| Race Name: | 50th Indianapolis 500 |
| Race Logo: | Lola-Ford T90 "Red Ball Special" - Flickr - andrewbasterfield.jpg |
| Sanction: | USAC |
| Season: | 1966 USAC season |
| Team: | John Mecom, Jr. |
| Date: | May 30, 1966 |
| Winner: | Graham Hill |
| Mph: | 144.317mi/h |
| Pole: | Mario Andretti |
| Pole Speed: | 165.899mi/h |
| Fast Time: | Mario Andretti |
| Rookie: | Jackie Stewart |
| Leader: | Lloyd Ruby (68) |
| Anthem: | Purdue Band |
| Back Home: | Ed Ames |
| Start Engines: | Tony Hulman |
| Pace Car: | Mercury Comet Cyclone GT |
| Pace Driver: | Benson Ford |
| Starter: | Pat Vidan[1] |
| Honorary Ref: | Raymond Firestone |
| Attendance: | 275,000[2] |
| Network: | ABC's Wide World of Sports |
| Announcers: | Chris Schenkel Rodger Ward |
| Previous: | 1965 |
| Next: | 1967 |
The 50th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Monday, May 30, 1966. The official program cover for the race celebrated both the 50th running of the race, and 150th anniversary of Indiana statehood.
Eleven of the 33 starters were eliminated in a first-lap accident right after receiving the green flag on the main stretch. Only A. J. Foyt was injured, hurting his hand scaling the catch fence trying to escape the wreck scene. Only seven cars, the fewest finishers ever, were still running by the end of the race. First-time starter Jackie Stewart led by over a lap late in the race in John Mecom's Lola T90-Ford.[3] However, inside ten laps to go, his oil pressure dropped too low due to a broken scavenge pump. Stewart parked the car, and after briefly attempting to push some ways, he walked back to the pits. Fellow rookie Graham Hill inherited the lead and led a total of 10 laps to win, the first rookie winner since 1927. Despite parking the car, Stewart was voted the rookie of the year over Hill, completing enough laps to finish in 6th place.
Defending race winner Jim Clark spun twice during the race, and finished second. For the second year in a row, the Wood Brothers from the NASCAR Grand National circuit were invited to work pit stops, this time for Dan Gurney. However, the car dropped out of the race in the crash on the opening lap.[4]
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Practice and time trialsBackgroundThree-year veteran Johnny Rutherford was injured in a serious crash on April 3 at Eldora, and was forced to sit out the 1966 race.[5] The Mecom Racing Team was scheduled to field drivers Walt Hansgen, Rodger Ward, and Jackie Stewart. However, Hansgen died from injuries suffered in a crash during a test session at Le Mans on April 3. Graham Hill was named as a late replacement, and his name was not even listed on the entry list in the official program. PracticePractice for the "Golden Anniversary 500" opened on Saturday April 30,[6] but cold temperatures and rainy weather for the first few days kept most cars off the track. Chuck Hulse (149.8 mph) was the fastest car over the first weekend.[7] On Monday May 2, Art Pollard became the first rookie to pass the 145 mph rookie test.[8] Jackie Stewart also passed his rookie test. On Tuesday May 10, Mario Andretti turned a practice lap of 164.5 mph during practice, establishing himself as an early favorite for the pole position. Among the others over the 160 mph mark were A. J. Foyt, George Snider, and Dan Gurney. Rain washed out practice on Wednesday May 11.[9] On Friday May 13, the final day of practice before time trials, Mario Andretti shattered the unofficial track record by more than 5 mph, running a lap of 167.411 mph. Rain hampered most of the day, but Andretti put together additional laps of 166 mph, and 164 mph. The next-fastest car was Jim Clark, whose best lap was 165.7 mph.[10] Saturday May 14 – Pole Day time trialsMario Andretti won the pole position with a four-lap track record of 165.889 mph. His best single lap was a record 166.328 mph.[11] Chuck Rodee was killed in a crash. On his second warmup lap in turn one, Rodee backed into the outside wall, and he died of his injuries at the hospital. A total of 18 cars completed qualifying runs on a chilly pole day. Sunday May 15 – Second Day Time trialsAfter crashing on pole day, A. J. Foyt qualified at 161.355 mph, the fourth-fastest car in the field. Saturday May 21 – Third Day Time trialsUnser brothers Bobby and Al qualified, with Al (162.272 mph) leading the speeds for the day.[12] Bobby Grim qualified his turbo Offy front-engined roadster at 158.367 mph, the only such car in the field. Sunday May 22 – Bump Day Time trialsTwo drivers managed to bump their way into the field, Ronnie Duman and Larry Dickson.[13] Greg Weld wrecked two cars (one of which was a popular Granatelli-Novi), but was uninjured. Bobby Grim, the slowest qualifier, holds on to the make the field in his front-engined roadster. Starting gridYellow indicates the driver was eliminated in the first lap accident. Tan indicated the driver was involved in the first lap accident, but was able to restart the race. Alternates
Failed to qualify
Race recapStartAs the field came down the main stretch for the start, Billy Foster was among those jockeying for position. As the green flag fell, he nearly touched wheels with Gordon Johncock and lost control.[16] He spun directly into the outside wall, just beyond the start/finish line, and triggered a huge pileup. Sixteen cars were involved, with debris and loose wheels bouncing all over the racing surface. As the drivers instinctively scurried out of their machines to avoid possible flames (although no significant fires had broken out), A. J. Foyt became the only driver casualty of the incident. He injured his hand climbing over the catch fence on the outside of the track. He was checked out at the infield hospital, and cleared to drive relief if needed. One spectator was hit by a wheel from the crash. Of the sixteen cars, eleven were damaged beyond repair. The red flag came out, and after the cleanup, the race lined up for a restart with only 22 cars. The red flag delay was about 1 hour and 24 minutes. When the race was restarted, the field took several warm up laps, and restarted single file. The yellow light came back on almost immediately when Johnny Boyd crashed in turn 1 on the first green lap. RaceThe early half of the race was dominated by Lloyd Ruby, who was seeking his first win in the Indianapolis 500. However, a bad pit stop resulted in Ruby losing a couple of laps and he went on to finish 11th. Jackie Stewart dominated the second half of the race, leading 40 laps. Stewart was leading by a little over a lap before his car broke with 10 laps to go. Graham Hill inherited the lead, led the final laps, and won the race. His original margin of victory was 42 seconds over second place, Jim Clark, pending the final results. ControversyDuring the race, confusion broke out over the running order, which resulted in people being unsure, even to this day, on who won the race. The confusion in the scoring led to a controversy, wherein second place Jim Clark's team thought they were the rightful winner.[17] Clark had spun on two separate occasions during the race, but did not make serious contact during either incident. He did not stall his engine either time, and was able to drive to the pits for the crew to inspect the car quickly both times. Clark's team contended that he did not lose a significant amount of track position, and estimated that they were still one lap ahead of Graham Hill at the finish.[18] The scoring pylon, which was manually controlled and unofficial, changed frequently and somewhat sporadically as the scoring was ironed out, much to the dismay of Clark's crew in particular, and much to the confusion of spectators. The unofficial results at the conclusion of the race showed Graham Hill winning by 41.13 seconds over Clark. The morning after the race, USAC released the official results, and the standings were unchanged. Colin Chapman and Andy Granatelli, the entrants of Clark's Lotus team, declined to file an official protest. A possible explanation given was that the Lotus crew did not see Hill pass by Clark during the aftermath of the second spin.[19] Race winner Graham Hill admitted to having an "uneventful race", being "puzzled" and "surprised" to be the winner, while other unsatisfied competitors quipped that he had "never passed a car all day long."[20] The IMS Radio Network, which scored the race independently from the USAC officials, also came up with Hill as the first place car.[21] The apparent controversy died out quickly, and no official action was ever taken. Years later the subject is still mildly debated in racing circles. A theory emerged that scorers accidentally omitted one lap from Jim Clark's official tally. Therefore, he was effectively placed behind Hill at the finish. The car of Al Unser was painted nearly identical to Clark's. The theory is that when Al Unser crashed out of the race on lap 161, scorers mistakenly thought it was Clark, and as Clark drove by in the immediate aftermath, they credited that lap to Unser by mistake. Another version of the theory suggests an opposite situation - one of Unser's laps was erroneously credited to Clark's tally early on, and when the scoring serials were compiled and settled later in the race, the extra lap was correctly deleted. Alongside the controversy between Hill and Clark, fourth place Gordon Johncock is also theorized by some observers to have actually been the rightful winner of the race. Johncock completed the 500 miles in less elapsed time than Hill, Clark, and third place Jim McElreath. However, Johncock had suffered minor damage during the first lap accident, and restarted the race in the pit lane due to the crew changing the nose cone. USAC officials did not score his first lap out of the pit lane, and he effectively ran all day carrying a one lap penalty to the field.[22] Box score
Former Indianapolis 500 winner Indianapolis 500 Rookie Race statistics
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