1953 Indianapolis 500

  1953 Indianapolis 500

Race details
Race 2 of 9 in the 1953 Formula One season
Date	May 30, 1953 (1953-05-30)
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	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Time	4:20.13 (4-lap)
Fastest lap
Driver	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Time	1:06.24 on lap 27
Podium
First	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Second	Art Cross	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Third	Sam Hanks Duane Carter	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Lap leaders

The 1953 Indianapolis 500 was an automobile race held on Saturday, May 30, 1953 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event was the second round of the 1953 World Drivers' Championship.

Race Report

Practice

Chet Miller died in an accident in practice on May 15.^[1]

Qualifying

Bill Vukovich won the pole position.

Time trials was scheduled for four days.

• Saturday May 16 - Pole Day time trials (rained out)
• Sunday May 17 - Second day time trials
• Saturday May 23 - Third day time trials
• Sunday May 24 - Fourth day time trials

Race

Polesitter Bill Vukovich dominated the race by leading 195 laps and also had the fastest lap of the race.

• The race was known as the "Hottest 500", with track temperatures exceeding 130 °F (54 °C). Half the drivers in the race used backup drivers,^[1] including:
  • Duane Carter (49 laps) took over from Sam Hanks (151)
  • Paul Russo (96) took over from Fred Agabashian (104)
  • Eddie Johnson (88) took over from Jim Rathmann (112)
  • Gene Hartley (37) and Chuck Stevenson (44) took over from Tony Bettenhausen (115)
  • Bob Scott (121) took over from Carl Scarborough (69)^[2]
  • Jim Rathmann (36) took over from Bill Holland (141)
  • Duke Dinsmore (10) and Andy Linden (29) took over from Rodger Ward (138)
  • Johnny Mantz (42) took over from Walt Faulkner (134)
  • Jackie Holmes (9) and Johnny Thomson (45) took over from Spider Webb (112)
  • Andy Linden (12) and Chuck Stevenson (13) took over from Jerry Hoyt (82)

Carl Scarborough died from heat exhaustion after retiring from the race.^[1] He retired from the race due to heat exhaustion, and died later at the infield hospital.^[3]

Classification

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/retired	Points
1	1	14	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	138.39	1	200	195	3:53:01.69	9
2	12	16	Art Cross	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.31	8	200	0	+3:30.87	6
3	9	3	Sam Hanks Duane Carter	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.53	5	200	3	+4:11.50	2 2
4	2	59	Fred Agabashian Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.54	4	200	1	+4:39.24	1.5 1.5
5	3	5	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.6	13	200	0	+7:49.64	2
6	21	48	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.74	23	200	0	+8:10.21
7	25	2	Jim Rathmann Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.66	27	200	1	+8:46.02
8	20	12	Ernie McCoy	Stevens-Offenhauser	135.92	22	200	0	+10:04.55
9	6	98	Tony Bettenhausen Chuck Stevenson Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	136.02	20	196	0	Accident
10	32	53	Jimmy Davies	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.26	31	193	0	+7 laps
11	26	9	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	135.46	30	191	0	Accident
12	19	73	Carl Scarborough Bob Scott	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.93	21	190	0	+10 laps
13	4	88	Manny Ayulo	Kuzma-Offenhauser	136.38	15	184	0	Engine
14	31	8	Jimmy Bryan	Schroeder-Offenhauser	135.5	29	183	0	+17 laps
15	28	49	Bill Holland Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.86	2	177	0	Magneto
16	10	92	Rodger Ward Andy Linden Duke Dinsmore	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.46	6	177	0	Axle
17	14	23	Walt Faulkner Johnny Mantz	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.11	10	176	0	+24 laps
18	22	22	Marshall Teague	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.72	25	169	0	Oil Leak
19	18	62	Spider Webb Johnny Thomson Jackie Holmes	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.16	17	166	0	Oil Leak
20	29	51	Bob Sweikert	Kuzma-Offenhauser	136.87	11	151	0	Suspension
21	23	83	Mike Nazaruk	Turner-Offenhauser	135.7	26	146	0	Transmission
22	24	77	Pat Flaherty	Kuzma-Offenhauser	135.66	28	115	0	Accident
23	7	55	Jerry Hoyt Chuck Stevenson Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.73	24	107	0	Overheating
24	27	4	Duane Carter	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.26	32	94	0	Ignition
25	17	7	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.21	16	89	0	Magneto
26	8	21	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.66	3	86	0	Engine
27	15	38	Don Freeland	Watson-Offenhauser	136.86	12	76	0	Accident
28	13	41	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.26	9	53	0	Accident
29	16	97	Chuck Stevenson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	136.56	14	42	0	Fuel Leak
30	30	99	Cal Niday	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.09	18	30	0	Magneto
31	11	29	Bob Scott	Bromme-Offenhauser	137.43	7	14	0	Oil Leak
32	33	56	Johnny Thomson	Del Roy-Offenhauser	135.26	33	6	0	Ignition
33	5	32	Andy Linden	Stevens-Offenhauser	136.06	19	3	0	Accident

Failed to Qualify: Frank Armi (#79), Henry Banks (#10), Buzz Barton (#35), Joe Barzda (#69), Bill Boyd (#86), Billy Cantrell (#42), Neal Carter (#23), George Connor (#25), Ray Crawford (#49), Jorge Daponte (#95), Duke Dinsmore (#52), Bill Doster, Len Duncan (#31, #81), Edgar Elder (#49), Johnny Fedricks (#46), John Fitch (#49, #74), George Fonder (#76), Potsy Goacher (#36), Cliff Griffith (#24), Red Hamilton (#91), Allen Heath (#65), Al Herman (#93), Jackie Holmes (#71), Bill Homeier (#84, #87), Eddie Johnson (#26), Johnny Kay (#67), Jud Larson (#96), Jim Mayes (#34), Chet Miller (#15), Roy Neuman (#43), Danny Oakes (#63), Pat O'Connor (#28, #64, #74), Johnny Roberts (#82), Hal Robson (#57), Troy Ruttman (#2), Eddie Sachs (#34), Wayne Selser (#75), Joe Sostilio (#17), Harry Stockman (#84), Bill Taylor (#39), George Tichenor (#65), Johnnie Tolan (#66, #85), Leroy Warriner (#44),

Race notes

• Pole position: Bill Vukovich – 4:20.13 (4 laps)
• Fastest lead lap: Bill Vukovich – 1:06.240
• The purse for first place was $89,496^[4] (US$777,413 in 2012 dollars^[5]).

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Alberto Ascari	9
16	2	Bill Vukovich	9
1	3	Luigi Villoresi	6
14	4	Art Cross	6
2	5	José Froilán González	4

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

Gallery

• 

  1953 winning car

Notes

References

Works cited

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site

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