A hooked rug, a medium that might seem more appropriate for depicting a sulky race, celebrates the 1950 Indianapolis 500. As the rug attests, Johnnie Parsons pushed his car—No. 1, the first Kurtis-Kraft to win at Indy—to victory at an average speed of 124.002 miles per hour. The day started inauspiciously when Parsons’s mechanics discovered a crack in his engine block. But the sturdy four-cylinder Offenhauser held up through the whole race—and, in fact, went on to take second place the next year.

 

kelter-malce antiques, new york city1993_8_93a

A hooked rug, a medium that might seem more appropriate for depicting a sulky race, celebrates the 1950 Indianapolis 500. As the rug attests, Johnnie Parsons pushed his car—No. 1, the first Kurtis-Kraft to win at Indy—to victory at an average speed of 124.002 miles per hour. The day started inauspiciously when Parsons’s mechanics discovered a crack in his engine block. But the sturdy four-cylinder Offenhauser held up through the whole race—and, in fact, went on to take second place the next year.