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The 100th Indianapolis 500 is just around the corner, and it’s making out to be an exciting race.
Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe captured the pole position at 230.760 mph!! It’s doubly amazing because a year ago, Hinchcliffe almost died from the results of an Indy 500 practice crash!
The first running of the Indy 500 was just as exciting.
In 1911, there were 40 cars running the race vs the 33 cars for 2016.
Driver Ray Harroun was running his car, the Marmon Wasp, without a riding mechanic, the only one doing so in the race. To have an idea of what was going on around him, Harroun installed a mirror on the cowl, the first recorded use of a rear-view mirror!
Hand-carved/acrylic painted 22"x 12.5"
© Paul Chenard 2016
Harroun, relieved by driver Cyrus Patschke for 35 laps of the race, lead for 88 laps of the 200-lap race, and won it with an average speed of 74.602 mph.
He retired from racing after the race, and lived to the ripe age of 89 years old, passing away in early 1968.
The lovely Marmon Wasp survives still, residing in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
There are many automotive racing milestones this year, but without a doubt, the most important is probably the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500. It also most of the most widely followed sporting events on the planet, so this birthday is doubly important.
That first race was won by Ray Harroun, driving a Marmon Model 32 “Wasp”. His average speed was 74.6 mph (120 kph).
Since that first Indy 500, the race has been won by drivers like Ralph De Palma, Jimmy Murphy, Tommy Milton, Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose, Bill Vukovich, Roger Ward, A.J. Foyt, Jim Clark, Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Mark Donohue, Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Arie Luyendyk, Jacques Villeneuve, Hélio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti … and the race speeds have gone up as high as 236 mph (379 kph!)
The most successful racers have been A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears with 4 wins each; the most successful team is by far Penske Racing with 15 victories, their first in 1972 and their most recent in 2009.
The Indy 500 has always been held in the last weekend in May, and has been held every year except the war years of 1917 and 1918, and 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945.
This year, the Indianapolis 500 is held on the same day as another famous race, the Grand Prix de Monaco … lots of stimulation in one day for motorsports fans!
Pen & ink on board, digitally painted
© Paul Chenard 2007
Ray Harroun driving the 1911 Marmon "Wasp" on his way to the first Indianapolis 500 win ... also the first car with a rear-view mirror.
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