1952 Indianapolis 500

The 1952 Indianapolis 500 was an automobile race held on Friday, May 30, 1952 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event was the second round of the 1952 World Drivers' Championship. Troy Ruttman won the race, bringing the Borg-Warner Trophy home for car owner J.C. Agajanian.

Classification

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	Points
1	7	98	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma-Offy	135.360	18	200	44	3:52:41.88	8
2	10	59	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.340	7	200	0	+4:02.33	6
3	5	18	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.730	14	200	0	+6:11.61	4
4	6	1	Duane Carter	Lesovsky-Offy	135.520	16	200	0	+6:48.34	3
5	20	33	Art Cross	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	134.280	26	200	0	+8:40.15	2
6	21	77	Jimmy Bryan	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	134.140	27	200	0	+9:24.32
7	23	37	Jimmy Reece	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	133.990	29	200	0	+10:35.24
8	14	54	George Connor	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.600	15	200	0	+12:00.61
9	9	22	Cliff Griffith	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.610	6	200	0	+12:23.76
10	31	5	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.320	19	200	0	+13:37.78
11	3	4	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.660	5	200	6	+14:21.72
12	26	29	Jim Rigsby	Watson-Offy	133.900	33	200	0	+16:05.10
13	16	14	Joe James	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	134.950	22	200	0	+16:55.65
14	15	7	Bill Schindler	Stevens-Offy	134.980	20	200	0	+18:48.66
15	13	65	George Fonder	Sherman-Offy	135.940	13	197	0	+3 Laps
16	24	81	Eddie Johnson	Trevis-Offy	133.970	30	193	0	+7 Laps
17	8	26	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	138.210	2	191	150	Steering	1
18	11	16	Chuck Stevenson	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.140	9	187	0	+13 Laps
19	12	2	Henry Banks	Lesovsky-Offy	135.960	11	184	0	+16 Laps
20	28	8	Manny Ayulo	Lesovsky-Offy	135.980	10	184	0	+16 Laps
21	33	31	Johnny McDowell	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	133.930	32	182	0	+18 Laps
22	29	48	Spider Webb	Bromme-Offy	135.960	12	162	0	Oil leak
23	22	34	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	134.130	28	130	0	Oil Pressure
24	30	27	Tony Bettenhausen	Deidt-Offy	135.380	17	93	0	Oil Pressure
25	4	36	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	136.180	8	84	0	Supercharger
26	32	73	Bob Sweikert	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	134.980	21	77	0	Differential
27	1	28	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft- Cummins Diesel	138.010	3	71	0	Turbocharger
28	18	67	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	134.340	24	65	0	Exhaust
29	25	93	Bob Scott	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	133.950	31	49	0	Transmission
30	27	21	Chet Miller	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	139.030	1	41	0	Supercharger
31	19	12	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 375 Indy	134.300	25	40	0	Wheel
32	17	55	Bobby Ball	Stevens-Offy	134.720	23	34	0	Gearbox
33	2	9	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.000	4	20	0	Oil Pump

Failed to Qualify: Buzz Barton (#58), Joe Barzda (#53), Bill Cantrell (#52), Neal Carter (#25), Jimmy Daywalt (#64), Duke Dinsmore (#68), Walt Faulkner (#3), Carl Forberg (#53), Gene Force (#96), Dick Fraizer (#63), Potsy Goacher (#93), Perry Grimm (#55), Peter Hahn (#74), Allen Heath (#32), Tommy Hinnershitz (#27), Jackie Holmes (#41), Jimmy Jackson (#61), Danny Kladis (#19), Jud Larson (#39), Bayliss Levrett (#69), Frank Luptow (#56), Johnny Mauro (#35), Mike Nazaruk (#66), Danny Oakes (#39), Paul Russo (#10), Carl Scarborough (#33), Doc Shanebrook (#76), Bill Taylor (#47), George Tichenor (#88), Johnnie Tolan (#51), Leroy Warriner (#27)

Notes

• Pole position: Fred Agabashian - 4:20.85 (4 laps)
• Agabashian's Cummins Diesel Special was the first entry in the Indianapolis 500 to be powered by a turbocharged engine (then described as "turbosupercharged"). Gear-driven centrifugal blowers known as "superchargers" had been used since the 1920s to increase the volumetric efficiency and power output of racing engines, but the Cummins Diesel was the first to make use of the "free" energy contained in the engine exhaust stream to drive a turbine wheel connected to a centrifugal blower (thus, "turbo-supercharging").
• Fastest Lead Lap: Bill Vukovich - 1:06.60
• As of 2009, Troy Ruttman remains the youngest driver to win the Indianapolis 500, at 22 years and 80 days.
• Ruttman also became the youngest driver to win a race counting for the Formula One championship. His record was broken by Fernando Alonso at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.
• Alberto Ascari marked the first instance of a driver competing seriously for the World Drivers' Championship (of which the 500 was a points-scoring race) to race in the 500. Although he finished 31st at Indy, he went on to win all of the remaining races and the title.

Drivers' Championship standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Piero Taruffi	9
2	Troy Ruttman	8
3	Rudi Fischer	6
4	Jim Rathmann	6
5	Jean Behra	4

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 4 results counted towards the Championship.

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1952/609/. Retrieved 2009-11-30. 

Previous race: 1952 Swiss Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1952 season	Next race: 1952 Belgian Grand Prix
Previous race: 1951 Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis 500	Next race: 1953 Indianapolis 500

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1952 Indianapolis 500. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.