Shaw helped connect Hulman with IMS ownership source: irl.racing-live.com Wilbur Shaw could hardly believe his eyes. His beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair. During the World War II years, Shaw, the Shelbyville, Ind.-born three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, had temporarily relocated to Akron, Ohio, for the purpose of heading up Firestone Tire and Rubber Company's new aircraft division. He, along with all of the other race drivers, looked forward to the time when the war would end so that they could return to their first love: driving in the "500." On Dec. 29, 1941, three weeks after the United States had suddenly found itself drawn into the Second World War, World War I flying "ace" Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the track's owner since 1927, canceled the 1942 "500", stating that there would be no further activities there until after the hostilities had been resolved. During the First World War, Rickenbacker's predecessors, Carl Fisher and James Allison, had made the track available to the government as an aviation repair depot. The infield had served as a refueling stop for military aircraft flying between Dayton, Ohio, and Rantoul, Ill., and several experimental aircraft were test-flown there. When Rickenbacker made a similar offer in the closing days of 1941, however, it was politely declined, the Speedway's infield considered not spacious enough to accommodate the much larger and faster aircraft of WWII. With that, Rickenbacker ordered the facility padlocked for the duration, and on July 31, 1942, due to the government's vastly increased demand for fuel, rubber and other supplies, all forms of motorsport were ended by federal mandate.
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