INDIANAPOLIS — Elmer George was fatally shot in a gunfight with horse trainer Guy Trolinger at the Hulman family farm in Terre Haute, Indiana, just after midnight on May 31, 1976. The confrontation followed a public argument between George and his wife, Mari Hulman, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway four hours after the conclusion of the 1976 Indianapolis 500.

Mari Hulman had filed for divorce from George on May 3, 1976, according to court records. On the evening of May 30, the couple was seen in a heated dispute in the president’s third-floor suite at the Speedway, and Mari Hulman was later observed in tears near the suite around 7 p.m., being comforted by an unidentified woman.

After the argument, George drove 73 miles to a white farmhouse on the Hulman estate in Terre Haute, where Trolinger lived. Earlier that day, George had called Trolinger and told him to vacate the caretaker’s house on the property. George arrived armed with a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and used a crowbar and hammer to force open the back door of the residence.

A gunfight erupted inside the home. Before he died, George fired at least twice at Trolinger with his pistol. Trolinger returned fire with a .22 caliber rifle, striking George five times—including once in the face and once in the stomach. George was found dead in an upstairs hallway, lying in a pool of blood. Trolinger was not injured.

Trolinger called police to report the shooting and was subsequently arrested and held without bond on a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill. A Vigo County grand jury heard testimony from 23 witnesses over two days, including Mari Hulman, her father Anton (Tony) Hulman, and race car driver A.J. Foyt, who had been subpoenaed because police believed he witnessed the Speedway argument.

On June 4, 1976, the grand jury ruled that Trolinger killed George in self-defense. Vigo Circuit Judge Joseph Anderson dismissed the charge against Trolinger and ordered his arrest record cleared. “Trolinger broke into tears when the Vigo County grand jury ruled Elmer's death was justifiable homicide.”

“My client and myself are very happy because justice was reached this afternoon,” said William Smock, Trolinger’s court-appointed attorney, after the verdict. At the time of the shooting, Trolinger, a 34-year-old married father of two, had been working as a quarter horse trainer and farm caretaker for the Hulman family since January 1975 and was in the process of divorcing his wife in New Mexico.