Indianapolis 500 1960

 Indianapolis 500 1960

Racing data
3rd of 10 races of the 1960 Automobile World Championship
Surname:	43th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes
Date:	May 30, 1960
Place:	Indianapolis , USA
Course:	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Length:	805 km in 200 laps of 4.025 km
Weather:	sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver:	Eddie Sachs	Ewing-Offenhauser
Time:	1: 1.40 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser
Time:	1: 01.59 min
Podium
First:	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser
Second:	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser
Third:	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser

The 44th Indianapolis 500 1960 took place on May 30, 1960 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway near Indianapolis and was the third race of the 1960 Automobile World Championship and the second race of the 1960 USAC season .

Reports

background

Watson-Offenhauser - Car of the winner Jim Rathmann

The Indianapolis 500 was last seen in the 1960 automobile world championship and took place just one day after the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix . Again, no European team took part in the race. The race was the last Formula 1 race in which exclusively front-engined cars started, only a year later rear-engined cars also started for the first time in the Indianapolis 500, a trend that in this racing series, however, in contrast to the automobile world championship, only began to take hold. Since the Indianapolis 500 was regularly seen as a dropout in previous years and another race had been established in North America with the US Grand Prix , the Indianapolis 500 was abandoned as part of the automobile world championship from 1961 onwards, and it was not until 2000 that it took place with the big one Prize of the USA again held a race on the racetrack. However, it was no longer the oval, but a street course.

Many teams continued to use the most successful chassis of the 1950s, Kurtis Kraft , with the total number of these cars falling again. Watson vehicles were also widely used, largely because this car had won the Indianapolis 500 with a double victory in 1959 . Other chassis used were Kuzma , Epperly , Lesovsky , Ewing , Trevis , Christensen and Mesowski . All drivers who qualified for the Indianapolis 500 had Offenhauser units in their cars, drivers with Novi engines did not qualify.

With Jimmy Bryan , Rodger Ward and Troy Ruttman , three former winners of the Indianapolis 500 took part in the race.

training

Four training sessions were held on different race weekends to determine the starting grid, with the third time trial being canceled due to heavy rain. The first time trial that determined pole position was held on May 14th . 16 drivers qualified for the first positions on the starting grid that day, Eddie Sachs on Ewing was the fastest. With a new lap record, he achieved the only Formula 1 pole position of his career. Jim Rathmann and Ward, who finished first and second in the race last year, qualified behind Sachs . Both drivers drove Watson vehicles again and three of these vehicles qualified behind them. Dick Rathmann was fourth ahead of Len Sutton and Ruttman. Eddie Johnson started behind, ahead of Don Branson , Chuck Stevenson and Jimmy Bryan . The best driver with a Kurtis Kraft Wagen was Don Freeland in eleventh position. As the last driver on that first day, AJ Foyt , later four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, qualified in 16th place.

The second time trial took place one day later, positions 17 to 22 were determined. Johnny Thomson was the fastest, his time on the first time trial day would have been enough for second place. The last eleven starting positions were determined on May 22nd, Jim Hurtubise was the fastest driver.

run

The race was overshadowed by a grandstand collapse that killed two spectators and injured more than 80. Up until this race it was allowed to build private grandstands inside the oval. The structure of these stands was mostly improvised and there were no safety regulations that had to be observed. One of these buildings, which was busy due to low ticket prices, collapsed under the weight of the spectators during the introductory lap, as the spectators simultaneously rose from their seats and leaned forward to have a better view of the field of drivers. The grandstand tilted forward and buried the people under it. As a result of the accident, the private grandstands were banned and the safety regulations for the regular grandstands along the route were renewed.

Last year's winner Ward won the starting duel against Sachs and led the first round until Sachs countered and led for the next two rounds. Behind them, Jim Rathmann and Ruttman dueled for third place, but both drivers came close to the top - a battle between these four drivers for first place ensued, which included a record number of changes in leadership. The first retirement of the race took place on lap 11 when Dempsey Wilson parked his car with a defective magneto.

Ward was leading the race until lap 18 when Ruttman passed him. Five laps later, Jim Rathmann took the lead, which he gave back to Ward on lap 38. Meanwhile, Al Herman retired with a damaged clutch. Yellow was shown when Duane Carter spun but did not hit the boundary wall, he then continued the race. Sachs overtook Ward but was overtaken by Ruttman a few laps later. He stayed in the lead for four laps until Sachs countered again and took the lead again. While Ward, Sachs, Jim Rathmann and Ruttman dueled and very often swapped positions, Dick Rathmann and Len Sutton fell out in the back field with technical defects. In rounds 57 to 85 there was a duel between Sachs and Jim Rathmann at the top, in which the lead changed seven times. But then it was Johnny Thomson who took the lead. Ward stalled the engine of his car twice during the first pit stop, thereby losing contact with the front. Other drivers such as Jim McWithey , Gene Force , Johnny Boyd and AJ Foyt retired in this third of the race due to technical defects, while Eddie Russo and Wayne Weiler had accidents. Another failure series, which began from round 125, brought the preliminary decision in the duel at the top. Tony Bettenhausen had an engine failure that forced him to jump out of the car in the pit lane to avoid burns. Freeland and Sachs retired with a defective magneto and for Ruttman the race was over on lap 134 due to a gearbox failure. In the further course of the race Jimmy Bryan , Jim Hurtubise and Shorty Templeman were eliminated.

Thus the duel for victory became a three-way battle between the leader Jim Rathmann and his pursuers Ward and Thompson. An exciting fight between Jim Rathmann and Ward ensued, the lead changed 14 times up to the last lap of the race, while Thomson got closer and closer to the two drivers. The final race decision was again based on the durability of the cars. Thomson had engine problems and dropped back to fifth. Ward indicated a puncture, which is why he let Jim Rathmann pass three laps before the end of the race and drove to safety in order to maintain second place.

Jim Rathmann won his only Indianapolis 500 ahead of Ward and Paul Goldsmith , who had improved from 26th on the grid to third and crossed the finish line just before Don Branson . As in the previous year, two Watson cars were in the first two places. In the drivers' championship, Jim Rathmann rose to third behind Bruce McLaren and Stirling Moss , and Rodger Ward to fifth. Neither driver took part in any other races in the 1960 World Cup. This was also the penultimate victory of a front-engined car in the same.

Registration list

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

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Leader Cards Inc.	01	Rodger Ward	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	65	Chuck Stevenson
Lindsey Hopkins	02	Tony Bettenhausen	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Racing Associates	03	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ken-Paul Inc.	04th	Jim Rathmann	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Bignotti-Bowes Racing	05	AJ Foyt	Kurtis strength 500J	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	08th	Johnny Boyd	Epperly
Dean Van Lines	06th	Eddie Sachs	Ewing	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Bob Estes	07th	Don Branson	Phillips	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Peter Salemi & Nick Rini	09	Len Sutton	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
George Salih	10	Jimmy Bryan	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
William P. Forbes	14th	Bobby Grim	Meskowski	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Hoover Motor Express Inc.	16	Jim McWithey	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
J. Ensley & S. Murphy	17th	Duane Carter	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Jim Robbins	18th	Bud Tingelstad	Trevis	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	22nd	Eddie Johnson
	97	Dick Rathmann	Watson
JS Donaldson	23	Dempsey Wilson	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Federal Auto Associates	26th	Shorty Templeman	Kurtis Kraft 500C	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	38	Bob Christie
Leonard A. Faas	27	Red Amick	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
John Zink	28	Troy Ruttman	Watson	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ansted Rotary Corp.	32	Wayne Hamlet	Epperly	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Roy McKay	37	Gene Force	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Norman Hall	39	Bill Homeier	Kuzma	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Peter Schmidt	44	Bob Veith	Meskowski	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
CO. Prather	46	Eddie Russo	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Chapman S. Root	48	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft 500G	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Ernest L. Ruiz	56	Jim Hurtubise	Christensen	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
Joe Hunt	73	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft 500H	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
	76	Al Herman	Ewing
George Walther Jr.	77	Mike Magill	Sutton	Offenhauser 4.5 L4	F.
JC Agajanian	98	Lloyd Ruby	Watson	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	Eddie Sachs	Ewing-Offenhauser	1: 01.40	235.99 km / h	01
02	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 01.50	235.61 km / h	02
03	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 01.83	234.35 km / h	03
04th	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 01.84	234.31 km / h	04th
05	Len Sutton	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 01.88	234.16 km / h	05
06th	Troy Ruttman	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 01.91	234.05 km / h	06th
07th	Eddie Johnson	Trevis-Offenhauser	1: 02.07	233.45 km / h	07th
08th	Don Branson	Phillips-Offenhauser	1: 02.18	233.03 km / h	08th
09	Chuck Stevenson	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 02.21	232.92 km / h	09
10	Jimmy Bryan	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 02.27	232.70 km / h	10
11	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.35	232.40 km / h	11
12	Lloyd Ruby	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 02.41	232.17 km / h	12
13	Johnny Boyd	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 02.60	231.47 km / h	13
14th	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.66	231.25 km / h	14th
15th	Wayne Hamlet	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 02.71	231.06 km / h	15th
16	AJ Foyt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.73	230.99 km / h	16
17th	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	1: 01.46	235.76 km / h	17th
18th	Tony Bettenhausen	Watson-Offenhauser	1: 01.98	233.79 km / h	18th
19th	Shorty Templeman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.56	231.62 km / h	19th
20th	Gene Force	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.73	230.99 km / h	20th
21st	Bobby Grim	Meskowski-Offenhauser	1: 02.87	230.48 km / h	21st
22nd	Red Amick	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 02.9	230.37 km / h	22nd
23	Jim Hurtubise	Christensen-Offenhauser	1: 02.41	232.17 km / h	23
24	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.55	231.65 km / h	24
25th	Bob Veith	Meskowski-Offenhauser	1: 02.78	230.81 km / h	25th
26th	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 03.03	229.89 km / h	26th
27	Duane Carter	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 03.1	229.64 km / h	27
28	Bud Tingelstad	Trevis-Offenhauser	1: 03.22	229.20 km / h	28
29	Eddie Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 03.29	228.95 km / h	29
30th	Al Herman	Ewing-Offenhauser	1: 03.45	228.37 km / h	30th
31	Bill Homeier	Kuzma-Offenhauser	1: 03.72	227.40 km / h	31
32	Jim McWithey	Epperly-Offenhauser	1: 04.11	226.02 km / h	32
33	Dempsey Wilson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	1: 02.84	230.59 km / h	33

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	200		3: 36: 11.36	02	1: 01.59
02	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	200		+ 12.75	03
03	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser	200		+ 3: 07.3	26th
04th	Don Branson	Phillips-Offenhauser	200		+ 3: 07.98	08th
05	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	200		+ 3: 11.35	17th
06th	Eddie Johnson	Trevis-Offenhauser	200		+ 4: 10.61	07th
07th	Lloyd Ruby	Watson-Offenhauser	200		+ 4: 25.59	12
08th	Bob Veith	Meskowski-Offenhauser	200		+ 5: 17.48	25th
09	Bud Tingelstad	Trevis-Offenhauser	200		+ 8: 40.28	28
10	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200		+ 8: 40.28	14th
11	Red Amick	Epperly-Offenhauser	200		+ 11: 11.58	22nd
12	Duane Carter	Kuzma-Offenhauser	200		+ 11: 17.2	27
13	Bill Homeier	Kuzma-Offenhauser	200		+ 12: 10.71	31
14th	Gene Hartley	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	196		+ 4 rounds	24
15th	Chuck Stevenson	Watson-Offenhauser	196		+ 4 rounds	09
16	Bobby Grim	Meskowski-Offenhauser	200		+ 6 rounds	21st
17th	Shorty Templeman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	191		DNF	19th		coupling
18th	Jim Hurtubise	Christensen-Offenhauser	185		DNF	23		Engine failure
19th	Jimmy Bryan	Epperly-Offenhauser	152		DNF	10		Fuel pump
20th	Troy Ruttman	Watson-Offenhauser	134		DNF	06th		top gear defective
21st	Eddie Sachs	Ewing-Offenhauser	132		DNF	01		Magneto
22nd	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	129		DNF	11		Magneto
23	Tony Bettenhausen	Watson-Offenhauser	125		DNF	18th		Engine failure
24	Wayne Hamlet	Epperly-Offenhauser	103		DNF	15th		accident
25th	AJ Foyt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	90		DNF	16		coupling
26th	Eddie Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	84		DNF	05		accident
29	Johnny Boyd	Epperly-Offenhauser	77		DNF	13		Piston damage
28	Gene Force	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	74		DNF	20th		Brakes
29	Jim McWithey	Epperly-Offenhauser	60		DNF	32		Brakes
30th	Len Sutton	Watson-Offenhauser	47		DNF	05		Piston damage
31	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	42		DNF	04th		Brake line
32	Al Herman	Ewing-Offenhauser	34		DNF	30th		coupling
33	Dempsey Wilson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	11		DNF	33		Magneto

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 points. Only the six best results from ten 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  Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax 14th 02  Stirling Moss Lotus Climax 8th 03  Jim Rathmann Watson-Offenhauser 8th 04th  Cliff Allison Ferrari 6th 05  Rodger Ward Watson-Offenhauser 6th 06th  Phil Hill Ferrari 4th 07th  Paul Goldsmith Epperly-Offenhauser 4th 08th  Carlos Menditeguy Cooper Maserati 3

Item driver constructor Points 09  Tony Brooks Cooper-Climax 3 10  Don Branson Phillips-Offenhauser 3 11  Jo Bonnier BRM 2 12  Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Ferrari 2 13  Johnny Thomson Lesovsky-Offenhauser 2 14th  Innes Ireland Lotus Climax 1 15th  Richie Ginther Ferrari 1 16  Eddie Johnson Trevis-Offenhauser 1

Constructors' championship

Item	constructor	Points
01	cooper	14th
02	Ferrari	10
03	lotus	9
04th	BRM	2

Web links

Commons : Indianapolis 500 1960  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com