100 years of the Indy 500: 1911-1960

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Part One: From humble beginnings to 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing'

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1911 Ray Harroun, winner of the inaugural Indy 500.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1912 The car belonging to racer Howdy Wilcox, who finished ninth.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1913 Driver Bill Endicott started in the third row but his drive shaft failed after only one lap. He finished dead last.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1914 French racer Albert Guyot finished thrid in 1914, his best outing of his five Indy 500 races.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1915 Italian-American Ralph DePalma won the 1915 Indy and was recently named number 24 in an online vote of the 'Greatest 33' Indy 500 drivers.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1916 In 1916, the Indy 500 was really the Indy 300. Manufacturers were dropping out of the race because of American involvement in European hostilities during the First World War and race organizers decided to cut the distance.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1919 Rene Thomas, of France, started in the pole position but finished a disappointing 11th. He won the Indy 500 five years earlier, in 1914.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1920 Racing pioner Barney Oldfield, the first man to drive a mile a minute (60 mph) on an oval. He did not race in the 1920 Indy 500.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1921 The starting grid. The race was won by Tommy Milton, number 26 on the 'Greatest 33' list.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1922 American Jimmy Murphy took the pole and the victory.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1923 German driver Christian Lautenschlager crashed after only 14 laps and finished 23rd out of 24 racers.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1924 L.L. Corum and Joe Boyle, inset, co-winners of the race. Boyle replaced Corum in the car on the 109th lap.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1925 The starting lineup prior to the race, which was won by American Pete DePaolo.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1926 American racer Bennett Hill finished 12th.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1927 American racer Norman Batten's car catches fire on lap 24.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1928 Chicago native Chiff Woodbury would finish 23rd after his timing gears fail.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1929 New Yorker Louis Meyer, the first three-time winner of the Indy 500, finished second on this day.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1930 Joe Caccia had to retire from the race after 43 laps because of a crash. A year later, he was killed during a practice lap prior to the 1931 Indy 500.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1931 A race car goes airborne.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1932 Stubby Stubblefield finished 14th in 1932. He was killed three years later in a practice lap crash.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1933 Lester Spangler and his riding mechanic, Monk Jordan, were killed in a crash on lap 132.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1934 American Al Gordon finished 22nd after crashing on lap 66. He was killed in a racing accident two years later.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1935 The view from the pits. Two racers and one driving mechanic were killed during pre-race qualifying. Another was killed in the actual race.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1936 The pace car leads the competitors around the track.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1937 A view of the pits prior to the race.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1938 The famed Mormom Meteor was originally tested at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before heading to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, where it set a number of land speed records.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1939 Wilbur Shaw, future president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, celebrates his 500 victory.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1940 Driver Wilbur Shaw, left, Indy 500 winner in 1937 and 1939, drives his Boyle Racing Maserati after he qualified for the first row of the starting grid with a speed of 127.065 mph. Shaw went on to win the Memorial Day race for his third Indianapolis 500 win.
(WH/WH/AP)
1941 The Pagoda control tower and brick-lined straightaway are nicely framed under a tree standing near the exit of Turn 4. Grandstands would line the inside of the main straightaway in 1946 and the tree would be removed, for both spectator sightlines and driver safety, by the 1947 race.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1946 The official pace car.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1947 Mauri Rose passed teammate Bill Holland with eight laps remaining to win.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1948 American Tony Bettenhausen, 14th place finisher, and number 32 on the 'Greatest 33' list.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1949 A track official at work.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1950 The pace car leads the competitors around the track.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1951 The car belonging to Kansas native Rodger Ward, who finished in 27th place.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1952 Italian Alberto Ascari, in a Ferrari, finished 31st.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1953 American Ernie McCoy, who finished eighth, makes a pit stop.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1954 Californian Bill Vukovich, number nine on the 'Greatest 33' list, captured the checkered flag.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1955 An Indianapolis 500 race fan.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1956 Tony Bettenhausen's vehicle following a crash on lap 160.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1957 Fourteenth-place finisher Chuck Weyant.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1958 A.J. Foyt, future four-time Indy 500 winner and number one on the 'Greatest 33' list.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1959 Jack Beckley, the future technical director of the Indianapolis 500 and one of racing's legendary chief mechanics.
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
1960 Race winner Jim Rathman
(Indianapolis Motor Speedway)