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Start your engines: The countdown is on for 100th Indianapolis 500

Thank goodness for Lem Trotter. Don’t know the name? Well, join Autoweek for the ride.Trotter was a friend of Indianapolis entrepreneur Carl Fisher. They were driving back from Dayton, Ohio, in fall 1908, on what was then known as the National Road. The road’s poor conditions led to yet another tire failure, angering Fisher. He vowed, with some profanity, to construct a place where manufacturers could test new cars and where daredevils could race them.

The grading of the track in 1911
The grading of the track in 1911

A few days later, Trotter called Fisher’s bluff, taking him to farmland northwest of Indianapolis. There sat four adjoining 80-acre tracts, and at one corner were railroad tracks leading back to the city.

A dream was born.

Fisher hoped to build a 5-mile circuit mostly in rectangular configuration but including a winding path through the infield. In order to include spectator seating, only half of that planned track could be built, but it provided a platform for the future.

From that spot sprouted an endurance race no one could have imagined. Five hundred miles of man testing the reliability of machines, and machines testing the will of men. The winner of that first 500-mile race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—held on Memorial Day 1911—completed it in a grueling 6 hours, 42 minutes.

Driver Ray Harroun averaged 74.602 mph. That was his target, since in “testing” he determined driving just 5 mph faster than that would adversely affect tire wear. He didn’t just make fewer tire stops, he traveled alone. That was unique. Whereas every other driver carried a spotter doubling as a riding mechanic, Harroun’s yellow Marmon Wasp had a first-of-its-kind rearview mirror.

Forty-six cars entered that first 500, with 44 arriving for practice. To “qualify” for the right to start the race, drivers had to prove they could travel the front straightaway in 12 seconds—no sure bet given the jarring surface’s crushed rock-and-tar makeup. Four couldn’t do it.

This May, the 500 is being staged for the 100th time. Harroun’s win came 48 years before the first Daytona 500 and three years before Chicago erected Wrigley Field.

The early years showcased Indiana as the automotive leader—Detroit before Detroit. There was Harroun’s Marmon, and there were Stutzes, Appersons, Coles, McFarlans, Nybergs and Inter-States. The world converged on Indianapolis, too, with Mercedes, Maserati, Bugatti, Benz and Fiat, among others, all running.

Stars emerged from the earliest events. Harroun, Ralph de Palma and Tommy Milton were among the first. There was the battle of the brothers Chevrolet and Duesenberg. Peter DePaolo was twice part of a pole-winning effort as a riding mechanic, then won the race as a driver.

The marquee drivers segued from Louis Meyer to Wilbur Shaw to Mauri Rose, three-time winners each. The 1950s belonged to Bill Vukovich and Jimmy Bryan; the ’60s to Rodger Ward, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Jim Clark and Mario Andretti. The Unsers ruled the ’70s along with Johnny Rutherford and Tom Sneva. Gordon Johncock and Rick Mears dominated the ’80s, while the ’90s were a mixed bag from a divided sport.

Cars were powered by Novi, Offenhausers, turbines and even a diesel designed for a truck. Team Penske fielded one whale of a Mercedes-Benz pushrod engine, dominating the 1994 race. Today, it’s Chevrolet and Honda on the grid.

In the issues leading up to the 500, we will delve into the people, moments and nuances that make the race the spectacle it is. It’s the liveries, the style, the memorabilia, even the superstitions.

Here’s a taste:

Drivers in the track’s early years used a smokestack outside turn one to gauge wind direction. Did you know the track’s designer, a New York civil engineer named P.T. Andrews, had to work around a creek flowing through the property?

Early newspaper accounts called the facility Indiana Motor Parkway, and the first competition on-site was a balloon race. Motorcycles raced there before cars did.

For the second 500, in 1912, it was determined 33 starters was optimum because it nicely equated to 400 feet per car.

You think milk has always been the drink of choice? Before Meyer was handed buttermilk in victory lane in 1936, Frenchman Jules Goux drank the same champagne he and riding mechanic Emil Begin supposedly replenished with during their six pit stops. Emerson Fittipaldi opted for orange juice in 1993.

The pagoda built in 2000 is the fourth such structure on the front straightaway. The first was deemed a safety hazard; apparently, it sat too close to the track.

Using the flag stand is relatively new, too. In 1915, Ralph de Palma is shown taking the checkered flag under a precarious-looking rope bridge. For years, Indy’s flagman actually stood on the track.

The facility almost went bankrupt in 1919. The track has twice been closed for world wars. Fire the morning of the 1941 race burned part of the garages.

Ferrari’s Alberto Ascari drove in the 500 before becoming a two-time Formula One champion, but Detroit’s Roger Penske, a road-racing ace in the early 1960s, never did. Think he’d trade any of his record 16 owners’ trophies for that experience?

How many of the event’s 100 most influential people can you name? Which 33 drivers comprise your ultimate grid?

Janet Guthrie was the first female driver at Indy, but how many others have there been? Will there be more? What will the 500’s Car of Tomorrow look like?

In the months to come, Autoweek’s pages are going to explore many of these topics. After all, the 100th Indianapolis 500 awaits May 29.

Article by Curt Cavin, motortsports reporter with the Indianapolis Star