Race · Round 2 of 9 · 31 May 1954

1954 Indianapolis 500

Bill Vukovich won for Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser from 19th on the grid at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the first championship podium for Jimmy Bryan.

High of 31 °C, 0.7 mm of rain on the day (modelled, Open-Meteo)

How it is modelled

ERA5's reanalysis, through Open-Meteo, of the circuit's whole local day and not the race's hours, for the grid cell the circuit sits in and not the track, so a shower can be missing from it. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.

Circuit: Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana, United States of America
Winner: Bill VukovichKurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Pole: Jack McGrath
Fastest lap: Jack McGrath
Entries: 4242 classified

This race includes a shared drive. Two drivers took turns in one car and both are classified in the same position, so a position below appears twice. That is correct, not a duplicated row.

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Bill Vukovich	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	KK500A	19	200	Finished	8
2	Jimmy Bryan	—	Indy Roadster	3	200	Finished	6
3	Jack McGrath	—	KK500C	1	200	Finished	5	fastest lap
4	Troy Ruttman shared	—	—	11	200	Finished	1.5
4	Duane Carter shared	—	—	8	196	Finished	1.5
5	Mike Nazaruk	—	KK500C	14	200	Finished	2
6	Fred Agabashian	—	KK500C	24	200	Finished	0
7	Don Freeland	—	Phillips	6	200	Finished	0
8	Paul Russo shared	—	—	32	200	Finished	0
8	Jerry Hoyt shared	—	—	30	130	Engine	0
9	Larry Crockett	—	—	25	200	Finished	0
10	Cal Niday	—	Ansted Special	13	200	Finished	0
11	Art Cross shared	—	—	27	200	Finished	0
11	Johnnie Parsons shared	—	—	15	79	Engine	0
11	Sam Hanks shared	—	—	10	191	Spun off	0
11	Andy Linden shared	—	—	23	165	Suspension	0
11	Jimmy Davies shared	—	—	—	—	Finished	0
12	Chuck Stevenson shared	—	Indy Roadster	5	199	Finished	0
12	Walt Faulkner shared	—	Indy Roadster	—	—	Finished	0
13	Manny Ayulo	—	Indy Roadster	22	197	Finished	0
14	Bob Sweikert	—	KK4000	9	197	Finished	0
15	Marshall Teague shared	—	—	—	—	Finished	0
15	Jimmy Jackson shared	—	—	—	—	Finished	0
15	Tony Bettenhausen shared	—	—	21	105	Wheel bearing	0
16	Ernie McCoy	—	KK500B	20	194	Finished	0
17	Jimmy Reece	—	D	7	194	Finished	0
18	Ed Elisian shared	—	Chapman Special	31	193	Finished	0
18	Bob Scott shared	—	—	—	—	Finished	0
19	Frank Armi shared	—	Kurtis Kraft	33	193	Finished	0
19	George Fonder shared	—	—	—	—	Finished	0
20	Jim Rathmann shared	—	—	28	110	Accident	0
21	Pat O'Connor	—	KK500C	12	181	Spun off	0
22	Rodger Ward shared	—	Pawl	16	172	Retirement	0
22	Eddie Johnson shared	—	Pawl	—	—	Finished	0
23	Gene Hartley shared	—	KK4000	17	168	Clutch	0
24	Johnny Thomson shared	—	Nichels	4	165	Retirement	0
24	Bill Homeier shared	—	—	18	74	Accident	0
27	Jimmy Daywalt	—	—	2	111	Accident	0
28	Pat Flaherty shared	—	—	—	—	Finished	0
30	Spider Webb shared	—	Bromme	29	104	Fuel pump	0
30	Danny Kladis shared	—	Bromme	—	—	Finished	0
31	Len Duncan shared	—	Schroeder	26	101	Brakes	0

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout indianapolis-1 · 4.023 km · 4 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap. Drivers who shared a car have a line each.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Bill Vukovich	19	1	200
Jimmy Bryan	3	2	200
Jack McGrath	1	3	200
Troy Ruttman shared	11	4	200
Duane Carter shared	8	4	196
Mike Nazaruk	14	5	200
Fred Agabashian	24	6	200
Don Freeland	6	7	200
Paul Russo shared	32	8	200
Jerry Hoyt shared	30	8	130
Larry Crockett	25	9	200
Cal Niday	13	10	200
Art Cross shared	27	11	200
Johnnie Parsons shared	15	11	79
Sam Hanks shared	10	11	191
Andy Linden shared	23	11	165
Chuck Stevenson shared	5	12	199
Manny Ayulo	22	13	197
Bob Sweikert	9	14	197
Tony Bettenhausen shared	21	15	105
Ernie McCoy	20	16	194
Jimmy Reece	7	17	194
Ed Elisian shared	31	18	193
Frank Armi shared	33	19	193
Jim Rathmann shared	28	20	110
Pat O'Connor	12	21	181
Rodger Ward shared	16	22	172
Gene Hartley shared	17	23	168
Johnny Thomson shared	4	24	165
Bill Homeier shared	18	24	74
Jimmy Daywalt	2	27	111
Spider Webb shared	29	30	104
Len Duncan shared	26	31	101

9 entries with no recorded grid slot or lap count are in the classification and not drawn.

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Jack McGrath	—	2	4:15.260	—	0 m	—
2	Jimmy Daywalt	—	19	4:17.530	+2.270	36 m	+2.270
3	Jimmy Bryan	—	9	4:17.760	+2.500	39 m	+0.230
4	Johnny Thomson	—	43	4:19.390	+4.130	65 m	+1.630
5	Chuck Stevenson	—	98	4:19.410	+4.150	65 m	+0.020
6	Don Freeland	—	7	4:20.230	+4.970	78 m	+0.820
7	Jimmy Reece	—	25	4:20.280	+5.020	79 m	+0.050
8	Duane Carter	—	16	4:20.420	+5.160	81 m	+0.140
9	Bob Sweikert	—	17	4:20.480	+5.220	82 m	+0.060
10	Sam Hanks	—	1	4:20.880	+5.620	89 m	+0.400
11	Troy Ruttman	—	34	4:21.370	+6.110	96 m	+0.490
12	Pat O'Connor	—	35	4:20.710	+5.450	86 m	-0.660
13	Cal Niday	—	24	4:17.460	+2.200	35 m	-3.250
14	Mike Nazaruk	—	73	4:17.900	+2.640	42 m	+0.440
15	Johnnie Parsons	—	15	4:17.920	+2.660	42 m	+0.020
16	Rodger Ward	—	12	4:18.440	+3.180	50 m	+0.520
17	Gene Hartley	—	31	4:18.880	+3.620	57 m	+0.440
18	Bill Homeier	—	51	4:19.090	+3.830	60 m	+0.210
19	Bill Vukovich	—	14	4:19.970	+4.710	74 m	+0.880
20	Ernie McCoy	—	32	4:20.080	+4.820	76 m	+0.110
21	Tony Bettenhausen	—	10	4:20.350	+5.090	80 m	+0.270
22	Manny Ayulo	—	88	4:20.560	+5.300	84 m	+0.210
23	Andy Linden	—	74	4:21.210	+5.950	94 m	+0.650
24	Fred Agabashian	—	77	4:21.350	+6.090	96 m	+0.140
25	Larry Crockett	—	28	4:17.960	+2.700	43 m	-3.390
26	Len Duncan	—	33	4:18.590	+3.330	52 m	+0.630
27	Art Cross	—	45	4:19.600	+4.340	68 m	+1.010
28	Jim Rathmann	—	38	4:20.440	+5.180	82 m	+0.840
29	Spider Webb	—	65	4:20.910	+5.650	89 m	+0.470
30	Jerry Hoyt	—	99	4:21.200	+5.940	94 m	+0.290
31	Ed Elisian	—	27	4:21.260	+6.000	95 m	+0.060
32	Paul Russo	—	5	4:21.480	+6.220	98 m	+0.220
33	Frank Armi	—	71	4:21.490	+6.230	98 m	+0.010

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Where this comes from

Round: 2 of 1954
Grand Prix: Indianapolis 500
Dates: 31 May 1954
Layout raced: Oval · 4.023 km · 4 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Entrant: Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.