Rex Mays | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Nationality | American |
Born | Rex Houston Mays II March 10, 1913 Riverside, California, United States |
Died | November 16, 1949 Del Mar, California, United States | (aged 36)
Cause of death | Injuries from a racing accident |
Rex Houston Mays, Jr. (March 10, 1913 – November 6, 1949) was a former AAA Championship Car race driver. He was a two-time AAA champion and won 8 points-scoring races.
He made his Indianapolis 500 debut in 1934 and won the pole in 1935, 1936, and again in 1940 and finished second, he returned the next year and finished second again. Mays won the AAA National Championship in 1940 and 1941. However, World War II suspended racing until 1946, denying Mays of what likely would have been the peak of his career. After the war, Mays again won the Indy pole in 1948 but was knocked out by a mechanical problem.
He was killed at the age of 36 in a crash during the only Champ Car race held at Del Mar Fairgrounds race track in Del Mar, California in November 1949. In this accident, Mays swerved to miss a car that had crashed in front of him. His car went out of control and flipped, throwing Mays to the track surface, where he was hit by a trailing car.
In a race at Milwaukee, a fellow driver, Duke Dinsmore, was thrown from his car during an incident in the south turn. Rex Mays was leading the race and saw Dinsmore's body lying in the middle of the south turn. Rex spun his car into the wall, got out of the car, and pulled the unconscious Duke Dinsmore to safety. Because of his selfless heroic action, the June race at the Milwaukee Mile was named the "Rex Mays Classic" (from 1950 to 1987).[1]
In addition, the road racing course just outside his hometown of Riverside held, from 1967 to 1969, a 300-mile Indianapolis-car event called the Rex Mays 300.
Career awards
- He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America[2] in 1995.
- Mays was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in the first class in 1990.
Complete AAA Championship Car results
Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1934 | INDY 23 |
MFD 16 |
- | 0 | |||||||||||
1935 | INDY 17 |
- | 0 | ||||||||||||
1936 | INDY 15 |
GTP 1 |
NYS 3 |
GVC DNS |
11th | 200 | |||||||||
1937 | INDY 33 |
GVC 3 |
NYS 1 |
8th | 405 | ||||||||||
1938 | INDY 28 |
NYS 2 |
13th | 165 | |||||||||||
1939 | INDY 16 |
MIL 17 |
NYS 13 |
- | 0 | ||||||||||
1940 | INDY 2 |
ILL 1 |
NYS 1 |
1st | 1225 | ||||||||||
1941 | INDY 2 |
MIL 1 |
NYS 1 |
1st | 1225 | ||||||||||
1946 | INDY 30 |
LAN 1 |
ATL 11 |
ISF 1 |
MIL 1 |
GOS DNQ |
5th | 620 | |||||||
1947 | INDY 6 |
MIL 2 |
LAN DNQ |
ATL 12 |
BAI 15 |
MIL 10 |
GOS DNS |
MIL 17 |
PIK | SPR 16 |
ARL 4 |
5th | 765.7 | ||
1948 | ARL 16 |
INDY 19 |
MIL 17 |
LAN 16 |
MIL 4 |
SPR 4 |
MIL 7 |
DUQ 17 |
ATL 10 |
PIK | SPR 14 |
DUQ 18 |
13th | 360 | |
1949 | ARL 2 |
INDY 25 |
MIL 7 |
TRE 10 |
SPR 2 |
MIL 3 |
DUQ 7 |
PIK | NYS 15 |
DET 11 |
SPR 2 |
SAC 2 |
DMR 18 |
6th | 1030 |
Indianapolis 500 results
|
|
References
- ^ "Rex Mays, Historic, Class of 1995". Motorsports Hall of Fame.
- ^ Rex Mays at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
External links
- Rex Mays at The Greatest 33
- Rex Mays at Champ Car Stats
- Indy's unluckiest legends: Part 1 - Racer, Robin Miller, 20 May 2013