As part of the "Celebrate the Spectacle" theme of the 90th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Historian Donald Davidson wrote this piece detailing some of the most memorable moments of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
1911: RAY HARROUN WINS INAUGURAL INDIANAPOLIS 500
After two seasons of two- and three-day multi-event programmes, Speedway management decides for 1911 to present just one major event paying a huge purse. Seeking something lasting around seven hours, they calculate that an attractive-sounding 500 miles could be run off in that time. On the morning of May 30, 1911 - Memorial Day - 40 cars line up for the start of the very first Indianapolis 500. Virtually all of them are stripped-down versions of passenger cars currently being sold to the public.
The eventual winner, however, has been built strictly for competition. Following complaints that the locally built, single-seat streamlined Marmon "Wasp" has no provision for carrying the generally accepted "riding mechanic," driver/engineer Ray Harroun finds a solution. Above the cowling, he rigs up a 3-by-8-inch mirror, believed to be the very first rear-view mirror ever used on an automobile. Near the race's halfway point, he turns the wheel over to a relief driver, Cyrus Patschke, but returns for the final half and wins the very first Indianapolis 500 in a time of 6 hours, 42 minutes, at an average speed of 74.602 mph.
1912: DePALMA'S BIG PUSH
Italian-born immigrant Ralph DePalma leads 196 of the first 198 laps and is ahead by 5½ laps when his privately entered German Mercedes Grand Prix car breaks down only 1¼ laps short of the chequered flag. With the appreciative crowd giving them plenty of support, he and his riding mechanic then get out and push the heavy car for several hundred yards in an unsuccessful effort to finish. After Joe Dawson comes from behind to win, the defeated DePalma endears himself still further to the public by being among the first to congratulate him.
1914: FOREIGN "INVADER" ALMOST TOPS 100
Frenchman Georges Boillot turns a qualifying lap at 99.85 mph to come within an "eye blink" of the Speedway's first 100-mph lap. He drives a 345-cubic-inch Peugeot Grand Prix car on this, his only trip to the Brickyard. The flamboyant Boillot is the defending two-time winner of the French Grand Prix and considered by many to be the finest driver in Europe at the time. He will give his life for his country in less than two years' time, being shot down in aerial combat over Verdun, France, near the German border, on May 20, 1916.
1919: WILCOX BREAKS 100
Shortly after time trials begin, Howdy Wilcox goes out to become the first to turn a qualifying lap in excess of 100 mph. Six others accomplish this after him, including Frenchman Rene Thomas, who sits on the pole at 104.78 mph. Wilcox starts second and wins the race, the first to be held after World War I.
1921: DePALMA EXTENDS "LAPS LED" RECORD
Ralph DePalma, the first to win the pole under the new four-lap qualifying format (1920), repeats and is the first to win the pole for a second time. He drops out while leading at 112 laps, having extended his "career laps led" total to 612, a record which will not be beaten until Al Unser finally exceeds it 66 years later, in 1987.
1923: FIRST TWO-TIME WINNER
Tommy Milton is the first driver to win for a second time. A further reduction in maximum cubic-inch displacement, to only 122 cid, has also led to riding mechanics no longer being mandatory. Twenty-three of the 24 cars, which line up on Race Day are single-seaters. The race is by far the most competitive to date, with six drivers swapping the lead 28 times, a record which will not be beaten until 1960. Milton does not complete the distance alone. His sidelined teammate, 1919 winner Howdy Wilcox, takes over for 48 laps during the race while Milton receives attention to his blistered hands and pinched feet.
1924: "DUESY" TEAMMATES SHARE WIN
After his car has been delayed by mechanical trouble, Joe Boyer takes over the fourth place-running Duesenberg of teammate Lora Corum at 111 laps and charges up to the lead by Lap 177, winning at a record average speed of 98.234 mph. It is the first win for a car equipped with a supercharger. Throughout history, relief drivers generally do not receive credit, but due to the fact that Corum started and Boyer finished, officials decide to consider them co-winners.
