1911 Indianapolis 500

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Cover of Speed Age magazine, claiming to show the start of first Indianapolis 500 race; the event depicted was in fact the start of a 5-mile race on August 19, 1909.

The largest racing purse offered to that date, $27,550, drew 46 entries from the United States and Europe, from which 40 qualified by sustaining 75 mph (120.7 km/h) for a quarter mile distance, though starting position was determined by date of entry instead of speed. Entries were prescribed by rules to have a minimum weight of 2,300 lb (1,043 kg) and a maximum engine size of 600 cubic inches (9.83 litres) displacement.

The cars lined up five to a row, excepting the first and last; the former led in what is now called the pole position by co-founder and president of the Speedway Carl G. Fisher in a Stoddard-Dayton pace car, the latter holding a single car to make up for the shifted positioning that resulted. Fisher's use of the Stoddard-Dayton is believed to constitute the first use of such a vehicle, for the first known mass-rolling start of an automobile race.

Amid roiling smoke, the roar of the 40 machines' engines, and the waving of a red flag which signalled 'clear course ahead', American Johnny Aitken, in a National, took the lead from the fourth starting spot on the extreme outside of the first row, and held it until lap 5 when Spencer Wishart took over in a Mercedes, himself soon overtaken by David L. Bruce-Brown's Fiat which would go on to dominate the first half of the race. Nearing the halfway point, Ray Harroun, an engineer for the Marmon company and defending AAA national champion, and the only driver competing without a riding mechanic due to his first-ever-recorded use of a cowl-mounted rear-view mirror, passed Bruce-Brown for the lead in his self-designed, six-cylinder "Marmon Wasp" (so named for its distinctively sharp-pointed, wasp-like tail).

Others falter during the marathon event; of the 14 cars to fall out, riding mechanic Sam Dickson is the lone fatality, killed when driver Arthur Greiner hits the wall in the second turn on lap 12.

Harroun, relieved by Cyrus Patschke for 35 laps (87.5 miles / 140.82 km), leads 88 of the 200 laps, the most among the race's seven leaders, to average a speed of 74.602 mph (120.060 km/h) in a total time of 6:42:08 for the 500-mile (804.67 km) distance to win.

Or apparently win.

During the midpoint of the second half the race, Harroun and Lozier driver Ralph Mulford had fought an intense battle for supremecy, with Harroun being scored as holding a small advantage near the 340 mile (550 kilometer) mark...whereupon one of the Wasp's tires 'let go'. With balloon tires not yet developed, automobile tires of the day did not 'go flat', but were in fact thin but strips of solid rubber which could be cut and torn without totally destroying the tire, and by extension the car, if pit stop for replacement occurred swiftly enough. Harroun's forced stopped allowed Mulford to move to the front, before Mulford soon pitted as well, also needing new rubber. After Mulford came back onto the track, Harroun was scored in the lead with a 1 minute, 48 second advantage...and it is on this statistic that controversy ensues.

Upon Harroun's declared victory, Mulford filed protest, contending that he had lapped Harroun when the Marmon had limped in on the torn tire, an argument appearing plausible to some, due to an accident disrupting the official timing and scoring stand at nearly the same time. However, race officials were quick to note that Mulford's subsequent pit stop forced the Lozier crew to spend several minutes themselves changing a tire that had stuck to the wheel hub; Mulford's protest was thus denied, though the reality remains that the final result will always be open to dispute.

After the race, and collection of $10,000 for first place, Harroun returned to the position he had taken at the end of the 1910 racing season: retirement. He would never race again.

1911 Indianapolis 500 Results

• *Due to an accident at the timing and scoring stand, laps 138 through 176 were unofficially recorded.

• **Ray Harroun was relieved by Cyrus Patschke for approximately 35 laps at the halfway point of the race.

Notes

• 460.10 in³ / 7.54 L

• No full lap

• 7:05:27
• 70.740 mph / 113.846 km/h

References

Indianapolis 500 Inaugural race

1911 Indianapolis 500 Ray Harroun

1912 Indianapolis 500 Joe Dawson

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