1968 Indianapolis 500 Explained

Race Name:	52nd Indianapolis 500
Race Logo:	Eagle Rislone Special front Honda Collection Hall.jpg
Sanction:	USAC
Season:	1968 USAC season
Team:	Leader Cards
Date:	May 30, 1968
Winner:	Bobby Unser
Mph:	152.882mi/h
Pole:	Joe Leonard
Pole Speed:	171.559mi/h
Fast Time:	Joe Leonard
Rookie:	Bill Vukovich II
Leader:	Bobby Unser (127)
Anthem:	Purdue Band
Back Home:	Richard O. Plothow
Start Engines:	Tony Hulman
Pace Car:	Ford Torino GT
Pace Driver:	William Clay Ford Sr.
Starter:	Pat Vidan^[1]
Attendance:	300,000^[2]
Network:	ABC's Wide World of Sports
Announcers:	Jim McKay, Rodger Ward
Previous:	1967
Next:	1969

The 52nd International 500 Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday May 30, 1968. Bobby Unser won the first of his three Indy 500 victories (1968, 1975, 1981). This was the final Indianapolis 500 to feature a front-engined car in the starting field. Of the 33 cars, 32 were rear-engined machines (including three turbines). Jim Hurtubise's entry, which dropped out after only nine laps, was the last front-engine car to race in the 500. This was also the first 500 won by a turbocharged engine.

For the second year in a row, one of Andy Granatelli's STP Turbine-powered machines was leading late in the race, but once again, it failed within sight of victory.^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} On lap 174, Lloyd Ruby's engine misfired allowing Joe Leonard to take the lead in the Lotus 56 Turbine. Leonard, however, suffered a flameout on the lap 191 restart, and rolled to a silent and shocking halt. Unser, in the venerable piston-powered Offenhauser, inherited the lead and won the race despite gear linkage trouble.

During the month, film crews were on hand to film various action shots and stock footage of the race proceedings to be used in the 1969 film Winning, starring Paul Newman.

With 9.25inches of precipitation in the Indianapolis area in May, the 1968 race featured the wettest month on record for the Indy 500.^[7] Rain hampered practice and qualifying, but did not affect race day. This was the most recent Indy 500 scheduled for Thursday; the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was implemented in 1971 and Memorial Day became a three-day weekend (Saturday–Monday) every year. A day previously avoided, Sunday became the scheduled race day beginning in 1974.

Race schedule

Time trials was scheduled for four days, but for the first time under the current schedule format, qualifying was carried over into a fifth day. Most of Bump Day (May 26) was rained out, and the track closed due to darkness with the field not yet filled to 33 cars. A special session was held Monday in order to complete the field.

Race schedule — May 1968 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat       1 Practice 2 Practice 3 Practice 4 Practice 5 Practice 6 Practice 7 Practice 8 Practice 9 Practice 10 Practice 11 Practice 12 Practice 13 Practice 14 Practice 15 Practice 16 Practice 17 Practice 18 Pole Day 19 Time Trials 20 Practice 21 Practice 22 Practice 23 Practice 24 Practice 25 Time Trials 26 Bump Day 27 Time Trials 28 Carb Day Parade 29 Meeting 30 Indy 500 31 Banquet	Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out*|-| Blank| No track activity|}* Includes days where track activity was significantly limited due to rain The 500 Festival Parade was held Tuesday night, May 28. Practice and time trials The 1968 Indianapolis 500 was the second and ultimately the final year of participation by the controversial STP Granatelli Turbine machines. For 1968, the Pratt & Whitney turbine engine was installed in the Lotus 56 chassis, often known colloquially as the "Wedge Turbine," and sometimes affectionately as the "Doorstop." In a veiled effort to curtail the turbine's power output, USAC had imposed revised regulations regarding the maximum annulus inlet (reduced from 23.999 in² to 15.999 in²). Another rule change dictated that cars were required to conduct three mandatory pit stops, up from two that were required from 1965 to 1967. Mike Spence was fatally injured after a crash in turn one on May 7. A tire broke off his Lotus "Wedge" Turbine and struck him in the head. He died of his injuries a few hours after the accident after being taken to the hospital. Spence's death came one month after Jim Clark's at Hockenheim; Clark was scheduled to drive one of the Lotus Wedge Turbines at Indy. Pole Day Time trials – Saturday May 18 Graham Hill, the 1966 winner in the #70 STP Turbine, was first to qualify and set a new qualifying record. Later, his STP Lotus 56 teammate Joe Leonard in #60 won the pole position with a four-lap average speed of 171.559mph. Second Day time trials – Sunday May 19 Rain kept cars off the track most of the day. Only two cars were able to make an attempt, and only one was run to completion. At 5:45 p.m., the track was finally opened for qualifications, and Jochen Rindt was the lone qualifier at 164.144mph, while Denny Hulme waved off as the 6 o'clock gun went off. At the conclusion of the first weekend of time trials, the field was filled to 16 cars. Third Day time trials – Saturday May 25 Sixteen cars made a total of 24 attempts, and filled the field to 26 cars. High winds kept some cars off the track, and speeds were down from the previous weekend.^[8] Many cars waved off, and Mel Kenyon, at 165.191mph, was the fastest of the day. After qualifying, Ronnie Bucknum's car was disqualified for being 20lb underweight. Fourth day time trials – Sunday May 26 With the field filled to 25 cars (eight spots open), rain kept the cars off the track until late in the day. The final scheduled day of time trials ("Bump Day") was almost a complete wash out. The traditional 6 o'clock closing time came and went, and the track was still wet. Track crews continued to work, and the track opened for practice at 6:55 p.m. After the mandatory 30-minute practice session, the track opened for time trials at 7:31 p.m. With overcast skies and darkness looming, three cars made attempts. Bill Puterbaugh and Bill Cheesbourg completed runs, while Bobby Johns spun on his second warm up lap. At that time, officials deemed the conditions unsafe due to darkness, and postponed the remainder of qualifying until Monday morning.^[9] <	--^[10] --> Time trials – Monday May 27 For the first time since 1952, time trials were pushed into a fifth day. Officials ruled that all 25 cars that were in the starting field at 6 p.m. Sunday (May 26) were "locked in" and could not be bumped. In addition, all cars that were in line to qualify Sunday evening at 7:54 p.m. were eligible to make one qualifying attempt on Monday. Only cars that qualified after 6 p.m. on Sunday evening were subject to bumping (including Puterbaugh and Cheesbourg). Ronnie Bucknum was reinstated to the field when it was determined that during his inspection, the scale used to weight the car was defective.^[11] With Bucknum's car back in the field, only seven spots were now available. Though rain hampered the day, the qualifying was successfully completed on Monday. A frantic session saw two crashes (Bob Hurt and Rick Muther). Eighteen cars took to the track to fill the seven open spots. Both Puterbaugh and Cheesebourg were bumped, and Mike Mosley was the fastest of the day. Jim Hurtubise qualified his front-engined Mallard for 30th starting position. It would be the final front-engined car to qualify for the Indy 500. Qualification Chronology Att # Car # Driver Laps Qual Speed Rank Start Comment Saturday May 18, 1968 1 70 Graham Hill 4 171.208 2 2 2 25 Lloyd Ruby 4 167.613 5 5 3 8 Roger McCluskey 4 166.976 7 7 4 15 Mel Kenyon 2 — — — Waved off 5 54 Wally Dallenbach 3 — — — Waved off 6 3 Bobby Unser 4 169.507 3 3 7 4 Gordon Johncock 3 — — — Waved off 8 1 A. J. Foyt 4 166.821 8 8 9 48 Dan Gurney 4 166.512 10 10 10 27 Jim Malloy 4 165.032 15 14 11 60 Joe Leonard 4 171.559 1 1 12 4 Gordon Johncock 4 166.775 9 9 13 82 Jim McElreath 4 165.512 13 13 14 24 Al Unser 4 167.069 6 6 15 2 Mario Andretti 4 167.691 4 4 16 54 Wally Dallenbach 4 165.548 12 12 17 56 Jim Hurtubise 1 — — — Accident 18 78 Jerry Grant 4 164.782 16 15 19 20 Art Pollard 4 166.297 11 11 Sunday May 19, 1968 20 35 Jochen Rindt 4 164.144 20 16 21 42 Denis Hulme 3 — — — Waved off Saturday May 25, 1968 22 21 Arnie Knepper 1 — — — Accident 23 15 Mel Kenyon 3 — — — Waved off 24 62 Bruce Walkup 3 — — — 25 11 Gary Bettenhausen 4 163.562 22 22 26 18 Johnny Rutherford 4 163.830 21 21 27 45 Ronnie Bucknum 4 164.211 18 19 Disqualified 5/25; Reinstated 5/27; Bumps #88 28 88 Bob Harkey 3 — — — Waved off 29 36 Larry Dickson 3 — — — Waved off 30 59 Ronnie Duman 4 162.338 27 26 31 98 Billy Vukovich II 4 163.510 23 23 32 26 Bobby Johns 3 — — — Waved off 33 14 Bob Hurt 3 — — — Waved off 34 16 Bob Veith 4 163.495 24 24 35 10 Bud Tingelstad 1 — — — Pulled off 36 90 Mike Mosley 2 — — — Waved off 37 6 Bobby Grim 4 162.866 25 25 38 84 Carl Williams 2 — — — Waved off 39 26 Bobby Johns 3 — — — Waved off 40 10 Bud Tingelstad 4 164.444 17 18 41 21 Arnie Knepper 3 — — — Waved off 42 42 Denis Hulme 4 164.189 19 20 43 15 Mel Kenyon 4 165.191 14 17 44 84 Carl Williams 3 — — — Waved off 45 36 Larry Dickson 3 — — — Waved off Sunday May 26, 1968 46 77 Bill Puterbaugh 4 157.301 — — Bumped by #84 47 22 Bill Cheesbourg 4 157.274 — — Bumped by #21 Bobby Johns 157.274 — — Spun on second warm up lap Monday May 27, 1968 48 88 Bob Harkey 4 159.915 — — Bumped by #45 reinstatement 49 90 Mike Mosley 4 162.449 26 27 50 41 George Follmer 4 158.877 — — Bumped by #62 51 28 Rick Muther 2 — — — Accident 52 94 Sam Sessions 4 162.118 31 31 53 31 Sonny Ates 4 158.221 — — Bumped by #29 54 36 Larry Dickson 4 159.652 — — Bumped by #56 55 21 Arnie Knepper 4 161.900 32 32 Bumps #22 56 84 Carl Williams 4 162.232 29 29 Bumps #77 57 29 George Snider 4 162.264 28 28 Bumps #31 58 62 Bruce Walkup 4 160.514 — — Bumps #41; Bumped by #64 59 56 Jim Hurtubise 4 162.191 30 30 Bumps #36 60 32 Al Miller II 4 157.109 — — Too slow 61 71 Bob Harkey 4 156.257 — — Too slow 62 64 Larry Dickson 4 161.124 33 33 Bumps #88 63 76 Jerry Titus 4 154.540 — — Too slow Starting grid Row Inside Middle Outside 1 60 Joe Leonard 70 3 Bobby Unser 2 2 Mario Andretti 25 Lloyd Ruby 24 Al Unser 3 8 Roger McCluskey 1 4 Gordon Johncock 4 48 Dan Gurney 20 Art Pollard 54 Wally Dallenbach Sr. 5 82 Jim McElreath 27 78 Jerry Grant 6 35 Jochen Rindt 15 Mel Kenyon 10 Bud Tingelstad 7 45 42 Denny Hulme 18 Johnny Rutherford 8 11 98 16 Bob Veith 9 6 Bobby Grim 59 Ronnie Duman 90 10 84 Carl Williams 29 George Snider 56 Jim Hurtubise 11 94 21 Arnie Knepper 64 Larry Dickson Alternates First alternate: Bruce Walkup (#59, #62)^[12] Failed to qualify Otto Becker (#46) - Entry Declined Sonny Ates (#19, #31) Rollie Beale (#32, #88) Chuck Booth (#34) – Entered, did not drive Bill Cheesbourg (#22, #75, #81) Jim Clark – Withdrawn George Follmer (#28, #41, #42) Masten Gregory (#28, #95) Bob Harkey (#71, #77, #88) Chuck Hulse (#90) – Wrecked practice, retired Bob Hurt (#11, #14, #36, #72, #81, #90) Bobby Johns (#17, #25) Dee Jones (#34, #46) Ralph Ligouri (#71, #77, #88) Bruce McLaren (#66, #69) Al Miller (#9, #32) Rick Muther (#22, #28) Danny Ongais (#63) – Entry declined, lack of experience Henry Pens (#17) – Entry declined, lack of experience Bill Puterbaugh (#63, #71, #77) Les Scott (#50) – Failed refresher test Mike Spence (#30, #60) – Fatal accident Chuck Stevenson (#90) – Wrecked, retired Jackie Stewart (#20) Jerry Titus (#50, #71, #75, #76) Greg Weld (#17, #19, #30) Dempsey Wilson (#51, #63, #81) LeeRoy Yarbrough (#59, #62)^[13] Race Day First half At the drop of the green flag, Joe Leonard in the #60 STP Turbine took the lead, with Bobby Unser in second and Roger McCluskey up to third at the end of lap one. A fast pace was set over the first 100 miles, with no yellow caution lights. Bobby Unser took the lead for the first time on lap 8, and led most of the first half. After only nine laps, Jim Hurtubise in the front-engined PepsiCo Frito-lay special had burned a piston, and was out, finishing 30th, the final front-engined "roadster" to race at lap at the 500. Also in the pits was Mario Andretti, who dropped out with a bad piston. Moments later, he hopped into the car of his teammate Larry Dickson, but that was also short-lived. That car also suffered a broken piston after 24 laps. On lap 41, the caution flag flew for the first time. Al Unser Sr. made a routine pit stop, but a fire broke out in the turbocharger. He was able to return to the race, but after only one lap, he lost a wheel and hit the wall in turn one. Arnie Knepper and Gary Bettenhausen were also involved. After 200miles, defending champion A. J. Foyt was out with a blown engine. Second half On lap 110, Graham Hill lost a wheel and smashed into the turn two wall, which brought out the second caution. It was the first of the three Granatelli Turbines to drop out of the race. On the restart, Bobby Unser took the lead, blowing by Joe Leonard, showing the traditional piston-powered engines were still a match for the powerful turbines. On lap 127, Mel Kenyon and rookie Billy Vukovich II tangled in turn four. Both were able to re-enter the race, but Johnny Rutherford, while trying to slow down, was rear-ended by Jim McElreath. Mike Mosley also spun into the turn four grass trying to avoid the accident. Rutherford was out, but McElreath limped back to the pits where his crew repaired the nosecone. When Bobby Unser made his last pit stop on lap 166, his gearshift linkage was broken, and the car was stuck in high gear. As he slowly left his pit, struggling to accelerate back to racing speed, both Leonard and Ruby passed him. Leonard now led in the Turbine. Ruby was up to second, but moments later on lap 178, Ruby was back in the pits with a faulty ignition coil. His crew was able to replace the coil, but the six-minute pit stop dropped him out of contention for the win. With 19 laps to go, Joe Leonard led, with Bobby Unser back up to second. Carl Williams crashed on the backstretch, triggering a fire which brought out the yellow light. Under the caution, Leonard led, with Bobby Unser second, and Dan Gurney in third. For a brief moment, a controversy started brewing as Art Pollard (teammate to Joe Leonard), who was a couple laps down, was not keeping up with the caution pace. As a result, Bobby Unser was stuck behind him, and losing track position to Leonard. Finish After the cleanup, the green flag was given to the field at the start of lap 192. At that instant, both leader Joe Leonard and his teammate Art Pollard hesitated and instantly slowed with identical snapped fuel pump drive shafts. The turbine engines again failed in sight of the finish, stunning the racing fraternity. Bobby Unser swept by into the lead with Dan Gurney inheriting second place. With a nearly full-lap lead, Unser cruised over the final nine laps to win his first Indianapolis 500. Cars using Goodyear tires swept the top four positions, and Goodyear won their second 500 in row. Officials allowed the top five cars to finish the full 500 miles, then flagged the rest of the field off the track. This would be the final 500 in which finishers were named to the prestigious Champion Spark Plug 100 mph Club. Unlike the 1967 race, the Turbine did not run away from the field in 1968. Bobby Unser led the most laps in the Offenhauser, but Joe Leonard spent most of the day on Unser's tail, in the top three. Graham Hill ran in the top five, but complained that he lacked speed down the long straights, and was running 4th when he wrecked. Art Pollard, in the third Turbine, spent most of the day in the top ten before the car quit, but was never really a factor for the win. Box score Finish Start No Name Chassis Engine Tire Qual Laps Status 1 3 3 Bobby Unser Eagle Offenhauser 169.507 200 Running 2 10 48 Dan Gurney Eagle Ford-Weslake 166.512 200 +53.80 3 17 15 Mel Kenyon Gerhardt Offenhauser 165.191 200 +4:48.62 4 20 42 Denis Hulme Eagle Ford 164.189 200 +4:55.41 5 5 25 Lloyd Ruby Mongoose Offenhauser 167.613 200 +5:45.06 6 26 59 Ronnie Duman Brabham Offenhauser 162.338 200 Running 7 23 98 Bill Vukovich II Shrike Offenhauser 163.510 198 Flagged 8 27 90 Mike Mosley Watson Offenhauser 162.499 197 Flagged 9 31 94 Sammy Sessions Finley Offenhauser 162.118 197 Flagged 10 25 6 Bobby Grim Mongoose Offenhauser 162.866 196 Flagged 11 24 16 Bob Veith Gerhardt Offenhauser 163.495 196 Flagged 12 1 60 Joe Leonard Lotus Pratt & Whitney 171.599 191 Fuel Shaft 13 11 20 Art Pollard Lotus Pratt & Whitney 166.297 188 Fuel Shaft 14 13 82 Jim McElreath Coyote Ford 165.327 179 Stalled 15 28 84 Carl Williams Coyote Ford 162.323 163 Crash BS 16 18 10 Bud Tingelstad Gerhardt Ford 164.444 158 Oil Pressure 17 12 54 Wally Dallenbach Sr. Finley Offenhauser 165.548 148 Engine 18 21 18 Johnny Rutherford Eagle Ford 163.830 125 Crash T4 19 2 70 Graham Hill Lotus Pratt & Whitney 171.208 110 Crash T2 20 8 1 A. J. Foyt Coyote Ford 166.821 86 Rear End 21 19 45 Ronnie Bucknum Eagle Ford 164.211 76 Fuel Leak 22 14 27 Jim Malloy Vollstedt Ford 165.032 64 Rear End 23 15 78 Jerry Grant Eagle Ford 164.782 50 Oil Leak 24 22 11 Gary Bettenhausen Gerhardt Offenhauser 163.562 43 Accident T1 25 32 21 Arnie Knepper Vollstedt Ford 161.900 42 Accident T1 26 6 24 Al Unser Lola Ford 167.069 40 Crash T1 27 9 4 Gordon Johncock Gerhardt Offenhauser 166.775 37 Rear End 28 33 64 Larry Dickson (Mario Andretti Laps 14–24) Brawner Ford 161.124 24 Piston 29 7 8 Roger McCluskey Eagle Offenhauser 166.976 16 Oil Filter 30 30 56 Jim Hurtubise Mallard Offenhauser 162.191 9 Piston 31 29 29 George Snider Mongoose Ford 162.264 9 Oil Leak 32 16 35 Jochen Rindt Brabham Repco-Brabham 164.144 5 Piston 33 4 2 Mario Andretti Brawner Ford 167.691 2 Piston Note: Relief drivers in parentheses^[14] Former Indianapolis 500 winner Indianapolis 500 Rookie Race statistics Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–7 Joe Leonard 8–56 Bobby Unser 57–89 Lloyd Ruby 90–112 Bobby Unser 113–119 Joe Leonard 120–165 Bobby Unser 166–174 Lloyd Ruby 175–191 Joe Leonard 192–200 Bobby Unser Total laps led Driver Laps 127 42 31

Notes and References

1. Book: Fox, Jack C.. The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994. Carl Hungness Publishing. 4th. 1994. 22. en. 0-915088-05-3.
2. News: Infielders Real Mudders. John H.. Lyst. The Indianapolis Star. 1. Newspapers.com. May 31, 1968. June 2, 2017.
3. News: Bobby Unser wins 500 as turbines fail . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Associated Press . May 31, 1968 . 17.
4. News: Unser wins Indy 500 race . The Bulletin . (Bend, Oregon) . UPI . May 31, 1968 . 8.
5. News: Unser, 'King Offy' got all the help they needed . Toledo Blade . (Ohio) . Taylor . Jim . May 31, 1968 . 18.
6. News: Rude setback for the jet age . Sports Illustrated . Ottum . Bob . June 10, 1968 . 34.
7. News: Monthly Temperature and Precipitation Extremes for Indianapolis (1871 to 2008). NOAA.gov. 2008-06-01. 2012-08-08.
8. News: Nine more qualify; final eight today . Sarasota Herald-Tribune . (Florida) . Associated Press . May 26, 1968 . 1B.
9. News: Indy drivers given another chance . Toledo Blade . (Ohio) . Associated Press . May 27, 1968 . 35.
10. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AiYzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=A-oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=661,2434979&dq=indianapolis+time+trials&hl=en
11. News: Wrecks mar Indy time trials . Daytona Beach Morning Journal . (Florida) . Associated Press . May 28, 1968 . 8.
12. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
13. Web site: 1968 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes. ChampCarStats.com. 27 June 2015.
14. Web site: ChampCarStats.com. International 500 Mile Sweepstakes – May 30, 1968.
15. News: Here's Your 500-Mile Race Scorecard. Indianapolis News. 1. Newspapers.com. May 30, 1968. August 18, 2024.
16. News: Race Score Card. The Indianapolis Star. 1. Newspapers.com. May 30, 1968. August 18, 2024.
17. News: Facts And Figures On Indianapolis 500. Daily News. 1968-05-29. 2012-08-08.
18. News: Indianapolis 500. 1968-05-14. 2012-08-08.
19. News: Computers to Help Report Indianapolis 500 Race. Computer World. 1968-06-05. 2012-08-08.