More Winning Indy 500 Cars

Yesterday I showed you some of the early winning cars from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum (http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/at-the-track/museum). Today I'm going to take you through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. I'll start with the 1950 winning Kurtis-Kraft machine driven by Johnnie Parsons. Originally built for dirt tracks, this 1949 Lesovsky/Kurtis built machine won the 1951 500 along with a slew of other top races.

The last ever dirt-track type car to win the 500 did so in 1952 with 22-year-old Troy Ruttman at the wheel.

The first of the "roadsters" to win the 500 was this 1952 Frank Kurtis design which was driven to victory in 1953 and 1954 by Bill Vukovich.

This Kurtis-Kraft 500D, nicknamed the "Pink Zink" won the 1955 race despite starting 14th. Bob Sweikart took his first lead on lap 58 and held the lead for the last 41.

A.J. Watson was a famed mechanic who, in 1956 built his first true car. And quite a car it was. Weighing just 1700 pounds Pat Flaherty drove it to victory in 1956.

George Sahil took a bold move in 1957 when he turned the big Offenhauser engine on its side in order to lower the center of gravity of his car. It worked. In 1957 42-year-old Sam Hanks drove it to victory and the next year Jimmy Bryan repeated as victor.

 Jim Rathmann had come in second in three different 500s, 1952, 1957 and 1959. In 1960, though, he managed to win a huge duel with Rodger Ward, one which saw the lead change hands a record 29 times. Rathmann managed to be in the lead when the checkered flag fell.

For people in my generation, A.J. Foyt is pretty much synonymous with the Indianapolis 500. In 1961 Foyt won his first of four races in this car. 

What I've shown you today, yesterday and last Friday is just a small slice of the magnificent history at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. It includes just about every winning car (including the one I managed to break on the bricks after the race - but that's another story). As always, feel free to leave a message or drop me a line at Turnerbudds@yahoo.com.