Billy Arnold, 1930

This is David Story's rendering of 1930 Indianapolis 500 winner Billy Arnold.
 
Arnold led 198 of 200 laps to set a record that not only remains today but will probably never be broken. Like other young "hot shot" drivers of the era such as Frank Lockhart and Ray Keech, Arnold was on a very short list of men to beat but had brief careers. Arnold was 24 when he won the Indianapolis 500 and 27 when he retired. He competed in five Indianapolis 500-mile races, leading his final three 1930, 1931 and 1932. He could have easily have been a three-time winner but for equipment failure causing accidents while he was leading. He suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries in the final race, convincing him to retire from the sport during an extremely dangerous era of increasing speeds with commensurate improvements in safety technology.