Race · Round 2 of 9 · 30 May 1959

1959 Indianapolis 500

Rodger Ward won for Watson-Offenhauser from 6th on the grid at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Every starter was classified. It was the first championship race win for Rodger Ward, and the first championship podium for Johnny Thomson.

High of 28 °C, 9.4 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: Rodger WardWatson-Offenhauser
Pole: Johnny Thomson
Fastest lap: Johnny Thomson
Entries: 3333 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Rodger Ward	Watson-Offenhauser	Indy Roadster	6	200	Finished	8
2	Jim Rathmann	—	Indy Roadster	3	200	Finished	6
3	Johnny Thomson	—	Lesovsky	1	200	Finished	5	fastest lap
4	Tony Bettenhausen	—	Indy Roadster	15	200	Finished	3
5	Paul Goldsmith	—	Indy Roadster	16	200	Finished	2
6	Johnny Boyd	—	Indy Roadster	11	200	Finished	0
7	Duane Carter	—	KK500H	12	200	Finished	0
8	Eddie Johnson	—	KK500G	8	200	Finished	0
9	Paul Russo	—	KK500G	27	200	Finished	0
10	Anthony Joseph Foyt	—	Indy Roadster	17	200	Finished	0
11	Gene Hartley	—	Indy Roadster	9	200	Finished	0
12	Bob Veith	—	Moore	7	200	Finished	0
13	Al Herman	—	Dunn	23	200	Finished	0
14	Jimmy Daywalt	—	—	13	200	Finished	0
15	Chuck Arnold	—	Kurtis Kraft	21	200	Finished	0
16	Jim McWithey	—	KK500C	33	200	Finished	0
17	Eddie Sachs	—	Indy Roadster	2	182	Spun off	0
18	Al Keller	—	Indy Roadster	28	163	Engine	0
19	Pat Flaherty	—	Indy Roadster	18	162	Accident	0
20	Dick Rathmann	—	Indy Roadster	4	150	Fire	0
21	Bill Cheesbourg	—	Indy Roadster	30	147	Magneto	0
22	Don Freeland	—	KK500G	25	136	Magneto	0
23	Ray Crawford	—	Elder	32	115	Accident	0
24	Don Branson	—	Phillips	10	112	Suspension	0
25	Bob Christie	—	—	24	109	Engine	0
26	Bobby Grim	—	KK500G	5	85	Magneto	0
27	Jack Turner	—	Christensen	14	47	Fuel leak	0
28	Chuck Weyant	—	KK500G	29	45	Accident	0
29	Jud Larson	—	KK500H	19	45	Accident	0
30	Mike Magill	—	Sutton	31	45	Accident	0
31	Red Amick	—	KK500C	26	45	Accident	0
32	Len Sutton	—	Lesovsky	22	34	Accident	0
33	Jimmy Bryan	—	Indy Roadster	20	1	Engine	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.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Rodger Ward	6	1	200
Jim Rathmann	3	2	200
Johnny Thomson	1	3	200
Tony Bettenhausen	15	4	200
Paul Goldsmith	16	5	200
Johnny Boyd	11	6	200
Duane Carter	12	7	200
Eddie Johnson	8	8	200
Paul Russo	27	9	200
Anthony Joseph Foyt	17	10	200
Gene Hartley	9	11	200
Bob Veith	7	12	200
Al Herman	23	13	200
Jimmy Daywalt	13	14	200
Chuck Arnold	21	15	200
Jim McWithey	33	16	200
Eddie Sachs	2	17	182
Al Keller	28	18	163
Pat Flaherty	18	19	162
Dick Rathmann	4	20	150
Bill Cheesbourg	30	21	147
Don Freeland	25	22	136
Ray Crawford	32	23	115
Don Branson	10	24	112
Bob Christie	24	25	109
Bobby Grim	5	26	85
Jack Turner	14	27	47
Chuck Weyant	29	28	45
Jud Larson	19	29	45
Mike Magill	31	30	45
Red Amick	26	31	45
Len Sutton	22	32	34
Jimmy Bryan	20	33	1

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Johnny Thomson	—	3	4:06.730	—	0 m	—
2	Eddie Sachs	—	44	4:07.550	+0.820	13 m	+0.820
3	Jim Rathmann	—	16	4:09.250	+2.520	41 m	+1.700
4	Dick Rathmann	—	73	4:09.570	+2.840	46 m	+0.320
5	Bobby Grim	—	48	4:09.610	+2.880	47 m	+0.040
6	Rodger Ward	—	5	4:09.940	+3.210	52 m	+0.330
7	Bob Veith	—	74	4:09.960	+3.230	53 m	+0.020
8	Eddie Johnson	—	19	4:10.000	+3.270	53 m	+0.040
9	Gene Hartley	—	88	4:10.740	+4.010	65 m	+0.740
10	Don Branson	—	9	4:11.200	+4.470	73 m	+0.460
11	Johnny Boyd	—	33	4:12.080	+5.350	87 m	+0.880
12	Duane Carter	—	37	4:12.110	+5.380	88 m	+0.030
13	Jimmy Daywalt	—	66	4:08.820	+2.090	34 m	-3.290
14	Jack Turner	—	24	4:10.910	+4.180	68 m	+2.090
15	Tony Bettenhausen	—	1	4:12.240	+5.510	90 m	+1.330
16	Paul Goldsmith	—	99	4:12.330	+5.600	91 m	+0.090
17	Anthony Joseph Foyt	—	10	4:12.370	+5.640	92 m	+0.040
18	Pat Flaherty	—	64	4:12.810	+6.080	99 m	+0.440
19	Jud Larson	—	7	4:12.990	+6.260	102 m	+0.180
20	Jimmy Bryan	—	6	4:13.310	+6.580	107 m	+0.320
21	Chuck Arnold	—	71	4:13.310	+6.580	107 m	+0.000
22	Len Sutton	—	8	4:13.330	+6.600	108 m	+0.020
23	Al Herman	—	89	4:13.630	+6.900	113 m	+0.300
24	Bob Christie	—	65	4:11.320	+4.590	75 m	-2.310
25	Don Freeland	—	15	4:11.650	+4.920	80 m	+0.330
26	Red Amick	—	87	4:11.880	+5.150	84 m	+0.230
27	Paul Russo	—	45	4:12.840	+6.110	100 m	+0.960
28	Al Keller	—	57	4:13.420	+6.690	109 m	+0.580
29	Chuck Weyant	—	47	4:13.610	+6.880	112 m	+0.190
30	Bill Cheesbourg	—	53	4:13.900	+7.170	117 m	+0.290
31	Mike Magill	—	77	4:14.450	+7.720	126 m	+0.550
32	Ray Crawford	—	49	4:14.690	+7.960	130 m	+0.240
33	Jim McWithey	—	58	4:14.930	+8.200	134 m	+0.240

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 1959
Grand Prix: Indianapolis 500
Dates: 30 May 1959
Layout raced: Oval · 4.023 km · 4 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Watson-Offenhauser
Entrant: Watson-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.