1960 Indianapolis 500 Film

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This is the 44th Indianapolis 500, run on May 30, 1960.

Although I use the host segments that Brock Yates used from "Faces of Victory: Memories of Indy" on the 1960 race portion of that program, the vast majority of this program came from the Indy 500: The Classics episode that dealt with the 1960 race, which explains why there's no mention of the "car #10" dropping out that Brock mentions in the opening of this presentation.

Because the majority of this presentation comes from the spedway's official film of the race (which was the first the speedway ever did), most of it's in black and white, as the speedway didn't film the race in color until 1961. Also, qualifications are extensively covered, including Jim Hurtubise's record run that earned him Rookie of the Year honors for the race. Also seen during the qualifying coverage are Tommy Milton, the first two-time winner of the race (1921, '23) and actor Jim Garner, who would drive the pace car multiple times in the 70s and 80s.

As for the race, it's considered by many to be the greatest Indianapolis 500 ever run, even to this day,with five drivers swapping the lead a total of 29 times officially, a record that wasn't broken until last year (2012). Among those swapping the lead were pole sitter Eddie Sachs, 1959 pole sitter Johnny Thomson, 1952 winner Troy Ruttman, defending champion Rodger Ward, and 3-time runner-up Jim Rathmann.

But Ward's and Rathmann's cars were the best, as they swapped the lead at will during the second half of the race. Ruttman and Sachs dropped out, while Thomson had engine problems late inthe race while gaining on the first two, forcing him to slow down dramatically, dropping him to fifth behind NASCAR driver Paul Goldsmith and Don Branson.

But in the end, tire and race strategy would finally allow Rathmann to upend Ward and finally win the race after 12 years of trying. Incidentally, one of Rathmann's chief mechanics was none other than Smokey Yunick, who had already won championships in NASCAR with Herb Thomas (with considerable help from another Indy legend, three-time winner Mauri Rose), and would win the next two Daytona 500s with Marvin Panch and Fireball Roberts.

And from the front to the back, Dempsey Wilson gained infamy by being the first driver in Indianapolis 500 history to start last and finish last in the same race.

All credits go to SPEED (SpeedVision, the predecessor to the current SPEED channel, originally aired all parts of this presentation), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, USAC, and Championship Racefilms.

If there are any others who I'm forgetting, please let me know so I can add them to the list of those to credit.