Race · Round 3 of 10 · 30 May 1960

1960 Indianapolis 500

Jim Rathmann won for Watson-Offenhauser from 2nd on the grid at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Every starter was classified. It was the first championship race win for Jim Rathmann, and the first championship podium for Paul Goldsmith.

High of 24 °C, 3.5 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: Jim RathmannWatson-Offenhauser
Pole: Eddie Sachs
Fastest lap: Jim Rathmann
Entries: 3333 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Jim Rathmann	Watson-Offenhauser	Indy Roadster	2	200	Finished	8	fastest lap
2	Rodger Ward	—	Indy Roadster	3	200	Finished	6
3	Paul Goldsmith	—	Indy Roadster	26	200	Finished	4
4	Don Branson	—	Phillips	8	200	Finished	3
5	Johnny Thomson	—	Lesovsky	17	200	Finished	2
6	Eddie Johnson	—	Indycar	7	200	Finished	1
7	Lloyd Ruby	—	Indy Roadster	12	200	Finished	0
8	Bob Veith	—	Meskowski	25	200	Finished	0
9	Bud Tingelstad	—	Indycar	28	200	Finished	0
10	Bob Christie	—	KK500C	14	200	Finished	0
11	Red Amick	—	Indy Roadster	22	200	Finished	0
12	Duane Carter	—	Indy Roadster	27	200	Finished	0
13	Bill Homeier	—	Indy Roadster	31	200	Finished	0
14	Gene Hartley	—	KK500G	24	196	Finished	0
15	Chuck Stevenson	—	Indy Roadster	9	196	Finished	0
16	Bobby Grim	—	Meskowski	21	194	Finished	0
17	Shorty Templeman	—	KK500C	19	191	Finished	0
18	Jim Hurtubise	—	Christensen	23	185	Engine	0
19	Jimmy Bryan	—	Indy Roadster	10	152	Fuel system	0
20	Troy Ruttman	—	Indy Roadster	6	134	Axle	0
21	Eddie Sachs	—	Ewing	1	132	Magneto	0
22	Don Freeland	—	KK500H	11	129	Magneto	0
23	Tony Bettenhausen	—	Indy Roadster	18	125	Engine	0
24	Wayne Weiler	—	Indy Roadster	15	103	Accident	0
25	Anthony Joseph Foyt	—	KK500J	16	90	Clutch	0
26	Eddie Russo	—	KK500G	29	84	Accident	0
27	Johnny Boyd	—	Indy Roadster	13	77	Engine	0
28	Gene Force	—	KK500G	20	74	Brakes	0
29	Jim McWithey	—	Indy Roadster	32	60	Brakes	0
30	Len Sutton	—	Indy Roadster	5	47	Engine	0
31	Dick Rathmann	—	Indy Roadster	4	42	Brakes	0
32	Al Herman	—	Ewing	30	34	Clutch	0
33	Dempsey Wilson	—	—	33	11	Magneto	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
Jim Rathmann	2	1	200
Rodger Ward	3	2	200
Paul Goldsmith	26	3	200
Don Branson	8	4	200
Johnny Thomson	17	5	200
Eddie Johnson	7	6	200
Lloyd Ruby	12	7	200
Bob Veith	25	8	200
Bud Tingelstad	28	9	200
Bob Christie	14	10	200
Red Amick	22	11	200
Duane Carter	27	12	200
Bill Homeier	31	13	200
Gene Hartley	24	14	196
Chuck Stevenson	9	15	196
Bobby Grim	21	16	194
Shorty Templeman	19	17	191
Jim Hurtubise	23	18	185
Jimmy Bryan	10	19	152
Troy Ruttman	6	20	134
Eddie Sachs	1	21	132
Don Freeland	11	22	129
Tony Bettenhausen	18	23	125
Wayne Weiler	15	24	103
Anthony Joseph Foyt	16	25	90
Eddie Russo	29	26	84
Johnny Boyd	13	27	77
Gene Force	20	28	74
Jim McWithey	32	29	60
Len Sutton	5	30	47
Dick Rathmann	4	31	42
Al Herman	30	32	34
Dempsey Wilson	33	33	11

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Eddie Sachs	—	6	4:05.580	—	68 m	—
2	Jim Rathmann	—	4	4:05.950	+0.370	74 m	+0.370
3	Rodger Ward	—	1	4:07.320	+1.740	97 m	+1.370
4	Dick Rathmann	—	97	4:07.350	+1.770	97 m	+0.030
5	Len Sutton	—	9	4:07.520	+1.940	100 m	+0.170
6	Troy Ruttman	—	28	4:07.650	+2.070	102 m	+0.130
7	Eddie Johnson	—	22	4:08.270	+2.690	112 m	+0.620
8	Don Branson	—	7	4:08.700	+3.120	120 m	+0.430
9	Chuck Stevenson	—	65	4:08.850	+3.270	122 m	+0.150
10	Jimmy Bryan	—	10	4:09.080	+3.500	126 m	+0.230
11	Don Freeland	—	73	4:09.390	+3.810	131 m	+0.310
12	Lloyd Ruby	—	98	4:09.640	+4.060	135 m	+0.250
13	Johnny Boyd	—	8	4:10.400	+4.820	148 m	+0.760
14	Bob Christie	—	38	4:10.630	+5.050	152 m	+0.230
15	Wayne Weiler	—	32	4:10.850	+5.270	155 m	+0.220
16	Anthony Joseph Foyt	—	5	4:10.930	+5.350	157 m	+0.080
17	Johnny Thomson	—	3	4:05.830	+0.250	72 m	-5.100
18	Tony Bettenhausen	—	2	4:07.910	+2.330	106 m	+2.080
19	Shorty Templeman	—	26	4:10.250	+4.670	145 m	+2.340
20	Gene Force	—	37	4:10.920	+5.340	157 m	+0.670
21	Bobby Grim	—	14	4:11.470	+5.890	166 m	+0.550
22	Red Amick	—	27	4:11.600	+6.020	168 m	+0.130
23	Jim Hurtubise	—	56	4:01.520	-4.060	0 m	-10.080
24	Gene Hartley	—	48	4:10.180	+4.600	144 m	+8.660
25	Bob Veith	—	44	4:11.110	+5.530	160 m	+0.930
26	Paul Goldsmith	—	99	4:12.130	+6.550	177 m	+1.020
27	Duane Carter	—	17	4:12.400	+6.820	181 m	+0.270
28	Bud Tingelstad	—	18	4:12.890	+7.310	189 m	+0.490
29	Eddie Russo	—	46	4:13.160	+7.580	194 m	+0.270
30	Al Herman	—	76	4:13.810	+8.230	205 m	+0.650
31	Bill Homeier	—	39	4:14.870	+9.290	222 m	+1.060
32	Jim McWithey	—	16	4:16.450	+10.870	249 m	+1.580
33	Dempsey Wilson	—	23	4:11.370	+5.790	164 m	-5.080

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: 3 of 1960
Grand Prix: Indianapolis 500
Dates: 30 May 1960
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.