Professional Race Car Driver. He received a place in American race car history when he won the Indianapolis 500 in 1956. During the race, he hit 146.056 miles per hour for one lap and 145.596 miles per hour for four laps. He became the second driver after World War II to win the Indianapolis 500 from the pole starting position. He competed in six Indianapolis 500, with one time being a relief driver. Born George Francis Flaherty Jr., he was a tall, red-headed character who entertained his fans by hiking the left front wheel several inches above the ground as he dirt-tracked a flexible car chassis. Being of Irish ancestry, he was called "Pat" and wore a green shamrock on his helmet. He began his career in California in 1946, racing "hot rod track roadsters," and by 1948 was racing in the Midwest. Following starting at the Indianapolis 500, he finished 10th in the 1950 and 1955 races. With unusually hot weather during the 1953 Indianapolis 500, he drove head-on into the wall after apparently succumbing to the heat and becoming comatose while running fourth at 115 laps. Unlike other drivers in that race, he received no major injuries from the heat-related accident. During his career, he also won two championship races at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, a 250-mile race in August of 1955, and a 100-mile race two weeks after his 1956 Indianapolis 500 win. In August of 1956, he suffered a serious arm injury from an accident on a dirt track in Springfield, Illinois. After two years of rehabilitation, he returned to racing, winning his first race with a 200-mile United States Auto Club stock car race at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in 1958. He competed in the 1959 Indianapolis 500 and led for eleven laps before spinning out of control while running fourth at 164 laps. Although he continued to compete, his career declined, and he retired in June of 1963 after finishing a 150-mile race at Milwaukee. His final visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway came in May of 1969. After retirement, he built and publicized a portable go-kart track. For twenty years, he began to race pigeons as a hobby. He was married for 46 years, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. After battling emphysema for years, he died of respiratory failure. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in 2006. Three vintage films documenting the 1956 Indianapolis 500 are "500 Miles To Go," "Pat Flaherty," and "They Drive Furiously."