James Malloy fatal crash at Indy 500 (May 14, 1972) ALL ANGLES & PICS

James Malloy (May 23, 1932 – May 18, 1972), was an American racecar driver. On Sunday Morning, May 14th, he turned in a lap at 186mph and was going into the 3rd Turn when he lost control of the car. He had no time to apply the brakes and the Thermo King Eagle veered right and crashed almost head-on into the wall. There were skid marks for 75 feet and car parts scattered 150 yards away. A USAC official said it crumpled up the steering column and folded the tub right back into the rest of the car. It took more than 10 minutes to extricate Malloy, unconscious, from the car. He had head injuries, fractures of both legs and hips, a broken right arm, and second-degree burns on his hands and feet. Never having regained consciousness, Malloy died four days later - five days before his 37th birthday. Malloy's parents and his wife, Mary, were with him. He and Mary had two sons, Jim and Pat, and a daugher, Cheryl.

About Jim Malloy:
Jim Malloy was born May 23, 1935 in Columbus Nebraska. A football and baseball player, he attended Colorado State University for a while before he began his racing career in 1955. He quit racing to work in Denver; but he wanted to go racing so badly that he suddenly cleaned off his desk, split a $100 with his wife and proclaimed he was going racing.

He started with sprint cars out east. By 1968 he had made it to Indy and was the fastest rookie qualifier. He drove the Jim Robbins car to 22nd place. He took the car in 1969 to a 11th place finish. In 1970, Malloy's suspension broke on the pace lap and so he finished in last place. In 1971, Malloy drove Dan Gurney's Olsonite Eagle in the Indy 500. He started from 10th and finished 4th.

In 1967 he started driving USAC sprint cars. This is when Malloy would get a huge break in is racing career. He was hired by the Jim Robbins Race Team to drive USAC Indy Cars. He would run eight races for the Robbins team that year with his best finish being a 6th at Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The Robbins team would bring Malloy to Indianapolis in 1968 where he would be the fastest rookie qualifier. He started 14th and finished 22nd, dropping out after 64 laps with mechanical failure. In 1969 Malloy started 13th and despite an early 22 minute pit stop he managed an 11th place finish. In 1970 he qualified 9th, his best starting position to date. Unfortunately his car broke a rear constant velocity joint and hit the 4th turn wall at the end of the pace lap, putting himself out of the race even before the start. In 1971 was originally entered in a car for the M.V.S. Racing Team. But when Lee Roy Yarbrough crashed hard with one of Dan Gurney's Eagles, his injuries was severe enough that he could not compete in the Indy 500 in 1971. Dan Gurney asked Malloy to pilot the Eagle in place of Yarbrough. He drove a solid race finishing 4th, his personal best at Indianapolis.

In 1972 Malloy signed on to drive for the Gerhardt racing team and one of the very fast 1972 Eagles. During the month of May Malloy and the new Eagle was among the fastest cars. During the practice session on May 14, he was attempting to break the 200 mph (320 km/h) speed barrier (which other Indy drivers were trying to do at the time) when his car mysteriously cut sharply to the right and crashed head-on into the outside retaining wall confining Turn 3 at about 186 mph (299 km/h). He died in the hospital, four days after being pulled from his destroyed car. He never regained consciousness.

Malloy drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1967-1972 seasons, with 61 career starts, including the 1968-1971 Indianapolis 500 races. In the In his Champ Car career, he finished in the top ten 23 times, with his best finish in 2nd position in 1969 at the Milwaukee Mile, driving for Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing in a substitute role for the injured Al Unser.

Jim Malloy's best Indycar finish was 2nd in the 1969 Milwaukee 150.