This 5/31/1948 Indianapolis 500 Winner Mauri Rose 8x10 Gelatin Silver IMS Photo is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by REM Fine Collectibles.
This image was purchased along with 100s of other Official Indianapolis Motor Speedway photographs from famed Indianapolis 500 Photographer Jim Haines' personal collection. Many taken by Jim himself.
Maurice Rose (May 26, 1906 – January 1, 1981) was an American racing driver. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1941, 1947, and 1948, becoming the race's third three-time winner. He also won the AAA National Championship in 1936.
Although Rose had driven in every Indianapolis 500 since 1933, he earned his first pole position when he put his Maserati on the pole for the 1941 Indianapolis 500; but spark plug problems sidelined his car after sixty laps. He then took over the Wetteroth /Offenhauser car being driven by Floyd Davis that had started in 17th place.
Rose went on to win. In 1947 and 1948, Rose captured back-to-back Indianapolis 500s driving one of the Diedt/Offenhauser Blue Crown Spark Plug Specials, owned and prepared by veteran driver/car owner Lou Moore.
Late in the 1947 race, Rose found himself lying second to his rookie teammate, Bill Holland, when both were given a sign reading "EZY" from pit lane. Holland reduced speed, but Rose ignored the sign and continued on. Rose closed on Holland and to his amazement, Holland gave way without a battle and even gave Rose a friendly wave as he went past on his way to victory.
But Holland thought he had more than a lap lead on Rose, instead of just a few seconds. Holland was furious afterward.
1948 for the second year in a row, the Blue Crown Spark Plug teammates Mauri Rose and Bill Holland finished 1st-2nd. Rose became the second driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in consecutive years. Unlike the previous year's race, no controversy surrounds the results. Coupled with his co-victory in 1941, Rose became the third three-time winner at Indy.
In 1949, with Holland leading and Rose again running second late in the race, Rose set out to overtake his now-veteran teammate.
Rose again ignored car owner Lou Moore's "EZ" signs from the pits and continued to push in pursuit of Holland. This time, Rose's car broke while Holland cruised home to victory—and Moore fired Rose on the spot after the race for disobeying team orders.
Rose made his fifteenth and final Indianapolis 500 start in the 1951 race. Knocked out from an accident after 126 laps, the forty-five-year-old Rose retired to a home in California. For the 1967 race, officials of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway invited him to drive the pace car.