1951 Indianapolis 500

The 1951 Indianapolis 500 was the second race of the 1951 Formula One World Championship held in Indianapolis on May 30th 1951. It was held just three days after the season-opening Monaco Grand Prix, preventing drivers from entering both races. The race was won by Troy Ruttman, who led Jimmy Jackson in a Kurtis Kraft 1-2. Bill Vukovich finished third in a Ferrari entered by Ecurie Nationale Belge.

Background

Formula 1 headed to the famous rectangle for the second time, with more experience this time. However, to prevent the total 'Europeanisation' of the race, the Indianapolis organisers moved the race to a date where it would be impossible for drivers to compete in both the Monaco Grand Prix and the 500. This didn't prevent teams from doing so, and while European teams would still compete, they had entered reduced squads fielding either test drivers for evaluation or local hopefuls. Surprisingly, however, and perhaps due to the relatively boring race last year, the entry list was at an all-time low, and while 34 cars were entered, Duke Dinsmore was set to compete in two cars, leading to a situation where no drivers would fail to qualify for the race.

The first entrant for the race was Jacques de Rham's Scuderia Maremmana, entering the race for the second time. Art Cross was the designated driver for the Jaguar-powered Deidt, the same combination as the previous season. Now that the engine had some experience at Indianapolis, the car was expected to perform even better than the previous year, when Myron Fohr took a memorable second place for the team, although the driver choice could be a drawback, as Art Cross was an almost complete rookie.

Then came the usual entrants, although they came with a twist. Mauro, Miller, Wallard, Pratt, Ball and Ward were the type of drivers you would see driving for big American teams, but the overflow of European entrants seemed to have driven them off, and the drivers had to come up with home-built cars that ran the risk of not being competitive. The absence of the usual AAA entrants could cement the supremacy of the car manufacturers in the Indy 500, while Mauro would have a hard time defending his title.

Scuderia Platé-Varzi was also quite eager to attend the race, hiring a Kuzma Indy Roadster for Manny Ayulo, and then for Bob Sweikert and Duke Dinsmore, who could also compete for Motorsport Bleu depending on his qualifying spot. The team would be using Maserati engines, so their performance could go either way.

Ecurie Albertini were a particularly mysterious team. Based in Monaco, they did not enter their home race, preferring to run a Kurtis-Kraft-Offy at Indianapolis for Andy Linden. Had they got something up their sleeve for the following races? The Grignard-Talbot-Lago combination didn't look very promising, but stranger things had happened...

Scuderia Ferrari were one of the rare teams to have entered one of their own drivers for the race. Their planned share of the extra car between Peter Whitehead and Reg Parnell allowed for one of the two to compete in the race, and it was Parnell who was chosen to compete. The team's second driver was either a well-kept secret or not found yet at that time. All we knew was, Jimmy Davies, who drove two races for Maserati the previous season, had been chosen to compete as second driver for the Scuderia.

Ferrari America were one of the good surprises at Monaco, with the Ferrari deal looking like a very good one indeed. The extra funding had allowed the team to go back to its roots by entering four Kurts-Kraft-Offys for the race with Joie Chitwood, Jimmy Jackson and Cecil Green immediately announced as drivers, with the then-unemployed Troy Ruttman added to the lineup after it became clear AAR would not return to racing. The team was one of the favourites for the overall win.

Again, Alfa Romeo had entered the race, this time with drivers they already knew and had worked with. Mauri Rose, three-time winner of the race, and Myron Fohr, twice runner-up in the AAA series and second-place finisher the previous year. They could also be a serious threat for the win.

Next were ENB, racing under Jacques Swaters' Garage Francorchamps banner in Ferraris. Indianapolis specialists Charles Van Acker and Bill Vukovich were to compete for what seemed to have become a mature operation.

Motorsport Bleu had decided to run a reduced team that year, but they hadn't ruled out the Indy 500 and had found two highly-rated drivers in Jack McGrath and Duke Dinsmore, with the latter also competing for Scuderia Platé-Varzi. However, they would still compete in their Talbot-Lago-Talbots, which would nevertheless be faster than the previous year thanks to the experience gained then.

Claes Racing Developments were then pretty much a shambles after the absolute mess concerning driver contracts. They had still managed to find themselves a driver for Indianapolis, Johnny McDowell, and their Maserati looked good, but they needed to pull their heads out of the water.

Two mysterious privateers had shown up to Indianapolis in Kurtis-Kraft-Offys found God-knows-where. Tony Gaze and Mike Hawthorn were virtually unknown and were accepted only in order to fill up the grid. Their performance would be interesting to watch, as would Dries van der Lof's, who was in very much the same situation, apart from the fact that he was driving a Kurtis-Kraft-Ferrari for Scuderia Commesso. He was also entered for a few races later in the season, so this was his chance to prove himself, thanks to the certainty of qualifying.

With Redman Racing Team not able to compete fully, sister team RWRT (Robert William Racing Team) would be in charge of running the team in Indianapolis, finding two drivers, Duke Nalon and Mike Nazaruk to compete in the customary Kurtis-Kraft-Offys. Apart from that, not much was known of the team.

America Motorsport Team was odd in that the team called itself American, yet used a Maserati chassis and engine. This was the first time this team was entered in any sort of major event and the fact that they found four drivers (Forberg, Schindler, Brown and Hellings) was nothing short of a miracle. They could be a dark horse, however.

Finally, Team Metcalf GP was a peculiar team, with the owner apparently not having any sort of common sense. His chassis was absolutely awful, yet he kept it. He had the decency to switch engines, but plumped for the relatively underpowered Jaguar instead of a tried-and-tested powerplant. The only good decision he made was to sign reigning AAA champion Henry Banks. It remained to be seen what Banks could do with what he was given.

Race weekend

Qualifying

Jimmy Davies stunned the crowd, scoring pole position in the Ferrari, becoming the youngest driver ever to score a pole position. His teammate Reg Parnell would start in a respectable seventh place. Duke Nalon took second place for Robert William Racing Team, while rookie teammate Mike Nazaruk only made it to 31st position.

Defending race winner Johnny Mauro proved his worth by qualifying in third position with his own car. He outqualified the four factory Kurtis Krafts entered by Ferrari America. Jimmy Jackson was the quickest of them, in fourth place, ahead of teammates Troy Ruttman (fifth), Joie Chitwood (14th) and Cecil Green (15th).

America Motosport Team also did fairly well, with Walt Brown qualifying sixth. However, his three teammates were extremely off the pace, with Schindler 28th, Hellings 32nd and Forberg 33rd. Alfa Romeo did not perform as well as in 1950, with Myron Fohr starting eighth and Mauri Rose only 18th.

The pivotal driver in qualifying was Duke Dinsmore, who drove two cars and would only race the car he qualified best. While he qualified the Platé-Varzi car in seventeenth position, he did better with the Talbot-Lago, making it to ninth place, far ahead of teammate Jack McGrath, only 23rd. At Platé-Varzi, the weekend was not over yet, as Bob Sweikert would start in tenth position.

Ecurie Nationale Belge were a pleasant surprise, proving themselves much quicker than the previous season. Charles Van Acker qualified eleventh, five spots ahead of Bill Vukovich. The Monégasque Ecurie Albertini made a good impression on début, taking Andy Linden to 12th position. In 13th position, Lee Wallard was the second-best privateer, with Al Miller 19th, Rodger Ward 26th, Ralph Pratt 27th and Bobby Ball 29th.

Johnny McDowell would start 20th for Claes Racing Development. Henry Banks also impressed, taking the Metcalf to 21st position. Equally impressive, rookie Dries van der Lof qualified 24th for Commesso and Mike Hawthorn 25th for himself. Art Cross disappointed for Maremmana, only 30th. In last place, Tony Gaze would make the field by default.

Race

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