Indianapolis 500 firsts explained

Wins, Leaders and Race Competition

Year	First	Achiever(s)	Notes
1911	Winning driver		Retired from racing competition upon victory
	Winning owner		Withdrew from racing competition upon victory
	Rear-view mirror mounted, and winning, car	Marmon Wasp	First entry with rear-view mirror, all international motorsports competition
1913	Rookie winner (excluding first race)		First to win in first career start, excluding first race
	Non-American winner
	European winner
	French winner
1915	Italian winner		Italian-born DePalma emigrated to America as a child
1916	Multiple-winning owner(s)		Winning owners, 1913, 1916
	British winner		Italian-born Resta emigrated to Great Britain as a child
1922	Winner from pole position
	Winner leading first lap
	Driver-Owner winner
	Race and Grand Prix winning car	Duesenberg 1921 GP	Won 1921 French Grand Prix
1923	Two-time winner		Winner, 1921, 1923
1924	Co-winners		Corum starting, Boyer finishing
1924	Repeat-winning owner(s)
1925
1926	Rain-shortened race winner		Race concluded by rain at 160 laps, 400miles, with Lockhart holding a two lap lead
1936	Three-time winner		Winner, 1928, 1933, 1936
1939	Repeat-winning driver Repeat-winning car	Wilbur Shaw Maserati 8CTF
1940
1946	English winner		English-born Robson emigrated to America as a child
1947	First-and-second-place finish by teammates		Rose victorious
			Holland second
	Three consecutive-winning owner
1948
1949
1952	Rookie of the Year award winner		First awarded in 36th running of the race
	Youngest winner		Winner with 22 years and 80 days
1965	Race and World Championship winner, and in same year
	Scottish winner		Drivers originating from countries within the United Kingdom traditionally operate under British classification
	Rear-engined winning car	Lotus 38	Team Lotus, entrant
1966	Race and Monaco Grand Prix winner		Winner, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, and 1969 Monaco Grand Prix
1967	Race and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, and in same year		Dan Gurney, Le Mans teammate and co-driver
1969	Race and Daytona 500 winner		Winner, 1967 Daytona 500
	Race and 12 Hours of Sebring winner		Winner, 1967, 1970, and 1972 12 Hours of Sebring
1972	Race and 24 Hours of Daytona winner		Winner, 1969 and 1978 World Championships First year competed after winning 1972 24 Hours of Daytona
	Wing-mounted winning car	McLaren M16	Entered by Roger Penske, driven by Mark Donohue
1977	Four-time winner		Winner, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977
	Female qualifier		Qualified 26th, finished 29th out of 33 drivers
1987	Oldest winner		Winner with 47 years and 360 days, Winner, 1970, 1971, 1978, 1987
1989	South American winner
	Brazilian winner
1990	Dutch winner
1991	African-American qualifier		Qualified 29th, finished 32 out of 33 drivers
1992	Female Rookie of the Year		Finished 13th
1993	Two-time Race and two-time World Championship winner		Winner, 1989; Winner, 1972 and 1974 World Championships
1995	Canadian winner		Winner, 1997 World Championships
1999	Swedish winner
2000	Colombian winner		Winner, 2000, 2015, Won 2003 Monaco Grand Prix and won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2007, 2008 and 2013
2001	Rookie and sophomore winner		First to win in first two career starts
2002
2005	Female leader		Led 19 laps; Lap 192, latest
2006	Final lap lead change		Overtook Marco Andretti on the final straight line.
2008	New Zealand winner
2009	Three females both starting and finishing Race		Danica Patrick finished 3rd, becoming the highest finishing female in race history.
2011	Winner leading only final lap		Took lead from J. R. Hildebrand on the final lap.
2017	Asian winner
	Japanese winner
2018	Australian winner
2021	Non-American four-time winner		Winner, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2021

Race Average Finishing Speeds

Year	Speed Barrier	Race Winner	Time	Average Speed	Notes
(mph)	(km/h)
1911	70 mph		6:42:08.92	74.602	129.060	First race
1914	80 mph		6:03:46.12	82.47	132.72
1922	90 mph		5:17:30.79	94.48	152.05	Victory in 1921 French Grand Prix winning car
1925	100 mph		4:56:39.45	101.127	162.748	First race completed in under 5 hours
1937	110 mph		4:24:07.08	113.580	182.789	Last two-seat winning car
1949	120 mph		4:07:14.97	121.327	195.257
1954	130 mph		3:49:17.27	130.840	210.567
1962	140 mph		3:33:50.33	140.293	225.780
1965	150 mph		3:19:05.34	150.686	242.506
1972	160 mph		3:04:05.54	162.962	262.262
1986	170 mph		2:55:43.470	170.722	274.750	First race completed in under 3 hours
1990	180 mph		2:41:18.404	185.981	299.307	Currently third-fastest time for 500 miles
2021	190 mph		2:37:19.3846	190.690	306.886	Currently fastest Indy 500 in average speed

Qualifications

Pole Position

Year	Speed Barrier	Driver	Speed	Notes
(mph)	(km/h)
1911	N/A		No full lap		First race; grid determined by entry date
1915	90 mph		98.90	159.16	First year, grid position determined by qualification speed
1919	100 mph		104.780	168.627
1925	110 mph		113.196	182.171
1927	120 mph		120.100	193.282
1939	130 mph		130.138	209.437
1954	140 mph		141.033	226.971	Engine augmented with nitromethane additive, then legal
1962	150 mph		150.370	241.997
1965	160 mph		161.233	259.479
1968	170 mph		171.559	276.097	Turbine-engined car
1972	180 mph	Bobby Unser†	195.940	315.335	17mi/h increase in pole record speed, largest margin to date
	190 mph
1978	200 mph		202.156	325.339	Broke one-lap 200 mph qualifying barrier in 1977
1984	210 mph		210.029	338.009
1989	220 mph		223.885	360.308
1992	230 mph		232.482	374.144

†- During time trials, Bill Vukovich II turned his first lap at 185.797mi/h, to set the one-lap track record, and was the first driver to officially break the 180mi/h barrier. He, however, crashed on his second lap, and did not complete the four-lap qualifying run. Later in the afternoon, Joe Leonard qualified a four-lap average of 185.223mi/h to break the four-lap 180mi/h barrier. Later in the day, however, Bobby Unser qualified even faster, over 190mi/h, and became the first pole position winner to break 180mi/h and 190mi/h for his four-lap average.

Miscellenia

• 1913: Jules Goux is the first winner to go the full race distance without a relief driver, and is both the first French and European victor. Goux's Peugeot entry is the first to win using wire wheels instead of wooden-spoke wheels.
• 1915: Ralph DePalma is the first Italian-born victor.
• 1919: Victory by state native Howdy Wilcox prompts crowd to sing Back Home Again in Indiana for the first time, immediately after conclusion of the race. Wilcox's Peugeot is owned and entered by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first winning entry to be directly affiliated with the facility itself.
• 1920: Gaston Chevrolet is killed in a race at Beverly Hills and is the first '500' winner to die.
• 1921: Howdy Wilcox is the first driver to finish in first and last place (1919 & 1921).
• 1923: Jimmy Murphy is the first defending winner to lead the first lap.
• 1929: Cliff Woodbury is the first pole winner to finish last (crash on lap 3).
• 1936: Louis Meyer becomes the first driver to drink milk in victory lane. He also becomes the first driver to receive the pace car for his winning effort. The Borg-Warner Trophy makes its first appearance.
• 1946: George Robson is the first English-born victor.
• 1948: The Speedway institutes its own 'Safety Patrol' to replace the Indiana National Guard as policing force for the event, which had served in such capacity since the inaugural race.
• 1949: Local station WTTV provides television coverage of the race during competition for the first time.
• 1950: Walt Faulkner becomes the first rookie to qualify for the pole position.
• 1952: Art Cross becomes the first Rookie of the Year. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network broadcasts flag-to-flag coverage of the race for the first time.
• 1958: The front row drivers (Dick Rathmann, Ed Elisian and Jimmy Reece) fail to lead a lap, the only time this has occurred to date.
• 1965: Jim Clark is the first former World Drivers' Champion to win the race, the first driver to win the race en route to winning the Formula 1 World Championship and the first Scottish victor.
• 1966: Rookie Graham Hill, the first English-born victor, wins the race but not the Rookie of the Year award (instead awarded to teammate Jackie Stewart), the only time this has occurred to date. Jim Clark is the first driver to spin and recover twice in the same race.
• 1971: Bettie Cadou becomes the first female reporter to be given a silver credential badge that permits access to the pit and garage areas.
• 1974: The Speedway rescinds its "never on a Sunday" policy, altering a tradition dating to 1911; the race is scheduled to be run, for the first time, on the Sunday before the national observance of Memorial Day, the last Monday of May.
• 1978: The timing and scoring computer system designed by Arthur W Graham III (Indianapolis 500 Director) was first used to accurately track drivers times and simultaneously display race leaders and laps.
• 1980: Tom Sneva becomes the first driver to lead the race after starting from dead last, finishing 2nd.
• 1983: Al Unser and son Al Unser Jr. are the first father and son to compete together in the same race.
• 1984: Michael Andretti becomes the first son of a previous Rookie of the Year award winner (Mario Andretti, 1965) to win the award himself, shared with Colombian Roberto Guerrero.
• 1986: ABC Sports provides flag-to-flag television coverage for the first time.
• 1988: Bill Vukovich III becomes the first third-generation driver to qualify and drive in the race, following his two-time winning grandfather and once second-place finishing father.
• 1992: Al Unser Jr. becomes the first second-generation winner of the race, following his four-time winning father.
• 2002: Hélio Castroneves becomes the first rookie winner to become a multiple-race winner.
• 2005: Danica Patrick becomes the first female driver to lead the race, for a total of 19 laps.
• 2006: Marco Andretti becomes the first third-generation winner of the Rookie of the Year award (Mario Andretti, 1965; Michael Andretti, co-1984).
• 2007: First Indy 500 race with three women competing in the field (Duno, Fisher, Patrick); also the first race where two women were running at the completion of the event (Fisher, Patrick).
• 2009: First Indy 500 race where three females finished the race, (Duno, Fisher, Patrick). Also the highest finish for a woman, 3rd(Patrick).
• 2010: First Indy 500 race with four women competing in the field (Fisher, Patrick, Silvestro, Beatriz); The Rookie of the year it was for the Swiss driver (Silvestro).
• 2017: Takuma Sato of Japan becomes the first Asian-born victor.
• 2018: Will Power of Australia becomes the first Australian-born victor.
• 2019: First Indy 500 race broadcast by NBC Sports.
• 2020: First Indy 500 to be run in August.
• 2021: First Indy 500 to have at least 30 cars running at the finish.

References

• Indianapolis 500 Chronicle, John Pope, copyright 1999
• 2005 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Program
• 2006 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Program