High End, Investment Grade, Museum Quality

Racer Vintage Indy 500 Race Car Rare 1960s Exotic Sport Midget Sprint F1 Metal

(Approx. Ten (10) Inches Long) with original box...

 High Detail Precision Metal Model Art

The ghastly crash that killed Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald on the second lap brought out instant horror, a red flag and reform that changed the face of the greatest spectacle in racing. And, even though it turned out to be the last hurrah for the front-engine roadster, fuel cells were mandated and a minimum was put on pit stops, the indelible memory of that day was the crash, the fire, the dark clouds of smoke rising above the front-stretch grandstands and the impending gloom.

When McDonald spun exciting Turn 4 and bounced off the inside wall and into the path of Sachs, it triggered a fireball that erupted into something reminiscent of a World War II battle scene.

One of the drivers, Johnny Rutherford said, "It was like a black curtain had been pulled across the track." 

Regarding the two photo of  the actual crash that accompany this story: One photo was snapped just before a one-car wreck mushroomed into the towering inferno.  It shows McDonald sliding across the track and into the path of Sachs, Rutherford, Ronnie Duman and Unser – who were lined up nose-to-tail trying to figure out an escape route.  The other photo depicted of the aftermath of the explosion...

And it also illustrates how close two future Indy 500 winners came to death.

"I saw a flash of a red car and it exploded," said Rutherford. "Eddie (Sachs) was right in front of me and I was hard on the brakes. He (Sachs) veered a little left and I saw two tailpipes (McDonald) sticking out of the flames so I turned right.

"I went under Eddie's car and my car rode up on the wall."

Sachs slammed into McDonald, which set off a huge explosion of the gasoline-filled tanks.

"I couldn't see anything but fire and smoke so I just buried the throttle because I didn't want to get stopped in that mess," said Unser, who was wheeling the 2,300-pound Novi for Andy Granatelli. "I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best."

Unser rear-ended Duman, pushing his car into and past the burning cars of McDonald and Sachs, where it slid backward into the inside wall on fire. Then the Novi rammed Rutherford's Watson roadster as both cars limped down the track but out of purgatory.