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1936 Indianapolis 500

24th running of the Indianapolis 500

Field	Value
race_name	24th Indianapolis 500
sanction	AAA
date	May 30, 1936
winner	Louis Meyer
team	Louis Meyer
mph	109.069 mph
pole	Rex Mays
pole_speed	119.644 mph
leader	Louis Meyer (96)
pace_car	Packard 120
pace_driver	Tommy Milton
starter	Seth Klein
honorary	Ralph DePalma
attendance	170,000
previous	[1935](1935-indianapolis-500)
next	[1937](1937-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.

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.

Date	Driver	Lap 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 5/16/1936	Rex Mays	119.745	119.348	118.743	119.968	121.065	119.984	120.289	119.697	119.253	118.985	119.644

Starting grid

Row	Inside	Middle	Outside	1	2
33	USA Rex Mays	21	USA Babe Stapp	18	USA Chet Miller
10	USA Doc MacKenzie	38	USA George Connor	44	USA Herb Ardinger
42	USA Cliff Bergere	27	USA Louis Tomei	3	USA Wilbur Shaw
7	USA Shorty Cantlon	22	USA Ted Horn	35	USA Freddie Winnai
2	USA Bill Cummings	17	USA George Barringer	4	USA Floyd Roberts
43	USA Jimmy Snyder	12	USA Al Miller	6	USA Chet Gardner
5	USA Billy Winn	14	USA Frank Brisko	47	USA Johnny Seymour
52	USA Frank McGurk	54	USA Doc Williams	9	USA Ralph Hepburn
41	USA Ray Pixley	15	USA Deacon Litz	28	USA Harry McQuinn
8	USA Louis Meyer	32	USA Lou Moore	36	USA Mauri Rose
46	USA Fred Frame	53	USA Zeke Meyer	19	USA Emil Andres

Alternates

First alternate: Al Putman ****

Failed to Qualify

George Bailey (#51)
Henry Banks **** (#29)
Rick Decker (#44)
Dave Evans (#25)
Dusty Fahrnow (#55)
Tony Gulotta (#31, #56)
Harry Hunt **** (#58)
Luther Johnson (#49) - Withdrew
Roy Painter **** (#34)
Kelly Petillo **** (#10)
Phil Shafer (#26)
Overton Snell **** (#24)
Russ Snowberger (#23)
Lucky Teter **** - Did not appear
Joel Thorne **** - Did not appear
George Wingerter (#57)

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Qual	Rank	Laps
28	8	United States Louis Meyer ****	Louis Meyer	Stevens	Miller	114.171	18	200	Running
11	22	United States Ted Horn	Harry Hartz	Wetteroth	Miller	116.564	8	200	Running
4	10	United States Doc MacKenzie
(Kelly Petillo Laps 142–200)	Kelly Petillo	Wetteroth	Offenhauser	116.961	5	200	Running
30	36	United States Mauri Rose	Four Wheel Drive Auto Company	Miller	Miller	113.890	21	200	Running
3	18	United States Chet Miller	Boyle Motor Products	Summers	Miller	117.675	3	200	Running
25	41	United States Ray Pixley ****	Clarence Felker	Miller	Miller	116.703	7	200	Running
9	3	United States Wilbur Shaw	W. Wilbur Shaw	Shaw	Offenhauser	117.503	4	200	Running
14	17	United States George Barringer	Phil Shafer	Rigling	Offenhauser	112.700	27	200	Running
32	53	United States Zeke Meyer	Boyle Motor Products	Cooper	Studebaker	111.476	30	200	Running
5	38	United States George Connor	Joe Marks	Adams	Miller	116.269	9	200	Running
12	35	United States Freddie Winnai	Midwest Racing Team	Stevens	Offenhauser	116.221	10	199	Flagged
24	9	United States Ralph Hepburn	Ralph Hepburn	Miller	Offenhauser	112.673	28	196	Flagged
27	28	United States Harry McQuinn	Alden Sampson II	Stevens	Miller	114.118	19	196	Out of gas
10	7	United States Shorty Cantlon	William S. White	Weil	Miller	116.912	6	194	Out of gas
1	33	United States Rex Mays	Paul Weirick	Adams	Sparks	119.644	1	192	Out of gas
23	54	United States Doc Williams ****	Race Car Corporation	Cooper	Miller	112.837	26	192	Out of gas
29	32	United States Lou Moore
(Cliff Bergere Laps 77–134)	Lou Moore	Miller	Offenhauser	113.996	20	185	Out of gas
33	19	United States Emil Andres ****
(Jimmy Snyder Laps 51–112)	J. Stewart Carew	Whippet	Cragar	111.455	31	184	Flagged
15	4	United States Floyd Roberts	Joe Lencki	Stevens	Offenhauser	112.403	29	183	Out of gas
20	14	United States Frank Brisko	Elgin Piston Ring Company	Miller	Brisko	114.213	17	180	Out of gas
17	12	United States Al Miller	Boyle Motor Products	Smith	Miller	116.138	11	119	Crash FS
7	42	United States Cliff Bergere
(Tony Gulotta Laps 60–114)
(Herb Ardinger Laps 115–116)	Bowes Seal Fast Corporation	Stevens	Miller	113.377	22	116	Engine support
26	15	United States Deacon Litz
(Louis Tomei Laps 59–107)	A. B. Litz	Miller	Miller	115.997	13	108	Crankshaft
2	21	United States Babe Stapp	Gil Pirrung	Shaw	Offenhauser	118.945	2	89	Crankshaft
19	5	United States Billy Winn	James W. Winn	Miller	Miller	114.648	16	78	Crankshaft
22	52	United States Frank McGurk ****	Charles Worley	Adams	Cragar	113.102	24	51	Crankshaft
8	27	United States Louis Tomei	Babe Stapp	Wetteroth	Miller	111.078	33	44	Engine support
6	44	United States Herb Ardinger	Bowes Seal Fast Corporation	Stevens	Miller	115.082	15	38	Transmission
18	6	United States Chet Gardner	Chester L. Gardner	Duesenberg	Offenhauser	116.000	12	38	Clutch
16	43	United States Jimmy Snyder	Murrell Belanger	Stevens	Miller	111.291	32	21	Oil leak
21	47	United States Johnny Seymour	William L. Cantlon	Stevens	Miller	113.169	23	13	Clutch
31	46	United States Fred Frame ****	Moore & Fengler	Miller	Miller	112.877	25	4	Piston
13	2	United States Bill Cummings ****	Boyle Motor Products	Miller	Offenhauser	115.939	14	0	Clutch

Note: Relief drivers in parentheses

**** Former Indianapolis 500 winner

**** Indianapolis 500 Rookie

Race statistics

Lap Leaders	Laps	Leader
1–12	Rex Mays
13–31	Babe Stapp
32–82	Wilbur Shaw
83–88	Babe Stapp
89–130	Louis Meyer
131–146	Ted Horn
147–200	Louis Meyer

Total laps led	Driver	Laps
Louis Meyer	96
Wilbur Shaw	51
Babe Stapp	25
Ted Horn	16
Rex Mays	12

Yellow Lights	Laps	Reason
119	Al Miller crash on frontstretch

Race summary

To slow the cars, a fuel limit of 37.5 gallons of gasoline was implemented for the race distance. Engine tuners struggled to make their engines more efficient.

At the start, polesitter Rex Mays led but soon dropped out with a faulty throttle. Wilbur Shaw then took the lead, but lost time with a 17-minute pit stop to re-fasten loose rivets on his engine hood.

Louis Meyer steadily moved up through the field and took the lead by halfway. He pitted for fuel at 350 miles, allowing Ted Horn to take the point. But Meyer caught him, pulled away and became the first 3-time "500" winner. He wasn't sure his fuel would last until the end. He said, "That last lap, I held my breath."

For 1936, riding mechanics were required.
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 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

(1935 Indianapolis 500) (1937 Indianapolis 500)

References

Fox, Jack C.. (1994). "The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994". Carl Hungness Publishing.
Campbell, Russell E.. (May 31, 1936). "Meyer Spins Home As 170,000 Sunburn". The Indianapolis Star.
''[[Donald Davidson (historian). The Talk of Gasoline Alley]]'' - [[WIBC (FM). 1070-AM WIBC]], May 14, 2004
"1936 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes".
"Indianapolis 500 1936". Ultimate Racing History.
(1998). "The Indianapolis 500 Chronicle". Publications International, Ltd..
"International 500 Mile Sweepstakes – May 30, 1936". ChampCarStats.com.
Miley, Jack. (May 31, 1936). "Meyer Wins Speed Grind Third Time". Daily News.
Book "The Indianapolis 500: A Complete Pictorial History by John and Barbara Devaney p. 111-112
Blazier, John E.. (1994). "Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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