1921 Indianapolis 500

9th Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body AAA
Date May 30, 1921
Winner Tommy Milton
Winning Entrant Louis Chevrolet
Average speed 89.621 mph (144.231 km/h)
Pole position Ralph DePalma
Pole speed 100.750 mph (162.141 km/h)
Most laps led Ralph DePalma (108)
Pre-race
Pace car H.C.S. 6
Pace car driver Harry C. Stutz
Chronology
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1920 1922

The 9th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1921.

Ralph DePalma dominated yet another early running of the 500, but again fails to win. He led 109 laps, and had a two-lap lead at the halfway point. A connecting rod broke, and he dropped out on lap 112. DePalma retires with one win, and 612 laps led in the "500." His laps led record would not be matched for 67 years until Al Unser, Sr. tied it in 1987.

Tommy Milton won the first of two 500 victories. he was accompanied by riding mechanic Harry Franck. The only European car to finish was a 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeam driven by Ora Haiba who was placed fifth.

Time trials

Time trials was scheduled for five days, May 25-29. Four-lap (10 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. A short field of only 26 cars submitted entries, but only 23 cars arrived and prepared to qualify. Mervin Headley's entry was disallowed because only half the entry fee was paid.[1][2] Two other entries were no-shows.

Ralph De Palma completed his qualifying run on Wednesday May 25, at an average speed of 100.75 mph. He won the pole position as the only driver over the 100 mph mark. None of his four laps matched the track record (104.78 mph) set in 1919.

This would be the first 500 that featured the familiar starting grid of rows of cars three-abreast.

Qualifying Results
Date Driver Lap 1
(mph)
Lap 2
(mph)
Lap 3
(mph)
Lap 4
(mph)
Average Speed
(mph)
5/26/1921 Ralph DePalma100.89100.53100.56101.00100.75

Results

Finish Start No Name Qual Rank Laps Led Status
1 20 2 United States Tommy Milton 93.050 11 200 90 Running
2 2 6 United States Roscoe Sarles 98.350 2 200 1 Running
3 8 23 United States Percy Ford (R) 87.000 19 200 0 Running
4 9 5 United States Eddie Miller (R) 83.850 20 200 0 Running
5 13 16 United States Ora Haibe 93.500 10 200 0 Running
6 14 9 France Albert Guyot 87.800 16 200 0 Running
7 10 3 Canada Ira Vail 82.350 22 200 0 Running
8 15 21 United States Bennett Hill 87.780 17 200 0 Running
9 21 8 United States Ralph Mulford 91.700 12 177 0 Flagged
10 17 15 France René Thomas (W) 83.750 21 144 0 Water hose
11 18 27 United States Tom Alley 80.500 23 133 0 Rod
12 1 4 United States Ralph DePalma (W) 100.750 1 112 108 Rod
13 4 1 United States Eddie Hearne 96.180 6 111 0 Oil line
14 19 24 United States Jimmy Murphy 93.600 9 107 0 Crash T4
15 16 17 United States Riley Brett (R) 87.750 18 91 0 Hit wall
16 23 28 United States C. W. Van Ranst (R) 88.350 14 87 0 Water hose
17 3 7 United States Joe Boyer 96.650 4 74 1 Rear axle
18 6 19 France Jean Chassagne 91.000 13 65 0 Lost hood
19 5 22 United States Jules Ellingboe (R) 95.400 8 49 0 Steering
20 11 14 France André Boillot 97.600 3 41 0 Rod bearing
21 7 18 United States Louis Fontaine (R) 88.300 15 33 0 Crash FS
22 22 25 United States Joe Thomas 96.250 5 25 0 Crash T3
23 12 10 United States Howdy Wilcox (W) 96.000 7 22 0 Rod
[3]

Race details

References

  1. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 5, 2004
  2. Local Indy 500 links from long ago
  3. "Indianapolis 500 1921". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  4. Blazier, John E. and Rollings, Tom (1994). Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics.
  5. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
1920 Indianapolis 500
Gaston Chevrolet
1921 Indianapolis 500
Tommy Milton
1922 Indianapolis 500
Jimmy Murphy
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