1952 Indianapolis 500

  1952 Indianapolis 500

Race details
Race 2 of 8 in the 1952 Formula One season
Date	May 30, 1952 (1952-05-30)
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.023 km (2.500 mi)
Distance	200 laps, 804.672 km (500.000 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Cummins Diesel
Time	4:20.85 (4-lap)
Fastest lap
Driver	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Time	1:06.60 on lap 8
Podium
First	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma-Offenhauser
Second	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Third	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Lap leaders

The 1952 Indianapolis 500 was an automobile race held on Friday, May 30, 1952 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event was the second round of the 1952 World Drivers' Championship. Troy Ruttman won the race, bringing the Borg-Warner Trophy home for car owner J.C. Agajanian.

Bill Vukovich led 150 laps, but with 9 laps to go, he broke a steering linkage while leading. He nursed his car to a stop against the outside wall, preventing other cars from getting involved in the incident.

Time trials

Time trials was scheduled for four days, but rain pushed qualifying into a fifth day.

• Saturday May 17 - Pole Day time trials
• Sunday May 18 - Second day time trials (rained out)
• Saturday May 24 - Third day time trials
• Sunday May 25 - Fourth day time trials (rained out)
• Monday May 26 - Fifth day time trials (rain make up day)

Classification

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	Points
1	7	98	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma-Offenhauser	135.360	18	200	44	3:52:41.88	8
2	10	59	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.340	7	200	0	+4:02.33	6
3	5	18	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.730	14	200	0	+6:11.61	4
4	6	1	Duane Carter	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.520	16	200	0	+6:48.34	3
5	20	33	Art Cross	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.280	26	200	0	+8:40.15	2
6	21	77	Jimmy Bryan	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.140	27	200	0	+9:24.32
7	23	37	Jimmy Reece	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	133.990	29	200	0	+10:35.24
8	14	54	George Connor	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.600	15	200	0	+12:00.61
9	9	22	Cliff Griffith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.610	6	200	0	+12:23.76
10	31	5	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.320	19	200	0	+13:37.78
11	3	4	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.660	5	200	6	+14:21.72
12	26	29	Jim Rigsby	Watson-Offenhauser	133.900	33	200	0	+16:05.10
13	16	14	Joe James	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.950	22	200	0	+16:55.65
14	15	7	Bill Schindler	Stevens-Offenhauser	134.980	20	200	0	+18:48.66
15	13	65	George Fonder	Sherman-Offenhauser	135.940	13	197	0	+3 Laps
16	24	81	Eddie Johnson	Trevis-Offenhauser	133.970	30	193	0	+7 Laps
17	8	26	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	138.210	2	191	150	Steering	1
18	11	16	Chuck Stevenson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.140	9	187	0	+13 Laps
19	12	2	Henry Banks	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.960	11	184	0	+16 Laps
20	28	8	Manny Ayulo	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.980	10	184	0	+16 Laps
21	33	31	Johnny McDowell	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	133.930	32	182	0	+18 Laps
22	29	48	Spider Webb	Bromme-Offenhauser	135.960	12	162	0	Oil leak
23	22	34	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.130	28	130	0	Oil Pressure
24	30	27	Tony Bettenhausen	Deidt-Offenhauser	135.380	17	93	0	Oil Pressure
25	4	36	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	136.180	8	84	0	Supercharger
26	32	73	Bob Sweikert	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.980	21	77	0	Differential
27	1	28	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Cummins Diesel	138.010	3	71	0	Turbocharger
28	18	67	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.340	24	65	0	Exhaust
29	25	93	Bob Scott	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	133.950	31	49	0	Transmission
30	27	21	Chet Miller	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	139.030	1	41	0	Supercharger
31	19	12	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	134.300	25	40	0	Wheel
32	17	55	Bobby Ball	Stevens-Offenhauser	134.720	23	34	0	Gearbox
33	2	9	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.000	4	20	0	Oil Pump

Failed to Qualify: Buzz Barton (#58), Joe Barzda (#53), Bill Cantrell (#52), Neal Carter (#25), Jimmy Daywalt (#64), Duke Dinsmore (#68), Walt Faulkner (#3), Carl Forberg (#53), Gene Force (#96), Dick Fraizer (#63), Potsy Goacher (#93), Perry Grimm (#55), Peter Hahn (#74), Allen Heath (#32), Tommy Hinnershitz (#27), Jackie Holmes (#41), Jimmy Jackson (#61), Danny Kladis (#19), Jud Larson (#39), Bayliss Levrett (#69), Frank Luptow (#56), Johnny Mauro (#35), Mike Nazaruk (#66), Danny Oakes (#39), Paul Russo (#10), Carl Scarborough (#33), Doc Shanebrook (#76), Bill Taylor^{[disambiguation needed ]} (#47), George Tichenor (#88), Johnnie Tolan (#51), Leroy Warriner (#27)

Notes

• Pole position: Fred Agabashian – 4:20.85 (4 laps)
• Agabashian's Cummins Diesel Special was the first entry in the Indianapolis 500 to be powered by a turbocharged engine (then described as "turbosupercharged"). Gear-driven centrifugal blowers known as "superchargers" had been used since the 1920s to increase the volumetric efficiency and power output of racing engines, but the Cummins Diesel was the first to make use of the "free" energy contained in the engine exhaust stream to drive a turbine wheel connected to a centrifugal blower (thus, "turbo-supercharging").
• Fastest Lead Lap: Bill Vukovich – 1:06.60
• As of 2009, Troy Ruttman remains the youngest driver to win the Indianapolis 500, at 22 years and 80 days.^[1]
• Ruttman also became the youngest driver to win a race counting for the Formula One championship. His record was broken by Fernando Alonso at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.
• Alberto Ascari marked the first instance of a driver competing seriously for the World Drivers' Championship (of which the 500 was a points-scoring race) to race in the 500. Although he finished 31st at Indy, he went on to win all of the remaining races and the title.

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Piero Taruffi	9
20	2	Troy Ruttman	8
1	3	Rudi Fischer	6
18	4	Jim Rathmann	6
2	5	Jean Behra	4

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.

Gallery

• 

  1952 winning car

Notes

References

Works cited

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site
• "The Official Formula 1 website". Archived from the original on December 1, 2009. http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1952/609/. Retrieved 2009-11-30.