Shaw's death revisited
By Bob Shraluka
Decatur Daily Democrat
The deaths of three people may not be what one desires to be known for, but a plane crash
near Decatur which occurred nearly 60 years ago was a major event in Indiana history and will be
marked in an upcoming special ceremony at the crash site near Peterson.
Historians agree that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, known worldwide, likely would not
even exist today were it not for the efforts of Wilbur Shaw. At the height of his fame, though,
Shaw, a onetime great race driver at the Speedway, died in a plane crash in a field just east of
Peterson. The crash gained national attention at the time.
A ceremony is being planned for October 30 at the site to establish a marker of some sort.
Shortly thereafter, tributes to Shaw are due to be held at the Speedway and in Shelbyville, Shaw's
hometown.
It was on October 30 of 1954 that Shaw and two other men, pilot Ray Grim and artist Ernest
Roose, flew out of Detroit after Shaw visited the Chrysler testing grounds near the city. The
weather was rather frightful at the time and only got worse, and in the midst of a blinding
snowstorm, the plane went down in the field owned by Homer Ginter.
Mark Eutsler is a facilitator, consultant, coach at the Indiana Conference of the United
Methodist Church, an adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University and a capacity-builder
for not-for-profits. The resident of Linden, near Lafayette, is also a 500 race fan and he is
coordinating the tribute to Shaw as a representative of the Indiana Racing Memorial Association
(IRMA). Plans are still being formulated, but Eutsler says it will be held on Thursday, October
30, near the crash site.
IRMA is a relatively new not-for-profit organization which came together to place markers
throughout Indiana to recognize the state's significant role in motorsports history. Its Facebook
page says IRMA is “dedicated to memorializing the people, places & events historically
associated with Indiana Motorsports.”
Eutsler happened to stop at Heller Nursery in Peterson a couple of years ago and, by chance,
Dave Haggard of Decatur also was there. Haggard, as a youngster, was – also by chance – one of
the first people on the scene after the plane went down. “We got to talking,” Eutsler said earlier
this week, “and I was just curious if anything marked the site. Dave was gracious enough to take
me to the site and, well, nothing was there (to mark it).”
An iconic Hoosier
There is no understating Shaw's status in Indiana in the 1940s and early '50s. At the time of
his death, one day shy of his 52nd birthday, he was one of the most famous of Hoosiers.
Shaw, a three-time winner of the 500 who quit racing after an accident in 1941, had been
hired by Firestone to test a synthetic rubber auto tire at the Speedway during World War II. What
he found was a track full of holes and weeds, structures literally falling apart. He contacted Eddie
Rickenbacker, who owned the Speedway at the time. When the U.S. entered World War II,
Rickenbacker, the World War I flying ace, locked up the track for what was to be some four
years. Rickenbacker told Shaw he planned to demolish what was left of the track and build a
housing subdivision.
He did give Shaw some time to locate a buyer, but the former driver could find only car
manufacturers who would buy the facility to turn it into a testing grounds for their purposes.
Eventually, Shaw got together with Tony Hulman, a wealthy Terre Haute businessman who was
in charge of the family businesses, which included the manufacture of Clabber Girl baking
powder. A lifelong 500 fan, Shaw purchased the Speedway in November of 1945 for $750,000.
(Some reports said the actual prices was $350,000 plus a leasing of concession rights.)
Shaw was named president of the track, took over its operations and guided it to what is
considered the Speedway's golden era. So Shaw's expertise and Hulman's money combined to
save the track which is now the most famous in the world, known for “The Greatest Spectacle in
Racing.”
Crash scene 'was pretty bad'
Haggard, as noted, arrived at the scene just minutes after the crash. A youngster residing on
the family farm, he was with some others in a vehicle near the crash area; they were moving a
chicken house. “We heard something; we knew something had happened so we pulled off the
road and drove back there (to the crash site),” he says now. It's an experience he doesn't relish;
wreckage and body parts were strewn everywhere. He remembers seeing the bodies being taken
away in a farm wagon.
“It was pretty bad,” he said this week.
Although Haggard said as far as he is concerned, he was in the wrong place at the wrong
time, the opposite may have been true for Ginter. “Homer had been picking corn, but as it started
to snow, he quit just before the crash or he might have been killed,” according to Dave.
The late Vernon Ginter, Homer's son, took numerous photos of the crash site and also
recovered many artifacts – including the wheels of the plane; Vern, 27 at the time of the crash,
died in 2004. Today, those items and photos reside with Vern's widow, Patricia, and son, John, a
paramedic with the local EMS, and will be shared as part of the upcoming ceremony.
Sadly, Wilbur Shaw's son, sold some 100 pieces of his father's memorabilia – most of which
had been on display at the Speedway – at auction last year. He was described at the time as “67,
in poor health and facing financial difficulties.”
AP story had Peterson dateline
Nearly all references to Wilbur Shaw on the Internet say he died in a plane crash at Decatur
or near Decatur. However, the original Associated Press story datelined the story from Peterson.
Following is the first half of the story:
“PETERSON, IN (AP) -- WILBUR SHAW, 52, president of the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway and three-time winner of the 500-mile race, and two companions were killed in a plane
crash near here late today.
The light plane exploded and crashed in a field as a farmer watched nearby. State police and
Sheriff ROBERT W. SHRALUKA said the bodies were ground to bits in the wreckage.
SHAW was identified by a credit card and a private pilot's license. The pilot of the plane
was identified as RAY GRIMES, 40, Greenfield, Ind.
At Detroit, where the men had gone to take part in a car test, the third man in the plane was
identified as ERNEST ROOSE, Indianapolis businessman and artist.
A representative of an advertising firm -- McCann-Erickson -- said SHAW, GRIMES and
ROOSE were in Detroit today testing a new Chrysler car on the Chrysler proving grounds.
SHAW flew the plane to Detroit and ROOSE was to have flown it back, the advertising man
said. The plane left Ann Arbor Airport at 4 p.m.
ROOSE, 41, was the artist who painted the portrait of the 500-mile race winner each year.
State police said the plane exploded on striking the ground on a farm near Peterson, five
miles southwest of Decatur.
HOMER GINTER, owner of the farm, who was working on his tractor, said he heard a roar,
looked up and saw the plane in pieces, 20 to 30 feet from the ground.
The plane, a Cessna, was owned by the Muncie Aviation Corp. GORDON LACKEY,
manager of Sky Harbor Airport at Indianapolis, said the plane with three men left Indianapolis at
9:05 a.m. for Detroit. It presumably was returning to Indianapolis at the time of the crash.”
(FOOTNOTE: No, the sheriff is not the same good-looking guy who wrote this piece.)