Indianapolis 500 1952

 Indianapolis 500 1952

Racing data
2nd of 8 races in the 1952 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XXXVIth Indianapolis Motor Sweepstakes
Date:	May 30, 1952
Place:	Indianapolis
Course:	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Length:	804.6 km in 200 laps of 4.023 km
Weather:	sunny, warm
Pole position
Driver:	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft - Offenhauser
Time:	4: 20.85 (4 rounds) min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft - Offenhauser
Time:	1: 06.60 min (lap 8)
Podium
First:	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma - Offenhauser
Second:	Richard Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft - Offenhauser
Third:	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft - Offenhauser

The 36th Indianapolis 500 took place on May 30, 1952 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the second of eight races in the 1952 World Automobile Championship .

background

Kuzma; Troy Ruttman's winning car

Alberto Ascari's Ferrari 375 Indianapolis

With Alberto Ascari , a European driver from the current drivers' world championship was at the start of the Indianapolis 500 for the first time . Due to the overlapping dates on the training days, he had to forego the Swiss Grand Prix . The background was probably to make Ferrari more famous in the US market. The American Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti had announced three other vehicles in addition to Ascari, but none of them could qualify.

training

The qualification rules for the 500 mile race, which are unusual for European spectators, meant that the fastest man, Chet Miller , could only get a place in the back field, since the place on the grid depends not only on the time driven but also crucially on the day was where it was driven. The fastest driver on the first day of training, Fred Agabashian, was on pole position. There had been two serious accidents during that day. Bobby Ball and Bayliss Levrett drove into the boundary wall and were admitted to the hospital. Ball was able to recover enough that he could start on May 30th. Ascari was able to secure a starting position in the seventh row on his debut on the oval.

run

McGrath won the start behind the pace car . As the vehicles weren't quite in formation when they were released for take-off, Ruttman was able to move up to third place, while pole sitter Agabashian and Linden standing next to him were passed through to the rear. Ruttman overtook Rathmann on the second lap and took the lead from McGrath on the twelfth. However, one lap later he was ousted by Bill Vukovich from the first position, which he expanded to 29 seconds by the 62nd lap. Because of his pit stop, he fell behind Ruttman and Rathmann. He was able to overtake Rathmann again quickly, but it wasn't until Ruttman's stop on the 83rd lap that he got back to the front. He was able to extend his lead to almost two minutes by the 130th lap. Nevertheless, it was not enough for him to maintain the first position after his second stop, as it took longer than usual due to a jammed wheel. But after Ruttman's second stop, he came back to the front. Vukovich seemed sure to win the race, but 10 laps before the end he landed in the boundary wall due to a defective steering and had to let Ruttman win.

Ascari couldn't finish the race either. In the 40th lap he slipped into the infield because of a broken wheel and had to retire. Until then it was in seventh place. Possibly the accident was due to the spoke wheels that Ferrari still used, while the American cars with more stable magnesium wheels entered.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Belanger Motors	1	Duane Carter	Lesovsky	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Blue Crown Spark Plug	2	Henry Banks	Lesovsky	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	27	Tony Bettenhausen	Deidt Tuffanelli Derrico
	47	Bill Taylor	Lesovsky
	51	Spider Webb	Deidt Tuffanelli Derrico
Sid Street Motors	3	Walt Faulkner	Pan scratch	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Jack Hinkle	4th	Jack McGrath	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Jim Robbins	5	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft KK 1000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
HA Chapman	7th	Bill Schindler	Chapman special	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Coast Grain	8th	Manuel Ayulo	Lesovsky	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Hart Fullerton	9	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 3.0 L4C	F.
William Lutes	10	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Scuderia Ferrari	12	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari 375 Indianapolis	Ferrari 4.5 V12	F.
Ed Walsh	14th	Joe James	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	18th	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000		F.
Blakely	15th	Bobby Ball	Schroeder	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Bessie Paoli	16	Chuck Stevenson	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Tuffanelli-Derrico	19th	Danny Kladis	Deidt Tuffanelli Derrico	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Lewis Welch	21st	Chet Miller	Kurtis Force No. 3	Novi 3.0 L8C	F.
	36	Duke Nalon	Kurtis Force No. 4th
Tom Sarafoff	22nd	Cliff Griffith	Kurtis Kraft KK 2000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Fadely-Anderson	23	Carl Forberg	Maserati 4CLT	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Eugene Cassaroll	25th	Neal Carter	Kurtis Kraft KK 500A	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	61	Jimmy Jackson	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000
Howard Keck	26th	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft KK 500	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	38	Bobby Ball	Ferrari 375 Indianapolis	Ferrari 4.5 V12
Cummins Diesel	28	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Force No. 347	Cummins 3.0 L6C	F.
Bob Estes	29	Jim Rigsby	Watson CC-50	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Rodger Wolcott	31	Johnny McDowell	Kurtis Force No. 350	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Jon Stanko	32	Allen Heath	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ray T. Brady	33	Art Cross	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Federal Auto Associates	34	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	54	George Connor	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000
Kennedy tank	35	Johnny Mauro	Ferrari 375 Indianapolis	Ferrari 4.5 V12	F.
MA Walker	37	Jimmy Reece	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	66	Mike Nazaruk	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000
Iddings	39	Jud Larson	Meyer	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
speed	41	Jackie Holmes	Maserati 8CTF	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
George Bignotti	44	Art Cross	Schroeder	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Andy Granatelli	48	Spider Webb	Bromme	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	59	Richard Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000		F.
Pat Clancy	52	Bill Cantrell	Ewing	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	52	Bob Sweikert
Barzda (racing team)	53	Joe Barzda	Maserati 8CTF	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
William Ansted	55	Bobby Ball	Ansted special	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Bardahl	56	Frank Luptow	Ewing	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Pete Wales	58	Buzz Barton	Rae	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Glessner	63	Dick Frazier	Stevens	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Franklin Merkler	64	Jimmy Daywalt	Meyer	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
George Leitenberger	65	George Fonder	Sherman	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Mel Wiggers	67	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Vulcan Tool	68	Duke Dinsmore	Miller	Miller	F.
Verlin Brown	69	Bayliss Levrett	Kurtis Kraft KK 2000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	96	Gene Force	Schroeder	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Helin	74	Peter Hahn	Snowberger	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Offenhauser parks	76	Doc Shanebrook	Pawl	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Peter Schmidt	77	Jimmy Bryan	Kurtis Kraft KK 3000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	88	George Tichenor	Kurtis Kraft KK 4000
Central excavating	81	Eddie Johnson	Trevis	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ludson & Morris	93	Bob Scott	Kurtis Kraft KK 2000	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
JC Agajanian	98	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Murrell Belanger	99	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurtis Force No. 327	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.

classification

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	km / h	Starting row
1.	Fred Agabashian	Kurti's power	4: 20.850	222.06	1 L
2.	Andy Linden	Kurti's power	4: 22.770	220.44	1 M.
3.	Jack McGrath	Kurti's power	4: 23.420	219.89	1 row
4th	Duke Nalon	Kurti's power	4: 24.340	219.13	2 L
5.	Sam Hanks	Kurti's power	4: 25.220	218.40	2 M.
6th	Duane Carter	Lesovsky	4: 25.640	218.05	2 rows
7th	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma	4: 25.950	217.80	3 L
8th.	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power	4: 20.470	222.38	3 M.
9.	Cliff Griffith	Kurti's power	4: 23.510	219.82	3 rows
10.	Richard Rathmann	Kurti's power	4: 24.040	219.38	4 L
11.	Chuck Stevenson	Kurti's power	4: 24.430	219.05	4 M.
12.	Henry Banks	Lesovsky	4: 24.780	218.76	4 rows
13.	George Fonder	Sherman	4: 24.810	218.74	5 L
14th	George Connor	Kurti's power	4: 25.470	218.19	5 M
15th	Bill Schindler	Chapman	4: 26.690	217.20	5 R
16.	Joe James	Kurti's power	4: 26.760	217.14	6 L
17th	Bobby Ball	Ansted	4: 27.210	216.77	6 M.
18th	Gene Hartley	Kurti's power	4: 27.970	216.16	6 R
19th	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	4: 28.040	216.10	7 L
20th	Art Cross	Kurti's power	4: 28.080	216.07	7 M.
21st	Jimmy Bryan	Kurti's power	4: 28.370	215.84	7 R
22nd	Rodger Ward	Kurti's power	4: 28.380	215.83	8 L
23.	Jimmy Reece	Kurti's power	4: 28.670	215.60	8 M.
24.	Eddie Johnson	Trevis	4: 28.710	215.56	8 R
25th	Bob Scott	Kurti's power	4: 28.750	215.53	9 L
26th	Jim Rigsby	Watson	4: 28.850	215.45	9 M.
27.	Chet Miller	Kurti's power	4: 18.930	223.71	9 R
28.	Manuel Ayulo	Lesovsky	4: 24.740	218.80	10 L
29	Spider Webb	Bromme	4: 24.780	218.76	10 M.
30th	Tony Bettenhausen	Deidt	4: 25.910	217.83	10 R
31.	Johnnie Parsons	Kurti's power	4: 26.020	217.74	11 L
32.	Bob Sweikert	Kurti's power	4: 26.700	217.19	11 M.
33.	Johnny McDowell	Kurti's power	4: 28.780	215.51	11 R
DNQ	Walt Faulkner	Pan scratch
DNQ	Johnnie Parsons	Ferrari
DNQ	Paul Russo	Kurti's power
DNQ	Bobby Ball	Schroeder
DNQ	Danny Kladis	Deidt
DNQ	Carl Forberg	Maserati
DNQ	Neal Carter	Kurti's power
DNQ	Allen Heath	Kurti's power
DNQ	Johnny Mauro	Ferrari
DNQ	Bobby Ball	Ferrari
DNQ	Jud Larson	Meyer
DNQ	Jackie Holmes	Maserati
DNQ	Art Cross	Schroeder
DNQ	Bill Taylor	Lesovsky
DNQ	Spider Webb	Deidt
DNQ	Bill Cantrell	Ewing
DNQ	Bob Sweikert	Ewing
DNQ	Joe Barzda	Maserati
DNQ	Frank Luptow	Ewing
DNQ	Buzz Barton	Rae
DNQ	Jimmy Jackson	Kurti's power
DNQ	Dick Frazier	Stevens
DNQ	Jimmy Daywalt	Meyer
DNQ	Mike Nazaruk	Kurti's power
DNQ	Duke Dinsmore	Miller
DNQ	Bayliss Levrett	Kurti's power
DNQ	Bob Sweikert	Kurti's power
DNQ	Peter Hahn	Snowberger
DNQ	Doc Shanebrook	Pawl
DNQ	George Tichenor	Kurti's power
DNQ	Gene Force	Schroeder
DNQ	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurti's power

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	time	km / h	s. Rd.	guide
1.	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma	200	3: 52: 41.880	207.44		44
2.	Richard Rathmann	Kurti's power	200	3: 57: 13.190	203.48
3.	Sam Hanks	Kurti's power	200	3: 58: 53.490	202.06
4th	Duane Carter	Lesovsky	200	3: 59: 30,220	201.54
5.	Art Cross	Kurti's power	200	4: 01: 22.030	199.99
6th	Jimmy Bryan	Kurti's power	200	4: 02: 06,200	199.38
7th	Jimmy Reece	Kurti's power	200	4: 03: 17,120	198.41
8th.	George Connor	Kurti's power	200	4: 04: 42.490	197.26
9.	Cliff Griffith	Kurti's power	200	4: 05: 05,640	196.94
10.	Johnnie Parsons	Kurti's power	200	4: 06: 19.660	195.96
11.	Jack McGrath	Kurti's power	200	4: 07: 03,600	195.38		6th
12.	Jim Rigsby	Watson	200	4: 08: 46.980	194.02
13.	Joe James	Kurti's power	200	4: 09: 37.530	193.37
14th	Bill Schindler	Chapman	200	4: 11: 30.540	191.92
15th	George Fonder	Sherman	197
16.	Eddie Johnson	Trevis	193
17th	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power	191	steering		1: 06,600	150
18th	Chuck Stevenson	Kurti's power	187
19th	Henry Banks	Lesovsky	184
20th	Manuel Ayulo	Lesovsky	184
21st	Johnny McDowell	Kurti's power	182
22nd	Spider Webb	Bromme	162	engine
23.	Rodger Ward	Kurti's power	130	engine
24.	Tony Bettenhausen	Deidt	93	engine
25th	Duke Nalon	Kurti's power	84	engine
26th	Bob Sweikert	Kurti's power	77	differential
27.	Fred Agabashian	Kurti's power	71	engine
28.	Gene Hartley	Kurti's power	65	Exhaust
29	Bob Scott	Kurti's power	49	Power transmission
30th	Chet Miller	Kurti's power	41	engine
31.	Alberto Ascari	Ferrari	40	tires
32.	Bobby Ball	Ansted	34	transmission
33.	Andy Linden	Kurti's power	20th	engine

World Cup stand after the race

The first five got 8, 6, 4, 3 and 2 points respectively; there was a point for the fastest lap. Only the four best results from eight races count. * includes the point for the fastest lap, numbers in brackets are discarded results.

Item	driver	constructor									Points
1.	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	9 *								9
2.	Troy Ruttman	Kuzma		8th							8th
3.	Rudolf Fischer	Ferrari	6th								6th
	Richard Rathmann	Kurti's power		6th							6th
5.	Jean Behra	Gordini	4th								4th
	Sam Hanks	Kurti's power		4th							4th
7th	Ken Wharton	Frazer Nash	3								3
	Duane Carter	Lesovsky		3							3
9.	Alan Brown	Cooper-Bristol	2								2
	Art Cross	Kurti's power		2							2
11.	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power		1*							1

Web links

Commons : Indianapolis 500 1952  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brook Yates: Enzo Ferrari. Life and legend. A biography. Heyne, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-453-05921-2 , p. 218 f.
2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated: Mike Lang: Grand Prix! Volume 1: 1950-1965. Haynes Publishing Group, Sparkford Sommerset 1981, ISBN 0-85429-276-4 , p. 36 (English).
3. ↑ Brook Yates: Enzo Ferrari. Life and legend. A biography. Heyne, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-453-05921-2 , p. 219.