Indy 500 Racing Facts
Interested in car racing? Here are a few facts concerning the Indy 500 Race:
- The Indianapolis 500 is the original 500-mile auto race, predating any other existing
500 by nearly fifty years. It's not only the most famous race in America, but is the most
celebrated around the world. The Indy 500 was first run in 1911.
- The distance around one lap of the Indianapolis course is two and one-half miles per lap.
- It takes a driver forty seconds to negotiate one full lap at a speed of exactly 225 miles
per hour.
- Traditionally, thirty-three cars start in the 500.
- The Speedway was nicknamed "The Brickyard," because the track was once paved
with bricks.
- For more than fifty years, the winning driver has pulled into Victory Lane and taken a
drink of milk.
- The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not located in Indianapolis. It's in Speedway, Indiana,
a community incorporated in 1926, with its own town board, police and fire departments, schools
systems, and water company.
- An effective Indy pit stop (to pump forty gallons of fuel, change four wheels, and many
any minor adjustment) takes about fifteen seconds.
- Indy cars do not run on gasoline. Since 1964, they've used methanol, a wood-based alcohol.
- If an Indy Car engine were installed in the average riding lawn mower, it could cut a
half-acre lawn in about 5.6 seconds.
- The winning time at the 1990 Indy was more than four hours faster than the 1911 Indy's
winning time of six hours, forty-two minutes.
- At 200 miles per hour, an Indy driver can cover the length of a football field in less
than one second.
- While eight different drivers named Jones have driven in at least one 500 race (none of
which are related), no starting field has ever included a driver named Smith.
- Buddy Lazier was eliminated after only one lap in the 1991 Indy and received $162,690
in prize money. Ernie Ansterberg, on the other hand, pulled out after two laps in 1924 and
was awarded the hefty sum of $5.25.
- At 224 miles per hour, an Indy Car is traveling about 100 miles faster than an average
Air Force fighter jet at takeoff.
(c) ICP Educational. Used with permission. For software information contact
ICP Educational Resources click here
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YEAR
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942-1945 Race not held (WWII)
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
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DRIVER
Ray Harroun
Joe Dawson
Jules Goux
Rene Thomas
Ralph DePalma
Dario Resta
Howard Wilcox
Gaston Chevrolet
Gaston Miltono
Jimmy Murphy
Tommy Milton
L.L. Corum
Peter Depaolo
Frank Lockhart
George Souders
Louis Meyer
Louis Schneider
Fred Frame
Louis Meyer
William Cummings
Kelly Petillo
Louis Meyer
Wilbur Shaw
Floyd Roberts
Wilbur Shaw
Wilbur Shaw
Floyd Davis
George Robson
Mauri Rose
Mauri Rose
Bill Holland
Johnnie Parsons
Lee Wallard
Troy Ruttman
Bill Vukovich
Bill Vukovich
Bob Sweikert
Pat Flaherty
Sam Hanks
Jim Bryan
Rodger Ward
Jim Rathmann
A.J. Foyt
Rodger Ward
Parnelli Jones
A.J. Foyt
Jimmy Clark
Graham Hill
A.J. Foyt
Bobby Unser
Mario Andretti
Al Unser
Al Unser
Mark Donahue
Gordon Johncock
Johnny Rutherford
Bobby Unser
Johnny Rutherford
A.J. Foyt
Al Unser
Rick Mears
Johnny Rutherford
Bobby Unser
Gordon Johncock
Tom Sneva
Rick Mears
Danny Sullivan
Bobby Rahal
Al Unser
Rick Mears
E. Fittipaldi
Arie Luyendyk
Rick Mears
Al Unser Jr.
Emerson Fittipaldi
Al Unser Jr.
Jacques Villeneuve
Buddy Lazier
Arie Luyendyk
Eddie Cheever Jr.
Kenny Brack
Juan Montoya
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ENGINE
Marmon Wasp
National
Peugeot
Delage
Mercedes
Peugeot
Peugeot
Monroe
Frontenac
Miller
Miller
Dusenberg
Duesenberg
Miller
Duesenberg
Miller
Miller
Miller
Miller
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Masurati
Maserati
Offenhauser
Thorne/Sparks
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Ford
Ford
Ford
Offenhauser
Hawk-Ford
Colt Ford
Colt Ford
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Offenhauser
Meyer Drake
Offenhauser
Coyote-Foyt
Cosworth
Cosworth
Chaparral
Offenhauser
Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth
Chevy
Chevy
Chevy
Chevy
Chevy
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
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CYLINDERS
6
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
4
4
4
4
4
8
8
4
6
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
8
8
8
4
8
8
8
4
4
4
4
4
4
8
8
8
4
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
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MPH AVERAGE
74.69
78.72
97.933
82,47
89.84
84.00*(1)
88.05
88.62
89.62
94.48
90.95
98.23
101.13
95.904*(2)
97.545
100.448
96.629
104.144
104.162
104.863
106.24
109.069
113.58
117.2
115.035
114.277
115.117
114.82
116.338
119.814
121.32
124.002*(3)
126.244
128.922
128.74
130.84
128.209
128.49
135.601
133.791
135.857
138.767
139.13
140.293
143.137
147.35
150.686
144.317
151.207
152.882
156.867
155.749
157.735
162.962*(4)
159.036
158.589
149.213*(5)
148.725*(6)
161.331
161.363
158.889
142.862
139.029
162.029
162.117
162.962
152.982
170.722
162.175
144.809
144.809
185.984
176.457
134.447
157.207
160.872
153.616
147.956
145.827
145.155
153.176
167.496
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