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Bill Holland

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Bill Holland
BornWillard Saulsbury Holland
(1907-12-18)December 18, 1907
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMay 20, 1984(1984-05-20) (aged 76)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Championship titles
AAA Eastern Big Car (1941)
Major victories
Indianapolis 500 (1949)
Champ Car career
66+ races run over 9 years
Best finish2nd (1947)
First race1946 Williams Grove Race #1 (Williams Grove)
Last race1953 Syracuse 100 (Syracuse)
First win1946 Selinsgrove Race #1 (Selinsgrove)
Last win1949 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles
20 36 2
NASCAR Cup Series career
8 races run over 2 years
Best finish55th (1951)
First race1951 Race 1 (Daytona Beach)
Last race1952 Motor City 250 (Detroit)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 2 0
Formula One World Championship career
Active years1950, 1953–1954
TeamsDiedt, Kurtis Kraft
Entries3 (2 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums1
Career points6
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1950 Indianapolis 500
Last entry1954 Indianapolis 500

Willard Saulsbury Holland (December 18, 1907 – May 20, 1984) was an American racing driver from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1949 and finished second in 1947, 1948, and 1950. He was runner-up in the 1947 American Automobile Association (AAA) National Championship.

Background

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Holland was born on December 18, 1907, the son of fireman and former professional baseball player Willard Holland. He was excellent at skating and tried out for the 1932 Olympics.[1]

Driving career

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Early career

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Holland began achieving notable results in big cars during 1937. He recorded his first win on July 30, 1938, at Mineola, New York.[1] He won three times in 1939 and nine times in 1940.[1] Holland finished second to Joie Chitwood in the 1940 AAA Eastern Big Car championship and he won the championship in 1941.[1][2] No racing happened in the United States between 1942 and 1945 due to World War II.[1]

In 1946, Holland won 15 Eastern and 1 Midwestern "big car" (now sprint car) races to finish fourth in the AAA national championship.[1] On July 20, 1946, Holland won the first race at Selinsgrove Speedway in an American Automobile Association-sanctioned event.[1]

Championship car career

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Holland nearly won the 1947 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie, but slowed and allowed teammate Mauri Rose to pass him seven laps from the end, mistakenly believing that Rose was a lap down.[1]

Holland's winning car from the 1949 Indianapolis 500

In 1949 Holland led late in the race when Rose (still teammate to Holland on Lou Moore's Blue Crown Spark Plug team) began to slowly close on Holland. Moore saw what was happening out on the track and hung out a pit board ordering both drivers to hold their respective positions to the finish. Rose picked up the pace, closing on Holland. But with eight laps to go, Rose suffered a magneto failure and Holland cruised to the victory. When Rose returned to the pits, Moore fired Rose on the spot. 1950 saw him a lap down on lap 138 in second place to Johnnie Parsons when rain fell and ended the race.

On November 14, 1951, Holland was suspended from AAA Indy Car racing for one year after competing in a three-lap Lion's Charity race at Opa-locka, Florida which was a NASCAR event. The American Automobile Association, at the time the sanctioning body for Indy car races, had a strict rule forbidding its drivers from participating in any races other than their own and would blacklist violators. He returned to Indy car racing in 1953.[1]

Holland raced until 1965.[1] He is believed to have achieved more than 40 sprint car feature wins and 150 podiums.[1]

World Drivers' Championship career

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The AAA/USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500 was included in the FIA World Drivers' Championship from 1950 through 1960. Drivers competing at Indianapolis during those years were credited with World Drivers' Championship participation, and were eligible to score WDC points alongside those which they may have scored towards the AAA/USAC National Championship.

Holland participated in two World Drivers' Championship races at Indianapolis. He finished in the top three once,[3] and scored six World Drivers' Championship points.

Life after racing and death

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Holland and his wife Myra ran skating rinks in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[4] They lived briefly in Colorado Springs, Colorado before moving to Tucson, Arizona in the early 1970s.[4]

Holland was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in November 1983 and died from complications of the disease on May 20, 1984.[1] He had remained active throughout his life and would regularly ride a bicycle for 50 miles per day until a year before his death.[4]

Awards and honors

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Holland has been inducted into the following halls of fame:

In addition, the inaugural USAC Silver Crown Series race held at Selinsgrove Speedway was named the Bill Holland Classic.[6] The race was 74 laps long as it was the 74th year after Holland's victory opened the track.[6]

Motorsports career results

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AAA Championship Car results

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Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Points
1946 INDY LAN ATL ISF MIL GOS 4th 1,280
1947 INDY
2 		MIL
1 		LAN
1 		ATL
2 		BAI
2 		MIL
18 		GOS
14 		MIL
8 		PIK SPR
9 		ARL
DNQ 		2nd 1,610
1948 ARL
DNS 		INDY
2 		MIL
9 		LAN
11 		MIL
DNQ 		SPR
 MIL
 DUQ
 ATL
 PIK SPR
 DUQ
 7th 840
1949 ARL
 INDY
1 		MIL
9 		TRE
16 		SPR
4 		MIL
 DUQ
2 		PIK SYR
DNP 		DET
7 		SPR
12 		LAN
9 		SAC
13 		DMR
 3rd 1,420
1950 INDY
2 		MIL
 LAN
 SPR
 MIL
 PIK SYR
 DET
 SPR
 SAC
 PHX
 BAY
 DAR
 13th 552
1953 INDY
15 		MIL
 SPR
 DET
 SPR
DNQ 		MIL
18 		DUQ
 PIK SYR
5 		ISF
 SAC
 PHX
 34th 100
1954 INDY
DNQ 		MIL
 LAN
 DAR
 SPR
 MIL
 DUQ
 PIK SYR
 ISF
 SAC
 PHX
 LVG
 - 0
  • 1946 table only includes results of the six races run to "championship car" specifications. Points total includes the 71 races run to "big car" specifications.[7][8] Holland did not compete in any championship car events, however, he competed in no less than 41 "big car" events, winning 17. These efforts enabled Holland to finish the anomalous 1946 season ranked fourth in points.[1]

Indianapolis 500 results

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Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired
1947 16 8 128.755 1 2 200 143 Running
1948 2 2 129.515 3 2 200 0 Running
1949 7 4 128.673 9 1 200 146 Running
1950 3 10 130.482 21 2 137 8 Running
1953 49 28 137.868 2 15 177 0 Cam gear
Totals[9] 914 297
Starts 5
Poles 0
Front Row 1
Wins 1
Top 5 4
Top 10 4
Retired 1
  • Although Holland started the 1947 race from the middle of the third row, he posted the fastest qualifying time.

FIA World Drivers' Championship results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WDC Pts
1950 Diedt Offenhauser GBR MON 500
2 		SUI BEL FRA ITA 7th 6
1953 Kurtis Kraft Offenhauser ARG 500
15 		NED BEL FRA GBR GER SUI ITA NC 0

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Bill Holland". www.sprintcarhof.com. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  2. ^ "AAA Eastern Sprint Series Champions". www.autoracingrecords.com. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  3. ^ "Bill Holland". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  4. ^ a b c "Ex-Indy Winner Bill Holland dies". The Madison Courier. May 21, 1984. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "Bill Holland". IMS Museum. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  6. ^ a b "2020 Bill Holland Classic". USAC Silvercrown. August 9, 2020. Event occurs at 21:08. FloRacing.
  7. ^ "1946 AAA National Championship Trail". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  8. ^ Capps, H. Donald (October 2009). "The Curious Case of the 1946 Season: An Inconvenient Championship" (PDF). Rear View Mirror. 7 (2): 1–16.
  9. ^ Bill Holland Indy 500 Race Stats Archived May 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
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Preceded by Indianapolis 500 Winner
1949 		Succeeded by
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