1965 Indianapolis 500

The 49th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1965.

The five-year-old "British Invasion" finally breaks through as Jim Clark and Colin Chapman triumph in dominating fashion with the first rear-engined winning car, a Lotus. With only 6 of the 33 cars in the field having front engines, it was the first 500 in history to have a majority of cars as rear-engined machines.

Following the tragic 1964 race, this race is run relatively clean with no major incidents. Contrary to some popular belief, gasoline was not banned for the 1965 race. Instead, USAC officials made rule changes that effectively encouraged teams to use methanol in order to be competitive. All cars were required to make a minimum of two pit stops, fuel tank capacity was reduced to 75 gallons, and pressurized fueling rigs were outlawed.

ABC covers the race for the first time on Wide World of Sports.

Time trials

Time trials was scheduled for four days.

• Saturday May 15 - Pole Day time trials
  • A. J. Foyt won the pole position with a track record speed of 161.233 mph.
• Sunday May 16 - Second day time trials
• Saturday May 22 - Third day time trials
• Sunday May 23 - Fourth day time trials
  • Former winner Rodger Ward failed to qualify. He suffered a crash and three blown engines during the month. He got onto the track in the final 15 minutes, but his qualifying attempt was too slow to make the field.
  • Bob Mathouser was the final driver in Indy history to attempt to qualify in a front-wheel drive machine, but the engine blew and he did not make the field.^[1]

Race recaps

The Wood Brothers from the NASCAR Grand National circuit, were invited to work the pit stops for Jim Clark.^[2] Their appearance at the Speedway was recognized and much reported, and it took them only a short time to acclimate themselves to the open wheel championship cars' equipment. They were well-known for their rapid pit stop work in NASCAR, and their presence immediately created a stir in the garage area. Their contributions to the victory, however, have been considered overstated by media and others alike.^[3] Historians agree that Clark's Lotus-Ford was capable of winning the race handily with or without the added help of the Wood Brothers. In fact, the only work on the cars that was done was refueling, as they did not change tires during the race.

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	2	82	Jim Clark	160.729	2	200	190	Running
2	5	98	Parnelli Jones	158.625	5	200	0	Running
3	4	12	Mario Andretti	158.849	4	200	0	Running
4	7	74	Al Miller II	157.805	7	200	0	Running
5	14	76	Gordon Johncock	155.012	20	200	0	Running
6	15	81	Mickey Rupp	154.839	21	198	0	Flagged
7	22	83	Bobby Johns	155.481	17	197	0	Flagged
8	18	4	Don Branson	155.501	16	197	0	Flagged
9	32	45	Al Unser	154.440	29	196	0	Flagged
10	28	23	Eddie Johnson	153.998	32	195	0	Flagged
11	9	7	Lloyd Ruby	157.246	9	184	0	Blown Engine
12	12	16	Len Sutton	156.121	13	177	0	Flagged
13	29	14	Johnny Boyd	155.172	19	140	0	Gearbox
14	21	53	Walt Hansgen	155.662	15	117	0	Overheating
15	1	1	A.J. Foyt	161.233	1	115	10	Gearbox
16	24	5	Bud Tingelstad	154.672	23	115	0	Crash T3
17	6	66	Billy Foster	158.416	6	85	0	Water manifold
18	19	18	Arnie Knepper	154.513	28	80	0	Cylinder
19	8	9	Bobby Unser	157.467	8	69	0	Oil Fitting
20	13	52	Jim McElreath	155.878	14	66	0	Rear End
21	16	94	George Snider	154.825	22	64	0	Rear End
22	25	65	Ronnie Duman	154.533	27	62	0	Rear End
23	31	41	Masten Gregory	154.540	26	59	0	Oil Pressure
24	10	54	Bob Veith	156.427	11	58	0	Piston
25	26	88	Chuck Stevenson	154.275	30	50	0	Piston
26	3	17	Dan Gurney	158.898	3	42	0	Timing Gears
27	17	48	Jerry Grant	154.606	24	30	0	Magneto
28	30	19	Chuck Rodee	154.546	25	28	0	Rear End
29	27	29	Joe Leonard	154.268	31	27	0	Oil Leak
30	23	25	Roger McCluskey	155.186	18	18	0	Clutch
31	11	24	Johnny Rutherford	156.291	12	15	0	Rear End
32	33	47	Bill Cheesbourg	153.774	33	14	0	Magneto
33	20	59	Jim Hurtubise	156.863	10	1	0	Transmission

Trivia

• It was the first time that the Indianapolis 500 was nationally televised on ABC Sports, this race was shown as part of ABC's Wide World of Sports, anchored by Charlie Brockman.

Notes

References

Works cited

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