1940 Indianapolis 500
The 28th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1940. The winner was Wilbur Shaw in the same Maserati 8CTF he had driven to victory in 1939. Shaw became the first driver in the history of the race to win in consecutive years. It also marked Shaw's third win in four years, making him the second three-time winner of the race. Shaw's average speed was 114.277 mph, slowed by rain which caused the last 50 laps to be run under caution.[3] Shaw took home $31,875 (equivalent to $581,700 in 2019) in prize winnings, plus additional prizes that included a car and a refrigerator.[4]
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| Indianapolis Motor Speedway | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis 500 | |||||
| Sanctioning body | AAA | ||||
| Date | May 30, 1940 | ||||
| Winner | Wilbur Shaw | ||||
| Winning Entrant | Boyle Racing Headquarters | ||||
| Average speed | 114.277 mph | ||||
| Pole position | Rex Mays | ||||
| Pole speed | 127.850 mph | ||||
| Most laps led | Wilbur Shaw (136) | ||||
| Pre-race | |||||
| Pace car | Studebaker Champion | ||||
| Pace car driver | Ab Jenkins | ||||
| Starter | Seth Klein[1] | ||||
| Honorary referee | Roscoe Turner[1] | ||||
| Estimated attendance | 150,000[2] | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
| |||||
Fourth place finisher Ted Horn was flagged due to the rain shower after completing only 199 laps - one lap short of the full distance. This marked the only blemish on his noteworthy record of nine consecutive races completing every lap. He would eventually complete 1,799 out of a possible 1,800 laps from 1936 to 1948.
The top 4 starting positions finished in the top four places, albeit in shuffled order.
Results
| Finish | Start | No | Name | Qual | Rank | Laps | Led | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Wilbur Shaw W |
127.065 | 2 | 200 | 136 | Running |
| 2 | 1 | 33 | Rex Mays |
127.850 | 1 | 200 | 59 | Running |
| 3 | 3 | 7 | Mauri Rose |
125.624 | 3 | 200 | 5 | Running |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | Ted Horn |
125.545 | 4 | 199 | 0 | Flagged |
| 5 | 10 | 8 | Joel Thorne |
122.434 | 20 | 197 | 0 | Flagged |
| 6 | 20 | 32 | Bob Swanson |
124.882 | 6 | 196 | 0 | Flagged |
| 7 | 7 | 9 | Frank Wearne |
123.216 | 12 | 195 | 0 | Flagged |
| 8 | 5 | 31 | Mel Hansen |
124.753 | 7 | 194 | 0 | Flagged |
| 9 | 8 | 16 | Frank Brisko |
122.716 | 16 | 193 | 0 | Flagged |
| 10 | 31 | 49 |  René Le Bègue R (Approx. laps 1-50 and 101-150) René Dreyfus(Approx. laps 51-100 and 151-192) |
118.981 | 33 | 192 | 0 | Flagged |
| 11 | 15 | 41 | Harry McQuinn |
122.486 | 19 | 192 | 0 | Flagged |
| 12 | 22 | 25 | Emil Andres |
122.963 | 15 | 192 | 0 | Flagged |
| 13 | 14 | 28 | Sam Hanks R |
123.064 | 13 | 192 | 0 | Flagged |
| 14 | 16 | 6 | George Barringer |
121.889 | 22 | 191 | 0 | Flagged |
| 15 | 26 | 42 | Joie Chitwood R |
121.757 | 25 | 190 | 0 | Flagged |
| 16 | 18 | 26 | Louis Tomei |
119.980 | 32 | 190 | 0 | Exhaust pipe |
| 17 | 27 | 34 | Chet Miller |
121.392 | 27 | 189 | 0 | Flagged |
| 18 | 32 | 14 | Billy Devore |
122.197 | 21 | 181 | 0 | Flagged |
| 19 | 28 | 44 | Al Putnam |
120.818 | 28 | 179 | 0 | Flagged |
| 20 | 33 | 61 | Floyd Davis |
120.797 | 30 | 157 | 0 | Flagged |
| 21 | 13 | 35 | Kelly Petillo W |
125.331 | 5 | 128 | 0 | Bearing |
| 22 | 25 | 21 | Duke Nalon |
121.790 | 24 | 120 | 0 | Rod |
| 23 | 23 | 17 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} George Robson R |
122.562 | 18 | 67 | 0 | Shock absorber |
| 24 | 12 | 24 | Babe Stapp |
123.367 | 11 | 64 | 0 | Oil line |
| 25 | 19 | 36 | Doc Williams |
122.963 | 14 | 61 | 0 | Oil line |
| 26 | 17 | 10 | George Connor |
124.585 | 8 | 52 | 0 | Rod |
| 27 | 6 | 5 | Cliff Bergere |
123.673 | 10 | 51 | 0 | Oil line |
| 28 | 29 | 38 | Paul Russo R |
120.809 | 29 | 48 | 0 | Oil leak |
| 29 | 21 | 54 | Ralph Hepburn |
123.860 | 9 | 47 | 0 | Steering |
| 30 | 30 | 58 | Al Miller |
120.288 | 31 | 41 | 0 | Clutch |
| 31 | 11 | 19 | Russ Snowberger |
121.564 | 26 | 38 | 0 | Water pump |
| 32 | 9 | 27 | Tommy Hinnershitz R |
122.614 | 17 | 32 | 0 | Crash FS |
| 33 | 24 | 29 |  Raúl Riganti |
121.827 | 23 | 24 | 0 | Crash T2 |
| [5] | ||||||||
Note: The race was run under caution from lap 150 to 200 due to rain.
Alternates
- First alternate: Tony Willman[6]
Failed to qualify
- George Bailey (#56) - Fatal accident
- Henry Banks (#39)
- Shorty Cantlon (#24) - Replaced by Babe Stapp
- Wesley Crawford (#62)
- Port DeFraties R (#51)
- René Dreyfus R (#22) - drove two stints of relief for René Le Bègue during the race
- Louis Durant R (#12)
- Ira Hall (#47)
- Bill Lipscomb R (#57)
- Louis Unser R - Passed driver's test
- Lou Webb R (#37)
- Freddy Winnai (#59)[7]
See also
References
- 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.
- Brooks, Ralph L. (May 31, 1940). "Nearly 150,000 Fans Eat, Nap, Cheer, And Even Watch Race at '40 Classic". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved June 2, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- http://www.indy500.com/stats/view/boxscore/year/1940
- The New York Times, "First Place Nets $31,875 for Shaw", June 1, 1940, Sports page 16
- "Indianapolis 500 1940". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
- "1940 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
| 1939 Indianapolis 500 Wilbur Shaw |
1940 Indianapolis 500 Wilbur Shaw |
1941 Indianapolis 500 Mauri Rose Floyd Davis |