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1912 Indianapolis 500

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2nd Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning bodyAAA
DateMay 30, 1912
WinnerJoe Dawson
Winning EntrantNational Motor Vehicle Company
Average speed78.719 mph (126.686 km/h)
Pole positionGil Andersen
Pole speedN/A
Most laps ledRalph DePalma (196)
Pre-race
Pace carStutz
Pace car driverCarl G. Fisher
StarterFred J. Wagner[1]
Honorary refereeR. P. Hooper[1]
Estimated attendance75,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next
1911 1913

The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912. Indiana-born driver Joe Dawson won the race, leading only the final two laps. Ralph DePalma dominated the race, leading 196 of the 200 laps, and pulling out to an over 5-lap lead. But with just over two laps to go, his car failed with a broken connecting rod.

Summary

Dawson after winning

In the aftermath of victory by Ray Harroun in the single-seat Marmon "Wasp" in the first 500-Mile Race the year before, new rules made the presence of riding mechanics mandatory; maximum engine size remained 600 cubic inches (9.83 liters) displacement. At $50,000, the race purse was nearly double that of 1911.

Out of 29 original entries, 24 qualified for the race by sustaining a speed faster than a minimum of 75 mph (120.7 km/h) for a full lap, an increase from the quarter-mile qualifying distance of the inaugural year. David Bruce-Brown was fastest at 88.45 mph (142.35 km/h), but starting positions were again determined by entry date. Lining up five cars to the first four rows and four to a fifth, a change from the previous year's starting method was movement of the pace car, a Stutz, from the inside of the first row to out in front of the field.

Upon wave of the then-red starting flag, Teddy Tetzlaff took the lead in a Fiat from the third starting position in the center of the first row, and lead for the first two laps before being overtaken by the grey # 4 Mercedes of Ralph DePalma.

DePalma's domination of most of the event was total, as he built an eventual five-and-a-half lap, eleven-minute advantage over second, and lead uncontested for the next 194 laps. On lap 87, DePalma led his 85th lap and became the all-time Indianapolis 500 lap leader with 89 laps led (he led 4 laps in the 1911 race), a title he would hold until lap 200 of the 1987 race, 75 years later. But at the beginning of lap 197, as his Mercedes began misfiring, and slowed on the main stretch at the conclusion of the lap. Nursed through the 198th lap by DePalma at reduced speed, the car finally lost all power at the end of the backstretch on lap 199, as a broken connecting rod tore a hole in the crankcase.

With the car's momentum carrying it around to the fourth turn, DePalma and riding mechanic Rupert Jeffkins then entered themselves into motor racing lore, as well as inspired the cheers of the more than 80,000 in attendance, as they climbed from the vehicle and begin pushing it down the five-eighths of a mile main stretch toward the start-finish line.

Indianapolis driver Joe Dawson and riding mechanic Harry Martin, running in the second position for most of the race in their blue and white National Motor Vehicle Company entry, finally passed DePalma midway down the main stretch to assume the lead for the concluding two laps, a record that would be held for the fewest led laps in history until 2011, following DePalma's 196 laps in the lead being the most ever in a race by a non-winner. Finishing more than ten minutes ahead of newly-second place Tetzlaff, Dawson completed another two laps for good measure upon fear of a scoring miscue. Sometime thereafter, DePalma and Jeffkins finally brought their car across the line, but in twofold futile endeavour: Speedway rules, requiring that all entries move under their own power, marked DePalma's final number of circuits at 198, and the push across the line, even if it counted, brought them only to the beginning of the final lap.

Dawson's run in the American-manufactured, four-cylinder National, with a winning time of 6:21:06 and averaging 78.719 mph (126.686 km/h), was twenty-one minutes two seconds faster than the previous 1911 record; The National team garnered $20,000 and additional contingency awards.

Throughout the remainder of the field, only the top ten finishers earned prize money, rules stipulating all entries complete the 500 miles (800 km) to collect. Ralph Mulford, being forced to stop numerous times due to clutch problems in his Knox, found irritation with the requirement and proceeded to drive on, long after all others were presented the chequered flag...and even after Speedway president Carl Fisher and starter Fred Wagner left the grounds (the latter after getting into an argument over whether to flag Mulford off before he had completed the distance, Wagner in favor and Fisher against).

Through numerous accounts of the run, including his reportedly changing shock absorbers for a gentler ride, as well as stopping for a dinner-on-the-go of fried chicken and ice-cream with his riding mechanic, Mulford's finish finally arrived, amid deserted grandstands and a setting sun over the main straightaway, 8 hours and 53 minutes after the start (approximately 6:53 p.m. local time), and with an average speed of 56.285 mph (90.582 km/h), which remains a record: the slowest finishing speed to date in 500 history.

Starting grid

Entries were required to complete one lap in excess of 75 mph in order to qualify. However, starting grid was determined by order of entry date.

Driver Far Inside Inside Center Center Outside Center Far Outside
Time (mph)
Row 1 United States Gil Andersen United States Len Zengel  R  United States Teddy Tetzlaff United States Ralph DePalma United States Eddie Hearne
1:51.21 80.93 1:54.14 78.85 1:46.84 84.24 1:44.63 86.02 1:49.96 81.85
Row 2 United States Spencer Wishart United States Joe Dawson United States Howdy Wilcox United States Harry Knight United States Bert Dingley  R 
1:47.21 83.95 1:44.49 86.13 1:43.21 87.20 1:58.55 75.92 1:51.43 80.77
Row 3 United States John Jenkins  R  United States Bob Burman United States Eddie Rickenbacker  R  (*) United States Billy Leisaw  R  United States Bill Endicott
1:51.36 80.82 1:47.00 84.11 1:56.43 77.30 1:56.11 77.51 1:51.70 80.57
Row 4 United States Ralph Mulford United Kingdom Hughie Hughes United States Joe Horan  R  United States Mel Marquette United States Len Ormsby  R 
1:42.41 87.88 1:50.01 81.81 1:51.83 80.48 1:55.27 78.08 1:47.03 84.09
Row 5 United States Joe Matson  R  United States Charlie Merz United States David Bruce-Brown United States Louis Disbrow  
1:52.64 79.90 1:54.10 78.88 1:41.75 88.45 1:57.59 76.54

Note: (*) Car qualified by Lee Frayer

Box score

Finish No Driver Entrant Chassis Engine Cyl Displ
(in3) 		Color Qual
(mph) 		Rank Grid Laps Time/Status
1 8 United States Joe Dawson
(Don Herr Laps 108–144) 		National Motor Vehicle Company National National 4 491 blue/white 86.13 4 7 200 6:21:06
2 3 United States Teddy Tetzlaff
(Caleb Bragg) 		E. E. Hewlett Fiat Fiat 4 589 red 84.24 6 3 200 +10:23
3 21 United Kingdom Hughie Hughes Mercer Motors Company Mercer Mercer 4 301 yellow 81.81 11 17 200 +12:03
4 28 United States Charlie Merz
(Billy Knipper) 		Ideal Motor Car Company Stutz Wisconsin 4 390 gray 78.88 18 22 200 +13:34
5 18 United States Bill Endicott
(Harry Endicott) 		Schacht Motor Car Company Schacht Wisconsin 4 390 red 80.57 15 15 200 +25:22
6 2 United States Len Zengel  R 
(Billy Knipper) 		Ideal Motor Car Company Stutz Wisconsin 4 390 gray 78.85 19 2 200 +29:22
7 14 United States John Jenkins  R 
(Charlie Arnold) 		White Motor Company White White 6 490 white 80.827 13 11 200 +31:32
7 22 United States Joe Horan  R 
(George Ainslee) 		Dr. W. H. Chambers Lozier Lozier 4 545 white/red 80.48 16 18 200 +38:32
9 9 United States Howdy Wilcox
(Bill Rader) 		National Motor Vehicle Company National National 4 590 blue/white 87.20 3 8 200 +50:24
10 19 United States Ralph Mulford Ralph Mulford Knox Knox 6 597 white/red 87.88 2 16 200 +2:31:54
11 4 United States Ralph DePalma E. J. Schroeder Mercedes Mercedes 4 583 gray 86.02 5 4 198 Connecting rod
12 15 United States Bob Burman Clark-Carter Auto Company Cutting Cutting 4 598 white/red 84.11 7 12 157 Crash T2
13 12 United States Bert Dingley  R  Bert Dingley Simplex Simplex 4 597 red/white 80.77 14 10 116 Connecting rod
14 25 United States Joe Matson  R  O. Applegate Lozier Lozier 4 545 white/red 79.90 17 21 110 Crankshaft
15 7 United States Spencer Wishart Spencer Wishart Mercedes Mercedes 4 583 gray/black/red 83.95 9 6 82 Water connection
16 1 United States Gil Andersen Ideal Motor Car Company Stutz Wisconsin 4 390 gray/white 80.93 12 1 80 Crash T3
17 17 United States Billy Leisaw  R 
(W. H. Farr) 		Will Thomson Marquette Buick 4 594 tan/red 77.51 21 14 72 Caught fire
18 46 United States Louis Disbrow
(Neil Whalen) 		J. I. Case T. M. Company Case Case 6 450 white/red 76.54 23 24 67 Differential pin
19 23 United States Mel Marquette Speed Motors Company McFarlan McFarlan 6 425 gray 78.08 20 19 63 Broken wheels
20 6 United States Eddie Hearne
(Neil Whalen) 		J. I. Case T. M. Company Case Case 6 450 white/red 81.85 10 5 55 Burned bearing
21 16 United States Eddie Rickenbacker  R  Columbus Buggy Company Fiat Firestone-Columbus 4 345 crimson/black 77.30 22 13 43 Intake valve
22 29 United States David Bruce-Brown National Motor Vehicle Company National National 4 590 blue/white 88.45 1 23 25 Valve trouble
23 10 United States Harry Knight Lexington Motor Car Company Lexington Lexington 6 422 brown/white 75.92 24 9 6 Engine trouble
24 26 United States Len Ormsby  R  I. C. Stern & B. C. Noble Opel Opel 4 450 gray/red 84.09 8 20 5 Connecting rod
Sources:[3][4][5]

Note: Relief drivers in parentheses[6]

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

Race statistics

Notes

Race field average engine displacement:

  • 491.46 in3 / 8.05 L

Race field average qualifying speed:

  • 81.762 mph / 131.583 km/h

Finishing entries average time and finishing speed:

  • 6:57:25 (-8:02 from previous year and previous record)
  • 72.457 mph / 116.609 km/h (+1.717 mph / +2.763 km/h, from previous year and previous record)

Race details

Works cited

  • Popely, Rick and L. Spencer Riggs. Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, Ltd., 1999. ISBN 978-0-7853-2798-1
  • 2006 Indianapolis 500 Official Program

References

  1. ^ a b Fox, Jack C. (1994). The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994 (4th ed.). Carl Hungness Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-915088-05-3.
  2. ^ Greenough, Walter S. (May 31, 1912). "Motor Mad Throng Sees Indiana Boy Win $35,000". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved June 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  3. ^ Davidson, Donald; Shaffer, Rick (2013). Autocourse Official History of the Indianapolis 500 (Second ed.). Malvern, Worcestershire, England: Icon Publishing. p. 351. ISBN 978-1-905334-82-7 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Popely, Rick; Riggs, L. Spencer (1998). Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ "1912 International 500". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  6. ^ "International 500 Mile Sweepstakes – May 30, 1912". ChampCarStats.com.
  7. ^ Blazier, John E.; Rollings, Tom (1994). Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics.


1911 Indianapolis 500
Ray Harroun 		1912 Indianapolis 500
Joe Dawson 		1913 Indianapolis 500
Jules Goux
Preceded by Record for the fastest average speed
78.719 mph 		Succeeded by
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