Ed Elisian

Ed Elisian

Nation:	United States
Automobile world championship
First start:	Indianapolis 500 1954
Last start:	Indianapolis 500 1958
Constructors
1954  Stevens 1955 HA Chapmann 1956 Fred Somers 1957 Kalamazoo Sports Inc 1958 Ellen McKinney Zink
statistics
World Cup balance:	-
Starts Victories Poles SR 5 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Edward Gulbeng "Ed Elisian" Eliseian (born December 9, 1926 in Oakland , California , † August 30, 1959 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin ) was an American racing driver .

Career

Elisian started in 43 races of the AAA / USAC National Series between 1953 and 1959 . His best result was a third place, which he achieved in Langhorne in 1959 on a Kurtis Kraft .

The 500-mile Indianapolis he was five times at the start, the race could never quit. Since the race was part of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960 , there are five Grand Prix starts in the statistics.

Elisian was involved in four fatal accidents during his career, which damaged his reputation permanently. The fourth was fatal for himself.

At the Indianapolis 500 in 1955 , he stopped his car after Bill Vukovich's fire accident to come to the rescue. The attempt was unsuccessful, Vukovich died in the wreck of his racing car. To this day, Elisian is the only driver in the history of the 500 miles who stopped his vehicle without damage or defect in order to help another driver. After the race he earned the wrath of his team owner, but a few weeks later he received the Sportsmam Ship Award for his heroic deed.

In 1958 he started the 500 miles between Dick Rathmann and Jimmy Reece from the front row. In the first lap, in turn 3, Elisian turned into the Rathmann driving below him, causing a mass accident in which 15 vehicles were involved. Pat O'Connor hit the Reece car, his car overturned several times (eyewitnesses later spoke of an air level of 15 meters) and remained with the wheels up after turn 4 on the racetrack. The vehicle immediately went up in flames and thousands watched as O'Connor helplessly burned power in his kurtis . Medics announced after the race that he had probably succumbed to his injuries before that. The USAC opened an investigation and Elisian was accused of causing the fatal accident. When rumors surfaced that he wanted to lead the first lap because a syndicate had bet large sums on it, Elisian was shunned by the entire racing community.

In June 1958, Elisian was involved in another mass accident during a sprint car race at the New Bremer Speedway in Saint Marys, Ohio , in which Jim Davis was killed. Although Elisian was not to blame for the accident, the opposition to him grew stronger.

In August 1959, Elisian drove the AAA National Race in Milwaukee . On lap 29 he had an accident when he spun on the oil that AJ Foyt had lost in front of him. The Christianson - Offenhauser hit the wall and caught fire. It took nine minutes before the fire brigade could extinguish the flames, Elisian had no chance of surviving. Here, too, a bad rumor arose after the race that the other drivers had prevented the fire brigade from getting to the scene of the accident in time.

statistics

Indy 500 results

year	Start number	begin	Agony (km / h)	Result	Round	guide	failure
1954	27	31	221.732	18 2	148	0	Delivery to Scott
	68	DNQ
1955	25th	DNQ
1956	10	14th	227.509	23 2	123	0	Handover to Russo
1957	83	7th	228.136	29	51	0	transmission
1958	5	2	234.814	28		0	accident

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Rick Popely, L. Spencer Riggs: Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Publications International Ltd., Lincolnwood IL 1998, ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 .

Web links

• Image: A few minutes after the Vukovich accident, Ed Elisian's car (starting number 68) is on the far left

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Champ Car Starts: [1]
2. ↑ on the course of the accident: Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ on the course of the accident: [2]
4. ↑ on the course of the accident: [3]
5. ↑ on the course of the accident: [4]