I am shocked!! I have never seen this footage before. That was my Grandfather - William Cantlin. My dad went to visit him the day of the race and told him he was going to be a grandfather in a couple months. My Mom was pregnant with me at the time. Daddy never forgave himself for talking to him before the race because he thought that may have distracted his attention from the race. I am searching for any info I can find on the race and Shorty's life. Add to this thread if you can.
(From Wikipedia) Late in the race, Lou Moore teammates Bill Holland and Mauri Rose were running 1st and 2nd. The pit crew displayed a confusing chalkboard sign with the letters "EZY" to Holland, presumably meaning for him to take the final laps at a reduced pace to safely make it to the finish. Mauri Rose ignored the board, and charged to catch up to Holland. Holland believed he held a lap lead over Rose, and allowed him to catch up. The two drivers waved as Rose passed Holland, with Holland believing it was not more than a congratulatory gesture. In reality, the pass Rose made was for the lead, and he led the final 8 laps to take the controversial victory. The race was marred by a 41st lap crash that claimed the life of William "Shorty" Cantlon.
The voice over on this newsreel is Mel Allen, the famous NY Yankees announcer. He did a lot of the sports voice overs for Fox Movietone News. Movie star Carole Landis, who give Mauri Rose the traditional winner's circle kiss would be dead herself not long after this. She committed suicide/
Two things: 1) Those guys were just plain tough... 2) The cars were built to go fast...not for driver comfort, safety or anything else. I try to avoid see the fatal accidents, but seeing Shorty Cantlon's crash, that car didn't take ANY of the shock...it passed it all to the driver. It's a shame so many had to pay the ultimate price before safety was put on the agenda.
Very late response (I was 4 years old when you wrote this, i’m now 16) and i’m not even sure if you’ll ever see this but. Yeah it is such a shame that they waited until a lot of people died before even caring about safety. May those brave souls that sacrificed their lives for safety Rest in Peace, true heroes.
This was back when the cars were practically solid steel. If they wrecked, they'd wind up almost completely intact. Just replace the tires, hose what's left of the driver out, and you're good to go.
I really wish that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would put a dvd collection of all of the 500 races that were ran with the roadsters and even those of the early 30's and 40's. I love those cars and I only wish i would have been born about 40 years earlier than I was!............... 'course I would be closer to "dead" by now, but ALAS, I don't give a hoot about that!
@@RilevTV And, unfortunately, deaths in auto racing were all too common. It's interesting-I remember seeing an interview with an Grand Prix driver from the immediate post-war period, and the interviewer asked if he'd been concerned about the danger back them. The driver looked at the guy like he had two heads and said "Of course not! It was the first time in six years nobody had been shooting at me!" Which I guess puts the danger in perspective
Shorty Cantlon's accident doesn't look all that severe if you measure it against the kind of thing that people survive nowadays. I guess - from the way he's flung so violently around in the car - that he died of a basal skull fracture. The commentator doesn't seem to mind much!!
Drivers died willy-willy from the late '30s onward as laps speeds rose above 130 mph in cars with narrow (utterly non-adhesive) tires, brittle suspensions and no downforce whatsoever bounding thunkety-thunkety over the brick-paved track surface. '38 winner Floyd Roberts in '39. George Bailey in '40. Multi-time European champ Rudi Carraciola barely survived a bird to the =face= in '46 and took months to recover. Ralph Hepburn in a Novi in '47. 50-year-old Chet Miller in '53. Two-time winner Bill Vukovich in '55. Pat O'Connor in '58. Jerry Unser and rookie Bob Cortner in '59. Tony Bettenhausen in '61. Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald in '64.
0:40 Car's rear end take a direct hit hard into the wall and when it spins back around the rear end looks good as new, were these cars built out of iron?
The reasoning back then was that stronger cars were safer cars, but the same strength that protected the cars from damage also allowed more energy to reach the driver.
These cars were like weapons ready to kill the driver, it was sufficient to lose the control and then, no safety belts, the cars were not able to protecte the drivers that were easily deheaded or got neck fractures resulting in fatalities. If some of them survived it was like a miracle, these were the times we were living.
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![[INDIANAPOLIS 500, 1946]](/img/1.gif)
I am shocked!! I have never seen this footage before. That was my Grandfather - William Cantlin. My dad went to visit him the day of the race and told him he was going to be a grandfather in a couple months. My Mom was pregnant with me at the time. Daddy never forgave himself for talking to him before the race because he thought that may have distracted his attention from the race. I am searching for any info I can find on the race and Shorty's life. Add to this thread if you can.
(From Wikipedia)
Late in the race, Lou Moore teammates Bill Holland and Mauri Rose were running 1st and 2nd. The pit crew displayed a confusing chalkboard sign with the letters "EZY" to Holland, presumably meaning for him to take the final laps at a reduced pace to safely make it to the finish. Mauri Rose ignored the board, and charged to catch up to Holland. Holland believed he held a lap lead over Rose, and allowed him to catch up. The two drivers waved as Rose passed Holland, with Holland believing it was not more than a congratulatory gesture.
In reality, the pass Rose made was for the lead, and he led the final 8 laps to take the controversial victory. The race was marred by a 41st lap crash that claimed the life of William "Shorty" Cantlon.
Oh, I appreciate your sentiment. Thank you. Even tho I never was able to know him, I feel connected.
when the commentary was THIS good!
The voice over on this newsreel is Mel Allen, the famous NY Yankees announcer. He did a lot of the sports voice overs for Fox Movietone News. Movie star Carole Landis, who give Mauri Rose the traditional winner's circle kiss would be dead herself not long after this. She committed suicide/
Two things:
1) Those guys were just plain tough...
2) The cars were built to go fast...not for driver comfort, safety or anything else. I try to avoid see the fatal accidents, but seeing Shorty Cantlon's crash, that car didn't take ANY of the shock...it passed it all to the driver. It's a shame so many had to pay the ultimate price before safety was put on the agenda.
Very late response (I was 4 years old when you wrote this, i’m now 16) and i’m not even sure if you’ll ever see this but. Yeah it is such a shame that they waited until a lot of people died before even caring about safety. May those brave souls that sacrificed their lives for safety Rest in Peace, true heroes.
Esses homens eram corajosos , não tinha segurança nenhuma e corriam por amor ao automobilismo,eu admiro todos eles pela coragem
This was back when the cars were practically solid steel. If they wrecked, they'd wind up almost completely intact. Just replace the tires, hose what's left of the driver out, and you're good to go.
RIP William “Shorty” Cantlon
I really wish that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would put a dvd collection of all of the 500 races that were ran with the roadsters and even those of the early 30's and 40's. I love those cars and I only wish i would have been born about 40 years earlier than I was!............... 'course I would be closer to "dead" by now, but ALAS, I don't give a hoot about that!
They did Robin. Check out the Indy 500 gift store. The Dvd covers all races, but some years very little footage.
these old new reels were wierd. they talked about a guy that died just as it was a normal crash
mailmeonline it was 2 years after ww2 so not surprised here
@@RilevTV And, unfortunately, deaths in auto racing were all too common.
It's interesting-I remember seeing an interview with an Grand Prix driver from the immediate post-war period, and the interviewer asked if he'd been concerned about the danger back them. The driver looked at the guy like he had two heads and said "Of course not! It was the first time in six years nobody had been shooting at me!" Which I guess puts the danger in perspective
Shorty Cantlon's accident doesn't look all that severe if you measure it against the kind of thing that people survive nowadays. I guess - from the way he's flung so violently around in the car - that he died of a basal skull fracture. The commentator doesn't seem to mind much!!
Drivers died willy-willy from the late '30s onward as laps speeds rose above 130 mph in cars with narrow (utterly non-adhesive) tires, brittle suspensions and no downforce whatsoever bounding thunkety-thunkety over the brick-paved track surface. '38 winner Floyd Roberts in '39. George Bailey in '40. Multi-time European champ Rudi Carraciola barely survived a bird to the =face= in '46 and took months to recover. Ralph Hepburn in a Novi in '47. 50-year-old Chet Miller in '53. Two-time winner Bill Vukovich in '55. Pat O'Connor in '58. Jerry Unser and rookie Bob Cortner in '59. Tony Bettenhausen in '61. Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald in '64.
"Ain't life grand?!" not for Shorty Cantlin.
Roasted
cool, on my way to the 100 at Indy next wednesday, soo cool can't wait
And? How was it? 😁
0:40 Car's rear end take a direct hit hard into the wall and when it spins back around the rear end looks good as new, were these cars built out of iron?
The reasoning back then was that stronger cars were safer cars, but the same strength that protected the cars from damage also allowed more energy to reach the driver.
These cars were like weapons ready to kill the driver, it was sufficient to lose the control and then, no safety belts, the cars were not able to protecte the drivers that were easily deheaded or got neck fractures resulting in fatalities. If some of them survived it was like a miracle, these were the times we were living.
I realize the drivers knew the risks of racing but it is still sad to see them lose their lives.
Great stuff but was stretched out ( picture ). It was way off.
@Z15HP3 God bless ya friend!
That'll take you mind off the Commies!
coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
A death, fake sound effects, old as dirt, more!