1961 Indianapolis 500

The 45th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana 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.

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 & Parnelli Jones (co-winners)
Most laps led	A. J. Foyt (71)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Purdue Band
"Back Home Again in Indiana"	Mel Torme
Starting command	Tony Hulman
Pace car	Ford Thunderbird
Pace car driver	Sam Hanks
Starter	Bill Vanderwater
Honorary referee	Raymond Firestone
Estimated attendance	300,000
TV in the United States
Network	N/A
Announcers	N/A
Nielsen ratings	N/A / N/A
Chronology
Previous Next 1960 1962

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 was unable to properly engage the fuel mechanism, and his car did not take on a full load of fuel. Foyt returned to the track, and was pulling away from Sachs. Foyt's car was running faster due to the light fuel load, but his crew signaled him that he would be unable to make it to the finish without another pit stop. The crew borrowed a fuel feed mechanism from Len Sutton's team, and signaled Foyt to the pits.

Foyt gave up the lead on lap 184 for a splash-and-go. That handed the lead to Sachs, who was now leading by 25 seconds. With three laps to go, the warning tread showed on Sachs' rear tire and Sachs decided to play it safe. Rather than nurse the car around, he pitted to replace the worn tire on lap 197. Foyt took the lead with three laps to go and won his first (of four) Indy 500 victories by a margin of 8.28 seconds.

A notable story included the appearance of two-time defending Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham from Australia, who drove the race in a low-slung, British built Cooper powered by a Coventry Climax engine. 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 with their larger and more powerful engines were much faster down the long straights, but the superior handling of Brabham's Cooper in the corners kept his car competitive. Brabham qualified 17th at 145.144 mp/h and drove the car to a respectable 9th-place finish, completing all 200 laps. He had planned to run conservatively and make only two pit stops, but tire wear and fuel consumption forced him to make a 3rd stop, negating his strategy. Had he driven more aggressively with three pit stops, he might have been much closer to the lead serial.

Five months after the race in October 1961, the front straight of the track was paved over with asphalt, and thus the entire track was now paved in asphalt and only a single yard of bricks at the start/finish line was left exposed from the original 1909 brick surface. The remainder of the original 3,200,000 bricks now lie underneath the asphalt surface. This meant that the 1961 race was the last 500 in which cars raced on the original bricks other than those at the start/finish line.

Practice and time trials

Nicknamed the "Tinley Park Express," Tony Bettenhausen, Sr. was killed in a crash during a practice run on May 12. He was testing a car for Paul Russo. It was determined that an anchor bolt fell off the front radius rod support, permitting the front axle to twist and mis-align the front wheels when the brakes were applied. The car plunged into the outside wall, then rode along the top, snapping fence poles and tearing segments of the catch fence. The car came to rest upside-down on top of the outside wall, and Bettenhausen was killed instantly. Before the time trials Bettenhausen had been the favorite to become the first driver to break the 150 mph barrier at the Speedway.

The Cooper T54 with which Jack Brabham placed ninth

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

Eddie Sachs sat on the pole with an average speed of 147.481 mph (237.348 km/h).

Starting grid

Row	Inside		Middle		Outside
1	12	Eddie Sachs	3	Don Branson	99	Jim Hurtubise
2	2	Rodger Ward  W	98	Parnelli Jones  R	97	Dick Rathmann
3	1	A. J. Foyt	8	Len Sutton	14	Bill Cheesbourg
4	33	Eddie Johnson	4	Jim Rathmann  W	15	Wayne Weiler
5	17	Jack Brabham  R	73	A. J. Shepherd  R	28	Gene Hartley
6	32	Bob Christie	10	Paul Goldsmith	7	Shorty Templeman
7	86	Ebb Rose  R	41	Johnny Boyd	45	Jack Turner
8	52	Troy Ruttman  W	55	Jimmy Daywalt	16	Bobby Grim
9	5	Lloyd Ruby	19	Al Keller	83	Don Davis  R
10	18	Chuck Stevenson	22	Roger McCluskey  R	26	Cliff Griffith
11	35	Dempsey Wilson	34	Norm Hall  R	31	Bobby Marshman  R

R Indianapolis 500 rookie

W Indianapolis 500 winner

Alternates

• First alternate: Paul Russo (#21, #24)

Failed to qualify

• Chuck Arnold (#62)
• Harry Beck  R  (#95) – Entry declined, lack of experience
• Tony Bettenhausen (#15, #24) – Fatal accident
• Bert Brooks  R  (#79)
• Duane Carter (#61, #64)
• Bob Cleberg  R  (#6)
• Leon Clum  R  (#77)
• Russ Congdon  R  (#69)
• Ray Crawford (#94)
• Ronnie Duman  R  (#43)
• Jack Ensley  R  (#84)
• Cotton Farmer  R  (#23)
• Don Freeland (#27, #47)
• Chuck Hulse  R  (#37)
• Danny Jones  R  (#47)
• Ralph Ligouri  R  (#75)
• Mike Magill (#82)
• Jim McWithey (#29)
• Bill Randall  R  (#95)
• Chuck Rodee  R  (#89)
• Jack Rounds  R  (#44, #87)
• Bud Tingelstad (#54)
• Bob Veith (#23, #25, #44, #85)
• Bob Wente  R  (#88)
• Chuck Weyant (#88)

Box score

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

 W  Former Indianapolis 500 winner

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

Race statistics

Lap Leaders
Laps	Leader
1–35	Jim Hurtubise
36–41	Jim Rathmann
42–44	Parnelli Jones
45–51	Eddie Sachs
52–75	Parnelli Jones
76–83	A. J. Foyt
84–88	Troy Ruttman
89	A. J. Foyt
90–94	Troy Ruttman
95–124	A. J. Foyt
125–137	Eddie Sachs
138	A. J. Foyt
139–141	Eddie Sachs
142–146	A. J. Foyt
147–151	Eddie Sachs
152–160	A. J. Foyt
161–167	Rodger Ward
168–169	Eddie Sachs
170–183	A. J. Foyt
184–197	Eddie Sachs
198–200	A. J. Foyt

Total laps led
Driver	Laps
A. J. Foyt	71
Eddie Sachs	44
Jim Hurtubise	35
Parnelli Jones	27
Troy Ruttman	10
Rodger Ward	7
Jim Rathmann	6

Yellow Lights: 2 for 33 minutes, 2 seconds
Laps*	Reason
52–67	Davis, Shepherd, Turner, McCluskey, Cheesebourg crash mainstretch (25:12)
129–136	Eddie Johnson crash turn four (7:50)
* – Approximate lap counts

Tire participation chart
Supplier	No. of starters
Firestone	32*
Dunlop	1
* – Denotes race winner

Track worker fatality

John Masariu, 38 father of 6, of Danville, Indiana was serving as a member of the fire/safety crew. On the 127th lap of the race, driver Eddie Johnson spun out in turn 4, but did not suffer significant damage and he was not injured. A small fire broke out on the car. A safety fire truck went to his aid. John Masariu, who was the principal of Ben Davis Junior High and was serving as a safety worker, fell or jumped off the back of the fire truck. A moment later, the truck driven by James (Johnny) Williams accidentally backed over him, and he was injured fatally.

Broadcasting

Radio

The race was carried live on the IMS Radio Network. Sid Collins served as chief announcer with Fred Agabashian serving as "driver expert" The broadcast represented the 10th anniversary of the network, which was formed in 1952. This was Mike Ahern's first year on the network. This was Ahern's only year in Turn 2.

The broadcast was heard on over 450 affiliates, including Armed Forces Radio. The broadcast reached all 50 U.S. states. The race reached approximately 100 million listeners worldwide.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Pit/garage reporters
Chief Announcer: Sid Collins Driver expert: Fred Agabashian Statistician: Charlie Brockman	Turn 1: Bill Frosh Turn 2: Mike Ahern  R  Backstretch: Bernie Herman Turn 3: Lou Palmer Turn 4: Jim Shelton	Jack Shapiro (north pits) Luke Walton (center pits) Johny Peterson (south pits)

Television

The race itself was not televised in full. However, ABC Sports showed highlights of time trials and a few minutes of film clips of the race on Wide World of Sports.

Gallery

• 
  1961 winning car
• 
  Replica of Jack Brabham's 1961 Cooper-Climax T54

Notes

Works cited

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site
• 1961 Indianapolis 500 Radio Broadcast, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network