Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys

It would be the darkest Month of May in Indianapolis 500 history.

In 1933, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway promised fans the safest race the Brickyard had ever seen. New rules, new technology, and a renewed focus on stock-based machinery were all meant to prove that America’s greatest race could survive the crushing weight of the Great Depression. Instead, the month became one of the bloodiest chapters in motorsport history.

Five men lost their lives before the checkered flag had even truly settled over Indianapolis.

In this episode of “Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys,” we trace the chain of events that transformed the 1933 Indianapolis 500 into the deadliest running of the race ever contested. From Eddie Rickenbacker’s controversial “junk formula” regulations and the return of riding mechanics to the brutal qualifying crashes, mechanical failures, and horrifying accidents that claimed the lives of Bill Denver, Bob Hurst, Mark Billman, Lester Spangler, and Monk Jordan, we'll reveal how such a dangerous event came to be.

#Indianapolis500 #Indy500 #indycar #MotorsportHistory #RacingHistory #AutoRacing #VintageRacing #IndianapolisMotorSpeedway #MotorsportPodcast #Motorsport #RacingPodcast #IndyCarHistory #AAAChampionship #EddieRickenbacker #LouisMeyer #WilburShaw #GreatDepression #1933Indy500 #HistoricRacing #MotorsportCulture #RidingMechanic #ClassicCars #AmericanHistory #DangerousSports #SpeedwayHistory #GoldenAgeOfRacing #MotorRacing #HistoricMotorsport #OpenWheelRacing #Brickyard
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Bibliography: 
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2015/05/21/indianapolis-500-indy-500-will-overhead-1933-newspaper-headline-mistake-history/27678645/
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/in-all-but-one-small-town-in-america-louis-meyer-won-the-1933-indianapolis-500/#comments-block 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/105233097/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/313430554/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873257022/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/105160745/?match=1&terms=%22Indianapolis%20500%22
https://www.newspapers.com/image/311189214/?match=2&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/105155396/?match=2&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/105160354/?match=1&terms=%22Indianapolis%20500%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/311162451/?match=2&terms=%22speedway%22
https://www.newspapers.com/image/311183898/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22
https://www.newspapers.com/image/105151490/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873257006/ 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873255772/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22
https://www.newspapers.com/image/313422288/?match=1&terms=%22Indianapolis%20500%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873256688/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22 
https://www.newspapers.com/image/873256688/?match=1&terms=%22speedway%22

Long before the name Offenhauser became synonymous with Indy glory, there was Harry Miller: a self-taught machinist and visionary whose engines transformed racing forever. Between the 1920s and the dawn of World War II, Miller-built cars dominated American motorsport with stunning speed, elegant engineering, and an obsessive devotion to craftsmanship. 
But behind the brilliance lay financial chaos, broken partnerships, spiritual obsession, and the crushing reality of an industry evolving faster than one man could control.
In this episode, we explore how Los Angeles became an unlikely cradle of racing innovation through the dangerous spectacle of board track racing; how Miller, Fred Offenhauser, and Leo Goossen formed one of the most important engineering partnerships in motorsport history; and how the Miller empire collapsed even as its creations continued winning races for decades.
From the futuristic Golden Submarine to the legendary Miller 122 and 91, this is the story of the machines that reshaped the Indianapolis 500 — and the flawed, brilliant men who built them.
#indycar #indy500 #indianapolis500 #indianapolismotorspeedway #harrymiller #offenhauser #motorsport #motorsporthistory
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Bibliography
Board Track: Guts, Gold & Glory by Dick Wallen

The Miller Dynasty: A technical history of the work of Harry A. Miller, his associates, and his successors by Mark L. Dees

Offenhauser: The Legendary Racing Engine and the Men Who Built It by Gordon Eliot White

City of Speed: Los Angeles and the Rise of American Racing by Joe Scalzo

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nobody-walks-in-la-the-rise-of-cars-and-the-monorails-that-never-were-43267593/ 

https://medium.californiasun.co/los-angeles-motordrome-6f22dd973808 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-14-sp-9194-story.html 

https://www.stutzclub.org/frederick-moscovics/ 

https://archive.org/stream/armourengineer18inarmo/armourengineer18inarmo_djvu.txt

The 1975 Spanish Grand Prix holds a strange place in the Formula 1 history books. That weekend, drivers boycotted what they perceived as unacceptably dangerous conditions at the Montjuïc Park street circuit; barriers had been poorly assembled, and in some cases, there were no bolts holding the Armco together. To keep the event on schedule, team bosses descended onto the track with wrenches in hand, ready to secure the safety features themselves.
Yet for all of those efforts, the race still went down in infamy. A crash on lap 26 left multiple people dead, and the race was called to an early conclusion by organizers who couldn't access the scene of the accident without using the track itself. 
It's one of F1's biggest tragedies, but there are many fans who only recognize the race for another of its historic moments: It remains the only Formula 1 event where a woman — Lella Lombardi — scored points. 
In this episode of “Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys,” I'm threading together the disparate parts of this weekend to create a more comprehensive understanding of what really happened that weekend at Montjuïc Park — with a little help from none other than Mario Andretti helping to set the scene.
To find out more about Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys: https://linktr.ee/deadlypassionsterriblejoys 
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Bibliography: 
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/28/archives/race-car-crash-kills-4-in-spain-4-spectators-killed-as-racer.html
https://www.grandprix247.com/formula-1-news/lombardi-feat-a-mere-footnote-to-tragic-1975-spanish-grand-prix
http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=294
https://www.dive-bomb.com/article/formula-1-s-forgotten-tragedy-1975-spanish-grand-prix
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/tremayne-the-tragic-story-of-the-1975-spanish-grand-prix.7YkvJOOY66ARDRMRywzyB
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/why-tragic-montjuich-75-race-was-platform-for-f1-trailblazer/
https://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr254.html
https://www.motorsportretro.com/2010/09/spanish-grand-prix-1975-tragedy-at-montjuic-park/
https://motorsport.sportingmemories.net/memory/5111-maurice-hamilton-1975-spanish-grand-prix/?addcomment
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/paradise-lost-montjuic-and-the-1975-spanish-grand-prix/
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/august-2025/82/f1s-most-successful-female-racer-was-lella-lombardi-too-far-ahead-of-the-times/ 
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1975/66/spanish-grand-prix/ 
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1975/36/the-spanish-grand-prix-catastrophic/ 
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/single-seaters/f1/why-tragic-montjuich-75-race-was-platform-for-f1-trailblazer/ 
https://motorsport.sportingmemories.net/memory/5111-maurice-hamilton-1975-spanish-grand-prix/?addcomment

For more than 70 years, Formula 1 has been one of the most exclusive — and challenging — arenas in global sport. And while over 1,000 drivers have entered a Grand Prix, only five of them have been women.

But who were these women? How did they get to F1? And what barriers stood in their way? 

Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock for an exploration into the fascinating lives of F1’s fastest women. Among them are Olympians, kidnapping victims, and LGBTQ+ trailblazers who all had one goal in mind: racing on the world’s biggest stage.

This audio is a recording of a public talk given at the San Antonio Library System during March 2026 in honor of Women's History Month.

#womeninmotorsport #womeninhistory #womenracing #f1 #formula1 #lellalombardi #mariateresadefilippis #desirewilson #giovannaamati #divinagalica
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From Formula 1 to the Indianapolis 500, motorsport often presents itself as a meritocracy, but for much of racing history, women were explicitly and systematically banned from competition. From formal rules to informal “gentlemen’s agreements,” the exclusion of women from the world of speed lasted for decades, shaping who was allowed to compete and who could only watch from the sidelines.
Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock for a fascinating look at the ways women were barred from competing in races — and how those women fought back.
We’ll explore everything from national federation bans, license denials, moral refusal, and political climates in order to understand why and how women were discouraged from racing. More importantly, though, we’ll also take a deep look at the persistence and organization required to revoke those bans in order to allow women to get behind the wheel.

#womeninmotorsport #womeninhistory #womenracing #f1 #formula1 #lellalombardi #mariateresadefilippis #janetguthrie #camilledugast #odettesiko #lemans #24hlemans #indycar #indy500
To find out more about Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys: ⁠https://linktr.ee/deadlypassionsterriblejoys⁠ 
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Follow Elizabeth Blackstock on Instagram: @elizablackstock
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