1959 Indianapolis 500

43rd Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	USAC
Date	May 30, 1959
Winner	Rodger Ward
Winning team	Leader Cards
Average speed	135.857 mph (218.641 km/h)
Pole position	Johnny Thomson
Pole speed	145.908 mph (234.816 km/h)
Most laps led	Rodger Ward (130)
Pre-race ceremonies
Pace car	Buick Electra 225
Pace car driver	Sam Hanks
Starter	Bill Vanderwater
Estimated attendance	180,000
Chronology
Previous Next 1958 1960

The 43rd International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1959. The event was part of the 1959 USAC National Championship Trail and was also race 2 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers.

Rodger Ward earned the first of two career Indy 500 victories. A record sixteen cars completed the full 500 miles.

All cars were required to have roll bars for the first time.

Practice and time trials

Two drivers, Jerry Unser and Bob Cortner, were killed in separate crashes during the month. On May 2, Unser lost control in Turn Four, spun, and flipped down the main stretch. The car caught fire and Unser suffered significant burns; he died from complications of his burns on May 17. On May 19, rookie Cortner crashed in turn three after being pushed by a wind gust. He was killed instantly of head injuries.

On the morning of pole day, Tony Bettenhausen suffered a bad crash during a practice run. His car hit the outside wall and flipped over the inside guardrail. Bettenhausen escaped the crash with only minor injuries, and would qualify on the second weekend of time trials.

After three years of retirement, Duane Carter returned to the cockpit, and qualified for his ninth Indianapolis 500 start.

Time trials were scheduled for four days:

• Saturday May 16 – Pole Day time trials
• Sunday May 17 – Second day time trials
• Saturday May 23 – Third day time trials
• Sunday May 24 – Fourth day time trials

Starting grid

Row	Inside		Middle		Outside
1	3	Johnny Thomson	44	Eddie Sachs	16	Jim Rathmann
2	73	Dick Rathmann	48	Bobby Grim  R	5	Rodger Ward
3	74	Bob Veith	19	Eddie Johnson	88	Gene Hartley
4	9	Don Branson  R	33	Johnny Boyd	37	Duane Carter
5	66	Jimmy Daywalt	24	Jack Turner	1	Tony Bettenhausen
6	99	Paul Goldsmith	10	A. J. Foyt	64	Pat Flaherty  W
7	7	Jud Larson	6	Jimmy Bryan  W	71	Chuck Arnold  R
8	8	Len Sutton	89	Al Herman	65	Bob Christie
9	15	Don Freeland	87	Red Amick  R	45	Paul Russo
10	57	Al Keller	47	Chuck Weyant	53	Bill Cheesbourg
11	77	Mike Magill	49	Ray Crawford	58	Jim McWithey  R

R Indianapolis 500 rookie

W Indianapolis 500 winner

Alternates

• First alternate: Rex Easton  R  (#39, #45)

Failed to qualify

• Russ Congdon  R  (#72) - Did not finish rookie test
• Bob Cortner  R  (#51) - Fatal accident
• Chuck Daigh  R  (#98)
• Jimmy Davies (#53)
• Don Edmunds (#54, #57, #76)
• Jack Ensley  R  (#92)
• Gene Force (#55, #78)
• Andy Furci  R  (#91)
• Elmer George (#21)
• Bill Homeier (#42, #62)
• Van Johnson  R  (#76, #91)
• Johnny Kay  R  (#17) - Did not finish rookie test
• Ralph Ligouri  R  (#12, #41)
• Johnny Moorhouse  R  (#91)
• Earl Motter  R  (#21)
• Jim Packard  R  (#55)
• Johnnie Parsons  W  (#45)
• Chuck Rodee  R  (#82)
• Eddie Russo (#1, #78, #93, #98)
• Bob Schroeder  R  (#78)
• Shorty Templeman (#69, #76)
• Johnnie Tolan (#43)
• Jerry Unser (#57) - Fatal accident
• Wayne Weiler  R  (#39) - Entry declined, failed physical
• Dempsey Wilson (#34, #82)

Box score

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Constructor	Qual	Rank	Laps	Time/Retired	Points
1	6	5	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	144.03	7	200	3:40:49.20	8
2	3	16	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	144.43	4	200	+ 0:23.28	6
3	1	3	Johnny Thomson	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	145.90	1	200	+ 0:50.64	5
4	15	1	Tony Bettenhausen	Epperly-Offenhauser	142.72	18	200	+ 1:47.09	3
5	16	99	Paul Goldsmith	Epperly-Offenhauser	142.67	19	200	+ 2:06.44	2
6	11	33	Johnny Boyd	Epperly-Offenhauser	142.81	16	200	+ 3:16.98
7	12	37	Duane Carter	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.79	17	200	+ 4:09.92
8	8	19	Eddie Johnson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.00	9	200	+ 4:10.53
9	27	45	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.38	22	200	+ 4:11.04
10	17	10	A. J. Foyt	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.64	20	200	+ 4:14.48
11	9	88	Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	143.57	10	200	+ 5:42.48
12	7	74	Bob Veith	Moore-Offenhauser	144.02	8	200	+ 6:09.73
13	23	89	Al Herman	Dunn-Offenhauser	141.93	29	200	+ 6:40.40
14	13	66	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.68	3	200	+ 6:41.54
15	21	71	Chuck Arnold  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.11	24	200	+ 8:19.86
16	33	58	Jim McWithey  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	141.21	33	200	+ 11:41.69
17	2	44	Eddie Sachs	Kuzma-Offenhauser	145.42	2	182	Spun off
18	28	57	Al Keller	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.05	27	163	Engine
19	18	64	Pat Flaherty  W	Watson-Offenhauser	142.39	21	162	Accident
20	4	73	Dick Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	144.24	5	150	Fire
21	30	53	Bill Cheesbourg	Kuzma-Offenhauser	141.78	30	147	Magneto
22	25	15	Don Freeland	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	143.05	14	136	Magneto
23	32	49	Ray Crawford	Elder-Offenhauser	141.34	32	115	Accident
24	10	9	Don Branson  R	Phillips-Offenhauser	143.31	12	112	Suspension
25	24	65	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	143.24	13	109	Engine
26	5	48	Bobby Grim  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.22	6	85	Magneto
27	14	24	Jack Turner	Christensen-Offenhauser	143.47	11	47	Fuel leak
28	29	47	Chuck Weyant	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	141.95	28	45	Accident
29	19	7	Jud Larson	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.29	23	45	Accident
30	31	77	Mike Magill	Sutton-Offenhauser	141.48	31	45	Accident
31	26	87	Red Amick  R	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.92	15	45	Accident
32	22	8	Len Sutton	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	142.10	26	34	Accident
33	20	6	Jimmy Bryan  W	Epperly-Offenhauser	142.11	25	1	Engine

 W  Former Indianapolis 500 winner

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

All entrants utilized Firestone tires.

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lead lap

Race statistics

Lap Leaders
Laps	Leader
1–4	Johnny Thomson
5–12	Rodger Ward
13	Jim Rathmann
14–16	Rodger Ward
17–30	Jim Rathmann
31	Pat Flaherty
32–33	Jim Rathmann
34–40	Pat Flaherty
41–42	Jim Rathmann
43–45	Pat Flaherty
46–48	Rodger Ward
49–84	Johnny Thomson
85–200	Rodger Ward

Total laps led
Driver	Laps
Rodger Ward	130
Johnny Thomson	40
Jim Rathmann	19
Pat Flaherty	11

Yellow Lights: 43 minutes, 17 seconds
Laps*	Reason
8–10	Eddie Sachs spin in turn 1 (2:25)
36–40	Len Sutton crash in turn 1 (5:42)
47–56	Weyant, Magil, Amick, Larson crash in turn 4 (11:15)
121–133	Ray Crawford crash in turn 3 (17:30)
167–173	Pat Flaherty crash on mainstretch (6:25)
* – Approximate lap counts

Race notes

• Fastest lead lap: Johnny Thomson – 1:01.89
• Two drivers, Jerry Unser and Bob Cortner, were killed as a result of accidents during practice for this race.
• Bobby Grim qualified 5th and won the Rookie of the Year award despite dropping out of the race before the halfway point. On lap 85, he suffered magneto failure, and began coasting to the pits. As was customary for drivers of the time, he raised his arm to signify to the other drivers he had lost power. However, due to the high speed he was still traveling, he dislocated his arm in the process. Visibly in pain, the crew thought he was coming in for relief, and quickly Jack Turner jumped behind the wheel, but the car would not run.
• The first scoring pylon, a famous landmark of the Speedway, was constructed at the south end of the pit area.
• Last year's winner Jimmy Bryan using the same exact car that won the race in 1957 and 1958 fell out of the race being left on the grid with a clutch failure to finish last (33rd).

Championship standings after the race

Formula One Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Jack Brabham	9
23	2	Rodger Ward	8
1	3	Tony Brooks	6
21	4	Jim Rathmann	6
20	5	Johnny Thomson	5
Source:

Formula One Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos	Constructor	Points
	1	Cooper-Climax	8
	2	Ferrari	6
Source:

• Notes: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Also, points were not awarded in the 500 towards the F1 constructors championship.

Broadcasting

Radio

The race was carried live on the IMS Radio Network. Sid Collins served as chief announcer. Fred Agabashian joined the crew for the first time as "driver expert." The broadcast reached 385 affiliates, including Fairbanks, Alaska.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Pit/garage reporters
Chief Announcer: Sid Collins Driver expert: Fred Agabashian Statistician: Charlie Brockman	Turn 1: Bill Frosh Turn 2: John Peterson Backstretch: Bernie Herman Turn 3: Lou Palmer Turn 4: Jim Shelton	Greg Smith (north) Jack Shapiro (center) Luke Walton (south)

External links

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats – Official Site