1941 Indy 500 Start

Thanks to auto racing history researcher Ken Parrotte we can present this historic photo of the start of the 1941 Indianapiolis 500. The image supported supported an article from the the August 19, 1944 edition of the Palladium-Item and Sun-Telegram from Richmond, Indiana. This reported the announcement that 40 & 8 planned to pull together the financing to purchase the Speedway. The group's leading executives were Howard W. Chown and Norman H. Coulon. Reportedly, negotiations had been underway for nine months. After several false starts negotiations unraveled. Eventually there was a 1945 contract signing for Tony Hulman to purchase the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.