The Aftermath of Ray Pixley’s Fatal Crashed in the Jeter Hisso

Roby Speedway - Hammond, IndianaAugust 30, 1936

 

 

 

 

 

 Tutell photographs from the Larry Sullivan collection

 

 

Ray Pixley

 1907 – 1936

 

           Ray Pixley of Los Angeles, California qualified for his first Indianapolis “500” in 1936 working his way up from his 25th starting spot to finish in 6th place in Clarence Felker’s Fink Auto Miller.  After that race, Pixley decided to remain in the Midwest to race.

This fatal crash took place just three months later.  Pixley was running in sixth place on the eighth lap of the first ten-mile heat race in his first ever appearance at Roby Speedway when the car struck a white tire marker and skidded across the track.  The tires dug into the racetrack and the car turned over two to three times landing upside down.  Pixley had been thrown out of the car but it then landed on top of him.

Billy Winn won that heat race and then went on to win the feature race as well.

The Jeter Hisso was repaired and returned to Roby Speedway about a month after Pixley’s crash with Duke Nalon behind the wheel.  Two wheels came off of it that day injuring a total of five people.