Oilpressure

For as long as The Talk of Gasoline Alley was available to listeners online I was a faithful listener. If I’m not mistaken, that goes back to 2000. That’s at least when I was first made aware of it being available. Once they were converted into podcasts, before the term podcast was even invented – I downloaded as many as I could and still have each one from 2000 through 2020 on my phone. Instead of music, that is what I will listen to a lot of times either driving, working in the yard or whenever I choose to go walking.

In all that time, I’ve heard Donald Davidson give historic profiles on names like AJ Foyt, Bobby Unser or Wilbur Shaw. I’ve also heard him discuss some of the most obscure drivers, fabricators or mechanics since 1909. But there is a former winner of the Indianapolis 500 that I have never heard him speak of, other than a mention in passing. Furthermore, I have heard from several reliable sources that, if asked about him, he won’t discuss him. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. But the fact I’ve never heard him profile this person whose face is on The Borg-Warner Trophy, tells me that it may be true and the question never got past the call screener at the station.

Who am I talking about? The winner of the 1935 Indianapolis 500 – Kelly Petillo.

Since Donald and others are reluctant to talk about Petillo, he is considered one of the more obscure winners of the Indianapolis 500. There is not a lot of information out there other than his racing stats; which are quite impressive. In 1934, he set a track record in winning the pole for the Indianapolis 500. He won the race in 1935, holding off a charging Wilbur Shaw (with a little help from a late-race caution for rain). He also won the AAA National Championship that same year. There is no denying his talents behind the wheel. It was what he did off the track that destroyed his legacy.

In every walk of life, there are good people and bad people. Racing is no different. Fans love people who make the most of a second chance. Sometimes good guys get caught up in someone else’s bad idea, like the late John Paul, Jr. – a good guy who was influenced by his own father in a scheme, and ended up serving thirty months of a five-year sentence for it. After driving in three Indianapolis 500s before his jail time, he overcame his past to drive in six more 500s in the 90s. He was contrite over what he did, but never shied away from the topic; which earned him tons of respect from fans and media alike. Sadly, he passed away of a neurological disorder in 2020 at the age of 60.

Sometimes, crimes away from the track are so egregious – there is no second chance.

Jon Herb drove in two Indianapolis 500s; the last of which was in 2007 when he started twenty-seventh and finished thirty-second, after a crash on Lap 51. He is currently serving a 25-year sentence in Florida, after a 2016 conviction after pleading no-contest. If you need to know more sordid details, just Google him. It’s out there. Even if he is released early, I’m thinking there is no coming back in any racing capacity. He would be radioactive in the court of public opinion.

There is an old saying that says money and fame make you more of what you already are. If you are a benevolent person who wins the lottery, chances are that you will want to do even more good with your life, now that you are in a greater financial position to help others. If you are someone who has a reputation of being a perpetual jerk, who treats those around you like dirt; chances are good that wining that same lottery will make you a bigger jerk. Fame and fortune will take your natural personality and put it on steroids.

Put Kelly Petillo in the latter category.

While he was racking up racing accolades in his home state of California, he had already gained a reputation of being an overaggressive jerk, who used his friends for his own personal gain. His wife, his father and some family friends had made financial sacrifices to support his budding racing career. By doing so, he had accumulated a lot of debt. The amount was too great to pay back with winnings from the local tracks. The only event that paid enough to satisfy his ever-growing debt was the Indianapolis 500. If he couldn’t win there, speculation was that he had no intention of paying anyone back.

Petillo grew up in a Los Angeles suburb, where his family ran a grocery. He drove a fruit truck between LA and Bakersfield, and grew a nasty reputation for aggressive driving and what we now call “road rage”. While he would make the run in record time, he put a lot of people in danger in the process. That trait followed him into racing.

Back in those days, as well as today – there are certain driver courtesies that race car drivers usually extend to their competitors. These are unwritten rules, but the idea is to keep each other safe while still trying to win a race. Apparently, Petillo never got that memo. He was one that never extended any courtesies to any of his fellow drivers. In the process, he alienated himself within the racing community.

While cutting his teeth at Legion Ascot, one car owner allegedly said “I would love to have Petillo drive for me, if you could just bring him to the track in a cage and only open it to put him in a car”.

That combustible personality made him few friends outside the car, but it served him well while on the track. Winning the pole at Indianapolis with a record speed, and winning the race the following year was no fluke. The man was exceedingly talented on the track, but the fame after winning the 1935 Indianapolis 500 made his already menacing personality that much more difficult to be around. When Petillo won the race, he and his wife who had supported him along the way had been married for twelve years. Legend has it that he asked out a nurse at the Infield Care Hospital for that very night of the race. His wife finally filed for divorce in 1943, citing physical and mental cruelty.

Kelly Petillo raced in twelve Indianapolis 500s from 1932 through 1941. When racing stopped for World War II, that’s when things went from bad to worse for Petillo. He went from being an unlikeable bad guy to be around to having legal troubles that eventually led him to prison multiple times. Petillo punched an LAPD officer in August of 1941 simply because the officer refused to raid a nightclub that had refused him admittance. He later punched another police officer who had pulled him over for speeding. Petillo later ran a saloon in LA, during WWII and shot a marine from behind. The marine survived, but Petillo was charged with assault and intent to commit murder.

Petillo’s wife is not the only woman who suffered while involved with Petillo. At the time of their divorce, his wife said he “associated with other women, was continually drunk, and he didn’t like the married life at all. He said he wanted to be free, so he could do as he pleased.”

It got even worse for the 1935 winner. Ten years after he was in Victory Lane at 16th and Georgetown, Petillo and another man were charged with attempted rape. A 44 year-old woman was lost in LA and asked for directions. Petillo and the other man offered her a ride and the other man attacked her. It is unclear what type of judgement was rendered against Petillo for that event.

Needing cash, when IMS finally re-opened after the war – Petillo attempted to enter the race, but was denied for conduct unbecoming of a race driver. Petillo sued, but got nowhere.

Broke and destitute, he began racing at small local tracks for any prize money he could earn – banking on what little cachet his name still carried. He won a race in Logansport, Indiana in 1948, and met an old girlfriend that night in a hotel. As it normally did with Petillo, things turned nasty and he slashed her face with a knife, creating a wound that needed over forty stitches. He fled the scene in the middle of the night.

Petillo was missing more than a month. By this time police units from Indianapolis and Chicago were looking for him, as well as the FBI. He was found at a small race track in Michigan, where he foolishly allowed the track to use his name heavily in race promotions. He won the race and the purse of $113, and was immediately apprehended by local officials. He spent almost seven years in jail, and was released in 1955.

It wasn’t long until Petillo skipped parole and headed for Indianapolis with his sights set on entering the 500 again. Not surprisingly, he was denied again. He stayed in the area and was racing small tracks in the Midwest under an assumed name, before he was arrested again in 1957 for a parole violation – ironically on the grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Petillo was released from that prison stint in 1959, and he immediately tried to enter the 500 again. When he was denied for age, he sued unsuccessfully. He continued trying again through 1962, when he was in his late 50s before abandoning that plan for good. By this time, most knew his history and did their best to avoid any association with him.

I guess at that point, Petillo finally realized that his name and reptation had been so tarnished, it may be best to stay out of the public life. He returned to Los Angeles, where lived in seclusion before he died of emphysema in June of 1970 at the age of 66.

What is it that makes some people so self-destructive? There have been other Indianapolis 500 winners that have had their demons and damaged their reputations, but they have worked to repair their public perception and have been warmly welcomed back to the limelight for their efforts to rehabilitate themselves. Fans can be very forgiving and love second chances. But Kelly Petillo never seemed to recognize that he was in the wrong, despite how terrible his crimes were. Therefore, he has been long forgotten and intentionally ignored for everything other than his stats in the Indianapolis 500.

Kelly Petillo’s story should not be forgotten. Not because he did anything noble. Instead, because it serves as a cautionary tale to future generations of those that find success in auto racing – a sort of don’t let this happen to you type thing. Kelly Petillo was a bad guy, but sometimes bad guys become celebrities for whatever reason. In his case, he will be remembered just for that – he was a bad guy, who ultimately deserved no second chance.

George Phillips

Please Note:  Today is the last day to submit your answers to the 2026 Trivia Contest. Answers are due to me by 6:00 pm EDT this evening. Please send them to geophillips14@gmail.com.

This entry was posted on May 19, 2026 at 4:04 am and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.