Rex Houston Mays Jr. (March 10, 1913 – November 6, 1949) was an American racing driver. He was a two-time National Champion, won four poles for the Indianapolis 500, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest drivers of his era.
| Rex Mays | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mays, circa 1935 | |||||||
| Born | Rex Houston Mays Jr. March 10, 1913 Riverside, California, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | November 6, 1949 (aged 36) Del Mar, California, U.S. | ||||||
| Championship titles | |||||||
| AAA West Coast Big Car (1934, 1935) AAA Midwest Big Car (1936, 1937) AAA Championship Car (1940, 1941) | |||||||
| Champ Car career | |||||||
| 57 races run over 12 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 1st (1940, 1941) | ||||||
| First race | 1934 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| Last race | 1949 Del Mar 100 (Del Mar) | ||||||
| First win | 1936 Goshen 100 (Goshen) | ||||||
| Last win | 1946 Milwaukee 100 (Milwaukee) | ||||||
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Racing career
editMays won regional sprint car championships in the mid-1930s.[1][2] He made his Indianapolis 500 debut in 1934 and won the pole in 1935, 1936, and again in 1940 and finished second, he returned the next year and finished second again.[3] Mays won the AAA National Championship in 1940 and 1941. However, World War II suspended racing until 1946, denying Mays of what likely would have been the peak of his career. After the war, Mays again won the Indianapolis pole in 1948 but was knocked out by a mechanical problem.
In a race at Milwaukee, a fellow driver, Duke Dinsmore, was thrown from his car during an incident in the south turn. Mays was leading the race and saw Dinsmore's body lying in the middle of the south turn. Mays spun his car into the wall, got out of the car, and pulled the unconscious Dinsmore to safety.[4]
Death
editMays was killed at the age of 36 in a crash during the only Championship Car race held at Del Mar Fairgrounds race track in Del Mar, California in November 1949.[4] In this accident, Mays swerved to miss a car that had crashed in front of him. His car went out of control and flipped, throwing Mays to the track surface, where he was hit by a trailing car.
Awards and honors
editMays has been inducted into the following halls of fame:
- Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1963)[3]
- National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (1990)[5]
- International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1993)[4]
- Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1995)[6]
- Riverside Sport Hall of Fame[7]
In addition, the Milwaukee Mile Indy car race traditionally run the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 was renamed in Mays' honor, recognizing not only his career and tragic death, but his selfless earlier actions in protecting Dinsmore. The Rex Mays Classic ran as such from 1950 to 1987 - at which time the Mays name was eliminated in favor of Miller High Life sponsorship. Riverside International Raceway also held an Indy car race named after Mays, the Rex Mays 300, which ran from 1967 to 1969.[6]
Motorsports career results
editAAA Championship Car results
edit| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | INDY 23 |
SPR | NYS | MFD 16 |
- | 0 | |||||||||
| 1935 | INDY 17 |
MIN | SPR | NYS | ALT | LAN | - | 0 | |||||||
| 1936 | INDY 15 |
GTP 1 |
NYS 3 |
GVC DNS |
11th | 200 | |||||||||
| 1937 | INDY 33 |
GVC 3 |
NYS 13 |
8th | 405 | ||||||||||
| 1938 | INDY 28 |
NYS 2 |
13th | 165 | |||||||||||
| 1939 | INDY 16 |
MIL 17 |
NYS 13 |
- | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1940 | INDY 2 |
SPR 1 |
NYS 1 |
1st | 1,225 | ||||||||||
| 1941 | INDY 2 |
MIL 1 |
NYS 1 |
1st | 1,225 | ||||||||||
| 1946 | INDY 30 |
LAN 1 |
ATL 11 |
ISF 1 |
MIL 1 |
GOS DNQ |
9th | 613 | |||||||
| 1947 | INDY 6 |
MIL 2 |
LAN DNQ |
ATL 12 |
BAI 15 |
MIL 10 |
GOS DNS |
MIL 16 |
PIK | SPR 16 |
ARL 4 |
5th | 765.7 | ||
| 1948 | ARL 16 |
INDY 19 |
MIL 17 |
LAN 16 |
MIL 4 |
SPR 4 |
MIL 7 |
DUQ 17 |
ATL 10 |
PIK | SPR 14 |
DUQ 18 |
13th | 360 | |
| 1949 | ARL 2 |
INDY 25 |
MIL 7 |
TRE 10 |
SPR 2 |
MIL 3 |
DUQ 15 |
PIK | NYS 15 |
DET 11 |
SPR 2 |
SAC 2 |
DMR 18 |
6th | 1,030 |
- 1946 table only includes results of the six races run to "championship car" specifications. Points total includes the 71 races run to "big car" specifications.[8][9]
Indianapolis 500 results
edit
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References
edit- ^ "AutoRacingRecords.com". www.autoracingrecords.com. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ^ "AutoRacingRecords.com". www.autoracingrecords.com. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
- ^ a b "Rex Mays". IMS Museum. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ a b c "Rex Mays". International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ "Rex Mays". www.sprintcarhof.com. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ a b "Rex Mays". www.mshf.com. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ "Rex Mays | Riverside Sport Hall of Fame". 2011-02-14. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ "1946 AAA National Championship Trail". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ Capps, H. Donald (October 2009). "The Curious Case of the 1946 Season: An Inconvenient Championship" (PDF). Rear View Mirror. 7 (2): 1–16.
External links
edit- Rex Mays - ChampCarStats.com
- Rex Mays at Find a Grave
- Rex Mays - Motorsport Memorial
- Rex Mays driver statistics at Racing-Reference