Indianapolis 500 1959

 Indianapolis 500 1959

Racing data
2nd of 9 races in the 1959 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	43th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes
Date:	May 30, 1959
Place:	Indianapolis , USA
Course:	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Length:	805 km in 200 laps of 4.025 km
Weather:	sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser
Time:	1: 01.68 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser
Time:	1: 01.89 min
Podium
First:	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser
Second:	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser
Third:	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser

The 43rd Indianapolis 500 1959 took place on May 30, 1959 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway near Indianapolis and was the second race of the 1959 World Automobile Championship and the fourth race of the 1959 USAC season .

Reports

background

Watson-Offenhauser-Wagon of the Victor Rodger Ward

The Indianapolis 500 counted for the penultimate time in the 1959 automobile world championship. Over the years, the Indianapolis 500 has been given less and less consideration, in 1959 it took place only one day before the Grand Prix of the Netherlands in 1959 , which meant that European teams had no chance to participate in both races. In addition, took place in the 1959 Formula One season in addition Grand Prix of the United States instead, was considered making the 1959 Indianapolis 500 from all European teams a deleted result.

In previous years, Kurtis Kraft was the predominantly used chassis, but the number of these cars in the field fell to around a third. Many teams used their own chassis, Kuzma , Watson , Lesovsky and Epperly were used frequently. In terms of the engines used, every car that qualified for the race had an Offenhauser unit ; with Novi engines none of the drivers qualified. The safety of the drivers has been increased compared to the previous year, as roll bars on the cars and fireproof clothing were prescribed for the drivers.

With Jimmy Bryan and Pat Flaherty , two former winners of the Indianapolis 500 took part in the race, and AJ Foyt , later four-time winner, started his second Indianapolis 500.

training

The training for the Indianapolis 500 in 1959 took place over several weekends, of which four days were time trial competitions for the starting grid. Training on May 2nd was overshadowed by a serious accident involving Jerry Unser , whose car rolled over and caught fire. As a result of the severe burns, Unser died several weeks later; he was the first to be killed in the 1959 World Cup .

On May 16, the first time trial that determined the pole position was held . Johnny Thomson was the fastest and achieved the only Formula 1 pole position of his career, as did for the car's designer, Lesovsky. Eddie Sachs on Kuzma qualified for second place on the grid ahead of Jim Rathmann on Watson. Dick Rathmann qualified in fourth place ahead of Bobby Grim and Rodger Ward . Dick Rathmann and Ward also drove Watson vehicles, Grimm had the best starting position with a Kurtis Kraft chassis. In addition, qualified Bob Veith , Eddie Johnson , Gene Hartley , Don Branson , Johnny Boyd and Duane Carter for the race. A total of twelve drivers qualified that day, eleven more one day later, in the second time trial, Jimmy Daywalt was the fastest of them.

Another training session took place on May 19, which was again overshadowed by a fatal accident. Bob Cortner went off the track due to a gust of wind and had an accident at the boundary wall. He died at the scene of the accident due to severe head injuries.

On the third and fourth day of the time trial, the positions were determined from position 24, with Bob Christie setting the fastest time.

run

Thomson won the starting duel against Sachs and Jim Rathmann and kept the lead on the first four laps of the race, while Bryan, a former Indianapolis 500 winner, retired on the first lap with a damaged clutch. Ward fought his way forward several positions until he took the lead on lap five and held it until the twelfth race lap. Jim Rathmann also benefited from the superiority of the Watson car and dueled with Ward at the front in the next few laps. The lead changed several times between the two drivers, Jim Rathmann led on lap 13, then Ward for three laps, then Jim Rathmann was again in first place for a long time.

On lap 31 Flaherty met the leading group and fought a duel with Jim Rathmann. He took the lead for the first time in the race, but gave it up one lap later to be in front again two more laps later. He held this lead until lap 41, when Jim Rathmann passed him again, and two laps later Flaherty countered again. Ward also interfered in the duel and took the lead on lap 46, but gave it three laps later to Thomson, who then remained in first place for 36 laps.

Meanwhile there were a number of accidents in the back field. First Len Sutton retired due to an accident on lap 34, later Chuck Weyant , Red Amick , Jud Larson and Mike Magill collided with each other, all drivers were uninjured. Halfway through the race, a series of failures began due to various technical defects. Jack Turner retired on lap 47 with a defective fuel tank. Grimm, who became Rookie of the Year thanks to his fifth place on the grid, Bob Christie , Don Branson , Don Freeland , Bill Cheesbourg and Dick Rathmann were eliminated one after the other, Ray Crawford had an accident. When Grimm headed for the pit, he raised his arm to signal the following drivers that he had a technical defect. However, he drove too fast, which resulted in an arm injury. His pit crew realized he was injured and thought the car was still okay. A driver change was made with Turner, but the car would not start.

The three-way battle at the top that made the Indianapolis 500 one of the most exciting in history in 1959 was decided in the second half of the race. Ward had taken the lead on lap 85 and did not give it up until crossing the finish line. Flaherty was eliminated from the duel for victory on lap 162 when he had an accident. Thereupon only Jim Rathmann came close to Ward, but was 23 seconds behind him at the finish. Ward won his only Formula 1 race and the first of two Indianapolis 500s. For him it was the start of six successful years in which he never crossed the finish line outside the top four in the Indianapolis 500. For Watson, the one-two also marked the beginning of a long period in which the cars dominated. Thomson completed the podium, Tony Bettenhausen and Paul Goldsmith scored fourth and five points for the automobile world championship. After the second race of the season , Jack Brabham led the drivers' standings ahead of Ward, Tony Brooks and Jim Rathmann.

Registration list

The entry list only shows the vehicles that have passed the qualification.

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
John R. Wills	01	Tony Bettenhausen	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Racing Associates	03	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Leader Cards Inc.	05	Rodger Ward	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
George Salih	06th	Jimmy Bryan	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Bignotti-Bowes Racing	07th	Jud Larson	Kurti's power	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	33	Johnny Boyd	Epperly
Wolcott Memorial Racing Team	08th	Len Sutton	Lesovsky	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Bob Estes	09	Don Branson	Phillips	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
AE Dean	10	AJ Foyt	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Jim Robbins	15th	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Lindsey Hopkins	16	Jim Rathmann	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
JS Donaldson	19th	Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ernest L. Ruiz	24	Jack Turner	Christensen	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Yunick, Glover & Lathrop	37	Duane Carter	Kurti's power	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Peter Schmidt	44	Eddie Sachs	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Fred Gerhardt	45	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Roy McKay	47	Chuck Weyant	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Chapman S. Root	48	Bobby Grim	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ray Crawford	49	Ray Crawford	Elder	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Lysle Greenman	53	Bill Cheesbourg	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
HH Johnson	57	Al basement	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ray T. Brady	58	Jim McWithey	Kurtis Kraft 500C	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
John Zink	64	Pat Flaherty	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	74	Bob Veith	Moors
Federal Auto Associates	65	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft 500C	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	66	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurti's power
Karl Hall	71	Chuck Arnold	Kurti's power	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Kalamazoo Sports Inc.	73	Dick Rathmann	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
George Walther Jr.	77	Mike Magill	Sutton	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
LeRoy E. Foutch Jr.	87	Red Amick	Kurtis Kraft 500C	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
RT Marley Sr.	88	Gene Hartley	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Harry Dunn	89	Al Herman	Thin	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Norman C. Demler	99	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	1: 01.68	234.92 km / h	01
02	Eddie Sachs	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 01.89	234.13 km / h	02
03	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 02.31	232.55 km / h	03
04th	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 02.39	232.25 km / h	04th
05	Bobby Grim	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.40	232.21 km / h	05
06th	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 02.49	231.88 km / h	06th
07th	Bob Veith	Moore-Offenhauser	1: 02.49	231.88 km / h	07th
08th	Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.50	231.84 km / h	08th
09	Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 02.69	231.14 km / h	09
10	Don Branson	Phillips-Offenhauser	1: 02.80	230.73 km / h	10
11	Johnny Boyd	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 03.02	229.93 km / h	11
12	Duane Carter	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.03	229.89 km / h	12
13	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.21	232.92 km / h	13
14th	Jack Turner	Christensen-Offenhauser	1: 02.73	230.99 km / h	14th
15th	Tony Bettenhausen	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 03.06	229.78 km / h	15th
16	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 03.08	229.71 km / h	16
17th	AJ Foyt	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 03.09	229.67 km / h	17th
18th	Pat Flaherty	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 03.20	229.27 km / h	18th
19th	Jud Larson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.25	229.09 km / h	19th
20th	Jimmy Bryan	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 03.33	228.80 km / h	20th
21st	Chuck Arnold	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.33	228.80 km / h	21st
22nd	Len Sutton	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	1: 03.33	228.80 km / h	22nd
23	Al Herman	Dunn-Offenhauser	1: 03.41	228.51 km / h	23
24	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.83	227.01 km / h	24
25th	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.91	230.33 km / h	25th
26th	Red Amick	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.97	230.11 km / h	26th
27	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.21	229.24 km / h	27
28	Al basement	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 03.36	228.69 km / h	28
29	Chuck Weyant	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.40	228.55 km / h	29
30th	Bill Cheesbourg	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 03.48	228.26 km / h	30th
31	Mike Magill	Sutton-Offenhauser	1: 03.61	227.79 km / h	31
32	Ray Crawford	Elder Offenhauser	1: 03.67	227.58 km / h	32
33	Jim McWithey	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.73	227.37 km / h	33

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	200		3: 40: 49.2	06th
02	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	200		+ 23.28	03
03	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	200		+ 50.64	01	1: 01.89
04th	Tony Bettenhausen	Epperly-Offenhauser	200		+1: 47.09	15th
05	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser	200		+ 2: 06.44	16
06th	Johnny Boyd	Epperly-Offenhauser	200		+ 3: 16.98	11
07th	Duane Carter	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 4: 10.53	12
08th	Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 4: 10.53	08th
09	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 4: 11.04	27
10	AJ Foyt	Kuzma-Offenhauser	200		+ 4: 14.48	17th
11	Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	200		+ 5: 42.48	09
12	Bob Veith	Moore-Offenhauser	200		+ 6: 09.73	07th
13	Al Herman	Dunn-Offenhauser	200		+ 6: 40.40	23
14th	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 6: 41.54	13
15th	Chuck Arnold	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 8: 19.86	21st
16	Jim McWithey	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 11: 41.69	33
17th	Eddie Sachs	Kuzma-Offenhauser	182		DNF	02		Gear bolt / lathe
18th	Al basement	Kuzma-Offenhauser	163		DNF	28		Piston damage
19th	Pat Flaherty	Watson-Offenhauser	162		DNF	18th		accident
20th	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	150		DNF	04th		Fire in the box
21st	Bill Cheesbourg	Kuzma-Offenhauser	147		DNF	30th		Magneto
22nd	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	136		DNF	25th		Valve spring
23	Ray Crawford	Elder Offenhauser	115		DNF	32		accident
24	Don Branson	Phillips-Offenhauser	112		DNF	10		Torsion bar stabilizer
25th	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	109		DNF	24		Engine failure
26th	Bobby Grim	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	85		DNF	05		Piston damage
27	Jack Turner	Christensen-Offenhauser	47		DNF	14th		Fuel tank
28	Mike Magill	Sutton-Offenhauser	45		DNF	31		accident
29	Jud Larson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	45		DNF	19th		accident
30th	Red Amick	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	45		DNF	26th		accident
31	Chuck Weyant	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	45		DNF	29		accident
32	Len Sutton	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	34		DNF	22nd		accident
33	Jimmy Bryan	Epperly-Offenhauser	01		DNF	20th		Clutch / camshaft drive

World Cup stands after the race

The first five of the race got 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 points. The driver with the fastest race lap received an additional 1 point. Only the five best results from nine races counted. Only the points of the best placed driver on a team counted in the constructors' championship.

Driver ranking

Item	driver	constructor	Points
01	Jack Brabham	Cooper-Climax	9
02	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	8th
03	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	6th
04th	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	6th
05	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	5
06th	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper-Climax	4th
07th	Phil Hill	Ferrari	3
08th	Tony Bettenhausen	Epperly-Offenhauser	3
09	Bruce McLaren	Cooper-Climax	2
10	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser	2

Constructors' championship

Item	constructor	Points
01	cooper	8th
02	Ferrari	6th

Web links

Commons : Indianapolis 500 1959  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com
• More deaths at Indianapolis at en.espnf1.com