High winds with gusts up to 36 mph greeted the drivers on Pole Day 1955. The quickest drivers decided to wait to make their qualifying runs, and as the afternoon wore on and the winds didn’t subside, several of the pole contenders, including Jack McGrath, Walt Faulkner, and Bill Vukovich, agreed to not run until the next day.

However, not every driver knew of the deal. At 5:33 pm, just 27 minutes before the end of qualifying for the day, Jerry Hoyt pulled his car into the qualifying line. When a driver asked Hoyt if he remembered the deal, Hoyt responded, “What deal?”

“I didn’t make any agreements with anybody,” Hoyt told Jep Cadou, Jr. of the Indianapolis Star.

Seven other cars got into line behind Hoyt, but because of the late hour, only three attempts were made, two successfully. After Hoyt averaged 140 mph, Pat O’Connor took to the track. He was waved off after three laps and a 137 mph average. O’Connor would come back Sunday to qualify in eighth place.

Tony Bettenhausen qualified second at 139 mph. Sam Hanks was about to head on to the track as the gun sounded, ending Pole Day with just two qualifiers.

The next day Jack McGrath would take the final front row spot. Defending race winner Bill Vukovich qualified fifth.

Hoyt was the first Indianapolis native to win the pole since Bill Cummings in 1937. His rookie year was 1950, and Hoyt also drove in the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500s. His best starting spot was seventh in 195, but he never finished the race, with results of 21sr, 23rd, and 26th.

He fared no better in 1955, dropping out after just 40 laps with an oil leak and ending the day in 31st place. Bettenhausen would finish second, and McGrath dropped out after 54 laps with a magneto problem.

The high winds that day may have been an omen of the dark path that befell the racing world in 1955. Jerry Hoyt died in a sprint car accident in Oklahoma City on July 10, driving a car owned by 1955 500 winner Bob Sweikert, one of several drivers from the 1955 500 to lose their life behind the wheel.