107 years of winning at the Indy 500
A historic photo from 1911 of race cars and a crowd of spectators before the International Sweepstakes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Cars line up for the first-ever International Sweepstakes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1911, the race that would become better known as the Indianapolis 500. Photo: Agence de presse Meurisse
A historic photo from 1911 of race cars and a crowd of spectators before the International Sweepstakes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. By: Ted Schurter
September 13, 2023

More Indiana residents were employed making carriages than cars when Carl G. Fisher and his partners began construction of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s two and a half-mile oval in 1909. The Indianapolis entrepreneur anticipated the automobile’s ascendance and recognized the benefits a better racing venue could bring.

At the time, most car races were conducted on open roads and horse tracks, including the one a few miles away at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. “The average horse track is narrow, has fences that are dangerous, and is always dusty or muddy,” Fisher complained to Motor Age Magazine in 1906.

Illustrated postcard showing a horse race in front of grandstands at the Indiana State Fairgrounds racetrack around 1910. There are horse-drawn carriages on the infield watching the race but no cars are present.
A postcard of the Indiana State Fairgrounds racetrack from around 1910 shows the dirt surface and fragile fencing Fisher found objectionable. Credit: Indiana Album Evan Finch Collection.
Illustrated postcard showing a horse race in front of grandstands at the Indiana State Fairgrounds racetrack around 1910. There are horse-drawn carriages on the infield watching the race but no cars are present.

Fisher believed a proper track would give racers room to maneuver, enable higher speeds and provide a better spectator experience. Publicly showcasing cars’ increasing capabilities could help their sales, too, a fact not likely lost on the automotive businessman.

Drivers broke multiple speed records in front of tens of thousands of fans during the first three days of auto racing at Fisher’s track in August 1909. But deteriorating driving conditions and five fatalities revealed the need to replace the track’s crushed stone, oil and tar surface with something sturdier and safer. The solution, 3.2 million ten-pound bricks, were installed by December. They inspired the track’s “Brickyard” moniker.

The refreshed track hosted multiple races in 1910 clustered into three-day events. They were replaced the following year by a single marquee event: the International Sweepstakes, an ambitious 200-lap race during Decoration Day weekend in May that became better known as the Indianapolis 500.

Forty cars started that first race and for most of the next six plus hours the challenge of keeping accurate lap counts amid the chaotic crashes and pit stops was steeper than the track’s banked turns. Officially, the first of 12 drivers to finish the race and claim the $14,500 prize was Ray Harroun, though some accounts suggest Ralph Mulford was cruising around on what he thought was his victory lap when Harroun was crowned.

After his win Harroun retired from racing but the Indy 500 continued through 1916 before a two-year hiatus during World War I. Indiana native Howdy Wilcox piloted his Peugeot to victory when the race resumed in 1919. That year nearly 30,000 of his fellow Hoosiers were employed building automobiles, triple the 1909 figure and the fourth-largest automotive workforce in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1919 report on manufacturing.

These days Indiana is better known for its famous auto race than its auto manufacturing. Even casual fans are likely familiar with Indy legends like four-time winners AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Helio Castroneves and Rick Mears; or team owner Roger Penske and his 19 wins and 35 total podium finishes.

The project

I created three data visualizations in R using ggplot, igraph, ggraph and other packages to detail the iconic winners and top Indy 500 finishers since 1911. The data was scraped from multiple pages at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway website and from ESPN.com using the Rvest and V8 packages.

Envisioned as a series of sequential panels or a single, combined piece, each section reveals a different dimension of winner data: winning drivers, winning teams and winning starting positions. In addition to those data sets, two timelines frame the left and right panels. On Pole Position, the timeline notes the year, driver and qualifying speed of the 21 instances when pole winners became race winners. On Top Teams, it visualizes the reign of winning teams from their first to most-recent podiums.

Pole Position

Nearly one in five pole winners have gone on to victory and race winners have triumphed from 24 different starting positions. Although seven races have included more than 33 drivers, five occurred before 1934 and none of the extra starting positions produced a podium winner. The chart features the familiar 33 driver configuration with 11 rows of three drivers each.

A radial line chart of the starting and ending positions of all the Indy 500 podium finishers and a timeline of the winner's name and qualifying speed.
Credit: Ted Schurter
A radial line chart of the starting and ending positions of all the Indy 500 podium finishers and a timeline of the winner's name and qualifying speed. ## Dominant Drivers

Many of the drivers that earned a podium finish at the Indianapolis 500 have done so more than once. including four drivers with four wins each and eight drivers with three second place finishes. Al Unser leads all drivers with 11 podium finishes.

A circular bar chart showing the names and finishes of every podium historical finisher at the Indy 500.
Credit: Ted Schurter
A circular bar chart showing the names and finishes of every podium historical finisher at the Indy 500. ## Top Teams

This dendrogram reveals the podium finishes of the dominant teams and their drivers that achieved them. Roger Penske’s team has more longevity and more podium appearances than any other Indy 500 team, including 19 wins.

A dendrogram chart of the historical winning teams and drivers of the Indy 500 and a timeline of the winning team's era of winning from their first to their most recent podium finish.
Credit: Ted Schurter
A dendrogram chart of the historical winning teams and drivers of the Indy 500 and a timeline of the winning team's era of winning from their first to their most recent podium finish.

All together now

The three panels combine to create a unified whole:

A trio of panels including a radial line chart of the starting and ending positions of all the Indy 500 podium finishers and a timeline of the winner's name and qualifying speed on the left. In the middle is a circular bar chart showing the names and finishes of every podium historical finisher at the Indy 500. On the left is a dendrogram chart of the historical winning teams and drivers of the Indy 500 and a timeline of the winning team's era of winning from their first to their most recent podium finish.
Credit: Ted Schurter
A trio of panels including a radial line chart of the starting and ending positions of all the Indy 500 podium finishers and a timeline of the winner's name and qualifying speed on the left. In the middle is a circular bar chart showing the names and finishes of every podium historical finisher at the Indy 500. On the left is a dendrogram chart of the historical winning teams and drivers of the Indy 500 and a timeline of the winning team's era of winning from their first to their most recent podium finish.

Background history and resources:

  • Charles Leerhsen’s article recapping the inaugural Indy 500 was so good I bought a copy of the book from which it was excerpted.

  • Dan Vielhaber’s Indy Motor Speedway website has the latest track news plus historic accounts, photos and videos.

  • Carl Fisher has his own historic marker in Greensburg, IN and is an inductee into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

  • The U.S. Census Bureau’s data on Indiana’s automotive manufacturing history in 1910 and 1920.