Talk:List of Indianapolis 500 winners

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  • I'm working on a new chart/table for the list of winners, looks a lot like the chart for the List of Daytona 500 winners. Should be done real soon. Doctorindy 12:33, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
    • I fixed the link for Lora L. Corum, which is good because that is his true name, not "L.L." as it is so often written. I have all of the pre-WWII races completed in the table format, and the rest I should be completing as soon as possible. Doctorindy 19:18, 7 July 2006 (UTC)



Contents

[edit] Most Victorious Drivers

For this section, it seems to me that drivers with only one win should not be included. It does not quite seem to make sense to list them, especially since the number of drivers with 2, 3, and 4 is relatively small. Doctorindy 19:23, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

  • I concur. Have you thought about removing "Winners of the Indianapolis 500 not born in the United States (alphabetical)"? With all the flags you put in the table, it seems unnecceasry to have its own section. I'm also not sure that I see the value in "Years with new winners". It could probably be noted somehow in the table by using a format or a footnote. --Brian G 20:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
    • On first impression, I thought this page was pretty cluttered with some "odd" lists, but after I finish the rest of the table, we can re-organize a bit. 172.130.157.166 01:43, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
      • The statistics on the winners of the 500 shows that almost 75% of all winners, at least at this point, have won the race only once; puts into stark relief how difficult it is to win twice, let alone three or four times. Winners by Nationality should be a section, instead of "not born in United States," for those seeking to know who has won from a given country (especially Brazil, of late). The list of years with new winners shows just how rare such a thing was in the late '70s and early '80s, which can delineate different eras in the history of the race. Also, I'm changing "first-time winner" back to "new winner" because it's rare that anyone actually calls them a "first-time winner," isn't it? --Chr.K. 02:51, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
    • Fair enough, it just seemed like an odd stat because of it's such low number. If the idea is to show how hard it is to win the race, it would make more sense to calculate the percentage of winners as a factor of how many drivers total have participated in the race...(700+ as of 2006). It could be placed right underneath the list, for instance. Also...the "Nationalities" makes sense...the "Not born..." was already there, I didn't put it there, I just cleaned up the list itself. Using "New Winners" is ok too. My main objective was to clean these IMS pages up a bit, because when I came to look at them, they were messy and cluttered, and occasionally inaccurate. I don't want to take anything away from anyone else, I just want it to be clean and neat. Doctorindy 13:00, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Table

I completed the new table, I think that cleans things up a lot. In addition, I fixed a few small things. From 1978-1987, the Cosworth listed as race winning engine is better referred to simply as "Cosworth," not as "Ford Cosworth." The "Ford Cosworth" (as it was listed before) denotes a completely different engine that was introduced in 1992. From '78-'87, and beyond, that engine that they used had little, if any technical support from Ford, and was completely a Cosworth project. I'm not even totally sure they was a tie to Ford yet at all at that time. Doctorindy 02:44, 8 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] MERGE TWO LISTS

  • I propose that this page List of Indianapolis 500 winning team owners be merged with the regular list List of Indianapolis 500 winners by means of creating another column in the table. For now, the list here can be added below the table until someone has the time to adjust the table with the new column. This page seems out there, and doesn't allow for people to find the info very easy. It's MUCH more likely that people will look at the main list rather than this one. Doctorindy 13:02, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
    • EDIT------Done. Doctorindy 21:57, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What about >500 mile races?

I know at least one racer, Jacques Villeneuve, actually completed 505 miles, having taken a two lap penalty. Is this the longest Indy 500 ever, and/or have other drivers completed a distance longer than 500 miles? --Golbez 04:18, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Two of his laps were considered removed from his total, and the statistics for them effectively blanked (though I'm sure they exist somewhere in the records of the IMS itself). Officially, he is credited with going 500 miles, the scheduled distance. No Indianapolis "Memorial Day classic" has ever been scheduled, to date, for more than 500. --Chr.K. 10:51, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. :) It would still be an interesting piece of trivia, who drove the longest distance in the Indy 500, but you're right, if it's not in any official stats it would be difficult to calculate. (After all, technically, the ones at the back of the grid drive a longer distance than the ones in the front! And while this matters at Le Mans, it doesn't matter in Indy. :)) --Golbez 11:17, 29 August 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Cluttered and Messy

I don't know who thought it was a good idea to split this table up by decades. It looks rediculous, and is completely unnecessary. Other similar lists aren't broken up like that. It's not "too long" to maintain. I'll wait for a 'second' before I do any changes though.

Generally too, the whole look of this page has become overly cluttered. It needs some, not "clean up," but formatting.

    • ALSO.....the wins by starting position (grid style) is somewhat wrong. They did not start lining up in the "rows of three" like they do now until 1921. For a while, they had a 5-wide start, and for a time, the pace car lined up in the "pole" spot (so effectively one fewer car was on the front row). So illustrating it in "Rows of 3" format is deceiving. Doctorindy (talk) 15:38, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Years with new winning drivers

What does this even mean? I can't make heads or tales of this list. Kenhullett (talk) 01:05, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Years in which the winner was a first-time Indy 500 winner. -Drdisque (talk) 03:23, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
So in 1979 there were 5 first time winners? Kenhullett (talk) 03:36, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
No, it means that Rick Mears was the first new winner in 5 years. Read the column header. -Drdisque (talk) 03:59, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
I did, and it didn't make any sense. And if I can't figure it out, then people who know little about racing have no chance.Kenhullett (talk) 04:10, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
It also seems like a fairly meaningless list, since every winner was a first time winner at one point. Kenhullett (talk) 04:13, 19 April 2008 (UTC)