Willard Holland (December 18, 1907 – May 19, 1984) was an American race car driver from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1949 and finished second in 1947, 1948 and 1950. He also was runner up in the 1947 American Automobile Association (AAA) National Championship. Background Holland was born on December 18, 1907, the son of major league baseball player Willard Holland. He was excellent at skating and tried out for the 1932 Olympics. Racing career Holland was getting better results in big car (now sprint car) in 1937. He recorded his first win on July 30, 1938, at Mineola, New York. He won three times in 1939 and nine times in 1940. Holland finished second to Joie Chitwood in the 1940 AAA Eastern championship and he won the championship in 1941. No racing happened in the United States between 1942 and 1945 due to World War II. In 1946, Holland won 15 Eastern and 1 Midwestern "big car" (now sprint car) races to finish fourth in the AAA national championship. On July 20, 1946, Holland won the first race at Selinsgrove Speedway in an American Automobile Association-sanctioned event. He nearly won the 1947 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie, but slowed and allowed teammate Mauri Rose to pass him seven laps from the end, mistakenly believing that Rose was a lap down. In 1949 Holland led late in the race when Rose (still teammate to Holland on Lou Moore's Blue Crown Spark Plug team) began to slowly close on Holland. Moore saw what was happening out on the track and hung out a pit board ordering both drivers to hold their respective positions to the finish. Rose picked up the pace, closing on Holland. But with 8 laps to go, Rose suffered a magneto failure and Holland cruised to the victory. When Rose returned to the pits, Moore fired Rose on the spot. On November 14, 1951, Holland was suspended from AAA Indy Car racing for one year after competing in a three-lap Lion's Charity race at Opa-locka, Florida which was a NASCAR event. The American Automobile Association, at the time the sanctioning body for Indycar races, had a strict rule forbidding its drivers from participating in any races other than their own and would blacklist violators. He returned to Indycar racing in 1953. Holland raced until 1965. He is believed to have got over 40 sprint car