1952 Indianapolis 500

1952 Indianapolis 500
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Round	2 of 1952
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The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Race Details
Date	May 30, 1952
Official Name	36th Indianapolis International Motor Sweepstakes
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, IN, USA
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.0225 km (2.499 mi)
Distance	200 laps, 804.5 km (499.893 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Fred Agabashian Kurtis Kraft-Cummins Diesel
Time	4:20.85 (4 laps)
Fastest Lap
Driver	Bill Vukovich Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Time	1:06.60 on lap 8
Podium
First	Troy Ruttman
Second	Jim Rathmann
Third	Sam Hanks
Lap Leaders

The 36th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1952. The event was part of the 1952 AAA National Championship Trail, and was included in the 1952 World Drivers Championship.

Troy Ruttman won the race after Bill Vukovich, who had dominated the event and led 150 laps, went into the wall with steering failure with nine laps to go. Ruttman became the youngest winner of a Formula One race for 51 years; but in 1959 Bruce McLaren became the youngest winner of an official 'Grand Prix' at the time.

Background

Alberto Ascari entered and qualified for the 500, becoming the first and only driver from outside the United States to do so during it's time on the F1 calendar. This was the only event Ascari entered and didn't win during his successful 1952 campaign, in which he won the world championship.

Troy Ruttman, aged 22 years and 80 days, was the youngest Formula One race winner until the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix when Fernando Alonso took the record.

Qualifying

Fred Agabashian took the pole ahead of Andy Linden and Jack McGrath.

Results

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Avg Speed
1	28	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Cummins	4:20.85	—	138.01
2	9	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:22.77	+1.92	137.00
3	4	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:23.42	+2.57	136.66
4	36	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	4:24.34	+3.49	136.18
5	18	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:25.22	+4.37	135.73
6	1	Duane Carter	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	4:23.51	+2.66	135.52
7	98	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:24.04	+3.19	135.36
8	26	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:20.47	-0.38	138.21
9	22	Cliff Griffith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:23.51	+2.66	136.61

Grid

Pos	Pos	Pos
Driver	Driver	Driver
______________
1	______________
Fred Agabashian	2	______________
	Andy Linden	3
		Jack McGrath
______________
4	______________
Duke Nalon	5	______________
	Sam Hanks	6
		Duane Carter
______________
7	______________
Troy Ruttman	8	______________
	Bill Vukovich	9
		Cliff Griffith
______________
10	______________
Jim Rathmann	11	______________
	Chuck Stevenson	12
		Henry Banks
______________
13	______________
George Fonder	14	______________
	George Connor	15
		Bill Schindler
______________
16	______________
Joe James	17	______________
	Bobby Ball	18
		Gene Hartley
______________
19	______________
Alberto Ascari	20	______________
	Art Cross	21
		Jimmy Bryan
______________
22	______________
Rodger Ward	23	______________
	Jimmy Reece	24
		Eddie Johnson
______________
25	______________
Bob Scott	26	______________
	Jim Rigsby	27
		Chet Miller
______________
28	______________
Manny Ayulo	29	______________
	Spider Webb	30
		Tony Bettenhausen
______________
31	______________
Johnnie Parsons	32	______________
	Bob Sweikert	33
		Johnny McDowell

Classification

• Drivers American unless stated.

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	Pts
1	7	98	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma-Offenhauser	135.36	18	200	44	3:52:41.88	8
2	10	59	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.34	7	200	0	+4:02.33	6
3	5	18	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.73	14	200	0	+6:11.61	4
4	6	1	Duane Carter	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.52	16	200	0	+6:48.34	3
5	20	33	Art Cross (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.28	26	200	0	+8:40.15	2
6	21	77	Jimmy Bryan (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.14	27	200	0	+9:24.32
7	23	37	Jimmy Reece (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	133.99	29	200	0	+10:35.24
8	14	54	George Connor	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.60	15	200	0	+12:00.61
9	9	22	Cliff Griffith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.61	6	200	0	+12:23.76
10	31	5	Johnnie Parsons (W)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	135.32	19	200	0	+13:37.78
11	3	4	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.66	5	200	6	+14:21.72
12	26	29	Jim Rigsby (R)	Watson-Offenhauser	133.90	33	200	0	+16:05.10
13	16	14	Joe James	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.95	22	200	0	+16:55.65
14	15	7	Bill Schindler	Stevens-Offenhauser	134.98	20	200	0	+18:48.66
15	13	65	George Fonder	Sherman-Offenhauser	135.94	13	197	0	+3 Laps
16	24	81	Eddie Johnson (R)	Trevis-Offenhauser	133.97	30	193	0	+7 Laps
17	8	26	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	138.21	2	191	150	Steering	1
18	11	16	Chuck Stevenson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136.14	9	187	0	+13 Laps
19	12	2	Henry Banks	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.96	11	184	0	+16 Laps
20	28	8	Manny Ayulo	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	135.98	10	184	0	+16 Laps
21	33	31	Johnny McDowell	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	133.93	32	182	0	+18 Laps
22	29	48	Spider Webb	Bromme-Offenhauser	135.96	12	162	0	Oil leak
23	22	34	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.13	28	130	0	Oil Pressure
24	30	27	Tony Bettenhausen	Deidt-Offenhauser	135.38	17	93	0	Oil Pressure
25	4	36	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	136.18	8	84	0	Supercharger
26	32	73	Bob Sweikert (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.98	21	77	0	Differential
27	1	28	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Cummins Diesel	138.01	3	71	0	Turbocharger
28	18	67	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134.34	24	65	0	Exhaust
29	25	93	Bob Scott (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	133.95	31	49	0	Transmission
30	27	21	Chet Miller	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	139.03	1	41	0	Supercharger
31	19	12	Alberto Ascari (R)	Ferrari	134.30	25	40	0	Wheel
32	17	55	Bobby Ball	Stevens-Offenhauser	134.72	23	34	0	Gearbox
33	2	9	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	137.00	4	20	0	Oil Pump

Failed to qualify

• Buzz Barton (#58)
• Joe Barzda (#53)
• Bill Cantrell (#52)
• Neal Carter (#25)
• Jimmy Daywalt (#64)
• Duke Dinsmore (#68)
• Walt Faulkner (#3)
• Carl Forberg (#53)
• Gene Force (#96)
• Dick Fraizer (#63)
• Potsy Goacher (#93)
• Perry Grimm (#55)
• Peter Hahn (#74)
• Allen Heath (#32)
• Tommy Hinnershitz (#27)
• Jackie Holmes (#41)
• Jimmy Jackson (#61)
• Danny Kladis (#19)
• Jud Larson (#39)
• Bayliss Levrett (#69)
• Frank Luptow (#56)
• Johnny Mauro (#35)
• Mike Nazaruk (#66)
• Danny Oakes (#39)
• Paul Russo (#10)
• Carl Scarborough (#33)
• Doc Shanebrook (#76)
• Bill Taylor (#47)
• George Tichenor (#88)
• Johnnie Tolan (#51)
• Leroy Warriner (#27)

Standings after race

Pos.	Driver	Pts	+/-
1	Piero Taruffi	9	—
2	Troy Ruttman	8	▲ 20
3	Rudi Fischer	6	▼ 1
4	Jim Rathmann	6	▲ 18
5	Jean Behra	4	▼ 2
6	Sam Hanks	4	▲ 16
7	Ken Wharton	3	▼ 3
8	Duane Carter	3	▲ 14
9	Alan Brown	2	▼ 4
10	Arthur Cross	2	▲ 12
11	Bill Vukovich	1	▲ 11

Notes

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