1961 Indianapolis 500

45th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	USAC
Season	1961 USAC season
Date	May 30, 1961
Winner	A. J. Foyt
Winning team	Bignotti-Bowes Racing Associates
Average speed	139.130 mph (223.908 km/h)
Pole position	Eddie Sachs
Pole speed	147.481 mph (237.348 km/h)
Fastest qualifier	Eddie Sachs
Rookie of the Year	Bobby Marshman
Most laps led
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Purdue Band
Back Home Again in Indiana	Dennis Morgan
Starting Command	Tony Hulman
Pace car	Ford Thunderbird
Pace car driver	Sam Hanks
Honorary starter	N/A
Attendance	300,000 (estimated)
TV in the United States
Network	N/A
Announcers	N/A
Nielsen Ratings	N/A / N/A
Chronology
Previous	Next
1960	1962

The 45th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1961. For the first time since 1949, the Indianapolis 500 was not recognized on the World Championship calendar. The race celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Indy 500 in 1911.

Eddie Sachs and A. J. Foyt were battling for 1st-2nd in the latter stages of the race. On Foyt's final scheduled pit stop, his crew is unable to properly engage the fuel mechanism, and his car does not take on a full load of fuel. Foyt returns to the track, and is pulling away from Sachs. Foyt's car is running faster due to the light fuel load, but his crew signals him that he will be unable to make it to the finish without another pit stop. The crew borrowed a fuel tank from Len Sutton's team, and signaled Foyt to the pits.

Foyt gives up the lead on lap 184 for a splash-and-go. That hands the lead to Sachs, who is now leading by 25 seconds. With three laps to go, the warning tread shows through on Sachs' rear tire and Sachs decides to play it safe. Rather than nurse the car around, he pits to replace the worn tire on lap 197. Foyt takes the lead with three laps to go and wins his first (of four) Indy 500 victories by a margin of 8.28 seconds.

Other notable stories include Jack Brabham, who drives the race in a low-slung, rear-engined Cooper-Climax. Dubbed the "British Invasion," it would be the first notable post-war appearance of a rear-engined car, and within five years, the rear-engined revolution would take over the Speedway. The venerable front-engined roadsters are much faster down the long straights, but the superior handling of Brabham's Cooper-Climax in the flat corners keep the car competitive. Brabham drives the car to a respectable 9th place finish.

In October 1961, the mainstrech of the track is paved over in asphalt, and thus the entire track is now paved in asphalt. A single yard of bricks at the start/finish line is left exposed from the original 1909 brick surface. The remainder of the original 3,200,000 bricks now lie underneath the asphalt surface.

Time trials

Time trials was scheduled for four days.

• Saturday May 13 - Pole Day time trials
• Sunday May 14 - Second day time trials
• Saturday May 20 - Third day time trials
• Sunday May 21 - Fourth day time trials

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	7	1	A. J. Foyt	145.903	9	200	71	Running
2	1	12	Eddie Sachs	147.481	1	200	44	Running
3	4	2	Rodger Ward	146.187	5	200	7	Running
4	18	7	Shorty Templeman	144.341	27	200	0	Running
5	26	19	Al Keller	146.157	6	200	0	Running
6	28	18	Chuck Stevenson	145.191	16	200	0	Running
7	33	31	Bobby Marshman	144.293	29	200	0	Running
8	25	5	Lloyd Ruby	146.909	2	200	0	Running
9	13	17	Jack Brabham	145.144	17	200	0	Running
10	32	34	Norm Hall	144.555	26	200	0	Running
11	15	28	Gene Hartley	144.817	22	198	0	Flagged
12	5	98	Parnelli Jones	146.080	7	192	27	Flagged
13	6	97	Dick Rathmann	146.033	8	164	0	Fuel Pump
14	17	10	Paul Goldsmith	144.741	25	160	0	Connecting Rod
15	12	15	Wayne Weiler	145.349	14	147	0	Wheel Bearing
16	31	35	Dempsey Wilson	144.202	31	145	0	Fuel Pump
17	16	32	Bob Christie	144.782	24	132	0	Piston
18	10	33	Eddie Johnson	145.843	12	127	0	Crash T4
19	8	8	Len Sutton	145.897	10	110	0	Clutch
20	22	52	Troy Ruttman	144.799	23	105	10	Clutch
21	20	41	Johnny Boyd	144.092	32	105	0	Clutch
22	3	99	Jim Hurtubise	146.306	4	102	35	Piston
23	19	86	Ebb Rose	144.338	28	93	0	Rod
24	30	26	Cliff Griffith	145.038	19	55	0	Piston
25	21	45	Jack Turner	144.904	21	52	0	Crash FS
26	14	73	A. J. Shepherd	144.954	20	51	0	Crash FS
27	29	22	Roger McCluskey	145.068	18	51	0	Crash FS
28	9	14	Bill Cheesbourg	145.873	11	50	0	Crash FS
29	27	83	Don Davis	145.349	15	49	0	Crash FS
30	11	4	Jim Rathmann	145.413	13	48	6	Magneto
31	23	55	Jimmy Daywalt	144.219	30	27	0	Brake Line
32	24	16	Bobby Grim	144.029	33	26	0	Piston
33	2	3	Don Branson	146.843	3	2	0	Bent Valves

Gallery

• 

  1961 winning car

• 

  Replica of Jack Brabham's 1961 Cooper-Climax T54

Notes

References

Works cited

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