Once again, it’s Art Pollard Day here in
Nofendersville. And whilst I'm aware there's countless fallen racing drivers
out there, a la George
Amick, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Gordon Smiley or Rafael Sperafico who make up just a few of the many
forgotten Unknowns.
Unfortunately, Forty-eight years ago Today, Art
Lee Pollard, Jr. lost his life during a qualifying attempt for the Ill-fated
1973 Indianapolis 500. For which it was George Phillips of Oilpressure fame, Ye
Elder Statesman of IndyCar Bloggers who introduced Mwah to him posthumously
many years ago. Ok, nearly a decade ago now when he originally wrote his story
about Art on February 27, 2012 titled
Art Pollard: Always Overshadowed, which you can find upon his Oilpressure.com
blog.
As I was only vaguely aware of Messer Pollard's
name due to his association with one of my most favourite racing cars of
all-time, the unique Lotus 56 Turbine! Which Pollard drove for Andy Granateli
in the 1968 Indy 500 - five years before his unfortunate death during that
Ill-fated Qualifying attempt at Mother
Speedway a week after his 46th birthday.
But I was simply more
amazed over Art's Off the Track efforts with Handicapped Children, not to
mention his overall good nature vs his
driving abilities, and was surprised to learn Wayback’ then that he was a
transplanted Oregonian.
Feeling even more chagrined to discover that
Messer Pollard hailed from Roseburg, Oregon. Which is now right in my
proverbial Backyard, some 95 miles Southeast of Mwah, being a 2hr drive.
Not to mention that Portland International
Raceway was my IndyCar Home-track for two-plus decades. Whilst it was even
funnier yet to learn that Art dominated the Pacific Racing Association series plus
West Coast Super Modifieds before finally graduating to the “Big Cars,” i.e.; Indianapolis’s
Champ Cars.
As I was then also unaware of the fact that Lone
Star J.R. (Johnny Rutherford( was one of Art’s close personal friends - as
Rutherford ironically captured his debutant Indy 500 pole the very same day as
Pollard’s death and dedicated this achievement in honor of Art.
While I also know that numerous drivers are
diligent souls in giving back to their respective Communities and us the Fans,
but the part that really hits home with me is Pollard’s immense contributions
towards the La Rue Carter Hospital mentally-ill children. Making yearly visits
without camera crew or media to the Hospital’s Psychiatric ward - talking with
them, telling stories, playing basketball, etc. As a single sentence in one of
the countless storiesI’ve read ‘bout Art personally paying for them to attend
Day Camp left your stoic No Fenders scribe teary-eyed…
As it seems a truly fitting tribute that La rue
Carter named their play area the Art Pollard Playground in honor of him.
Robin Miller
Riley
Hospital for Children had a special wing for kids with emotional issues and
that was LaRue Carter where Art would go at night and sit with the kids for a
few hours. After his death we had a picnic for those kids every May, drivers
played softball, hung with the kids and that went on for 20-plus years before
it was stopped.
Art
got a late start in racing but was a bad ass in super modifieds and adapted quickly
to Indy cars. He was always aggressive and real brave. But there was never a
better person, great with the fans and well liked by the other drivers.
He
got me started in racing when we bought a Formula Ford from Andy Granatelli
(Art was driving for him then) and he was my chief mechanic (on crutches from
his broken leg suffered at Indy in 1972 when the hub broke) for my first couple
runs. Alley Oop (his nickname) was one of those special people who come along
every now and then…
As Art left the racing arena way too early with
only 83 USAC Champ Car starts and two IndyCar victories to his credit, which George
Phillips notes occurred in 1969 at Milwaukee and Dover, along with a second place
finish at Langhorne that year.
Pollard also finished a tantalizing runner-up
to Jim McElreath at Ontario in 1970
after leading the race by 1-lap before victory slipped away due to a slow tire
leak!
Yet it’s Art’s unyielding patience for making
time for anybody, regardless of the moment that tends to make me think of another
fallen driver named Dan Wheldon…
Meanwhile, another forgotten Driver's name I
tend to overlook typically, and knew Nothing about his career initially was Gordon
Smiley, who reputedly was the first Driver to Die at Mother Speedway during a
Qualifying run on May 15th, 1982 since Pollard's and Swede Savage's Deaths at
Indianapolis, nearly four decades ago. Which I highly doubt any mention of will
be made during this Saturday’s Indy GP.
As the Acclaimed D-Squared', aka Donald
Davidson, now the recently retired Official
Historian of Indianapolis Motor Speedway has noted previously how Gordon rubbed
many Indy 500 veteran Drivers the wrong way by proclaiming publicly that Indy
was just a "Business" Stop along his way to his ultimate goal of
becoming a Formula 1 Driver, which never happened.
As Smiley is just loosely intertwined with
Pollard, due to dubious circumstances, both being just brief footnotes in the
countless numbers of drivers to have perished at Mother Speedway over it’s Century-plus
existence.
As Art Pollard raced in only five Indianapolis
500 races between 1967-1971, with a best finish of 8th place in
1967. Ironically the second best rookie Driver that year, with only Rookie Of
the Year Denny Hulme finishing ahead in 4th place. But it’s Art
Pollard the person who captivates me with his amazing Humility towards others,
especially the Disadvantaged, who makes up just one of the countless “good guy,
No Name” Drivers who’ve raced at Indianapolis…
And whilst I was trying to “See” if the old Art Lee Pollard Family website was still available, I inadvertently came across a link to ‘Ol r’, akak Robin Miller for a Racer.com article upon 2019 Christmas book ideas including Art Pollard: The Life and Legacy of A Gentleman Racer written by a Hillsboro, Oregon Author which was then available at Coastal181.com.
