1926 Indianapolis 500

The 14th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1926. Louis Chevrolet drove the Chrysler pace car for the start.^[3]

14th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 31, 1926
Winner	Frank Lockhart
Winning Entrant	Pete Kreis
Average speed	95.904 mph (154.343 km/h)
Pole position	Earl Cooper
Pole speed	111.735 mph (179.820 km/h)
Most laps led	Frank Lockhart (95)
Pre-race
Pace car	Chrysler Imperial 80
Pace car driver	Louis Chevrolet
Starter	Seth Klein[1]
Honorary referee	Arthur Brisbane[1]
Estimated attendance	135,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next 1925 1927

Rain halted the race at lap 72, and officials waited for the track to dry out. The race was resumed over an hour later. Rain fell again, and the race was called at the 400 mile mark (160 laps).

Rookie Frank Lockhart moved up from 20th to fifth by lap 5, having had passed 14 cars on that lap alone.^[4] He moved up to second on Lap 16.^[4] After the rain delay, Lockhart and Dave Lewis battled for the lead for about 20 laps, until Lewis dropped out.^[4] After Lewis retired with a broken valve, Harry Hartz closed on Lockhart and briefly took the lead at about 250 miles as the crowd roared. But soon afterward Hartz was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop.^[5] Lockhart then stretched out a two-lap lead when the race was called, and he was declared the winner. It was the first rain-shortened race in "500" history, and Lockhart was the fourth rookie to win the race. Lockhart may have actually completed as many as 163 laps (407.5 miles), but official scoring results reverted to the completion of lap 160.

Time trials

Four-lap (10 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Earl Cooper won the pole position. Frank Lockhart set a new 1-lap track record during his first attempt at 115.488 mph, but the run was aborted after a tire failure on the second lap. He later blew an engine during another attempt, and finally put a car in the field 20th on the grid.^[6]

Qualifying Results
Date	Driver	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
5/27/1926	Earl Cooper	113.68	112.97	111.32	109.09	111.735

Starting grid

Row	Inside		Middle		Outside
1	5	Earl Cooper	3	Harry Hartz	10	Leon Duray
2	1	Dave Lewis	4	Phil Shafer	7	Jules Ellingboe
3	16	Bennett Hill	6	Frank Elliott	34	Bon MacDougall  R
4	22	W. E. Shattuc	9	Cliff Durant	31	Tony Gulotta  R
5	8	Fred Comer	36	Cliff Woodbury  R	19	Ralph Hepburn
6	14	Norman Batten  R	27	Douglas Hawkes	29	Ben Jones  R
7	29	Albert Guyot	15	Frank Lockhart  R	33	Thane Houser  R
8	24	Steve Nemesh  R	43	Ernest Eldridge  R	23	L. L. Corum  W
9	28	Jack McCarver  R	17	Fred Lecklider  R	12	Pete DePaolo  W
10	18	John Duff  R

R Indianapolis 500 rookie

W Indianapolis 500 winner

Box score

1926 Indianapolis 500 pace car

The 1926 winning car

Finish	Start	No	Name	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Qual	Rank	Laps	Status
1	20	15	Frank Lockhart  R	Pete Kreis	Miller	Miller	95.780	19	160	Running
2	2	3	Harry Hartz	Harry Hartz	Miller	Miller	109.542	2	158	Flagged
3	14	36	Cliff Woodbury  R	Cliff R. Woodbury	Miller	Miller	105.109	10	158	Flagged
4	13	8	Fred Comer (Wade Morton 71–139)	Harry Hartz	Miller	Miller	100.612	16	155	Flagged
5	27	12	Pete DePaolo  W	Duesenberg Brothers	Duesenberg	Duesenberg	96.709	18	153	Flagged
6	8	6	Frank Elliott (Leon Duray Laps 76–104)	Frank Elliott	Miller	Miller	105.873	8	152	Flagged
7	16	14	Norman Batten  R	Norman Batten	Miller	Miller	101.428	15	151	Flagged
8	15	19	Ralph Hepburn (Bob McDonogh Laps 25–65)	Ralph Hepburn	Miller	Miller	102.517	14	151	Flagged
9	28	18	John Duff  R	Al Cotey	Miller	Miller	95.549	20	147	Flagged
10	5	4	Phil Shafer (Fred Lecklider Laps 52–54) (Fred Lecklider Laps 113–146)	Phil Shafer	Miller	Miller	106.647	5	146	Flagged
11	12	31	Tony Gulotta  R	Harry Hartz	Miller	Miller	102.789	13	142	Flagged
12	7	16	Bennett Hill (Jules Ellingboe Laps 39–40) (Jules Ellingboe Laps 78–113)	Harry A. Miller	Miller	Miller	105.876	7	136	Flagged
13	21	33	Thane Houser  R	George G. Abell	Miller	Miller	93.672	22	102	Flagged
14	17	27	Douglas Hawkes (Ernest Eldridge Laps 57–73)	E. A. D. Eldridge	Eldridge	Anzani	94.977	21	91	Camshaft
15	4	1	Dave Lewis (Earl Cooper Laps 90–91)	Harry A. Miller	Miller	Miller	107.009	4	91	Valve
16	1	5	Earl Cooper	Harry A. Miller	Miller	Miller	111.735	1	73	Transmission
17	11	9	Cliff Durant (Eddie Hearne 42–60)	R. Cliff Durant	Fengler	Locomobile	104.855	12	60	Fuel tank leak
18	18	29	Ben Jones  R	Duesenberg Brothers	Duesenberg	Duesenberg	92.142	24	54	Crash
19	23	26	Ernest Eldridge  R  (Herschel McKee Laps 22–32)	E. A. D. Eldridge	Eldridge	Anzani	89.777	25	45	Tie rod
20	24	23	L. L. Corum  W	Albert Schmidt	Schmidt	Argyll	88.849	26	44	Shock absorbers
21	22	24	Steve Nemesh  R	Albert Schmidt	Schmidt	Argyll	92.937	23	41	Transmission
22	6	7	Jules Ellingboe	F. P. Cramer	Miller	Miller	106.376	6	39	Supercharger
23	3	10	Leon Duray	R. Cliff Durant	Fengler	Locomobile	109.186	3	33	Broken axle
24	26	17	Fred Lecklider  R	Earl Devore	Miller	Miller	100.398	17	24	Rod
25	25	28	Jack McCarver  R	Chevrolet Brothers	Ford T	Fronty-Ford	86.418	28	23	Rod
26	9	34	Bon MacDougall  R	R. G. McDougall	Miller	Miller	105.180	9	19	Valve
27	10	22	W. E. Shattuc	Dr. W. E. Shattuc, M.D.	Miller	Miller	104.977	11	15	Valve
28	19	39	Albert Guyot	Albert Schmidt	Schmidt	Argyll	88.580	27	8	Piston
[7][8]

Note: Relief drivers in parentheses^[9]

 W  Former Indianapolis 500 winner

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

Race statistics

Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1-15 Phil Shafer 16–21 Dave Lewis 22 Phil Shafer 23–59 Dave Lewis 60–100 Frank Lockhart 101–106 Harry Hartz 107–160 Frank Lockhart

Total laps led Leader Laps Frank Lockhart 95 Dave Lewis 43 Phil Shafer 16 Harry Hartz 6

Race details

• For 1926, riding mechanics were optional,^[10] however, no teams utilized them.
• First alternate: none^[11]
• This would be the first Indy 500 where a driver from the inaugural Indy 500 did not compete.