33 Indy 500 Winners Line Up At The Brickyard For Their "Close Up"

The display on the Speedway’s front straightaway was part of the ongoing Centennial Celebration; the 2011 Indianapolis 500 will mark the event’s 100th anniversary. Each car present on Tuesday was a former race winner, and each has a story. Image Credit: IMS/Ron McQueeney

33 Indy 500 Winners Line Up At The Brickyard For Their "Close Up"

On Tuesday of this week, 33 winning Indy 500 cars were pushed to the front straight for the photo opportunity of a lifetime. Most of the Indy open-wheel racers came from the Hall of Fame Museum leaving the museum about half full, while other cars were on loan for the shoot from as far away as California. One car was a replica because the original is on view at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. where as all other cars are the actual winning steeds.

Director of the Hall of Fame Museum, Ellen Bireley introduces us to this effort to capture a unique moment in time and the staging of this historic "close-up" beauty shot in celebration of this upcoming centennial season!

This excerpted and edited from AutoWeekRacing.com -

The “pole” car was the Marmon Wasp that won the first 500 in 1911. Next to it on the “front row” were the cars driven by Dario Franchitti (2010) and A.J. Foyt (1961). Foyt’s car represented both his first 500 win and the winner of the 50th-anniversary event.

The rest of the legendary machines were positioned in a way that revealed an interesting evolution of race cars. Every row included front-engine and rear-engine cars in a pattern. Each decade was represented.

The four double winners were included along with the first winner after World War II. Twenty-seven of the cars are owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation.

The rows and the years the cars won:

-- Row 1: 1911 (Ray Harroun), 2010 (Dario Franchitti), 1961 (A.J. Foyt)

-- Row 2: 1979 (Rick Mears), 1939-40 (Wilbur Shaw), 1970 (Al Unser)

-- Row 3: 1963 (Parnelli Jones), 1990 (Arie Luyendyk), 1947-48 (Mauri Rose)

-- Row 4: 1980 (Johnny Rutherford), 1953-54 (Bill Vukovich), 1968 (Bobby Unser)

-- Row 5: 1964 (A.J. Foyt), 1965 (Jimmy Clark), 1922 (Jimmy Murphy)

-- Row 6: 1969 (Mario Andretti), 1957-58 (Sam Hanks, Jimmy Bryan), 1983 (Tom Sneva)

-- Row 7: 1912 (Joe Dawson), 1982 (Gordon Johncock), 1952 (Troy Ruttman)

-- Row 8: 1972 (Mark Donohue), 1962 (Rodger Ward), 2000 (Juan Montoya)

-- Row 9: 1928 (Louis Meyer), 1995 (Jacques Villeneuve), 1950 (Johnnie Parsons)

-- Row 10: 1977 (A.J. Foyt), 1951 (Lee Wallard), 1992 (Al Unser Jr.)

-- Row 11: 1946 (George Robson), 1978 (Al Unser), 1932 (Fred Frame)

Reference Here>>

... notes from The EDJE