1940 Indianapolis 500

The 28th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1940. The winner was Wilbur Shaw in the same Maserati 8CTF he had driven to victory in 1939. Shaw became the first driver in the history of the race to win in consecutive years. It also marked Shaw's third win in four years, making him the second three-time winner of the race. Shaw's average speed was 114.277 mph, slowed by rain which caused the last 50 laps to be run under caution.^[3] Shaw took home $31,875 (equivalent to $715,408 in 2024) in prize winnings, plus additional prizes that included a car and a refrigerator.^[4]

28th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1940
Winner	Wilbur Shaw
Winning Entrant	Boyle Racing Headquarters
Average speed	114.277 mph
Pole position	Rex Mays
Pole speed	127.850 mph
Most laps led	Wilbur Shaw (136)
Pre-race
Pace car	Studebaker Champion
Pace car driver	Ab Jenkins
Starter	Seth Klein[1]
Honorary referee	Roscoe Turner[1]
Estimated attendance	150,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next 1939 1941

Fourth place finisher Ted Horn was flagged due to the rain shower, and was officially credited with completing only 199 laps - one lap short of the full distance. This marked the only blemish on his noteworthy record of nine consecutive races completing every lap. He eventually completed 1,799 out of a possible 1,800 laps from 1936 to 1948.

The top four starting positions finished in the top four places, albeit in shuffled order.

Starting grid

Row	Inside		Middle		Outside
1	33	Rex Mays	1	Wilbur Shaw  W	7	Mauri Rose
2	3	Ted Horn	31	Mel Hansen	5	Cliff Bergere
3	9	Frank Wearne	16	Frank Brisko	27	Tommy Hinnershitz  R
4	8	Joel Thorne	19	Russ Snowberger	24	Babe Stapp
5	35	Kelly Petillo  W	28	Sam Hanks  R	41	Harry McQuinn
6	6	George Barringer	10	George Connor	26	Louis Tomei
7	36	Doc Williams	32	Bob Swanson	54	Ralph Hepburn
8	25	Emil Andres	17	George Robson  R	29	Raúl Riganti
9	21	Duke Nalon	42	Joie Chitwood  R	34	Chet Miller
10	44	Al Putnam	38	Paul Russo  R	58	Al Miller
11	49	René Le Bègue  R	14	Billy Devore	61	Floyd Davis

R Indianapolis 500 rookie

W Indianapolis 500 winner

Alternates

• First alternate: Tony Willman^[5]

Failed to qualify

• George Bailey (#56) - Fatal accident
• Henry Banks (#39)
• Shorty Cantlon (#24) - Replaced by Babe Stapp
• Wesley Crawford (#62)
• Port DeFraties  R  (#51)
• René Dreyfus  R  (#22) - drove two stints of relief for René Le Bègue during the race
• Louis Durant  R  (#12)
• Ira Hall (#47)
• Bill Lipscomb  R  (#57)
• Louis Unser  R  - Passed driver's test
• Lou Webb  R  (#37)
• Freddie Winnai (#59)^[6]

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Chassis	Engine	Qual	Rank	Laps	Status
1	2	1	Wilbur Shaw  W	Maserati	Maserati	127.065	2	200	114.277 mph
2	1	33	Rex Mays	Stevens	Winfield	127.850	1	200	+1:14.14
3	3	7	Mauri Rose	Wetteroth	Offenhauser	125.624	3	200	+1:37.79
4	4	3	Ted Horn	Miller	Miller	125.545	4	199	Flagged
5	10	8	Joel Thorne	Adams	Sparks	122.434	20	197	Flagged
6	20	32	Bob Swanson	Stevens	Sampson	124.882	6	196	Flagged
7	7	9	Frank Wearne	Stevens	Offenhauser	123.216	12	195	Flagged
8	5	31	Mel Hansen	Wetteroth	Miller	124.753	7	194	Flagged
9	8	16	Frank Brisko	Stevens	Brisko	122.716	16	193	Flagged
10	31	49	René Le Bègue  R  (Laps 1–45 and 98–150) René Dreyfus (Laps 46–97 and 151–192)	Maserati	Maserati	118.981	33	192	Flagged
11	15	41	Harry McQuinn	A-R Weil	Alfa Romeo	122.486	19	192	Flagged
12	22	25	Emil Andres	Stevens	Offenhauser	122.963	15	192	Flagged
13	14	28	Sam Hanks  R	Weil	Duray	123.064	13	192	Flagged
14	16	6	George Barringer	Weil	Offenhauser	121.889	22	191	Flagged
15	26	42	Joie Chitwood  R	Adams	Offenhauser	121.757	25	190	Flagged
16	18	26	Louis Tomei	Miller	Offenhauser	119.980	32	190	Exhaust pipe
17	27	34	Chet Miller (Henry Banks Laps 148–189)	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo	121.392	27	189	Flagged
18	32	14	Billy Devore (George Connor Laps 107–181)	Shaw	Offenhauser	122.197	21	181	Flagged
19	28	44	Al Putnam	Adams	Offenhauser	120.818	28	179	Flagged
20	33	61	Floyd Davis (Lou Webb Laps 27–57) (George Connor Laps 58–59) (Lou Webb Laps 60–157)	Lencki	Lencki	120.797	30	157	Flagged
21	13	35	Kelly Petillo  W	Wetteroth	Offenhauser	125.331	5	128	Bearing
22	25	21	Duke Nalon	Silnes	Offenhauser	121.790	24	120	Rod
23	23	17	George Robson  R	Miller	Offenhauser	122.562	18	67	Shock absorber
24	12	24	Babe Stapp (Started in substitution for Shorty Cantlon) (Tony Willman Lap 13–64)	Stevens	Offenhauser	123.367	11	64	Oil line
25	19	36	Doc Williams	Cooper	Miller	122.963	14	61	Oil line
26	17	10	George Connor	Lencki	Lencki	124.585	8	52	Rod
27	6	5	Cliff Bergere	Wetteroth	Offenhauser	123.673	10	51	Oil line
28	29	38	Paul Russo  R	Blume	Brisko	120.809	29	48	Oil leak
29	21	54	Ralph Hepburn	Miller	Offenhauser	123.860	9	47	Steering
30	30	58	Al Miller	Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo	120.288	31	41	Clutch
31	11	19	Russ Snowberger	Snowberger	Miller	121.564	26	38	Water pump
32	9	27	Tommy Hinnershitz  R	Adams	Offenhauser	122.614	17	32	Crash FS
33	24	29	Raúl Riganti	Maserati	Maserati	121.827	23	24	Crash T2
[7][8][9]

Note: Relief drivers in parentheses^[10]

 W  Former Indianapolis 500 winner

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

All entrants utilized Firestone tires.

Race statistics

Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–33 Rex Mays 34–73 Wilbur Shaw 74–99 Rex Mays 100–104 Mauri Rose 105–200 Wilbur Shaw

Total laps led Driver Laps Wilbur Shaw 136 Rex Mays 59 Mauri Rose 5

Yellow Lights Laps* Reason 25 Raúl Riganti crash in turn 2 33 Tommy Hinnershitz crash on mainstretch 47 Ralph Hepburn crash on mainstretch 151–200 Rain (approx. 1 hr., 18 mins.) * – Approximate lap counts[11][12]

See also

• 1940 AAA Championship Car season