Race · Round 3 of 7 · 30 May 1955

1955 Indianapolis 500

Bob Sweikert won for Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser from 14th on the grid at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the first championship race win for Bob Sweikert, and the first championship podium for Tony Bettenhausen, Paul Russo and Jimmy Davies.

Circuit: Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana, United States of America
Winner: Bob SweikertKurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Pole: Jerry Hoyt
Fastest lap: Bill Vukovich
Entries: 3535 classified

This race includes a shared drive. Two drivers took turns in one car and both are classified in the same position, so a position below appears twice. That is correct, not a duplicated row.

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Bob Sweikert	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	KK500C	14	200	Finished	8
2	Tony Bettenhausen shared	—	KK500C	2	200	Finished	3
2	Paul Russo shared	—	KK500C	—	—	Finished	3
3	Jimmy Davies	—	KK500B	10	200	Finished	4
4	Johnny Thomson	—	Indy Roadster	33	200	Finished	3
5	Walt Faulkner shared	—	KK500C	7	200	Finished	1
5	Bill Homeier shared	—	KK500C	—	—	Finished	1
6	Andy Linden	—	KK4000	8	200	Finished	0
7	Al Herman	—	Kurtis Kraft	16	200	Finished	0
8	Pat O'Connor	—	KK500D	19	200	Finished	0
9	Jimmy Daywalt	—	KK500D	17	200	Finished	0
10	Pat Flaherty	—	KK500B	12	200	Finished	0
11	Duane Carter	—	Indy Roadster	18	197	Finished	0
12	Chuck Weyant	—	—	25	196	Finished	0
13	Eddie Johnson	—	Indycar	32	196	Finished	0
14	Jim Rathmann	—	Indy Roadster	20	191	Finished	0
15	Don Freeland	—	Phillips	21	178	Transmission	0
16	Cal Niday	—	KK500B	9	170	Accident	0
17	Art Cross	—	KK500C	24	168	Engine	0
18	Shorty Templeman	—	Indycar	31	142	Transmission	0
19	Sam Hanks	—	KK500C	6	134	Transmission	0
20	Keith Andrews	—	Schroeder	28	120	Fuel pump	0
21	Johnnie Parsons	—	KK500C	27	119	Magneto	0
22	Eddie Russo	—	Pawl	13	112	Ignition	0
23	Ray Crawford	—	KK500B	23	111	Engine	0
24	Jimmy Bryan	—	Indy Roadster	11	90	Fuel pump	0
25	Bill Vukovich	—	KK500C	5	56	Fatal accident	1	fastest lap
26	Jack McGrath	—	KK500C	3	54	Magneto	0
27	Al Keller	—	KK2000	22	54	Accident	0
28	Rodger Ward	—	Indy Roadster	30	53	Accident	0
29	Johnny Boyd	—	KK500D	26	53	Accident	0
30	Ed Elisian	—	KK4000	29	53	Retirement	0
31	Jerry Hoyt	—	Stevens	1	40	Oil leak	0
32	Fred Agabashian	—	—	4	39	Spun off	0
33	Jimmy Reece	—	D	15	10	Engine	0

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout indianapolis-1 · 4.023 km · 4 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap. Drivers who shared a car have a line each.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Bob Sweikert	14	1	200
Tony Bettenhausen shared	2	2	200
Jimmy Davies	10	3	200
Johnny Thomson	33	4	200
Walt Faulkner shared	7	5	200
Andy Linden	8	6	200
Al Herman	16	7	200
Pat O'Connor	19	8	200
Jimmy Daywalt	17	9	200
Pat Flaherty	12	10	200
Duane Carter	18	11	197
Chuck Weyant	25	12	196
Eddie Johnson	32	13	196
Jim Rathmann	20	14	191
Don Freeland	21	15	178
Cal Niday	9	16	170
Art Cross	24	17	168
Shorty Templeman	31	18	142
Sam Hanks	6	19	134
Keith Andrews	28	20	120
Johnnie Parsons	27	21	119
Eddie Russo	13	22	112
Ray Crawford	23	23	111
Jimmy Bryan	11	24	90
Bill Vukovich	5	25	56
Jack McGrath	3	26	54
Al Keller	22	27	54
Rodger Ward	30	28	53
Johnny Boyd	26	29	53
Ed Elisian	29	30	53
Jerry Hoyt	1	31	40
Fred Agabashian	4	32	39
Jimmy Reece	15	33	10

2 entries with no recorded grid slot or lap count are in the classification and not drawn.

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Jerry Hoyt	—	23	4:17.060	—	—
2	Tony Bettenhausen	—	10	4:17.170	+0.110	+0.110
3	Jack McGrath	—	3	4:12.490	-4.570	-4.680
4	Fred Agabashian	—	14	4:13.640	-3.420	+1.150
5	Bill Vukovich	—	4	4:15.190	-1.870	+1.550
6	Sam Hanks	—	8	4:16.800	-0.260	+1.610
7	Walt Faulkner	—	77	4:17.580	+0.520	+0.780
8	Andy Linden	—	19	4:18.810	+1.750	+1.230
9	Cal Niday	—	22	4:16.590	-0.470	-2.220
10	Jimmy Davies	—	15	4:16.640	-0.420	+0.050
11	Jimmy Bryan	—	1	4:16.580	-0.480	-0.060
12	Pat Flaherty	—	89	4:16.870	-0.190	+0.290
13	Eddie Russo	—	37	4:16.930	-0.130	+0.060
14	Bob Sweikert	—	6	4:17.150	+0.090	+0.220
15	Jimmy Reece	—	5	4:17.160	+0.100	+0.010
16	Al Herman	—	71	4:17.490	+0.430	+0.330
17	Jimmy Daywalt	—	48	4:18.220	+1.160	+0.730
18	Duane Carter	—	98	4:18.380	+1.320	+0.160
19	Pat O'Connor	—	29	4:18.380	+1.320	+0.000
20	Jim Rathmann	—	33	4:19.540	+2.480	+1.160
21	Don Freeland	—	12	4:17.390	+0.330	-2.150
22	Al Keller	—	42	4:17.970	+0.910	+0.580
23	Ray Crawford	—	49	4:18.610	+1.550	+0.640
24	Art Cross	—	99	4:19.460	+2.400	+0.850
25	Chuck Weyant	—	41	4:20.750	+3.690	+1.290
26	Johnny Boyd	—	39	4:22.810	+5.750	+2.060
27	Johnnie Parsons	—	16	4:23.140	+6.080	+0.330
28	Keith Andrews	—	31	4:24.610	+7.550	+1.470
29	Ed Elisian	—	68	4:26.010	+8.950	+1.400
30	Rodger Ward	—	27	4:26.570	+9.510	+0.560
31	Shorty Templeman	—	81	4:26.640	+9.580	+0.070
32	Eddie Johnson	—	83	4:27.760	+10.700	+1.120
33	Johnny Thomson	—	44	4:28.430	+11.370	+0.670

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Photographs from this race

Filed on Wikimedia Commons under this race's own category, each shown with the photographer and licence its terms require. The filing is the Commons editors' and has not been checked here.

Everything filed under 1955 Indianapolis 500 on Wikimedia Commons

Where this comes from

Round: 3 of 1955
Grand Prix: Indianapolis 500
Dates: 30 May 1955
Layout raced: Oval · 4.023 km · 4 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Entrant: Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.