The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race! Incredible, breathtaking, almost unbelievable. Names like Hulman, Harroun, Meyer, DePalma, Shaw, Vukovich, Bryant, Bettenhausen, Foyt, Ward, Sachs Hurtibuse, Clark, Unser, Gurney, Andretti, Ruby, Penske, Rutherford, Johncock, Mears, Franchitti, and Wheldon will echo above the roar of the engines and across the start/finish line marking the line of brick where their legends were born. These names, along with many others, are hallowed in the Brickyard. Some gave their lives for this race. Many have devoted their lives to the Indy 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It has become a world event and for a few hours this Sunday, May 29, the eyes and ears of the world will be focused on Indianapolis.
In 1909 when Carl Fisher, Frank Wheeler, James Allison, and Arthur Newby opened the track in Speedway. They envisioned it as both a racing facility and a testing grounds for automobiles. Their first attempt to run a car race was a disaster. The track had been paved with gravel and as the cars ran, the stones were thrown up, damaging cars, starting fires, and injuring spectators, drivers, and crews. The race was stopped before the half way point. It was decided that the track would be paved with bricks. It took a year for the job to be completed but as the year 1910 rolled around the track was ready. A number of races were run but attendance dropped as the season progressed. It was Fisher who came up with the idea of having one long race at the Speedway rather then several shorter races during the summer. A distance of 500 was settled and invitations and entry forms were sent to all the major car manufacturers in America and Europe for the first race on Memorial Day 1911. Forty-six entries were received and 44 cars showed up. Forty started the race. Ray Harroun won in the Marmon Wasp and the race became a fixture of American sports. Three drivers have won the race four times. Seven drivers have won it three times. Helio Castroneves is a three time winner still competing and he could join the list of four time winners
In 1912, Ralph DePalma was considered the world’s best race driver. In the 500 that year DePalma took the lead on the third lap and for the next 196 laps he dominated, not giving up the lead and remaining ahead by five laps. However, on lap 197 Depalma’s Mercedes threw a connecting rod which punctured his crank case. His Mercedes coasted from the back stretch to the fourth turn, DePalma and his riding mechanic tried to push their broken car to the start of the finish line, which was of course not feasible; yet, the fans loved it and the push became part of the lore of the race. Indianapolis native Joe Dawson led the last two laps to win. Ralph DePalma’s 196 leading laps are still the most by a driver who didn’t win the race. DePalma won the 1915 event. The 1925 winner Peter De Paolo, who was the nephew of Ralph DePalma, was the first winner to average 100 miles an hour (to be exact 101:13).
Parnelli Jones broke the 150 mile an hour barrier in 1962 and won the pole with a qualifying average of 150:370 for 4 laps. Jones finished seventh in the race. Jones would win the 1963 Indy 500. In 1961, Australian Formula One Champion Sir Jack Brabbam qualified for the 500 in his rear engine Cooper Climax F-1 car. The car was under powered, but its lightness and handling gave it an edge in the turns. Brabbam finished ninth, but it was the first nail in the coffin for the front engine roadsters. In 1962 Dan Gurney was a rookie in the 500. He drove a rear engine Buick for Micky Thompson. However, he also invited Colin Chapman, the head of Lotus Racing to be his guest at the race. Then he got Chapman together with the Ford Motor Company. This meeting would change the Indy 500 and American open-wheeled racing forever. The result was the Lotus 29 powered by an all aluminum modified Ford Fairlane engine. Jimmy Clark nearly won the 1963 race, won the pole with a record shattering 158:828. In 1965 Clark won the race to be the first driver to pilot a rear engine car to Victory Lane. He was also the first driver to average 150 miles an hour to win the race. A. J. Foyt was the last driver to win in a front engine car in 1964. Rear engine cars have won every 500 mile race since 1965. Jim Hurtibuse in 1968 was the last driver to qualify and compete in a front engine car. Foyt, the first driver to win four races, won two in a front engine roadster and two in a rear engine car. Foyt has by far the most Indy 500 starts with 35, and at age 57, was the oldest man to ever drive in an Indy 500 mile race.
In 1930, race winner Billy Arnold set the record for most laps led with 198. Two-time winner Dan Wheldon won the 2011 Indy 500 and is credited with leading only one lap. Of course it was the 200th and most important lap of the race. Actually Dan only led about 1,000 ft. Trailing the race leader rookie J. R. Hildebrand on the 199th lap, Wheldon sped by the rookie as Hildebrand spun into the inside wall coming out of turn 4 to take the win. Michael Andretti has the most laps led without a win with 431 laps led. Four time winner Al Unser is the all time lap leader with 644.
The amount of racing lore about the Indianapolis 500 and the Motor Speedway is endless and who’s to say it won’t go on for another 100 years.
This Year’s Indy 500
The biggest story of this year’s race has to be Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe. Last year during a practice session, the 29-year-old suffered a near fatal crash. Severing an artery, Hinchcliffe nearly bled to death and spent the rest of the year recovering. His coming back to take the pole for the 2016 Indy 500 is a story for the ages. His team owner and manager Sam Schmidt has all three of his Dallara Honda’s in the “fast nine.” I personally am betting on Penske driver Simon Pagenaud staring in eighth place to move up quickly and take the lead. Ryan Hunter Reay is starting third, and could add his mug to the Borg Warner Trophy for a second time. Helios Castroneves, starting ninth could be on track for his fourth win.
For the first time since 1924, a car will start the race without having completed a qualification attempt. Canadian driver Alex Tagliani, behind the wheel of one of A. J. Foyt’s Hondas, crashed during his run. He will start in 33rd position because there were only 33 cars at the track. Interestingly Tagliani won the pole for the 2011 race. Tags is one of several drivers, including Mario Andretti, to start the race from both first and last position.
It’s going to be an interesting race as befitting the culmination of a century of racing. The May 25 announcement that the local broadcast ban will be lifted has brought the event to a whole new level of excitement. Well, I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait to hear the command “Drivers start your engines!”
snicewanger@yahoo.com