An Indy Oddity for This Year

[cosworth151]

Here's something to look for in this year's Indy 500.

In many years ending in "-2," a trend has been observed involving a driver leading the most laps, or even dominating the race, but failing to win. There was no race in 1942 due to W.W.I.I.

1912: Ralph DePalma dominated the race leading 196 laps. With just over one and a half laps to go, his car broke down, and he failed to win. DePalma and his riding mechanic attempted to push the car to the finish, but the effort was futile. Joe Dawson, who led only 2 laps, went on to win.

1932: Billy Arnold took the lead on lap 2 and led 57 of the first 58 laps. He then crashed in turn three on lap 59. Race winner Fred Frame managed to lead 58 laps, just one lap more than Arnold had before he dropped out.

1952: Bill Vukovich led 150 laps, and was leading with 9 laps to go. His steering failed, and he was forced to drop out. Troy Ruttman went on to win.

1962: Parnelli Jones dominated the first half and led 120 laps, but dropped out due to brake failure.

1972: Gary Bettenhausen led 138 laps, and led as late as lap 175. But he dropped out with 18 laps to go.

1982: Rick Mears led the most laps (77), and was in a fierce duel with Gordon Johncock late in the race. With Just under 20 laps to go, both cars pitted. Mears took on a full load of fuel, more than enough to go the distance. He was 11 seconds behind when he returned to the track. Despite charging and catching up to Johncock at the white flag, he fell short of the win by 0.16 seconds.

1992: Michael Andretti dominated the race, leading 160 laps. In most instances, the only times he gave up the lead were during pit stop sequences. With 11 laps to go, while leading by about 30 seconds, he coasted to a stop with a fuel pump failure.

2002: Tomas Scheckter led 88 laps, and dominated a good portion of the second half of the race. With 28 laps to go, while leading, he hit the turn four wall and ended his day.

Thanks to Johnson's Indy 500: http://johnsonindy500.trackforum.com/indy500/thenumbers.html

[lkjohnson1950]

Unknown sources inside the Penske team said in 1982 that Mears could have lead flag to flag, but Penske told him to just ride along and they waited too long to make the move.