1912 Indianapolis 500 Totally Explained

Everything about 1912 Indianapolis 500 totally explained

The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912.
   In the aftermath of victory by Ray Harroun in the single-seat Marmon "Wasp" in the first 500-Mile Race the year before, new rules make the presence of riding mechanics mandatory; maximum engine size remains 600 cubic inches (9.83 liters) displacement. At $50,000, the race purse is nearly double that of 1911.
   Out of 29 original entries, 24 qualify for the race by sustaining a speed faster than a minimum of 75 mph (120.7 km/h) for a full lap, an increase from the quarter-mile qualifying distance of the inaugural year. David L. Bruce-Brown runs fastest at 88.45 mph (142.35 km/h), but starting positions are again determined by entry date. Lining up five cars to the first four rows and four to a fifth, a change from the previous year's starting method is movement of the pace car, a Stutz, from the inside of the first row to out in front of the field.
   Upon wave of the then-red starting flag, Teddy Tetzlaff takes the lead in a Fiat from the third starting position in the center of the first row, and leads for the first two laps before being overtaken by the grey # 4 Mercedes of Italian-born Ralph DePalma.
   DePalma's domination of most of the event is total, as he builds an eventual five-and-a-half lap, eleven minute advantage over second, and leads uncontested for the next 194 laps...before suffering one of the most confounding mechanical failures in motorsport history at the beginning of lap 197, as his Mercedes begins misfiring, and slowing on the mainstretch at the conclusion of the lap. Nursed on the 198th lap by DePalma at reduced speed, the car finally loses all power at the end of the backstretch on lap 199, as a broken connecting rod rips a hole in the crankcase.
   With the car's momentum carrying it around to the fourth turn, DePalma and riding mechanic Rupert Jeffkins then enter themselves into motor racing lore, as well as inspire the cheers of the more than 80,000 in attendance, as they climb from the vehicle and begin pushing it down the five-eighths of a mile mainstretch toward the start-finish line. Indianapolis driver Joe Dawson, running in the second position for most of the race in his blue and white National Motor Vehicle Company entry, finally passes DePalma midway down the mainstretch to assume the lead for the concluding two laps, the fewest led to date in either a single race or an entire career by a race winner, following DePalma's 196 laps in the lead being the most ever in a race by a non-winner. Finishing more than ten minutes ahead of newly-second place Tetzlaff, Dawson completes another two laps for good measure upon fear of a scoring miscue. Sometime thereafter, DePalma and Jeffkins finally bring their car across the line, but in twofold futile endeavour: Speedway rules, requiring that all entries move under their own power, mark DePalma's final number of circuits at 198, and the push across the line, even if to be counted, bringing them only to the beginning of the final lap.
   Dawson's run in the American-manufactured, four-cylinder National, with a winning time of 6:21:06 and averaging 78.719 mph (126.686 km/h), is twenty-one minutes two seconds faster than the previous 1911 record; he garners $20,000 and additional contingency awards.
   Throughout the remainder of the field, only the top ten finishers earn prize money, rules stipulating all entries complete the 500 miles to collect. Ralph Mulford, involved in the controversial finish the year before, and being forced to stop numerous times due to clutch problems in his Knox, finds irritation with the requirement and proceeds to drive on, long after all others are presented the chequered flag...and even after Speedway president Carl Fisher and starter Fred Wagner leave the grounds (the latter after getting into an argument over whether to flag Mulford off before he'd completed the distance, Wagner in favor and Fisher against).
   Through numerous accounts of the run, including his reportedly changing shock absorbers for a gentler ride, as well as stopping for a dinner-on-the-go of fried chicken and ice-cream with his riding mechanic, Mulford's finish finally arrives, amid deserted grandstands and a setting sun over the mainstraightaway, 8:53:00 after the start, and with an average speed of 56.285 mph (90.582 km/h), which remains a record: the slowest finishing speed to date in 500 history.

Official Results

Qualification Results

ť Entries required to complete one lap in excess of 75 mph (120.7 km/h) to qualify, but starting grid determined by order of entry date.

Row (Time) (mph / km/h)	Far Inside	Inside Center	Center	Outside Center	Far Outside
1	Gil Andersen 0:01:51.21 80.93 / 130.24	Len Zengel 0:01:54.14 78.85 / 126.90	Teddy Tetzlaff 0:01:46.84 84.24 / 135.57	† Ralph DePalma 0:01:44.63 86.02 / 138.44	Eddie Hearne 0:01:49.96 81.85 / 131.72
2	Spencer Wishart 0:01:47.21 83.95 / 135.10	Joe Dawson 0:01:44.49 86.13 / 138.61	Howdy Wilcox 0:01:43.21 87.20 / 140.33	Harry Knight 0:01:58.55 75.92 / 122.18	Bert Dingley 0:01:51.43 80.77 / 129.99
3	Johnny Jenkins 0:01:51.36 80.82 / 130.07	Bob Burman 0:01:47.00 84.11 / 135.36	Eddie Rickenbacker Qualified by Lee Frayer 0:01:56.43 77.30 / 124.40	Billy Liesaw 0:01:56.11 77.51 / 124.74	Bill Endicott 0:01:51.70 80.57 / 129.66
4	Ralph Mulford 0:01:42.41 87.88 / 141.43	Hughie Hughes 0:01:50.01 81.81 / 131.66	Joe Horan 0:01:51.83 80.48 / 129.52	Mel Marquette 0:01:55.27 78.08 / 125.66	Len Ormsby 0:01:47.03 84.09 / 135.33
5	Joe Matson 0:01:52.64 79.90 / 128.59	Charlie Merz 0:01:54.10 78.88 / 126.95	David L. Bruce-Brown 0:01:41.75 88.45 / 142.35	Louis Disbrow 0:01:57.59 76.54 / 123.18

Race Results

ť Race finishing times recorded down to second intervals.

All entries still running at conclusion scored ahead of non-finishing entries regardless of race completion percentage.

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Cylinders	Displacement (in³ / L)	Color	Qual Speed (mph / km/h)	Rank	Start Pos	Laps Led	Laps Run	Time	Speed (mph / km/h)	Status	Prize Money ($)
1	8	Joe Dawson*	National	National Motor Vehicle Company	National	National	4	491 / 8.05	blue / white	86.13 / 138.61	4	7	2	200	6:21:06	78.719 / 126.686	finished	20,000
2	3	Teddy Tetzlaff	Fiat	E. E. Hewlett	Fiat	Fiat	4	589 / 9.65	red	84.24 / 135.57	6	3	2	200	6:31:29 +0:10:23	76.632 / 123.327	finished	10,000
3	21	Hughie Hughes	Mercer	Mercer Motors Company	Mercer	Mercer	4	301 / 4.93	yellow	81.81 / 131.66	11	17	0	200	6:33:09 +0:12:03	76.307 / 122.804	finished	5,000
4	28	Charlie Merz	Stutz	Ideal Motor Car Company	Stutz	Wisconsin	4	390 / 6.39	gray	78.88 / 126.95	18	22	0	200	6:34:40 +0:13:34	76.014 / 122.333	finished	3,000
5	18	Bill Endicott	Schacht	Schacht Motor Car Company	Schacht	Wisconsin	4	390 / 6.39	red	80.57 / 129.66	15	15	0	200	6:46:28 +0:25:22	73.807 / 118.781	finished	2,500
6	2	Len Zengel	Stutz	Ideal Motor Car Company	Stutz	Wisconsin	4	390 / 6.39	gray	78.85 / 126.90	19	2	0	200	6:50:28 +0:29:22	73.088 / 117.624	finished	2,000
7	14	Johnny Jenkins	White	White Indianapolis Company	White	White	6	490 / 8.03	white	80.82 / 130.07	13	11	0	200	6:52:38 +0:31:32	72.704 / 117.006	finished	1,500
8	22	Joe Horan	Lozier	Dr. W. H. Chambers	Lozier	Lozier	4	545 / 8.39	white / red	80.48 / 129.52	16	18	0	200	6:59:38 +0:38:32	71.491 / 115.054	finished	1,400
9	9	Howdy Wilcox	National	National Motor Vehicle Company	National	National	4	590 / 9.67	blue / white	87.20 / 140.33	3	8	0	200	7:11:30 +0:50:24	69.525 / 111.890	finished	1,300
10	19	Ralph Mulford	Knox	Ralph Mulford	Knox	Knox	6	597 / 9.78	white / red	87.88 / 141.43	2	16	0	200	8:53:00 +2:31:54	56.285 / 90.582	finished	1,200
11	4	† Ralph DePalma	Mercedes	E. J. Schroeder	Mercedes	Mercedes	4	583 / 9.55	gray	86.02 / 138.44	5	4	196	198	did not finish		connecting rod	0
12	15	Bob Burman	Cutting	Clark-Carter Auto Company	Cutting	Cutting	4	598 / 9.80	white / red	84.11 / 135.36	7	12	0	157	did not finish		accident, turn two	0
13	12	Bert Dingley	Simplex	Bert Dingley	Simplex	Simplex	4	597 / 9.67	red / white	80.77 / 129.99	14	10	0	116	did not finish		connecting rod	0
14	25	Joe Matson	Lozier	O. Applegate	Lozier	Lozier	4	545 / 8.93	white / red	79.90 / 128.59	17	21	0	110	did not finish		crackshaft	0
15	7	Spencer Wishart	Mercedes	Spencer Wishart	Mercedes	Mercedes	4	583 / 9.55	gray / black / red	83.95 / 135.10	9	6	0	82	did not finish		water connection	0
16	3	Gil Anderson	Stutz	Ideal Motor Car Company	Stutz	Wisconsin	4	390 / 6.39	gray / white	80.93 / 130.24	12	1	0	80	did not finish		accident, turn three	0
17	17	Billy Liesaw	Marquette-Buick	Will Thomson	Marquette	Buick	4	594 / 9.73	tan / red	77.51 / 124.74	21	14	0	72	did not finish		caught fire	0
18	46	Louis Disbrow	Case	J. I. Case T. M. Company	Case	Case	6	450 / 7.37	white / red	76.54 / 123.18	23	24	0	67	did not finish		differential pin	0
19	23	Mel Marquette	McFarlan	Speed Motors Company	McFarlan	McFarlan	6	425 / 6.96	gray	78.08 / 125.66	20	19	0	63	did not finish		broken wheels	0
20	6	Eddie Hearne	Case	J. I. Case T. M. Company	Case	Case	6	450 / 7.37	white / red	81.85 / 131.72	10	5	0	55	did not finish		burned bearing	0
21	16	Eddie Rickenbacker	Firestone-Columbus	Columbus Buggy Company	Fiat	Firestone-Columbus	4	345 / 5.65	crimson / black	77.30 / 124.40	22	13	0	43	did not finish		intake valve	0
22	29	David L. Bruce-Brown	National	National Motor Vehicle Company	National	National	4	590 / 9.67	blue / white	88.45 / 142.35	1	23	0	25	did not finish		valve trouble	0
23	10	Harry Knight	Lexington	Lexington Motor Car Company	Lexington	Lexington	6	422 / 6.92	brown / white	75.92 / 122.18	24	9	0	6	did not finish		engine trouble	0
24	26	Len Ormsby	Opel	I. C. Stern & B. C. Noble	Opel	Opel	4	450 / 7.37	gray / red	84.09 / 135.33	8	20	0	5	did not finish		connecting rod	0

ť *Joe Dawson was relieved by Don Herr for laps 108-144.

ť † DePalma was Italian-born.

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