1937 Indianapolis 500

The 25th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1937.

Late in the race, Wilbur Shaw held a comfortable lead, and had lapped second place Ralph Hepburn. With about 20 laps to go, however, Shaw's car had been leaking oil, and had nearly lost nearly all of the oil out of the crankcase. In addition, the right rear tire was heavily worn. Shaw slowed down considerably in an effort to nurse his car to the finish line. Shaw and his riding mechanic John "Jigger" Johnson were both suffering from burns due to the leaking oil. Second place Hepburn realized Shaw's problems, and began a charge to catch him. He unlapped himself, and went on a tear in hopes of victory.

As the laps dwindled down, Ralph Hepburn was closing dramatically. Shaw was largely defenseless, as he was carefully nursing the car around. As the car went in and out of the turns, the oil pressure was raising and dropping, and Shaw was able to calculate how much time he could give up per lap and still maintain the lead. Hepburn closed to a straightaway deficit, then was nearly in reach. On the final lap, Hepburn pulled within a few seconds. Some observers claim that Hepburn took the lead momentarily down the backstrech.

With nothing to lose, Shaw floored the accelerator and pulled away down the final straight. He held off Hepburn for the win by 2.16 seconds, the closest finish in Indy 500 history to that point.

The margin would stand as the closest finish ever at Indy until 1982.

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	2	6	Wilbur Shaw	122.791	4	200	131	Running
2	6	8	Ralph Hepburn	118.809	15	200	9	Running
3	32	3	Ted Horn	118.608	17	200	0	Running
4	5	2	Louis Meyer	119.619	12	200	0	Running
5	16	45	Cliff Bergere	117.546	24	200	0	Running
6	1	16	Bill Cummings	123.343	3	200	0	Running
7	14	28	Billy Devore	120.192	9	200	0	Running
8	7	38	Tony Gulotta	118.788	16	200	0	Running
9	12	17	George Connor	120.240	8	200	0	Running
10	18	53	Louis Tomei	116.437	32	200	0	Running
11	9	31	Chet Gardner	117.342	28	199	0	Flagged
12	10	23	Ronney Householder	116.464	31	194	0	Flagged
13	17	62	Floyd Roberts	116.996	30	194	0	Flagged
14	11	35	Deacon Litz	116.372	33	191	0	Out of oil
15	24	32	Floyd Davis	118.942	14	190	0	Crash T3
16	25	34	Shorty Cantlon	118.555	18	182	0	Flagged
17	26	42	Al Miller	118.518	20	170	0	Carburetor
18	8	1	Mauri Rose	118.540	19	127	0	Oil line
19	29	41	Ken Fowler	117.421	26	116	0	Pushed
20	20	25	Kelly Petillo	124.129	2	109	0	Out of oil
21	28	43	George Bailey	117.497	25	107	0	Clutch
22	3	54	Herb Ardinger	121.983	5	106	2	Rod
23	15	24	Frank Brisko	118.213	23	105	0	No oil pressure
24	33	44	Frank Wearne	118.220	22	99	0	Carburetor
25	27	26	Tony Willman	118.241	21	95	0	Rod
26	4	10	Billy Winn	119.922	11	85	0	Oil line
27	30	12	Russ Snowberger	117.354	27	66	0	Clutch
28	21	33	Bob Swanson	121.920	6	52	34	Carburetor
29	22	47	Harry McQuinn	121.822	7	47	0	Piston
30	13	7	Chet Miller	119.213	13	36	0	Ignition
31	31	15	Babe Stapp	117.226	29	36	0	Clutch
32	19	5	Jimmy Snyder	125.287	1	27	24	Transmission
33	23	14	Rex Mays	119.968	10	24	0	Overheating

References

• Indy500.com Official Site
• Floyd Clymer's 1909-1941 Indianapolis 500 Race History
• Indianapolis 500 Chronicle

1936 Indianapolis 500 Louis Meyer	1937 Indianapolis 500 Wilbur Shaw	1938 Indianapolis 500 Floyd Roberts

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