David "Salt" Walther (November 22, 1947 – December 27, 2012) was a driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He also drove NASCAR stock cars and unlimited hydroplane boats, and was a car owner in USAC. Walther is best remembered for a crash at the start of the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that left him critically injured. He recovered from his injuries, returned in 1974, and placed 9th in the 1976 race. He also co-drove a car with Bob Harkey to 10th place in 1975.
He was the son of George Walther Jr., owner of Dayton Steel Foundry, who fielded Indy 500 cars for Juan Manuel Fangio in 1958 and Mike Magill in 1959. His German-born grandfather George Walther Sr. established the foundry and was a prominent inventor and industrialist. His brother, George "Skipp" Walther III, was fatally injured while trying to qualify as an Unlimited driver at Miami Marine Stadium, in 1974.
David Walther was given the nickname "Salt" during his teen years, owing to his boat racing. He is one of eight unlimited hydroplane drivers to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
Walther raced in Indy cars from 1970 to 1981, with 64 career starts. He finished in the top-ten 16 times, with a best finish of seventh (four times). He competed in the Indianapolis 500 from 1972 to 1976, and 1978 to 1979.
Walther first raced at Indianapolis in 1972, finishing 33rd and last due to a broken magneto.
At the 1973 Indianapolis 500, Walther qualified 17th but again finished last after one of the most spectacular and famous accidents in the history of the race. As the field received the green flag, Steve Krisiloff, on the inside of the third row, developed engine trouble and slowed down, producing a traffic jam on the main straightaway as the rest of the cars accelerated. Walther, forced to his right by drivers taking evasive action in front of him, touched wheels with Jerry Grant and was catapulted over the wall and into the catch fence above it. Walther maintained that he was hit from behind, forcing him into Grant, but this claim is not supported by films of the crash and is not widely accepted by other drivers.
The impact tore down a segment of the catch fence and ripped off the nose of Walther's car. His legs were exposed, and the fuel tanks were ruptured, which at that time were located on either side of the cockpit. The fuel sprayed out of the car, some of it reaching the front rows of the grandstand where several spectators suffered burns. The car crashed back onto the track and spun down the main straightaway upside-down, still spraying fuel which ignited into a huge fireball that enveloped the rest of the field. Blinded by the burning methanol, several other drivers crashed into Walther's car, and into each other, though none of the other drivers suffered serious injuries.
Walther's came to a stop upside-down at the entrance of turn one, with the driver's legs visible and sticking out of the broken nose. Walther was quickly rescued by track safety workers (with the help of Wally Dallenbach Sr.) and rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
Walther was fortunate to have had nearly all of the fuel sprayed out of the car, allowing the fire to burn out quickly, but he still suffered burns over 40% of his body, mostly on his left leg. He would require numerous surgeries over the rest of his life. Walther's most severe injuries were to his hands. The fingers on his left hand had to be partially amputated, and those on his crushed right hand eventually healed into unnatural angles. He wore a black glove over the left hand to cover the damage. Walther was in the University of Michigan Burn Center for two and a half months, only recovering enough to leave on August 17 that year.
After a year of recovery, Walther returned to Indianapolis in 1974, finishing 17th. In 1975, his car dropped out with ignition problems after only two laps, and he again finished 33rd. He became the only driver to finish last three times at Indianapolis. (George Snider finished 33rd in 1971, 1979, and 1987, but the 1979 field had 35 cars, thus Snider finished last only twice.) Just minutes after dropping out, Walther took over the car of Bob Harkey - another Walther team car, and drove it to a 10th-place finish. He was 12 laps down (losing at least a couple of those laps during the driver change) when the race was ended early due to rain on lap 174.
Walther scored his best result of 9th in the rain-shortened 1976 race. In 1977, Walther failed to qualify for the Indy 500, and attempted to buy (at an exorbitant price) one of the qualified cars. This plan, however, was later abandoned, and created considerable negative press. In 1978, Walther dropped out early with a bad clutch and proceeded to rant his frustration with his chief mechanic Tommy Smith during a heated television interview. Walther ran the 1979 Indy 500, finishing 12th, before failing to qualify in 1980.
Following struggles with an addiction to painkillers, Walther took a ten-year hiatus from racing. Walther attempted a comeback in 1990, driving the #77 for Walther Racing. On Bump Day, the final day of time trials, Walther qualified for the race only to be bumped out by a last-minute run by Rocky Moran. The American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. awarded him the dubious "Jigger Award" for his efforts.
Due to his lack of success, as well as the considerable financial backing of his father, Walther was sometimes regarded as a rich playboy with more money than talent. In the December 1999-January 2000 issue of Champ Car magazine, racing journalist Robin Miller named him the third-worst Champ car driver, saying, "This wealthy young man had some of the best cars available in the 1970s. But vanity and a horrid attitude kept him from ever reaching the podium."
Racing the unlimited hydroplane Country Boy U-77, Walther's best finish was third at one race in 1974.
Walther also appeared in four NASCAR Winston Cup races from 1975 to 1977. His last NASCAR race was the 1977 Daytona 500, where, in a race in which several drivers crashed due to the high winds that day, he veered in front of leader Buddy Baker, sending both cars into the wall, and causing damage to the car of Dave Marcis, which was also involved in the incident. His best finish in NASCAR came in the 1976 Daytona 500, finishing 12th, despite spinning out early in that race after running into fluid from another car.
Walther appeared in an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard, and an episode of The Rockford Files, in 1979.
Drug addiction and legal problems
Following the 1973 accident, Walther battled an addiction with pain killers that were used after the accident, notably dilaudid. As a result of this addiction, Walther suffered from personal and legal problems, including a long interruption in his racing career.