The cars were instructed to pull away and assemble into the official eleven rows of three after they entered the racing surface.

Sam Hanks pulled the pace car off the track and into the pits, but chief starter Bill Vanderwater displayed the yellow flag to wave off the start.

By the time Hanks was ready to pull the pace car back out on the track, the field had re-formed, and Vanderwater gave them the green flag.

At the start, Dick Rathmann took the lead in turn 1, Ed Elisian was second, and Jimmy Reece third.

As the cars battled into turn three, Elisian spun and took Rathmann to the outside wall, triggering a huge 15-car pileup.

O'Connor's car sailed fifty feet in the air, landed upside down and burst into flames.

Four of the top five starting positions were out of the race from the crash, including polesitter Dick Rathmann, who placed 27th.

The second half of the race settled down to a battle between Jimmy Bryan and Johnny Boyd, with rookie George Amick also in contention.

Boyd suddenly slowed on lap 177 with a worn out right rear tire, sending him to the pits, and elevating Amick to second.

During the race as the news of Pat O'Connor's death spread around the track, the mood among the spectators became somber and glum.

Following the accident, race officials announced that they would change the starting procedure, abandoning the single-file trip down pit lane that was used in 1957 and 1958.

Also, for the 1959 Indy 500, metal roll bars welded to the frame behind the driver's head were mandated, and helmets were required to pass safety certification by Speedway medical officials.

The broadcast featured the debut of longtime fixture Lou Palmer, who reported from the normally quiet and remote third turn.

However, on the opening lap, Palmer was quickly thrust into duty, as his first words on the network were to describe the massive 15-car pileup and fatal accident of Pat O'Connor.

In 2019, this entire race's radio broadcast became available as a paid digital download from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway website.

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.

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