1926 Indianapolis 500

The 14th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1926. Louis Chevrolet drove the Chrysler pace car for the start.[3]

14th Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning bodyAAA
DateMay 31, 1926
WinnerFrank Lockhart
Winning EntrantPeter Kreis
Average speed95.904 mph (154.343 km/h)
Pole positionEarl Cooper
Pole speed111.735 mph (179.820 km/h)
Most laps ledFrank Lockhart (95)
Pre-race
Pace carChrysler Imperial 80
Pace car driverLouis Chevrolet
StarterSeth Klein[1]
Honorary refereeArthur Brisbane[1]
Estimated attendance135,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next
1925 1927

Rain halted the race at lap 72, and officials waited for the track to dry out. The race was resumed over an hour later. Rain fell again, and the race was called at the 400 mile mark (160 laps).

Rookie Frank Lockhart moved up from 20th to fifth by lap 5, having had passed 14 cars on that lap alone.[4] He moved up to second on Lap 16.[4] After the rain delay, Lockhart and Dave Lewis battled for the lead for about 20 laps, until Lewis dropped out.[4] Lockhart stretched out a two-lap lead when the race was called, and he was declared the winner. It was the first rain-shortened race in "500" history, and Lockhart was the fourth rookie to win the race. Lockhart may have actually completed as many as 163 laps (407.5 miles), but official scoring results reverted to the completion of lap 160.

Time trials

Four-lap (10 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Earl Cooper won the pole position. Frank Lockhart set a new 1-lap track record during his first attempt at 115.488 mph, but the run was aborted after a tire failure on the second lap. He later blew an engine during another attempt, and finally put a car in the field 20th on the grid.[5]

Qualifying Results
DateDriverLap 1
(mph)		Lap 2
(mph)		Lap 3
(mph)		Lap 4
(mph)		Average Speed
(mph)
5/27/1926Earl Cooper113.68112.97111.32109.09111.735

Results
Finish Start No Name Qual Rank Laps Led Status
1 20 15 Frank Lockhart  R  95.780 19 160 95 Running
2 2 3 Harry Hartz 109.542 2 158 6 Flagged
3 14 36 Cliff Woodbury  R  105.109 10 158 0 Flagged
4 13 8 Fred Comer 100.612 16 155 0 Flagged
5 27 12 Peter DePaolo  W  96.709 18 153 0 Flagged
6 8 6 Frank Elliott 105.873 8 152 0 Flagged
7 16 14 Norman Batten  R  101.428 15 151 0 Flagged
8 15 19 Ralph Hepburn 102.517 14 151 0 Flagged
9 28 18 John Duff  R  95.549 20 147 0 Flagged
10 5 4 Phil Shafer 106.647 5 146 16 Flagged
11 12 31 Tony Gulotta  R  102.789 13 142 0 Flagged
12 7 16 Bennett Hill 105.876 7 136 0 Flagged
13 21 33 Thane Houser  R  93.672 22 102 0 Flagged
14 17 27 Douglas Hawkes 94.977 21 91 0 Camshaft
15 4 1 Dave Lewis 107.009 4 91 43 Valve
16 1 5 Earl Cooper 111.735 1 73 0 Transmission
17 11 9 Cliff Durant 104.855 12 60 0 Fuel tank leak
18 18 29 Ben Jones  R  92.142 24 54 0 Crash
19 23 26 E. A. D. Eldridge  R  89.777 25 45 0 Tie rod
20 24 23 L. L. Corum  W  88.849 26 44 0 Shock absorbers
21 22 24 István Nemes  R  92.937 23 41 0 Transmission
22 6 7 Jules Ellingboe 106.376 6 39 0 Supercharger
23 3 10 Leon Duray 109.186 3 33 0 Broken axle
24 26 17 Fred Lecklider  R  100.398 17 24 0 Rod
25 25 28 Jack McCarver  R  86.418 28 23 0 Rod
26 9 34 Bon McDougall  R  105.180 9 19 0 Valve
27 10 22 W. E. Shattuc 104.977 11 15 0 Valve
28 19 39 Albert Guyot 88.580 27 8 0 Piston
[6]

Race details
  • For 1926, riding mechanics were optional,[7] however, no teams utilized them.
  • First alternate: none[8]
  • This would be the first Indy 500 where a driver from the inaugural Indy 500 did not compete.

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. "Youthful Driver Declared Victor After 400 Miles". The Indianapolis Star. June 1, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved June 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Seattle Daily Times, June 1, 1926, Page 18.
  4. Biography at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Retrieved March 15, 2007
  5. The Lockhart Legend/ At the height of the Roaring Twenties Frank Lockhart was America's racing superstar
  6. "Indianapolis 500 1926". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  7. Blazier, John E.; Rollings, Tom (1994). Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics.
  8. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
Grand Prix Race
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1925 Italian Grand Prix		 1926 Grand Prix season
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1926 French Grand Prix
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1925 Indianapolis 500		 Indianapolis 500 Next race:
1927 Indianapolis 500
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