Following what he described as frustrations with the other car he had been offered (an Offenhauser-powered roadster) and the bureaucratic complications arising from sponsors and team contracts that prevented him from driving the Novi, Fangio left Indianapolis to drive in the French Grand Prix instead. Welch's failure to land Fangio as his driver meant the Novi lost what could have been its best chance for an outright win at Indianapolis that year. In the 500, Cheesbourg finished tenth overall and Russo finished eighteenth.