Well.... That was the one of the reasons he became my favorite.

But the main reason Swede was my favorite driver was because he was the only driver that asked me what my name was and remembered it! When I met him personally in 1971 at Ontario he was the only one to see me the next race or even the next year that would actually say "Hi Scott." when I asked him for yet another autograph. "WOW! He remembered not only me, but my name too!" As you can imagine, this has quite an impact on a 10 - 12 year old hardcore race fan like myself.

As a child, and as I am today, I am a fan of nearly every race driver in any form of auto racing. When a driver was killed I often cried like a baby. The 1973 Indy 500 was all around bad for many, many people. My deepest sympathies still go out to all of those who suffered such great losses and injuries sustained in that terrible year. This is how I remember the 1973 Indy 500 and the month that followed.

Early in the month I watched the crash which took the life of Indy car veteran Art Pollard (another fine driver I had met a few times and always took the time to chat with me) on television. If I recall I remember seeing his car crash through a storm drain on the inside of turn 1. I remember seeing his helmet bounce around as if it were on a rag doll. If you were a fan of the Indy 500 in those days you will recall there was no live television coverage of the race. It wasn't until 1971 that it was even on T.V. later that night for same-day coverage. I remember sitting on the patio at our home in Fontana watching the race on the radio. (so to speak) The day of the race I remember was rain delayed and when it did start it started with a gigantic fireball crash involving Salt Walther. Another one of my heros. It also involved many spectators which had seats (then*) right against the outside wall entering turn 1 which were sprayed with burning fuel. I remember and I still ocassionally see graphic footage of that terrible crash on television. Salt Walther trapped under his burning racecar with his legs hanging out the front of what was left of his machine. I think the race was scheduled for the next day but was rained out. As a matter of fact I am not sure exactly what day the race actually took place, I only know it was a school day. I took my little transistor radio to school (6th grade) but could only listen to the race during recess & lunch. I remember being VERY happy for Gordon Johncock because he was Swede's teammate and because I liked the STP cars. What I didn't hear was that Swede was in a bad crash. I had no idea until my Dad got home from work and he had told me. I remember watching it on ABC later that night. I was so happy to see Swede leading the biggest race in the world and I had no idea what I was about to see next. If I recall, Swede relenquished the lead to come in for a pitstop and (then*) 75 gallons of fuel which was housed in both sidepods of the cars then. Swede rejoined the race and was back up to racing speeds when on lap 57(?) appeared to get just a bit high out of the groove in turn four. Although Swede tried to stop on the already rain soaked grass on the (then*) inside of turn four, he could not...he just slid. I was horrified by the violence of Swede's crash. The car and all of it's fuel went head on into the inside (then*) guardrail and exploded like a bomb. The engine went tumbling down the front straight as did another section which was the remains of the cockpit with Swede inside. The (then*) big rear wing must have launched straight up into the air some 40 feet. There were 3 nearly identical STP/Patrick Racing Cars in the race that day. When Swede crashed in turn 4 a crew member, Armando Tehran, from Graham McRae's #60 STP/Patrick team ran out in pit lane to see if perhaps it was his driver that crashed, when he was struck by a firetruck (then*) heading the wrong way up pit road towards turn 4 and killed him instantly

Swede was a local racer that grew up and attended school in nearby San Bernardino, California. The front page of the San Bernardino Sun Telegram newspaper had an upclose photo of Swede on a stretcher holding up his burned hand and with a burned face that clearly showed he was concious and appeared to be crying. The headline read: "It Was The Miracle Of Savage" and the Sports page headline read "The Explosion was Deafening." The sports page lead photo showed the big explosion of Swedes car with the wing way up in the sky. Andy Granatelli, The big man behind STP, the same man which planted a big kiss on Mario Andretti's cheek for taking STP to Victory Lane in 1969, who had just got STP's 2nd Indy 500 victory was quoted in the paper to saying "This is not one of the happier days in my life."

On the night of July 1st, 1973, I had a vivid dream while sleeping that my friends, family and other race driver's were having a bakesale (LOL) on the back straightaway of Riverside Raceway to raise money for Swede Savage. The next morning my mother woke me with a big hug and tears in her eyes and whispered in my ear "Swede died." I remember I cried hard. I remember she made me go to the first day of summer public Tennis lessons no matter how much I asked not to have to go. Hard to try and play tennis with eyes filled with tears and nothing but Swede on my mind. To this day I still wonder about my dream the night Swede died and I just think about it as my getting to say good-bye to him somehow in some weird way.

My mom was nice enough to take me to Swede's funeral services. It was the first funeral in my life. I remember it was held at Bobbitt Memorial Chapel in San Bernardino. I remember we went early and it was over capacity. People were standing outside because Swede was so well liked. We sat near George Bignotti, Swede's crew chief and near Linda Vaughnn. There were a lot of race drivers there and I remember Gordon Johncock and Dan Gurney served as Pall Bearers. The service was understandibly a closed casket service with tons of racing themed floral arrangements and a BIG color photograph of Swede sitting on his #40 STP Eagle, all smiles after his great qualifying run in '73, sat atop the caskett similar to the one at the top of this page. The next day I could be seen on the front page of the Sun Telegram newspaper standing next to Dan Gurney as they loaded Swede into the hearse. What a sad year.

A week doesn't go by that I don't think of Swede. What was and what could have been. As Earnhardt fans remember lap 3 in the NASCAR races, I think of Swede every Indy 500 and especially the number 42. Sadly though, racing was still evolving in those early days and the fan support and publicity was much different. There weren't decals on cars or T-shirts everywhere with Swede memorials posted on them. Nobody had black number 40s on their racecars the next race. The media I think was probably asked to keep the bad news of racing to a minimal in those days. I recently read an article on the internet that one of Swede's requests was that he wasn't forgotten. Well Swede.... I will never forget you and I have made this tribute site so others can remember the race driver and the name Swede Savage. If you remember Swede Savage PLEASE sign the Guestbook and share a memory or two. If you have anything Swede Savage related please send us a scan of it and I will proudly display it on this site and give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

I will remember Swede as always having a smile on his face and often a camera in his hand or around his neck.
But most of all, I remember a friendly & sincere ......

"Hi Scott."

Photo courtesy of the Speed Merchants Collection

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(then*)= These things were changed after the 1973 Indy 500, Just like Gordon Johncock's statement at the top of this page.