Floyd Eldon Davis (March 9, 1905 – May 31, 1977) was an American racing driver best known as the co-winner of the 1941 Indianapolis 500. During the race, Davis drove the first 72 laps before being replaced by Mauri Rose, who went on to finish and secure the victory. This shared effort led to their joint recognition as winners of one of the most prestigious events in motorsport history.
Co-Winner of the Indianapolis 500
During the 1941 Indianapolis 500, Floyd Davis had been driving the Noc-Out Hose Clamp car for sixty laps,2 moving from 17th to 12th place when teammate Mauri Rose, the pole sitter, began experiencing problems with his car, the Elgin Piston Pin. The films show that he wasn't too happy when at lap 72, team owner Lou Moore pulled Davis from his car and replaced him with Rose. “I was ready to go into the lead when they called me in,” Davis later joked.
That is what Rose did, winning the first of his three 500 championships, and earning Davis an asterisk in the history books as a co-winner, despite the fact that he never led a single lap in any of his races.3 And though Davis received a 50-50 split of the prize money, he never drove in another 500, racing only sparingly in 1946 and 1948; some attributed it to disgust in having been relieved, although his serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, coupled with his age at 40, might have been just as impactful.
Davis had driven in three previous 500s, coming in 15th in 1937, 27th in 1939, and 20th in 1940.4
Davis is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis (Section 53 Lot 320).5
Motorsports career results
AAA Championship Car results
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | INDY1 | MIL | NYS5 | 4th (tie) | 450 | |||||||||
| 1946 | INDY | LAN | ATL | ISF6 | MIL | GOS | 54th | 80 | ||||||
| 1948 | ARL | INDY | MIL | LAN | MIL | SPR | MIL | DUQ9 | ATL7 | PIK | SPR | DUQ | 36th | 87.5 |
- 1946 table only includes results of the six races run to "championship car" specifications. Points total includes the 71 races run to "big car" specifications.67
Indianapolis 500 results
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External links
- Floyd Davis - ChampCarStats.com
- Floyd Davis at Find a Grave
- Floyd Davis driver statistics at Racing-Reference
References
Hankinson, Bob (June 1941). "Mauri Rose Wins at Indianapolis". Motor Age (Cover story for magazine issue.). Vol. LX, no. 7. Philadelphia: Chilton Company. pp. 18–20, 132. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/sim_motor-age_1941-06_60_7/page/n5/mode/2up ↩
Hankinson, Bob (June 1941). "Mauri Rose Wins at Indianapolis". Motor Age (Cover story for magazine issue.). Vol. LX, no. 7. Philadelphia: Chilton Company. pp. 18–20, 132. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/sim_motor-age_1941-06_60_7/page/n5/mode/2up ↩
Hankinson, Bob (June 1941). "Mauri Rose Wins at Indianapolis". Motor Age (Cover story for magazine issue.). Vol. LX, no. 7. Philadelphia: Chilton Company. pp. 18–20, 132. Retrieved October 8, 2023 – via Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/sim_motor-age_1941-06_60_7/page/n5/mode/2up ↩
"Indianapolis Auto greats" (PDF). Celebrating Automotive Heritage at Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-09-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20120913203018/http://crownhillhf.org/docs/IndianapolisAutoGreatsHandout.pdf ↩
"Indianapolis Auto greats" (PDF). Celebrating Automotive Heritage at Crown Hill Cemetery. Crown Hill Cemetery. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-09-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20120913203018/http://crownhillhf.org/docs/IndianapolisAutoGreatsHandout.pdf ↩
"1946 AAA National Championship Trail". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1946.htm ↩
Capps, H. Donald (October 2009). "The Curious Case of the 1946 Season: An Inconvenient Championship" (PDF). Rear View Mirror. 7 (2): 1–16. http://forix.autosport.com/8w/rvm/rvm-vol07-no02.pdf ↩