Floyd Eldon Davis (March 9, 1905 – May 31, 1977) was an American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

, and the co-winner of the 1941 Indianapolis 500. Floyd Davis drove the first 72 laps of the 1941 race before being replaced by

Mauri Rose Maurice Rose (May 26, 1906 – January 1, 1981) was an American racing driver. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1941, 1947, and 1948, becoming the race's third three-time winner. He also won the AAA National Championship in 1936. Racing career ...

, who completed the race in the lead.

Co-Winner of the Indianapolis 500

During the

1941 Indianapolis 500 The 29th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1941. The start of the race was delayed due to a fire that swept through the garage area on race morning. No persons were injured, bu ...

, Floyd 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, despite the fact that he never led a single lap in any of his races. And though Davis received a 50-50 split of the prize money, he never drove in another 500, racing only sparingly in 1946 and 1948; some attributed it to disgust in having been relieved, although his serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, coupled with his age at 40, might have been just as impactful. 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 Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high poi ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

(Section 53 Lot 320).

Motorsports career results

AAA Championship Car results

* 1946 table only includes results of the six races run to "

championship car American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar a ...

" specifications. Points total includes the 71 races run to " big car" specifications.

Indianapolis 500 results

References

External links

Floyd Davis - ChampCarStats.com
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Floyd 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