1954 Indianapolis 500
The 38th Indianapolis 500 was held on May 31, 1954 held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the second of nine races of the Formula 1 season 1954.
Background
The 500 miles of Indianapolis were between 1950 and 1960 counted with the drivers' world championship of Formula 1. But the race never had a commitment to the European race series and was held in a completely different mode. It was probably never intended to bring about such integration, because of scheduling conflicts of the training and the race made it a driver virtually impossible in all the races for the drivers' world championship, in Indianapolis to start.
Training
The award of the best starting places in Indianapolis follows a somewhat unusual mode. The fastest driver of the first day is on pole position, regardless of whether drivers achieved faster lap times on other training days. However, since there are in Indianapolis very good overtaking, the disadvantage of a lowly grid square is less severe. In training 1954, the fastest rider of the first day was also the fastest overall and so Jack McGrath secured the pole position. He was in the four qualifying rounds over two seconds faster than the next fastest, Cal Niday, but was allowed to start only in the fifth row. In addition to McGrath in the front row stood Jimmy Daywalt (3rd time) and Jimmy Bryan (4th time).
Race
On race day it was very hot. This meant that many drivers could peel off. The best start had McGrath, who used his pole position to take the lead, followed by Bryan and Thomson and Carter. Vukovich was in sixth place. As a result, succeeded McGrath expand its leadership, which he retained until his first pit stop after 43 laps. In the following 17 rounds Daywalt and Cross fought for the lead. In the first caution period, triggered by a spin by Ruttman, both went to the pits, leaving Bryan until his stop on lap 87 the lead. Up to this point were excreted with Parsons and Homeier only two drivers. After last year's winner Bill Vukovich was ahead and built his lead to nearly a lap. On lap 111, the first serious incident, drove as Daywalt in curve 3 in the boundary wall occurred. Pat Flaherty, who steered the car off Rathmann, fell while trying to avoid him also from the web and had to retire. Both, however, remained unharmed. The leading Vukovich drove in round 128 for the last time to the box. To save time and probably also because already another vehicle parked in his box, he had only the right (outer) switch wheels. Nevertheless, he had to wait to go back in the lead up to Bryan's last stop on lap 140. Vukovich, who had to give up his tires very night now, lost some of his edge, but still drove his second Indianapolis win one at a time.
Message list
Line-up
Race
Standings after the race
In 1954 the awarding points according to the following scheme:
- It included only the five best results from nine races. String results are shown in brackets.
- The figures marked with * include the point for the fastest lap.
- Same color fields marked point to shared vehicles.