The track was full of standing water, access tunnels were completely flooded, and the infield was a muddy quagmire.

Speedway superintendent Clarence Cagle supervised a massive cleanup effort, in which hundreds of thousands of gallons of water were pumped out of the tunnels and out of the infield.

Cagle and his crew worked non-stop for 48 hours straight, some without sleep, and had the track ready just in time for race morning.

[4] The race was slowed by a then-record eleven yellow caution light periods which totaled 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 15 seconds.

Hanks charged during the second half, but the numerous cautions stymied his chances to catch up to much less pass Flaherty.

No less than twelve cars were involved in crashes or spins, including Dick Rathmann, who took the checkered flag to finish 5th, only to wreck in turn 1 on his cool down lap.

Thomson's speed was the second-fastest in the entire field, just 0.08 seconds slower than polesitter Pat Flaherty's time.

Eighteen cars lined up intending to make a qualifying attempt, however, rain persisted throughout the day.

Jean Marcenac, chief mechanic for the Novi team, threatened to withdraw the already-qualified car of Paul Russo in protest of the decision.

He claimed that the officials miscalculated the time needed for all 12 cars to get a fair shot; and that his team's other driver (Eddie Russo) had virtually no chance to make it to the front of the line.

With the race scheduled for Wednesday, track superintendent Clarence Cagle oversaw a massive clean-up effort.

After torrential rains and flooding throughout the week, track crews had worked diligently for more than two days to clean up the grounds.

Tony Hulman gave the command to start engines at 10:56 a.m., and the field pulled away behind the DeSoto pace car.

The race was already unfolding as ultra-competitive, as the top four to five cars were running close together on the track and jockeying for position.

Russo set a blistering pace, averaging 142.255 mph for the first twenty laps (50 miles), a new race record.

Johnny Thomson lost control at the south end of the mainstretch, hitting the inside pit wall, and swerving out into the path of other cars.

The yellow light would stay on for over 15 minutes to clear the track and clean up an oil spill caused by the accident.

At the 40-lap mark (100 miles), the top five was Flaherty, O'Connor, Johnnie Parsons, Tony Bettenhausen, and Jim Rathmann.

Tony Bettenhausen suffered a small fire in the pits, but it was quickly extinguished and he was able to rejoin the race.

Andy Linden pulled into the pits with the car smoking, and he was forced to drop out with an oil leak.

Under the ensuing yellow, Flaherty came in for a pit stop for fuel and the crew changed his right-rear tire.

After running in the top ten most of the day, Jim Rathmann's car began smoking noticeably.

With the green back on for lap 166, Sam Hanks began to charge and started to cut into Flaherty's lead.

Hanks had trimmed the deficit to about 18 seconds when Eddie Russo (driving Ed Elisian's car) stalled out on the track.

[19] Flaherty, driving for the John Zink team, notably notched the first Indy 500 victory for the famous Watson roadster.

Wallard visited the booth several times at periodic intervals to offer color commentary and observations.

Chief Announcer: Sid Collins Analyst: Charlie BrockmanGuest commentator: Lee Wallard South turns: Bill Frosch Backstretch: Bernie Herman North turns: Jim Shelton The Indianapolis 500 was included in the FIA World Championship of Drivers from 1950 through 1960.

At the time the new world championship was announced and first organized by the CSI, the United States did not yet have a Grand Prix.

[35] The drivers also earned separate points (on a different scale) towards the respective AAA or USAC national championships.

Former World Champion Giuseppe Farina entered, but struggled to get his car up to speed, and he was unable to make a qualifying attempt.