1936 Indianapolis 500

The 24th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1936. The race was part of the 1936 AAA Championship Car season. The race is remembered for three noteworthy Indy traditions getting their start.

24th Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning bodyAAA
DateMay 30, 1936
WinnerLouis Meyer
Winning EntrantLouis Meyer
Average speed109.069 mph
Pole positionRex Mays
Pole speed119.644 mph
Most laps ledLouis Meyer (96)
Pre-race
Pace carPackard 120
Pace car driverTommy Milton
StarterSeth Klein[1]
Honorary refereeRalph DePalma[1]
Estimated attendance170,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next
1935 1937

Louis Meyer became the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He notably celebrated in victory lane with a bottle of buttermilk, which later started the famous tradition of serving milk in victory lane at Indianapolis.

Lawson Harris served as Meyer's riding mechanic. Harris, who also rode with Meyer in 1933, became the first two-time Indianapolis 500 winning riding mechanic.

The Borg-Warner Trophy debuted for the winner in 1936. Also, pace car driver Tommy Milton suggested that the race winner should be awarded the official pace car as part of his complement of prizes. Louis Meyer was given the keys to the Packard after the race, and it has been a tradition ever since (with only a handful of exceptions).

Time trials

Ten-lap (25 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Rex Mays won the pole position for the second consecutive year.

Qualifying Results
DateDriverLap 1
(mph)		Lap 2
(mph)		Lap 3
(mph)		Lap 4
(mph)		Lap 5
(mph)		Lap 6
(mph)		Lap 7
(mph)		Lap 8
(mph)		Lap 9
(mph)		Lap 10
(mph)		Average Speed
(mph)
Sat 5/16/1936Rex Mays119.745119.348118.743119.968121.065119.984120.289119.697119.253118.985119.644

Results
Finish Start No Name Qual Rank Laps Led Status
1 28 8 Louis Meyer  W  114.171 18 200 96 Running
2 11 22 Ted Horn 116.564 8 200 16 Running
3 4 10 Doc MacKenzie 116.961 5 200 0 Running
4 30 36 Mauri Rose 113.890 21 200 0 Running
5 3 18 Chet Miller 117.675 3 200 0 Running
6 25 41 Ray Pixley  R  116.703 7 200 0 Running
7 9 3 Wilbur Shaw 117.503 4 200 51 Running
8 14 17 George Barringer 112.700 27 200 0 Running
9 32 53 Zeke Meyer 111.476 30 200 0 Running
10 5 38 George Connor 116.269 9 200 0 Running
11 12 35 Freddy Winnai 116.221 10 199 0 Flagged
12 24 9 Ralph Hepburn 112.673 28 196 0 Flagged
13 27 28 Harry McQuinn 114.118 19 196 0 Out of gas
14 10 7 Shorty Cantlon 116.912 6 194 0 Out of gas
15 1 33 Rex Mays 119.644 1 192 12 Out of gas
16 23 54 Doc Williams  R  112.837 26 192 0 Out of gas
17 29 32 Lou Moore 113.996 20 185 0 Out of gas
18 33 19 Emil Andres  R  111.455 31 184 0 Flagged
19 15 4 Floyd Roberts 112.403 29 183 0 Out of gas
20 20 14 Frank Brisko 114.213 17 180 0 Out of gas
21 17 12 Al Miller 116.138 11 119 0 Crash FS
22 7 42 Cliff Bergere 113.377 22 116 0 Engine support
23 26 15 Deacon Litz 115.997 13 108 0 Crankshaft
24 2 21 Babe Stapp 118.945 2 89 25 Crankshaft
25 19 5 Billy Winn 114.648 16 78 0 Crankshaft
26 22 52 Frank McGurk  R  113.102 24 51 0 Crankshaft
27 8 27 Louis Tomei 111.078 33 44 0 Engine support
28 6 44 Herb Ardinger 115.082 15 38 0 Transmission
29 18 6 Chet Gardner 116.000 12 38 0 Clutch
30 16 43 Jimmy Snyder 111.291 32 21 0 Oil leak
31 21 47 Johnny Seymour 113.169 23 13 0 Clutch
32 31 46 Fred Frame  W  112.877 25 4 0 Piston
33 13 2 Bill Cummings  W  115.939 14 0 0 Clutch
[3]

Alternates
  • First alternate: Al Putman  R [4]

Failed to Qualify

Race details
  • For 1936, riding mechanics were required.[6]
  • After numerous fatalities in the 1935 race, additional safety measures were introduced for 1936. All new drivers were required to pass a rookie test prior to qualifying. In addition, the inside wall was removed in several locations, the outside walls were angled inward to keep cars from going over them, and several portions of the track were paved over in asphalt. In a sharp contrast to previous years, the 1936 race saw zero fatalities amongst the competitors and/or spectators. It marked the only year from the span of 1929-1940 (the Depression Era) in which no fatalities occurred at the Speedway.
  • Bill Cummings car failed to pull away from the grid due to clutch and transmission failure. He became the first driver in Indy history to line up for the grid, but fail to pull away and start the race.

References
  1. Fox, Jack C. (1994). The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994 (4th ed.). Carl Hungness Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-915088-05-3.
  2. Campbell, Russell E. (May 31, 1936). "Meyer Spins Home As 170,000 Sunburn". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved June 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Indianapolis 500 1936". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  4. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
  5. "1936 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  6. Blazier, John E.; Rollings, Tom (1994). Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics.
1935 Indianapolis 500
Kelly Petillo		 1936 Indianapolis 500
Louis Meyer		 1937 Indianapolis 500
Wilbur Shaw
Preceded by
106.240 mph
(1935 Indianapolis 500)		 Record for the fastest average speed
109.069 mph		 Succeeded by
113.580 mph
(1937 Indianapolis 500)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.