/Miller. The first Indianapolis 500 program I got was from the 1973 race. I would spend time poring over its contents, absorbing various facts and figures about the race – sort of a 5-year-old Donald Davidson.

Of particular interest to me was Wilbur Shaw’s success from 1937-40. (The summary for each of these races was listed on one page.) I noticed that had it not been for Floyd Roberts winning in 1938 that Shaw would’ve won the 500 four times in a row.

At this time, A.J. Foyt was trying to become the first four-time winner, a feat he finally achieved in 1977. Anyway, Roberts, who started from the pole, beat Shaw by a wide margin (more than four minutes), but Shaw, so vital in helping the Speedway survive after World War II, won in 1939 and 1940 to become the first back-to-back winner.