1912 Indianapolis 500

Second running of the Indianapolis 500 February 2025 2nd Indianapolis 500 1912 Indianapolis 500 program cover.jpg AAA May 30, 1912 Joe Dawson Harry Martin National Motor Vehicle Company 6:21:06 78.719 mi/h km/h on Gil Andersen N/A Ralph DePalma (196) Stutz Carl G. Fisher Fred J. WagnerFox Jack C. The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994 Carl Hungness Publishing 4th 1994 22 en 0-915088-05-3 R. P. Hooper 75,000Motor Mad Throng Sees Indiana Boy Win $35,000 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3189064/2nd_500_front_page/ Walter S. Greenough The Indianapolis Star 1 Newspapers.com May 31, 1912 June 3, 2017 1911 1913 The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912. Indiana-born driver Joe Dawson won the race, leading only the final two laps. Ralph DePalma dominated the race, leading 196 of the 200 laps, and pulling out to an over 5-lap lead. But with just over two laps to go, his car failed with a broken connecting rod. Summary thumb|right|300px|Dawson after winning In the aftermath of victory by Ray Harroun in the single-seat Marmon "Wasp" in the first 500-Mile Race the year before, new rules made the presence of riding mechanics mandatory; maximum engine size remained 600 cubic inches (9.83 liters) displacement. At $50,000, the race purse was nearly double that of 1911. Out of 29 original entries, 24 qualified for the race by sustaining a speed faster than a minimum of 75 mph (120.7 km/h) for a full lap, an increase from the quarter-mile qualifying distance of the inaugural year. David Bruce-Brown was fastest at 88.45 mph (142.35 km/h), but starting positions were again determined by entry date. Lining up five cars to the first four rows and four to a fifth, a change from the previous year's starting method was movement of the pace car, a Stutz, from the inside of the first row to out in front of the field. Upon wave of the then-red starting flag, Teddy Tetzlaff took the lead in a Fiat from the third starting position in the center of the first row, and lead for the first two laps before being overtaken by the grey # 4 Mercedes of Ralph DePalma. DePalma's domination of most of the event was total, as he built an eventual five-and-a-half lap, eleven-minute advantage over second, and lead uncontested for the next 194 laps. On lap 87, DePalma led his 85th lap and became the all-time Indianapolis 500 lap leader with 89 laps led (he led 4 laps in the 1911 race), a title he would hold until lap 200 of the 1987 race, 75 years later. But at the beginning of lap 197, as his Mercedes began misfiring, and slowed on the main stretch at the conclusion of the lap. Nursed through the 198th lap by DePalma at reduced speed, the car finally lost all power at the end of the backstretch on lap 199, as a broken connecting rod tore a hole in the crankcase. With the car's momentum carrying it around to the fourth turn, DePalma and riding mechanic Rupert Jeffkins then entered themselves into motor racing lore, as well as inspired the cheers of the more than 80,000 in attendance, as they climbed from the vehicle and begin pushing it down the five-eighths of a mile main stretch toward the start-finish line. Indianapolis driver Joe Dawson and riding mechanic Harry Martin, running in the second position for most of the race in their blue and white National Motor Vehicle Company entry, finally passed DePalma midway down the main stretch to assume the lead for the concluding two laps, a record that would be held for the fewest led laps in history until 2011, following DePalma's 196 laps in the lead being the most ever in a race by a non-winner. Finishing more than ten minutes ahead of newly-second place Tetzlaff, Dawson completed another two laps for good measure upon fear of a scoring miscue. Sometime thereafter, DePalma and Jeffkins finally brought their car across the line, but in twofold futile endeavour: Speedway rules, requiring that all entries move under their own power, marked DePalma's final number of circuits at 198, and the push across the line, even if it counted, brought them only to the beginning of the final lap. Dawson's run in the American-manufactured, four-cylinder National, with a winning time of 6:21:06 and averaging 78.719 mph (126.686 km/h), was twenty-one minutes two seconds faster than the previous 1911 record; The National team garnered $20,000 and additional contingency awards. Throughout the remainder of the field, only the top ten finishers earned prize money, rules stipulating all entries complete the 500 mi km to collect. Ralph Mulford, being forced to stop numerous times due to clutch problems in his Knox, found irritation with the requirement and proceeded to drive on, long after all others were presented the chequered flag...and even after Speedway president Carl Fisher and starter Fred Wagner left the grounds (the latter after getting into an argument over whether to flag Mulford off before he had completed the distance, Wagner in favor and Fisher against). Through numerous accounts of the run, including his reportedly changing shock absorbers for a gentler ride, as well as stopping for a dinner-on-the-go of fried chicken and ice-cream with his riding mechanic, Mulford's finish finally arrived, amid deserted grandstands and a setting sun over the main straightaway, 8 hours and 53 minutes after the start (approximately 6:53 p.m. local time), and with an average speed of 56.285 mph (90.582 km/h), which remains a record: the slowest finishing speed to date in 500 history. Starting grid Entries were required to complete one lap in excess of 75 mph in order to qualify. However, starting grid was determined by order of entry date. DriverFar InsideInside CenterCenterOutside CenterFar OutsideTime(mph)Row 1USA 1908 Gil AndersenUSA 1908 Len Zengel orange R silverUSA 1908 Teddy TetzlaffUSA 1908 Ralph DePalmaUSA 1908 Eddie Hearne1:51.2180.931:54.1478.851:46.8484.241:44.6386.021:49.9681.85Row 2USA 1908 Spencer WishartUSA 1908 Joe DawsonUSA 1908 Howdy WilcoxUSA 1908 Harry KnightUSA 1908 Bert Dingley orange R silver1:47.2183.951:44.4986.131:43.2187.201:58.5575.921:51.4380.77Row 3USA 1908 John Jenkins orange R silverUSA 1908 Bob BurmanUSA 1908 Eddie Rickenbacker orange R silver (*)USA 1908 Billy Leisaw orange R silverUSA 1908 Bill Endicott1:51.3680.821:47.0084.111:56.4377.301:56.1177.511:51.7080.57Row 4USA 1908 Ralph MulfordGBR Hughie HughesUSA 1908 Joe Horan orange R silverUSA 1908 Mel MarquetteUSA 1908 Len Ormsby orange R silver1:42.4187.881:50.0181.811:51.8380.481:55.2778.081:47.0384.09Row 5USA 1908 Joe Matson orange R silverUSA 1908 Charlie MerzUSA 1908 David Bruce-BrownUSA 1908 Louis Disbrow 1:52.6479.901:54.1078.881:41.7588.451:57.5976.54 Note: (*) Car qualified by Lee Frayer Box score FinishNoDriverEntrantChassisEngineCylDispl(in3)ColorQual(mph)RankGridLapsTime/Status18 USA 1908 Joe Dawson(Don Herr Laps 108–144) National Motor Vehicle Company National National4491blue/white86.13472006:21:0623 USA 1908 Teddy Tetzlaff(Caleb Bragg) E. E. Hewlett Fiat Fiat4589red84.2463200 +10:23321 GBR Hughie Hughes Mercer Motors Company Mercer Mercer4301yellow81.811117200 +12:03428 USA 1908 Charlie Merz(Billy Knipper) Ideal Motor Car Company Stutz Wisconsin4390gray78.881822200 +13:34518 USA 1908 Bill Endicott(Harry Endicott) Schacht Motor Car Company Schacht Wisconsin4390red80.571515200 +25:2262 USA 1908 Len Zengel orange R silver(Billy Knipper) Ideal Motor Car Company Stutz Wisconsin4390gray78.85192200 +29:22714 USA 1908 John Jenkins orange R silver(Charlie Arnold) White Motor Company White White6490white80.8271311200 +31:32722 USA 1908 Joe Horan orange R silver(George Ainslee) Dr. W. H. Chambers Lozier Lozier4545white/red80.481618200 +38:3299 USA 1908 Howdy Wilcox(Bill Rader) National Motor Vehicle Company National National4590blue/white87.2038200 +50:241019 USA 1908 Ralph Mulford Ralph Mulford Knox Knox6597white/red87.88216200 +2:31:54114 USA 1908 Ralph DePalma E. J. Schroeder Mercedes Mercedes4583gray86.0254198Connecting rod1215 USA 1908 Bob Burman Clark-Carter Auto Company Cutting Cutting4598white/red84.11712157Crash T21312 USA 1908 Bert Dingley orange R silver Bert Dingley Simplex Simplex4597red/white80.771410116Connecting rod1425 USA 1908 Joe Matson orange R silver O. Applegate Lozier Lozier4545white/red79.901721110Crankshaft157 USA 1908 Spencer Wishart Spencer Wishart Mercedes Mercedes4583gray/black/red83.959682Water connection161 USA 1908 Gil Andersen Ideal Motor Car Company Stutz Wisconsin4390gray/white80.9312180Crash T31717 USA 1908 Billy Leisaw orange R silver(W. H. Farr) Will Thomson Marquette Buick4594tan/red77.51211472Caught fire1846 USA 1908 Louis Disbrow(Neil Whalen) J. I. Case T. M. Company Case Case6450white/red76.54232467Differential pin1923 USA 1908 Mel Marquette Speed Motors Company McFarlan McFarlan6425gray78.08201963Broken wheels206 USA 1908 Eddie Hearne(Neil Whalen) J. I. Case T. M. Company Case Case6450white/red81.8510555Burned bearing2116 USA 1908 Eddie Rickenbacker orange R silver Columbus Buggy Company Fiat Firestone-Columbus4345crimson/black77.30221343Intake valve2229 USA 1908 David Bruce-Brown National Motor Vehicle Company National National4590blue/white88.4512325Valve trouble2310 USA 1908 Harry Knight Lexington Motor Car Company Lexington Lexington6422brown/white75.922496Engine trouble2426 USA 1908 Len Ormsby orange R silver I. C. Stern & B. C. Noble Opel Opel4450gray/red84.098205Connecting rodSources:Davidson Donald https://archive.org/details/autocourseoffici0000davi/ Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500 Shaffer Rick Icon Publishing 2013 351 978-1-905334-82-7 Second Malvern, Worcestershire, England Donald Davidson (historian) registration Internet ArchivePopely Rick https://archive.org/details/indianapolis500c0000pope/ Indianapolis 500 Chronicle Riggs L. Spencer Publications International 1998 12–13 0-7853-2798-3 Lincolnwood, Illinois registration Internet Archive1912 International 500 https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/1912_International_500/UO/ live November 28, 2023 Racing-Reference April 28, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210428144925/https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/1912_International_500/UO/ Note: Relief drivers in parenthesesChampCarStats.com https://www.champcarstats.com/races/191204.htm International 500 Mile Sweepstakes – May 30, 1912 orange R silver Indianapolis 500 Rookie Race statistics 30% Lap Leaders Laps Leader1–2 Teddy Tetzlaff3–198 Ralph DePalma199–200 Joe Dawson 70% Total laps led Laps Leader Ralph DePalma 196 Teddy Tetzlaff 2 Joe Dawson 2 Notes Race field average engine displacement: 491.46 in3 / 8.05 L Race field average qualifying speed: 81.762 mph / 131.583 km/h Finishing entries average time and finishing speed: 6:57:25 (-8:02 from previous year and previous record) 72.457 mph / 116.609 km/h (+1.717 mph / +2.763 km/h, from previous year and previous record) Race details For 1912, riding mechanics were made mandatory.Blazier, John E. Rollings, Tom Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics 1994 Don Herr relieved Joe Dawson for several laps. Gallery Works cited Popely, Rick and L. Spencer Riggs. Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, Ltd., 1999. 978-0-7853-2798-1 2006 Indianapolis 500 Official Program References 1911 Ray Harroun 1912 Joe Dawson 1913 Jules Goux 78.719 74.602 mph(1911 Indianapolis 500) 82.474 mph(1914 Indianapolis 500) Category:Indianapolis 500 races Indianapolis 500 Indianapolis 500 Indianapolis 500 Category:May 1912 sports events in the United States