If you think you have been blocked in error, contact the owner of this site for assistance. It was a May to forget. I actually had an opportunity to meet him once in Lexington. The yellow came out when light rain began falling on Lap 129. In 1968, he teamed up to drive one of Andy Granatelli's famous STP Lotus Turbines. . People came to see the storied track's first 200-mph laps. based on information from your browser. Finally, mercifully, the "72 Hours of Indianapolis" were over. (Just last week, the wall was fitted with an innovative series of Art Pollard's story deserves to be told, from his humble beginnings in Dragon, Utah to his untimely death on Pole Day at Indianapolis in 1973. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. But more often than not, car trouble kept him from winning the big prize at Indy. "It was January 1, 2016, and I was just like, 'Eh,. All during practice he was saying that this might be his best year. They saw, instead, the fatal first day of the old track's deadliest May since 1937. "When I first got out, I remember I put on my nice-looking crepe slacks and my good-looking shirts. "Well, you were running 150 mph, you're not running 250. He died of natural causes last year, at the age of 85. He went on to become a popular super-modified champion in the Western States in the 1960sand finally, the Indy Racing circuitachieving the pinnacle of racing, the famed BrickyardIndianapolis Motor Speedway in 1967. Walther touched wheels with Jerry Grant's car in the sixth row and was launched into the catch fence near the starting line. Mike couldnt believe what he was hearing. Over the course of time, speeds have continued to increase but safety measures have Indianapolis -- Twenty-five years later, some of the memories return like yesterday, many have faded like dusty photographs and still others evoke unimaginable pain. Art L. Pollard. There is a problem with your email/password. She also provided a stabilizing factor that he sorely needed, given his drinking and social awkwardness. Jungian symbolism and the Surrealist exploration of the unconscious also influenced his works of this period; indeed, from 1939 through 1941 he was in treatment with two successive Jungian psychoanalysts who used Pollocks own drawings in the therapy sessions. He had to relearn to walk but he was back at Indy, back in the field for the 1974 Indianapolis 500. As their communities grappled with an invisible enemy, artists have often tried to make sense of the random . Try again. The race recommenced an hour later. Art L. Pollard, 61, of Commerce City, passed away October 2, 2019 in Brighton CO surrounded by his family. "I pulled up right at the end of pit road and remember telling the radio Mike lives in Reno, Nev., and works at a jewelry shop. "It really tries on a driver hard. His work and example had enormous influence on them and on many subsequent art movements in the United States. His car exploded in an angry orange flash. The racing thing interested me also.. "We used to average a death a year out here," recalled track announcer Tom He would share an apartment in Greenwich Village with Sanford and his wife until 1942. I told 'em I was at the Indy 500. But for a while I was very depressed. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Art Pollard (7232111)? Art and his crew started 28 main events and won an astonishing 22 of them., Perhaps his most admirable quality (off the track) was his ability to take a moment of his time and make everybody he talked with feel important. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. And you know, hell, I was a damn good athlete. Art had little practice time in the car, but late in the afternoon, Art pulled onto the track in his #20 turbine, and his average speed of 166.297 was good enough to earn the 11thstarting spot in the middle of the fourth row. There wouldn't be another on-track fatality at IMS until Gordon Smiley in 1982. momentarily blinded by the fuel spray and ended up in the infield grass. Pollock was employed by the WPA Federal Art Project in the fall of 1935 as an easel painter. It was the Golden Era of IndyCar racing. His first attempt fell short in 1966, but in 1967 he qualified to start 13th and finished 8th. "It's a sad thing to say, but it is.". He was a real nice guy and we got along very well, Green said. May, 1972 - On May 7th Art Pollard became the 13th member of the 180 . He is believed to be the first driver from Southern Oregon to race at Indy. Andy Granatelli gave me the film of the race. I've been lifting weights since I was sixteen years old. Despite his hard luck with cars, Pollard quickly gained a strong fan base, not just from Southern Oregon, but at Indy as well. During one period in 1961, he won 22 of 28 main events. March 18, 1972 - At Phoenix Art qualified 21st in the #11 Quality Racing Scorpion now with a turbocharged Foyt powerplant. In 1943, after the liquidation of the Federal Art Project, Pollock was given a contract by Peggy Guggenheim at her Art of This Century gallery in New York, and his first one-man show was held there in November. Driver Art Pollard was killed in a horrific pole-day qualifying crash. Updates? Seats It was a needed and welcome improvement. Art drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1965 through 1973 seasons, with 84 career starts, including the 1967 through 1971 Indianapolis 500 races. The Art Pollard Day in May continued for decades after dads death. Martin says Bob Christie was a class act in the racing community. google_ad_width = 728; Tales Emily Kasriel explores the art of plague from the Black Death to current times. I couldn't walk at all. His family lived there for 11 months after his birth, and Pollock never returned to the town. Art was buried in McMinnville Oregon. Unfortunately, Indianapolis Motor Speedway was where Pollard lost his life in an accident on May 12, 1973, during a practice run for the Indy 500. Failed to delete memorial. google_page_url = document.location; Family members linked to this person will appear here. A lot of fans - and drivers too - said that Walther blew it. catching its nose and twirling like a propeller a half-dozen times while also overturning. "He was like a family member. Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World? Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Each year it got a little faster and a better car, and then we he started going to out-of-town races, said Green, who was a body shop mechanic for more than 40 years. With Memorial Day came gloomy skies and intermittent showers that interrupted May 1973 arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with even more hype than usual, The impact tore off two wheels immediately, and the wings were also torn off during the slide. This is a carousel with slides. Walther's google_color_border = "DDAAAA"; Henry Martin always admired Bob Christie. Safety was the watchword for the 1974 Indianapolis 500. He won two Indy car events in 1969, and finished second in the first two California 500s at Ontario Motor Speedway. Over the next 16 years his family lived in California and Arizona, eventually moving nine times. Pollard never regained consciousness, and his injuries were reported to include pulmonary damage due to flame inhalation, third degree burns on both hands, face and neck, a fractured right arm, a fractured leg, and a severe spinal cord injury. Over the left hand I wear a glove, a black glove. At Indy, the closest grandstand seats were moved back from the fence, and the wall Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Pollard dominated racing on the super modified circuit on the West Coast in the late '50s and early '60s. squeezing Jerry Grant against the wall. Savage lost control. Art Pollard As I See Him by Andy Granatelli, Auto Racing Magazine Of The Worlds Greatest Sport, August 1969. He had just turned 46-years-old one week earlier. Forty years later, children cavort on the hospital's "Art Pollard Playground" and the picnic survives in his honor, financed by his fund, the original $25,000 still untouched. 'You don't want to go up there.' I thought you might like to see a memorial for Art Lee Pollard Jr. What I really admired about Bob Christie was that he was such a gentleman on the track. 1927) Artle Lee Pollard, Jr. (May 5, 1927 - May 12, 1973), was an American racecar driver. Art Pollard (Dad) began racing a small hydroplane on Oregons Umpqua River, next micro-midgets, then modified stockcars in a half-mile oval in Roseburg, Oregon. Tom Carnegie, you know, the voice of Indy, when he says, after being there 60 years, that dad was the most loved driver among the other drivers, that means more than if he ever won Indianapolis to me. He told him he was going to hit 200 mph, or die trying. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Plain and simple. Art Pollard's story deserves to be told, from his birth to his untimely death. Art Pollard was crowned Champion (shown above) and awarded a 9 2 trophy after compiling 1,150 out of a possible 1,200 points over the two days. Paul Jackson Pollock was the fifth and youngest son of Stella May McClure and LeRoy Pollock, who were both of Scotch-Irish extraction (LeRoys original surname was McCoy before his adoption about 1890 by a family named Pollock) and born and raised in Iowa. He finished in the top ten 30 times, with 2 victories, both in 1969, atMilwaukeeandDover. ARTHUR POLLARD OBITUARY *ARTHUR POLLARD* Former University of Arizona football star and horse racing legend, Arthur Pollard, died on September 8th, 2008 at age 86. Learn more about merges. In 1937 Pollock began psychiatric treatment for alcoholism, and he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1938, which caused him to be institutionalized for about four months. Parking My car hit another and then spun down the track with the wheels off it. google_ad_channel ="0983136519"; Approximately one hour after the accident, Art Pollard was pronounced dead. Art was born May 5, 1927 in Dragon, Utah. from behind at 60 mph and killed him. By Lap 42, Savage, the 26-year-old charger from California, had taken the lead, a gravity. He died living his dream, doing what he loved; and it was a privilege for him to race at that level., Mike Pollard, was working as a steel fabricator for Fred Gerhardt in Fresno, California. Somebody from the hospital released the news, but I was not able to get in touch with anybody before the news became public.. It was a lot of fun.. Driver Art Pollard was killed in an accident during pole day practice. The car was running smoothly. The large wings of 1972-73 were reduced in size. Rutherford was among the first on the scene of the crash. Burial. Both men stood frozen in their separate locations as news broke on the radio that their friend, Art Pollard, had died in a crash on Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Art died inIndianapolis,Indianaas a result of injuries sustained in practice for the 1973Indianapolis500. This was after I'd begun to walk on my own. Then they had two big fellas, two great big fellas, come in and lift me up and hold me up in the air and let me try and move my legs. His car rolled over and was engulfed in a fireball. Johnny Rutherford won the pole position. car owner in Champ car. 1970 Indianapolis 500 [ESPN Classic Telecast Version] (Full Race), 5. Pop-off valves cut boost and the horsepower generated by turbochargers. That same year, 1968, he won the pole position at the Milwaukee 200 and led the race for the first 135 miles, when his brakes failed. I had to learn to walk again. "I thought I was blind until I flipped up my visor. 'George, he was a great lover of . Links Pollard's wreck (when he broke his leg in 1972) was a direct result of a broken right rear hub on his STP-Lola. Born in Dragon, Utah, and raised in the Portland, Oregon area, Pollard drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1965-1973 seasons, with 84 career starts, including the 1967-1971 Indianapolis 500 races. We just took to each other, Green said. He was very courteous as a driver, but very strong and aggressive on the trackbut with respect for the other driver.. The. Its just like driving a passenger car. as good of friends as you can be when you race against each other," From his years with Benton through 1938, Pollocks work was strongly influenced by the compositional methods and regionalist subject matter of his teacher and by the poetically expressionist vision of the American painter Albert Pinkham Ryder. Pollard's volume of art in the past seven years came after a five-year period when he stopped drawing after the death of his grandmother. Reports on the number of spectators injured ranged from 11 to 13. ($117,009.92 in 2017 dollars Enough to pay cash for a house in some Cities). Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Art Pollard: The Gentleman Racer Paperback - September 13, 2019 by Bob Kehoe (Author) 9 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback $25.00 1 New from $25.00 First published in 2016, this is an expanded version of Art Pollard's biography that includes more content and photos. Born in Dragon, Utah, and raised in the Portland, Oregon area, Pollard drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 19651973 seasons, with 84 career starts, including the 19671971 Indianapolis 500 races. The red flag flew as the rain intensified on Lap 133. As they were being Salt miraculously made it back the next year, qualifying in 14th position for the 1974 Indy 500. Don Caskey was on his tractor when his wife Shirley called him inside on May 12, 1973. In 1961, Art won one of his favorite races, The Western States Championship in Fresno Ca. He was a truck driver who was elated when asked to become an STP crewman.]. In the fall of 1930 Pollock followed his brother Charles, who left home to study art in 1922, to New York City, where he enrolled at the Art Students League under his brothers teacher, the regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. Drivers and crews were taut. We just got on the plane and came home.". Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? BARBARA POLLARD OBITUARY. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. Still, his professionalism and upbeat demeanor had impressed his peers. ". Dallenbach also talked to Savage in the hospital, because he was hired to replace him. It began on this day in 1973 when American race car driver Art Lee Pollard, Jr., died in an accident while running practice laps for the Indianapolis 500. In years since, there has been no final determination on the cause of Arts accident. He started twenty-fifth and finished twenty-second after a spin. "We flipped it over and I didn't want to see him because I knew I had to race. Art Pollard Race Driver: A Life Remembered, It would honor him to know he is remembered, not only for his passion for racing and skill as a driver, but for who he was as a person. ", Meanwhile in the pits, Teran, an STP crewman, headed toward the accident scene. Twelve cars were caught up in the wreckage as Walther's car pin-wheeled down the track upside down, gushing flaming methanol. Art qualified in the field for the 1972 race, but broke his leg in a post-qualifying accident and was unable to race. 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