1936 Indianapolis 500

24th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1936
Winner	Louis Meyer
Winning Entrant	Louis Meyer
Average speed	109.069 mph (175.530 km/h)
Pole position	Rex Mays
Pole speed	119.644 mph (192.548 km/h)
Most laps led	Louis Meyer (96)
Pre-race
Pace car	Packard 120
Pace car driver	Tommy Milton
Chronology
Previous Next 1935 1937

The 24th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1936. The race was part of the 1936 AAA Championship Car season. The race is remembered for three noteworthy Indy traditions getting their start.

Louis Meyer became the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He notably celebrated in victory lane with a bottle of buttermilk, which later started the famous tradition of serving milk in victory lane at Indianapolis.

Lawson Harris served as Meyer's riding mechanic. Harris, who also rode with Meyer in 1933, became the first two-time Indianapolis 500 winning riding mechanic.

The Borg-Warner Trophy debuted for the winner in 1936. Also, pace car driver Tommy Milton suggested that the race winner should be awarded the official pace car as part of his compliment of prizes. Louis Meyer was given the keys to the Packard after the race, and it has been a tradition ever since (with only a handful of exceptions).

Time trials

Ten-lap (25 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Rex Mays won the pole position for the second consecutive year.

Qualifying Results
Date	Driver	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Lap 5 (mph)	Lap 6 (mph)	Lap 7 (mph)	Lap 8 (mph)	Lap 9 (mph)	Lap 10 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
Sat 5/16/1936	Rex Mays	119.745	119.348	118.743	119.968	121.065	119.984	120.289	119.697	119.253	118.985	119.644

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	28	8	Louis Meyer (W)	114.171	18	200	96	Running
2	11	22	Ted Horn	116.564	8	200	16	Running
3	4	10	Doc MacKenzie	116.961	5	200	0	Running
4	30	36	Mauri Rose	113.890	21	200	0	Running
5	3	18	Chet Miller	117.675	3	200	0	Running
6	25	41	Ray Pixley (R)	116.703	7	200	0	Running
7	9	3	Wilbur Shaw	117.503	4	200	51	Running
8	14	17	George Barringer	112.700	27	200	0	Running
9	32	53	Zeke Meyer	111.476	30	200	0	Running
10	5	38	George Connor	116.269	9	200	0	Running
11	12	35	Freddy Winnai	116.221	10	199	0	Flagged
12	24	9	Ralph Hepburn	112.673	28	196	0	Flagged
13	27	28	Harry McQuinn	114.118	19	196	0	Out of gas
14	10	7	Shorty Cantlon	116.912	6	194	0	Out of gas
15	1	33	Rex Mays	119.644	1	192	12	Out of gas
16	23	54	Doc Williams (R)	112.837	26	192	0	Out of gas
17	29	32	Lou Moore	113.996	20	185	0	Out of gas
18	33	19	Emil Andres (R)	111.455	31	184	0	Flagged
19	15	4	Floyd Roberts	112.403	29	183	0	Out of gas
20	20	14	Frank Brisko	114.213	17	180	0	Out of gas
21	17	12	Al Miller	116.138	11	119	0	Crash FS
22	7	42	Cliff Bergere	113.377	22	116	0	Engine support
23	26	15	Deacon Litz	115.997	13	108	0	Crankshaft
24	2	21	Babe Stapp	118.945	2	89	25	Crankshaft
25	19	5	Billy Winn	114.648	16	78	0	Crankshaft
26	22	52	Frank McGurk (R)	113.102	24	51	0	Crankshaft
27	8	27	Louis Tomei	111.078	33	44	0	Engine support
28	6	44	Herb Ardinger	115.082	15	38	0	Transmission
29	18	6	Chet Gardner	116.000	12	38	0	Clutch
30	16	43	Jimmy Snyder	111.291	32	21	0	Oil leak
31	21	47	Johnny Seymour	113.169	23	13	0	Clutch
32	31	46	Fred Frame (W)	112.877	25	4	0	Piston
33	13	2	Bill Cummings (W)	115.939	14	0	0	Clutch
[1]

Alternates

• First alternate: Al Putman (R)^[2]

Failed to Qualify

George Bailey (#51) Henry Banks (R) (#29) Rick Decker (#44) Dave Evans (#25) Dusty Fahrnow (#55) Tony Gulotta (#31, #56) Harry Hunt (R) (#58) Luther Johnson (#49) - Withdrew

Roy Painter (R) (#34) Kelly Petillo (#10) Phil Shafer (#26) Overton Snell (R) (#24) Russ Snowberger (#23) Lucky Teter (R) - Did not appear Joel Thorne (R) - Did not appear George Wingerter (#57)[3]

Race details

• For 1936, riding mechanics were required.^[4]
• After numerous fatalities in the 1935 race, additional safety measures were introduced for 1936. All new drivers were required to pass a rookie test prior to qualifying. In addition, the inside wall was removed in several locations, the outside walls were angled inward to keep cars from going over them, and several portions of the track were paved over in asphalt. In a sharp contrast to previous years, the 1936 race saw zero fatalities amongst the competitors and/or spectators. It marked the only year from the span of 1929-1940 (the Depression Era) in which no fatalities occurred at the Speedway.
• Bill Cummings car failed to pull away from the grid due to clutch and transmission failure. He became the first driver in Indy history to line up for the grid, but fail to pull away and start the race.

References

1. "Indianapolis 500 1936". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
2. The Talk of Gasoline Alley - 1070-AM WIBC, May 14, 2004
3. "1936 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes". ChampCarStats.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
4. Blazier, John E.; Rollings, Tom (1994). Forgotten Heroes of the Speedways: The Riding Mechanics.