1911 Indianapolis 500

1st Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1911
Winner	Ray Harroun
Winning Entrant	Nordyke & Marmon Company
Average speed	74.602 mph (120.060 km/h)
Pole position	Lewis Strang
Pole speed	N/A
Most laps led	Ray Harroun (88)
Pre-race
Pace car	Stoddard-Dayton
Pace car driver	Carl G. Fisher
Starter	Fred J. Wagner[1]
Honorary referee	R. P. Hooper[1]
Estimated attendance	85,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next 1909-1910 events 1912

The 1911 International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1911. It was the inaugural running of the Indianapolis 500, which is the most prestigious automobile race in the world. Ray Harroun, an engineer with the Marmon Motor Car Company, came out of retirement to drive, and won the inaugural event before re-retiring for good in the winner's circle.

Over the previous two seasons (1909 and 1910), the Speedway had scheduled numerous smaller races during a series of meets over the two years. In a departure from that policy, for 1911 the management decided to instead schedule a single, large-scale event attracting widespread attention from both American and European racing teams and manufacturers. It proved to be a successful event, immediately establishing itself as both the premier motorsports competition in the US and one of the most prestigious in the world.