1953 Indianapolis 500

The 1953 Indianapolis 500 was an automobile race held on Saturday, May 30, 1953 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event was the second round of the 1953 World Drivers' Championship.

Race Report[]

Practice[]

Chet Miller died in an accident in practice on May 15.^[1]

Qualifying[]

Bill Vukovich won the pole position and later the race.

Race[]

Polesitter Bill Vukovich dominated the race by leading 195 laps and also had the fastest lap of the race.

The race was known as the "Hottest 500", with track temperatures exceeding 130 °F (54.5°C). Half the drivers in the race used backup drivers,^[1] including:
- Duane Carter (49 laps) took over from Sam Hanks (151)
- Paul Russo (96) took over from Fred Agabashian (104)
- Eddie Johnson (88) took over from Jim Rathmann (112)
- Gene Hartley (37) and Chuck Stevenson (44) took over from Tony Bettenhausen (115)
- Bob Scott (121) took over from Carl Scarborough (69)^[2]
- Jim Rathmann (36) took over from Bill Holland (141)
- Duke Dinsmore (10) and Andy Linden (29) took over from Rodger Ward (138)
- Johnny Mantz (42) took over from Walt Faulkner (134)
- Jackie Holmes (9) and Johnny Thomson (45) took over from Spider Webb (112)
- Andy Linden (12) and Chuck Stevenson (13) took over from Jerry Hoyt (82)

Carl Scarborough died from heat exhaustion after retiring from the race.^[1] He retired from the race due to heat exhaustion, and died later at the infield hospital.^[3]

Classification[]

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/retired	Points
1	1	14	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	138.39	1	200	195	3:53:01.69	9
2	12	16	Art Cross	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.31	8	200	0	+3:30.87	6
3	9	3	Sam Hanks Duane Carter	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.53	5	200	3	+4:11.50	2 2
4	2	59	Fred Agabashian Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.54	4	200	1	+4:39.24	1.5 1.5
5	3	5	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.6	13	200	0	+7:49.64	2
6	21	48	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.74	23	200	0	+8:10.21
7	25	2	Jim Rathmann Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.66	27	200	1	+8:46.02
8	20	12	Ernie McCoy	Stevens-Offy	135.92	22	200	0	+10:04.55
9	6	98	Tony Bettenhausen Chuck Stevenson Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offy	136.02	20	196	0	Accident
10	32	53	Jimmy Davies	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.26	31	193	0	+7 laps
11	26	9	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	135.46	30	191	0	Accident
12	19	73	Carl Scarborough Bob Scott	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.93	21	190	0	+10 laps
13	4	88	Manny Ayulo	Kuzma-Offy	136.38	15	184	0	Engine
14	31	8	Jimmy Bryan	Schroeder-Offy	135.5	29	183	0	+17 laps
15	28	49	Bill Holland Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.86	2	177	0	Magneto
16	10	92	Rodger Ward Andy Linden Duke Dinsmore	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.46	6	177	0	Axle
17	14	23	Walt Faulkner Johnny Mantz	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.11	10	176	0	+24 laps
18	22	22	Marshall Teague	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.72	25	169	0	Oil Leak
19	18	62	Spider Webb Johnny Thomson Jackie Holmes	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.16	17	166	0	Oil Leak
20	29	51	Bob Sweikert	Kuzma-Offy	136.87	11	151	0	Suspension
21	23	83	Mike Nazaruk	Turner-Offy	135.7	26	146	0	Transmission
22	24	77	Pat Flaherty	Kuzma-Offy	135.66	28	115	0	Accident
23	7	55	Jerry Hoyt Chuck Stevenson Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	135.73	24	107	0	Overheating
24	27	4	Duane Carter	Lesovsky-Offy	135.26	32	94	0	Ignition
25	17	7	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.21	16	89	0	Magneto
26	8	21	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.66	3	86	0	Engine
27	15	38	Don Freeland	Watson-Offy	136.86	12	76	0	Accident
28	13	41	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	137.26	9	53	0	Accident
29	16	97	Chuck Stevenson	Kuzma-Offy	136.56	14	42	0	Fuel Leak
30	30	99	Cal Niday	Kurtis Kraft-Offy	136.09	18	30	0	Magneto
31	11	29	Bob Scott	Bromme-Offy	137.43	7	14	0	Oil Leak
32	33	56	Johnny Thomson	Del Roy-Offy	135.26	33	6	0	Ignition
33	5	32	Andy Linden	Stevens-Offy	136.06	19	3	0	Accident

Failed to Qualify: Frank Armi (#79), Henry Banks (#10), Buzz Barton (#35), Joe Barzda (#69), Bill Boyd (#86), Billy Cantrell (#42), Neal Carter (#23), George Connor (#25), Ray Crawford (#49), Jorge Daponte (#95), Duke Dinsmore (#52), Bill Doster, Len Duncan (#31, #81), Edgar Elder (#49), Johnny Fedricks (#46), John Fitch (#49, #74), George Fonder (#76), Potsy Goacher (#36), Cliff Griffith (#24), Red Hamilton (#91), Allen Heath (#65), Al Herman (#93), Jackie Holmes (#71), Bill Homeier (#84, #87), Eddie Johnson (#26), Johnny Kay (#67), Jud Larson (#96), Jim Mayes (#34), Chet Miller (#15), Roy Neuman (#43), Danny Oakes (#63), Pat O'Connor (#28, #64, #74), Johnny Roberts (#82), Hal Robson (#57), Troy Ruttman (#2), Eddie Sachs (#34), Wayne Selser (#75), Joe Sostilio (#17), Harry Stockman (#84), Bill Taylor (#39), George Tichenor (#65), Johnnie Tolan (#66, #85), Leroy Warriner (#44),

Notes[]

Pole position: Bill Vukovich - 4:20.13 (4 laps)
Fastest lead lap: Bill Vukovich - 1:06.240
The purse for first place was $89,496^[4] (US$777,413 in 2012 dollars).

Drivers' Championship standings after the race[]

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alberto Ascari	9
2	Bill Vukovich	9
3	Luigi Villoresi	6
4	Art Cross	6
5	José Froilán González	4

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

Previous race: 1953 Argentine Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1953 season	Next race: 1953 Dutch Grand Prix
Previous race: 1952 Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis 500	Next race: 1954 Indianapolis 500

1952 Indianapolis 500 Troy Ruttman	1953 Indianapolis 500 Bill Vukovich	1954 Indianapolis 500 Bill Vukovich

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References[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Yates, Brock (1961). The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Motor Speedway. Harper. p. 67.
↑ Davidson, Donald (2011-02-03). "Pit Lane before the 1953 Indianapolis 500". Blog.indianapolismotorspeedway.com. http://blog.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/2011/02/03/pit-lane-before-the-1953-indianapolis-500/. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
↑ Yates, Brock (2005). Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years. Da Capo Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=_Vdkykk0KgEC&pg=PA28&dq=Carl+Scarborough+was+being+brought+in+with+heat+dead. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
↑ Yates, Brock (1961). The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Motor Speedway. Harper. p. 68.

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1953 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.

[yates-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Yates, Brock (1961). The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Motor Speedway. Harper. p. 67.

[2] Davidson, Donald (2011-02-03). "Pit Lane before the 1953 Indianapolis 500". Blog.indianapolismotorspeedway.com. http://blog.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/2011/02/03/pit-lane-before-the-1953-indianapolis-500/. Retrieved 2011-06-23.

[3] Yates, Brock (2005). Against Death and Time: One Fatal Season in Racing's Glory Years. Da Capo Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=_Vdkykk0KgEC&pg=PA28&dq=Carl+Scarborough+was+being+brought+in+with+heat+dead. Retrieved 2011-06-23.

[yates2-4] Yates, Brock (1961). The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Motor Speedway. Harper. p. 68.

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