Swede Savage
Encyclopedia
David Earl "Swede" Savage, Jr. (August 26, 1946 - July 2, 1973) was an American
race car driver.
, Savage began Soap Box Derby
racing at the age of five. He moved up to racing quarter midget cars then at age twelve to Go-Kart racing
. By his mid-teens he was racing motorcycle
s competitively. He was honored as an all-state high school football player at San Bernardino's Pacific High School as a junior, but was ruled ineligible for his senior year because he had accepted prize money racing motorcycles and was therefore ruled a professional athlete.
. Also in attendance was a Ford public relations executive named Monte Roberts, who watched Savage calmly wheelie a motorcycle for the better part of a mile and, struck by Savage's "racy" name and obvious talent, encouraged Ford officials to take Savage under their wing. After a partial season driving NASCAR stock cars in the South for the Ford factory-backed racing team Holman-Moody, Savage received a telephone call from Gurney inviting him back to Southern California to try his hand at sports car racing.
Savage debuted in the old SCCA United States Road Racing Championship
(USRRC) series in April 1968, driving a Lola T70
Mk III (the car campaigned by Gurney in the 1967 Can-Am racing series; a condition of employment Gurney imposed on the young driver was that he rebuild and prepare the car for competition with very little assistance from other AAR staff.) He finished fifth at Riverside in his one appearance in the car. In 1968 and 1969, he also raced in NASCAR
events. Competing in the 1969 Daytona 500
, he crashed after a wheel fell off on lap 124. With AAR's racing program cut back due to budget troubles, Savage resumed semi-pro motorcycle racing in the Southern California area. In 1970, Savage and Gurney drove identical factory-sponsored Plymouth Barracuda
s in the Trans-Am Series
. Early in the season, Chrysler cut back support for the AAR effort and Gurney stepped out of the car to let Savage drive the entire season.
Driving an Eagle-Ford IndyCar
, Savage won the "Bobby Ball 150" at Phoenix International Raceway in October 1970. This would be the last race he drove for All-American Racers, and his sole professional auto racing victory. In March 1971, Savage entered the Questor Grand Prix at Ontario Motor Speedway, driving an Eagle-Plymouth Formula 5000
car. The throttle stuck wide open, and Savage suffered near-fatal head injuries in the ensuing crash. He returned to driving at the beginning of the 1972 season.
He competed in the Indianapolis 500
twice. In the 1972 Indianapolis 500
, he finished 32nd after dropping out on lap six with mechanical problems.
, Savage was entered in an STP-sponsored Eagle-Offenhauser prepared by master mechanic George Bignotti. He had been the fastest driver for much of practice. On the first day of qualifying, gusting winds slowed Savage from matching his best practice speeds, but he still shattered the track record with a four-lap qualifying average of 196.582 mi/h. Later in the day, as the winds abated, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser and Mark Donohue each bettered Savage's time.
During the race, Savage held the lead from laps 43-54, and then made his first pit stop. He rejoined in second place, closely behind Al Unser
. Savage emerged from his stop with 70 gallons (nearly 500 lb.) of additional fuel and a new (cold) right rear tire. On lap 58 Savage, just behind Unser, who was about to make a pit stop of his own, and pushing hard in anticipation of a coming rainstorm, lost control as he exited turn four. The right half of his rear wing had come loose, causing his car to twitch back and forth, then slid across to the inside of the track at nearly top speed, hitting the angled inside wall nearly head-on. The force of the impact, with the car carrying a full load of fuel, caused the car to explode in a 60-foot-high plume of flame. Savage, still strapped in his seat, was thrown back across the circuit. He came to rest adjacent to the outer retaining wall, fully conscious and completely exposed while he lay in a pool of flaming methanol fuel. Longtime Indy 500 spectators who witnessed the crash called it the most spectacular single-car accident in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
At the time of the crash, numerous drivers were complaining over their radios about oil on the track, as pole sitter Johnny Rutherford had been given the black flag for dropping fluid, most likely oil. Among those that were complaining about oil on the track were Jerry Grant, who mentioned so in an interview with Dave Diles of ABC Sports after Savage's crash. Diles later was filmed wiping oil off the front of Joe Leonard's car to prove the point, though Bobby Unser (who had a strained personal relationship with Savage and often ridiculed the driving ability of the younger driver) disputed that the drivers were running on an unsafe racetrack. During the replays of Savage's crash on the tape-delayed broadcast on ABC Sports, Jim McKay and Chris Economaki also mentioned that Savage's rear wing may have come loose, possibly contributing to the crash, as well.
A young crew member for Savage's Patrick Racing teammate Graham McRae
, Armando Teran, ran out across the pit lane in an effort to come to Savage's aid and was struck by a fire truck
rushing up pit road at 60 mph (opposite the normal direction of travel) to the crash. Teran was killed instantly.
Savage joked with medical personnel after the wreck, and was expected to live when taken to Methodist Hospital Medical Center and for some time thereafter. However, he died in the hospital 33 days after the accident. It is widely reported that Savage died of kidney failure from infection, but Dr. Steve Olvey, Savage's attending physician at Indy (and later CART's Director of Medical Affairs), claimed in his book Rapid Response that the real cause of death was complications related to contaminated plasma. Olvey claimed that Savage contracted hepatitis B from a transfusion, causing his liver to fail.
He was interred in the Mt. View Cemetery in his hometown of San Bernardino, California. Married with a six-year-old daughter, his widow Sheryl was expecting their second child at the time of his death.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
race car driver.
Early life
Born in San Bernardino, CaliforniaSan Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
, Savage began Soap Box Derby
Soap Box Derby
The Soap Box Derby is a youth soapbox car racing program which has been run in the United States since 1934. World Championship finals are held each July at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio...
racing at the age of five. He moved up to racing quarter midget cars then at age twelve to Go-Kart racing
Kart racing
Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits...
. By his mid-teens he was racing motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
s competitively. He was honored as an all-state high school football player at San Bernardino's Pacific High School as a junior, but was ruled ineligible for his senior year because he had accepted prize money racing motorcycles and was therefore ruled a professional athlete.
Racing career
In January 1967, Savage made a point of showing up at a Ford Motor Company test session at Riverside International Raceway attended by, among others, racing legend Dan GurneyDan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney is an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner.The son of a Metropolitan Opera star, he was born in Port Jefferson, New York, but moved to California as a teenager...
. Also in attendance was a Ford public relations executive named Monte Roberts, who watched Savage calmly wheelie a motorcycle for the better part of a mile and, struck by Savage's "racy" name and obvious talent, encouraged Ford officials to take Savage under their wing. After a partial season driving NASCAR stock cars in the South for the Ford factory-backed racing team Holman-Moody, Savage received a telephone call from Gurney inviting him back to Southern California to try his hand at sports car racing.
Savage debuted in the old SCCA United States Road Racing Championship
United States Road Racing Championship
The United States Road Racing Championship was created by the Sports Car Club of America in 1962. It was the first SCCA series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series to recover races that had been taken by rival USAC Road Racing...
(USRRC) series in April 1968, driving a Lola T70
Lola T70
The Lola T70 was built for sports car racing, popular in the mid to late 1960s. Developed by Lola Cars in 1965 in Great Britain, the T70 was made for endurance racing...
Mk III (the car campaigned by Gurney in the 1967 Can-Am racing series; a condition of employment Gurney imposed on the young driver was that he rebuild and prepare the car for competition with very little assistance from other AAR staff.) He finished fifth at Riverside in his one appearance in the car. In 1968 and 1969, he also raced in NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
events. Competing in the 1969 Daytona 500
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
, he crashed after a wheel fell off on lap 124. With AAR's racing program cut back due to budget troubles, Savage resumed semi-pro motorcycle racing in the Southern California area. In 1970, Savage and Gurney drove identical factory-sponsored Plymouth Barracuda
Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda is a 2-door car that was manufactured by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1964-1974.The first-generation Barracuda, a fastback A-body coupe based on the Plymouth Valiant, had a distinctive wraparound back glass and was available from 1964-1966.The...
s in the Trans-Am Series
Trans-Am Series
The Trans-Am Series is an automobile racing series which was created in 1966 by Sports Car Club of America President John Bishop. Originally known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship it has evolved over time from its original format as a manufacturers championship for modified racing sedans...
. Early in the season, Chrysler cut back support for the AAR effort and Gurney stepped out of the car to let Savage drive the entire season.
Driving an Eagle-Ford IndyCar
American Championship Car Racing
Since 1916 there has been a recognized United States national automobile racing National Championship for drivers of professional-level, single-seat open wheel race cars. The championship has been under the auspices of several different sanctioning bodies since 1909. Since 1911, the Indianapolis...
, Savage won the "Bobby Ball 150" at Phoenix International Raceway in October 1970. This would be the last race he drove for All-American Racers, and his sole professional auto racing victory. In March 1971, Savage entered the Questor Grand Prix at Ontario Motor Speedway, driving an Eagle-Plymouth Formula 5000
Formula 5000
Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula...
car. The throttle stuck wide open, and Savage suffered near-fatal head injuries in the ensuing crash. He returned to driving at the beginning of the 1972 season.
He competed in the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
twice. In the 1972 Indianapolis 500
1972 Indianapolis 500
The 1972 Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 27, 1972.Gary Bettenhausen leads 138 laps until his engine blows on lap 176. Jerry Grant gets the lead but pits for new tires on lap 188 in team mate Bobby Unser’s pit. Bettenhausen’s Penske team mate Mark Donohue...
, he finished 32nd after dropping out on lap six with mechanical problems.
1973 Indianapolis 500 crash
In the 1973 Indianapolis 5001973 Indianapolis 500
The 57th Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Wednesday, May 30, 1973. The race was held over three days due to rain and 2 major accidents. After 133 laps , rain halted the race, and Gordon Johncock was declared the winner....
, Savage was entered in an STP-sponsored Eagle-Offenhauser prepared by master mechanic George Bignotti. He had been the fastest driver for much of practice. On the first day of qualifying, gusting winds slowed Savage from matching his best practice speeds, but he still shattered the track record with a four-lap qualifying average of 196.582 mi/h. Later in the day, as the winds abated, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser and Mark Donohue each bettered Savage's time.
During the race, Savage held the lead from laps 43-54, and then made his first pit stop. He rejoined in second place, closely behind Al Unser
Al Unser
Alfred "Al" Unser is a former American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser, Jr....
. Savage emerged from his stop with 70 gallons (nearly 500 lb.) of additional fuel and a new (cold) right rear tire. On lap 58 Savage, just behind Unser, who was about to make a pit stop of his own, and pushing hard in anticipation of a coming rainstorm, lost control as he exited turn four. The right half of his rear wing had come loose, causing his car to twitch back and forth, then slid across to the inside of the track at nearly top speed, hitting the angled inside wall nearly head-on. The force of the impact, with the car carrying a full load of fuel, caused the car to explode in a 60-foot-high plume of flame. Savage, still strapped in his seat, was thrown back across the circuit. He came to rest adjacent to the outer retaining wall, fully conscious and completely exposed while he lay in a pool of flaming methanol fuel. Longtime Indy 500 spectators who witnessed the crash called it the most spectacular single-car accident in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
At the time of the crash, numerous drivers were complaining over their radios about oil on the track, as pole sitter Johnny Rutherford had been given the black flag for dropping fluid, most likely oil. Among those that were complaining about oil on the track were Jerry Grant, who mentioned so in an interview with Dave Diles of ABC Sports after Savage's crash. Diles later was filmed wiping oil off the front of Joe Leonard's car to prove the point, though Bobby Unser (who had a strained personal relationship with Savage and often ridiculed the driving ability of the younger driver) disputed that the drivers were running on an unsafe racetrack. During the replays of Savage's crash on the tape-delayed broadcast on ABC Sports, Jim McKay and Chris Economaki also mentioned that Savage's rear wing may have come loose, possibly contributing to the crash, as well.
A young crew member for Savage's Patrick Racing teammate Graham McRae
Graham McRae
Graham McRae is a former racing driver from New Zealand.McRae's single outing in the Formula One World Championship was at the 1973 British Grand Prix on 14 July 1973, where he retired in the first lap...
, Armando Teran, ran out across the pit lane in an effort to come to Savage's aid and was struck by a fire truck
Fire apparatus
A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...
rushing up pit road at 60 mph (opposite the normal direction of travel) to the crash. Teran was killed instantly.
Savage joked with medical personnel after the wreck, and was expected to live when taken to Methodist Hospital Medical Center and for some time thereafter. However, he died in the hospital 33 days after the accident. It is widely reported that Savage died of kidney failure from infection, but Dr. Steve Olvey, Savage's attending physician at Indy (and later CART's Director of Medical Affairs), claimed in his book Rapid Response that the real cause of death was complications related to contaminated plasma. Olvey claimed that Savage contracted hepatitis B from a transfusion, causing his liver to fail.
He was interred in the Mt. View Cemetery in his hometown of San Bernardino, California. Married with a six-year-old daughter, his widow Sheryl was expecting their second child at the time of his death.
Indy 500 results
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