1950 Indianapolis 500

34th Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning bodyAAA
DateMay 30, 1950
WinnerJohnnie Parsons
Winning EntrantFrank Kurtis
Average speed124.002 mph (199.562 km/h)
Pole positionWalt Faulkner
Pole speed134.343 mph (216.204 km/h)
Most laps ledJohnnie Parsons (115)
Pre-race
Pace carMercury
Pace car driverBenson Ford
StarterSeth Klein[1]
Honorary refereeClarence Beesmyer[1]
Estimated attendance175,000[2]
Chronology
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1949 1951

The 34th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1950. The event was sanctioned by the AAA and served as the premier event on the calendar of the 1950 AAA National Championship Trail.

For the first time, the race was included as a points-paying event towards the FIA-sanctioned World Drivers' Championship.

The race was originally scheduled for 200 laps (500 miles), but was stopped after 138 laps (345 miles) due to rain.

A rumor circulated in racing circles during and after this race that Johnnie Parsons's team discovered an irreparable crack in the engine block on race morning. The discovery supposedly precipitated Parsons to charge for the lap leader prizes.[3] Presumably, he set his sights on leading as many laps as possible before the engine inevitably was to fail. Furthermore, the race ending early due to rain supposedly saved Parsons's day allowing him to secure the victory before the engine let go. However, the engine block crack was proved to be an urban myth,[4] and it was said to be a very minor but acceptable level of porosity, which did not significantly affect the performance.

Parsons's win saw him score 9 points and move to a temporary first-place tie (after 3 races on the Formula One season calendar) in the first ever World Drivers' Championship, alongside Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio, and also saw him become the first American to win a World Championship race. Parsons is one of only three drivers to have won his first World Championship race, the other two being Farina, who won the first World Championship race (the 1950 British Grand Prix, 17 days earlier) and Giancarlo Baghetti, who won the 1961 French Grand Prix. Despite the 500 being his only race in the 1950 World Championship, it would be enough to see him finish the championship 6th in points.

During the month, Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck were at the track to film scenes for the film To Please a Lady. Stanwyck was on hand in victory lane after the race for the traditional celebratory kiss to the winner. During 1951 a young Mario Andretti saw the film in his native Italy - where it was titled Indianapolis - an event which exposed the future Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time National Champion to the race for the first time.[5]

  1. ^ a b Fox, Jack C. (1994). The Illustrated History of the Indianapolis 500 1911-1994 (4th ed.). Carl Hungness Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-915088-05-3.
  2. ^ "Parsons Sets Record As Rain Halts 500-Mile Speedway Race". The Cincinnati Enquirer. May 31, 1950. p. 1. Retrieved June 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  3. ^ "Great Moments From the Indy 500" (VanCamp's Pork and Beans Presents/Freetwood Sounds), 1975
  4. ^ "The Talk of Gasoline Alley" – WFNI, May 20, 2012
  5. ^ Oreovicz, John (2021). Indy Split: The Big Money Battle that Nearly Destroyed Indy Racing. Austin, TX: Octane Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-1-64234-056-3.