Floyd Davis
American racing driver (1905–1977)
title: "Floyd Davis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1909-births", "1977-deaths", "indianapolis-500-drivers", "indianapolis-500-winners", "people-from-menard-county,-illinois", "racing-drivers-from-illinois", "aaa-championship-car-drivers", "20th-century-american-sportsmen", "burials-at-crown-hill-cemetery", "united-states-navy-personnel-of-world-war-ii"] description: "American racing driver (1905–1977)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Davis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American racing driver (1905–1977) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox racing driver"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Floyd Davis |
| image | Indy500winningcar1941.JPG |
| caption | The winning car from the 1941 Indianapolis 500 - Mauri Rose took over the car from Davis on lap 73 |
| birth_name | Floyd Eldon Davis |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Oakford, Illinois, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| titles | Major victories |
| Indianapolis 500 (1941 (co-winner)) | |
| {{Infobox Champ Car driver | embed |
| Total_Champ_Races | 18 |
| Years_In_Champ | 9 |
| Best_Champ_Pos | 4th (tie) (1941) |
| First_Champ_Race | 1935 St. Paul 100 (St. Paul) |
| Last_Champ_Race | 1948 Atlanta 100 (Lakewood) |
| First_Champ_Win | 1941 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) |
| Champ_Wins | 1 |
| Champ_Podiums | 1 |
| Champ_Poles | 0 |
| :: |
| name = Floyd Davis | image = Indy500winningcar1941.JPG | caption = The winning car from the 1941 Indianapolis 500 - Mauri Rose took over the car from Davis on lap 73 | birth_name = Floyd Eldon Davis | birth_date = | birth_place = Oakford, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. | titles = Major victories Indianapolis 500 (1941 (co-winner)) | module1 = | Total_Champ_Races = 18 | Years_In_Champ = 9 | Best_Champ_Pos = 4th (tie) (1941) | First_Champ_Race = 1935 St. Paul 100 (St. Paul) | Last_Champ_Race = 1948 Atlanta 100 (Lakewood) | First_Champ_Win = 1941 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) | Champ_Wins = 1 | Champ_Podiums = 1 | Champ_Poles = 0
Floyd Eldon Davis (March 9, 1905 – May 31, 1977) was an American racing driver, and the co-winner of the 1941 Indianapolis 500. Davis drove the first 72 laps of the 1941 race before being replaced by Mauri Rose, who completed the race in the lead.
Co-winner of the Indianapolis 500
During the 1941 Indianapolis 500, Davis had been driving the Noc-Out Hose Clamp car for sixty laps, moving from 17th to 12th place when teammate Mauri Rose, the pole sitter, began experiencing problems with his car, the Elgin Piston Pin. The films show that he wasn't too happy when at lap 72, team owner Lou Moore pulled Davis from his car and replaced him with Rose. “I was ready to go into the lead when they called me in,” Davis later joked.
That is what Rose did, winning the first of his three 500 championships, and earning Davis an asterisk in the history books as a co-winner, although he never led a single lap in any of his races. Davis received a 50-50 split of the prize money, but never drove in another 500, racing only sparingly in 1946 and 1948.
Davis had driven in three previous 500s, coming in 15th in 1937, 27th in 1939, and 20th in 1940.
Davis is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis (Section 53 Lot 320).
Motorsports career results
AAA Championship Car results
::data[format=table]
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Points | 1941 | 4th (tie) | 450 | 1946 | 54th | 80 | 1948 | 36th | 87.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INDY | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | MIL | NYS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| INDY | LAN | ATL | ISF | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | MIL | GOS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ARL | INDY | MIL | LAN | MIL | SPR | MIL | DUQ | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | ATL | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | PIK | SPR | DUQ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| :: |
- 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.
Indianapolis 500 results
::data[format=table]
| Year | Car | Start | Qual | Rank | Finish | Laps | Led | Retired | 1937 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | 24 | 118.942 | 14 | 15 | 190 | 0 | Crash T3 | |||||
| 56 | 29 | 119.375 | 29 | 27 | 43 | 0 | Shock absorber | |||||
| 61 | 33 | 120.797 | 30 | 20 | 157 | 0 | Flagged | |||||
| 16 | 17 | 121.106 | 25 | 1 | 72 | 0 | Relieved | |||||
| Totals | 462 | 0 | ||||||||||
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| Starts | Poles | Front Row | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Retired |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 0 | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| :: |
References
References
- Hankinson, Bob. (June 1941). "Mauri Rose Wins at Indianapolis". [[Chilton Company]].
- (2011). "Indianapolis Auto greats". [[Crown Hill Cemetery]].
- "1946 AAA National Championship Trail".
- Capps, H. Donald. (October 2009). "The Curious Case of the 1946 Season: An Inconvenient Championship". Rear View Mirror.
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