1911 Indianapolis 500

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 one of the most prestigious automobile races 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 U.S. and one of the most prestigious in the world.

The race was sanctioned by the AAA Contest Board, and was part of the 1911 season of races. In an era of two-man cars – consisting of a driver accompanied by a riding mechanic – Ray Harroun famously drove the race solo. In the days leading up to the race, fellow competitors complained about Harroun's ability to see other cars around him at speed (that duty was typically performed by the riding mechanic). In an effort to assuage the concerns, Harroun famously affixed a rearview mirror to his machine. It is believed to be the first rearview mirror mounted on a racing car, although Harroun himself claimed he got the idea from seeing a mirror used for a similar purpose on a horse-drawn vehicle in 1904. Harroun also claimed that the mirror vibrated constantly due to the rough brick surface, and it was rendered largely useless. Nevertheless, Harroun led 88 laps (of 200), running near the front nearly all day. He executed a preplanned strategy of driving a steady 75 mph pace to reduce his tire wear. Around the halfway mark, he was briefly relieved by Cyrus Patschke for approximately 35 laps, but got back into the car, and drove to victory by a margin of approximately 1 minute and 42 seconds.

The marathon race was completed in 6 hours and 42 minutes in front of a crowd of over 85,000 spectators. A total of twelve cars completed the 500-mile distance, while 12 of the 40 cars dropped out due to crashes or mechanical failures. One participant, Sam Dickson (the riding mechanic for Arthur Greiner was fatally injured after a crash on lap 12.