Floyd Davis

For the American painter and illustrator, see Floyd MacMillan Davis.

Floyd Davis
The winning car from the 1941 Indianapolis 500 - Mauri Rose took over the car from Davis on lap 73
Born	Floyd Eldon Davis (1905-03-09)March 9, 1905 Oakford, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 31, 1977(1977-05-31) (aged 72) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Championship titles
Major victories Indianapolis 500 (1941 (co-winner))
Champ Car career
18 races run over 9 years
Best finish	4th (tie) (1941)
First race	1935 St. Paul 100 (St. Paul)
Last race	1948 Atlanta 100 (Lakewood)
First win	1941 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles 1 1 0

Floyd Eldon Davis (March 9, 1905 – May 31, 1977) was an American racing driver, and the co-winner of the 1941 Indianapolis 500.

Floyd Davis drove the first 72 laps of the 1941 race before being replaced by Mauri Rose, who completed the race in the lead.^[1]

Co-Winner of the Indianapolis 500

During the 1941 Indianapolis 500, Floyd Davis had been driving the Noc-Out Hose Clamp car for sixty laps,^[1] moving from 17th to 12th place when teammate Mauri Rose, the pole sitter, began experiencing problems with his car, the Elgin Piston Pin. The films show that he wasn't too happy when at lap 72, team owner Lou Moore pulled Davis from his car and replaced him with Rose. “I was ready to go into the lead when they called me in,” Davis later joked.

That is what Rose did, winning the first of his three 500 championships, and earning Davis an asterisk in the history books as a co-winner, despite the fact that he never led a single lap in any of his races.^[1] And though Davis received a 50-50 split of the prize money, he never drove in another 500, racing only sparingly in 1946 and 1948; some attributed it to disgust in having been relieved, although his serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, coupled with his age at 40, might have been just as impactful.

Davis had driven in three previous 500s, coming in 15th in 1937, 27th in 1939, and 20th in 1940.^[2]

Davis is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis (Section 53 Lot 320).^[2]

Motorsports career results

AAA Championship Car results

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
1941	INDY 1	MIL	NYS 5										4th (tie)	450
1946	INDY	LAN	ATL	ISF 6	MIL	GOS							54th	80
1948	ARL	INDY	MIL	LAN	MIL	SPR	MIL	DUQ 9	ATL 7	PIK	SPR	DUQ	36th	87.5

• 1946 table only includes results of the six races run to "championship car" specifications. Points total includes the 71 races run to "big car" specifications.^[3][4]

Indianapolis 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1937 32 24 118.942 14 15 190 0 Crash T3 1939 56 29 119.375 29 27 43 0 Shock absorber 1940 61 33 120.797 30 20 157 0 Flagged 1941 16 17 121.106 25 1 72 0 Relieved Totals 462 0

Starts 4 Poles 0 Front Row 0 Wins 1 Top 5 1 Top 10 1 Retired 2

References

1. Hankinson, Bob (June 1941). "Mauri Rose Wins at Indianapolis". Motor Age (Cover story for magazine issue.). Vol. LX, no. 7. Philadelphia: Chilton Company. pp. 18–20, 132. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
2. "Indianapolis Auto greats" (PDF). Celebrating Automotive Heritage at Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-09-10.
3. "1946 AAA National Championship Trail". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
4. Capps, H. Donald (October 2009). "The Curious Case of the 1946 Season: An Inconvenient Championship" (PDF). Rear View Mirror. 7 (2): 1–16.

External links

• Floyd Davis - ChampCarStats.com
• Floyd Davis at Find a Grave
• Floyd Davis driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Preceded by Wilbur Shaw

Indianapolis 500 Winner 1941

Succeeded by George Robson