Ray Keech

ccshof logo Inducted
2011


Ray Keech
Auto Racing • Coatesville

Ray was a board track and brick track racer in the 1920s. He is best remembered for winning the 1929 Indianapolis 500, and for setting a land speed record. Keech set the land speed record of 207.55 mph (334.02 km/h) on April 22, 1928. He qualified sixth for the 1929 Indianapolis 500. Louis Meyer was leading the race, until he lost oil pressure on lap 157. Keech passed for the lead as Meyer's engine refused to fire after he went to the pits to get more oil. Keech led the rest of the race.He died sixteen days later in a racing accident at the Altoona 200-Mile Race in Tipton, Pennsylvania on June 15, 1929. Ray was declared the winner of the race in which he was fatally injured. He was buried at the Hephzibah cemetery in Modena, Pennsylvania in Chester County.
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