For the second year in a row, sweltering heat resulted in an unusually high number of relief drivers—the 11th-placed finisher used five—and for the second year in a row it was the same driver who won.

He was Bill Vukovich, “The Iron Man” from Fresno, California, who didn’t use a relief driver. No less tough was Arizona’s Jimmy Bryan, who took second in spite of a terrible pounding caused by the failure of the right rear shock absorber on his dirt-track car with 60 laps to go. Third-placed Jack McGrath set new track records during qualifications and was the first to exceed 140 mph, his fastest lap being 141.287 mph.