Rex Mays
Mays, circa 1935
Born	Rex Houston Mays Jr. (1913-03-10)March 10, 1913 Riverside, California, U.S.
Died	November 6, 1949(1949-11-06) (aged 36) Del Mar, California, U.S.
Championship titles
AAA West CoastBig Car (1934, 1935) AAA MidwestBig Car (1936, 1937) AAAChampionship Car (1940,1941)
Champ Car career
57 races run over 12 years
Best finish	1st (1940,1941)
First race	1934Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Last race	1949 Del Mar 100 (Del Mar)
First win	1936 Goshen 100 (Goshen)
Last win	1946Milwaukee 100 (Milwaukee)
Wins Podiums Poles 8 19 19

Rex Houston Mays Jr. (March 10, 1913 – November 6, 1949) was an Americanracing driver. He was a two-timeNational Champion, won fourpoles for theIndianapolis 500, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest drivers of his era.

Mays won regional sprint car championships in the mid-1930s.^[1][2] He made hisIndianapolis 500 debut in 1934 and wonthe pole in 1935, 1936, and again in 1940 and finished second, he returned the next year and finished second again.^[3] Mays won the AAA National Championship in1940 and1941. However,World War II suspended racing until 1946, denying Mays of what likely would have been the peak of his career. After the war, Mays again won the Indianapolis pole in 1948 but was knocked out by a mechanical problem.

In a race atMilwaukee, a fellow driver,Duke Dinsmore, was thrown from his car during an incident in the south turn. Mays was leading the race and saw Dinsmore's body lying in the middle of the south turn. Mays spun his car into the wall, got out of the car, and pulled the unconscious Dinsmore to safety.^[4]

Mays was killed at the age of 36 in a crash during the only Championship Car race held atDel Mar Fairgrounds race track inDel Mar, California in November 1949.^[4] In this accident, Mays swerved to miss a car that had crashed in front of him. His car went out of control and flipped, throwing Mays to the track surface, where he was hit by a trailing car.

Mays has been inducted into the following halls of fame:

• Auto Racing Hall of Fame (1963)^[3]
• National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (1990)^[5]
• International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1993)^[4]
• Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1995)^[6]
• Riverside Sport Hall of Fame^[7]

In addition, theMilwaukee Mile Indy car race traditionally run the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 was renamed in Mays' honor, recognizing not only his career and tragic death, but his selfless earlier actions in protecting Dinsmore. TheRex Mays Classic ran as such from 1950 to 1987 - at which time the Mays name was eliminated in favor ofMiller High Life sponsorship.Riverside International Raceway also held an Indy car race named after Mays, theRex Mays 300, which ran from 1967 to 1969.^[6]

• 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.^[8][9]

• Rex Mays - ChampCarStats.com
• Rex Mays atFind a Grave
• Rex Mays - Motorsport Memorial
• Rex Mays driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1913 births
• 1949 deaths
• AAA Championship Car drivers
• 20th-century American sportsmen
• Champ Car champions
• Indianapolis 500 drivers
• Indianapolis 500 polesitters
• National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees
• Sportspeople from Riverside, California
• Racing drivers from California
• Racing drivers who died while racing
• Sports deaths in California

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