Summary of the 1911 Indianapolis 500
The first Indianapolis 500 auto race, or "500-Mile International Sweepstakes Race" as it was termed, was held on Tuesday, May 30, 1911. The race was held under the sanction of the American Automobile Association (AAA) on the 2.5 mile brick-paved oval of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at Indianapolis, Indiana. Although the first Indy 500 was the first 500 mile oval track race ever held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was not the first race ever held there, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway having opened two years prior in 1909.
The official entry deadline for the race was May 1, 1911, and a total of 46 entries were received including three that came in after the entry deadline. Race cars and their teams began arriving at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to practice and test and tune the cars all during the month of May. Two cars could not be completed in time for the race and were withdrawn, another two cars were damaged in practice, and two cars failed to qualify for the race by virtue of not passing the required 75 mile per hour qualification test conducted prior to the race, leaving a total of 40 starters in the race.
The race began at ten o'clock on the sunny morning of May 30, 1911. For the first time ever in auto racing, the race was initiated by a pace car that paced the cars around the track for one non-counting lap. After the completion of the pace lap, the first cars to cross the line to complete the first lap of the race were Johnny Aitken in the No. 4 National, Ralph DePalma in the No. 2 Simplex, Spencer Wishart in the No. 11 Mercedes, and Fred Belcher in the No. 15 Knox. Aitken had the early lead, but was soon overtaken by Wishart in the Mercedes. Wishart soon lost the race lead to the hard-charging Fred Belcher in the No. 15 Knox, who had gained a remarkable nine positions in just the first lap. Belcher led for several laps, but like many of the drivers, suffered from tire troubles throughout the long race. The remainder of the race settled down into a battle between David Bruce-Brown in the No. 28 Fiat, who led for much of the first half of the race, Ralph Mulford in the No. 33 Lozier, and Ray Harroun in the No. 32 Marmon "Wasp."
Harroun was relieved for part of the race by relief driver Cyrus Patschke, who was credited with doing some excellent driving that helped the No. 32 Marmon stay in or near the lead. Several spectacular accidents occurred during the 500-mile grind, the first coming on lap 13, when Arthur Greiner in the No. 44 Amplex crashed coming around a turn, resulting in the death of his riding mechanic Samuel P. Dickson, who was the only fatality of the race. Near the halfway point of the race, another horrific crash occurred when Joe Jagersberger in the No. 8 Case had a steering arm failure, which caused a chain reaction crash involving several cars.
In the end, it was Ray Harroun in the yellow No. 32 Marmon Wasp that took the checkered flag to win the 1911 Indianapolis 500. He was followed by Ralph Mulford in the No. 33 Lozier in second, and David Bruce-Brown in the No. 28 Fiat in third. Protests were lodged after the race concerning the timing, scoring, and order of finish, although it was said by the officials and the major media at the time that Harroun's position as victor was never in question. A committee to verify the timing and scoring was formed, and on June 1, 1911, after almost 30 hours of nonstop checking and recalculating, the committee released the final results of the race which adjusted some of the finishing times, but not the order of the top three finishers. Harroun was confirmed by the committee as the winner of the race with a time of 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 8 seconds, giving him over a one minute margin of victory over Ralph Mulford in second. The average speed of the race-winning No. 32 Marmon was 74.6 miles per hour.
Recent research by the Belcher Foundation has discovered a little known fact concerning the 1911 Indianapolis 500, which is that Fred W. Belcher in the No. 15 Knox, in addition to finishing ninth in the race and leading the race at one point, also drove the fastest laps in the first Indianapolis 500. He also had the fastest average actual running time of all the cars in the race at 82.6 mph, not counting time in the pits. Fred Belcher's distinction of driving the fastest laps in the very first Indianapolis 500 is a significant achievement for which he deserves to be recognized and remembered.
The official entry deadline for the race was May 1, 1911, and a total of 46 entries were received including three that came in after the entry deadline. Race cars and their teams began arriving at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to practice and test and tune the cars all during the month of May. Two cars could not be completed in time for the race and were withdrawn, another two cars were damaged in practice, and two cars failed to qualify for the race by virtue of not passing the required 75 mile per hour qualification test conducted prior to the race, leaving a total of 40 starters in the race.
The race began at ten o'clock on the sunny morning of May 30, 1911. For the first time ever in auto racing, the race was initiated by a pace car that paced the cars around the track for one non-counting lap. After the completion of the pace lap, the first cars to cross the line to complete the first lap of the race were Johnny Aitken in the No. 4 National, Ralph DePalma in the No. 2 Simplex, Spencer Wishart in the No. 11 Mercedes, and Fred Belcher in the No. 15 Knox. Aitken had the early lead, but was soon overtaken by Wishart in the Mercedes. Wishart soon lost the race lead to the hard-charging Fred Belcher in the No. 15 Knox, who had gained a remarkable nine positions in just the first lap. Belcher led for several laps, but like many of the drivers, suffered from tire troubles throughout the long race. The remainder of the race settled down into a battle between David Bruce-Brown in the No. 28 Fiat, who led for much of the first half of the race, Ralph Mulford in the No. 33 Lozier, and Ray Harroun in the No. 32 Marmon "Wasp."
Harroun was relieved for part of the race by relief driver Cyrus Patschke, who was credited with doing some excellent driving that helped the No. 32 Marmon stay in or near the lead. Several spectacular accidents occurred during the 500-mile grind, the first coming on lap 13, when Arthur Greiner in the No. 44 Amplex crashed coming around a turn, resulting in the death of his riding mechanic Samuel P. Dickson, who was the only fatality of the race. Near the halfway point of the race, another horrific crash occurred when Joe Jagersberger in the No. 8 Case had a steering arm failure, which caused a chain reaction crash involving several cars.
In the end, it was Ray Harroun in the yellow No. 32 Marmon Wasp that took the checkered flag to win the 1911 Indianapolis 500. He was followed by Ralph Mulford in the No. 33 Lozier in second, and David Bruce-Brown in the No. 28 Fiat in third. Protests were lodged after the race concerning the timing, scoring, and order of finish, although it was said by the officials and the major media at the time that Harroun's position as victor was never in question. A committee to verify the timing and scoring was formed, and on June 1, 1911, after almost 30 hours of nonstop checking and recalculating, the committee released the final results of the race which adjusted some of the finishing times, but not the order of the top three finishers. Harroun was confirmed by the committee as the winner of the race with a time of 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 8 seconds, giving him over a one minute margin of victory over Ralph Mulford in second. The average speed of the race-winning No. 32 Marmon was 74.6 miles per hour.
Recent research by the Belcher Foundation has discovered a little known fact concerning the 1911 Indianapolis 500, which is that Fred W. Belcher in the No. 15 Knox, in addition to finishing ninth in the race and leading the race at one point, also drove the fastest laps in the first Indianapolis 500. He also had the fastest average actual running time of all the cars in the race at 82.6 mph, not counting time in the pits. Fred Belcher's distinction of driving the fastest laps in the very first Indianapolis 500 is a significant achievement for which he deserves to be recognized and remembered.