1961 INDIANAPOLIS 500

The 45th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1961. For the first time since 1949, the Indianapolis 500 was not recognized on the World Championship calendar. The race celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Indy 500 in 1911.
Eddie Sachs and A. J. Foyt were battling for 1st-2nd in the latter stages of the race. On Foyt's final scheduled pit stop, his crew is unable to properly engage the fuel mechanism, and his car does not take on a full load of fuel. Foyt returns to the track, and is pulling away from Sachs. Foyt's car is running faster due to the light fuel load, but his crew signals him that he will be unable to make it to the finish without another pit stop. The crew borrowed a fuel tank from Len Sutton's team, and signaled Foyt to the pits.
Foyt gives up the lead on lap 184 for a splash-and-go. That hands the lead to Sachs, who is now leading by 25 seconds. With three laps to go, the warning tread shows through on Sachs' rear tire and Sachs decides to play it safe. Rather than nurse the car around, he pits to replace the worn tire on lap 197. Foyt takes the lead with three laps to go and wins his first (of four) Indy 500 victories by a margin of 8.28 seconds.
A notable story included the appearance of two-time defending Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham from Australia, who drove the race in a low-slung, British built Cooper powered by a Coventry Climax engine. Dubbed the "British Invasion," it would be the first notable post-war appearance of a rear-engined car, and within five years the rear-engined revolution would take over the Speedway. The venerable front-engined roadsters with their larger and more powerful engines were much faster down the long straights, but the superior handling of Brabham's Cooper in the corners kept his car competitive. Brabham qualified 17th at 145.144 mp/h and drove the car to a respectable 9th place finish, completing all 200 laps.
Five months after the race in October 1961, the front straight of the track was paved over with asphalt, and thus the entire track was now paved in asphalt and only a single yard of bricks at the start/finish line was left exposed from the original 1909 brick surface. The remainder of the original 3,200,000 bricks now lie underneath the asphalt surface. This meant that the 1961 race was the last 500 in which cars raced on the original bricks other than those at the start/finish line. Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Indianapolis_500

Starting Lineup:

Row 1	Eddie Sachs	Don Branson	Jim Hurtubise
Row 2	Rodger Ward	Parnelli Jones	Dick Rathmann
Row 3	A.J. Foyt	Len Sutton	Bill Cheesbourg
Row 4	Eddie Johnson	Jim Rathmann	Wayne Weiler
Row 5	Jack Brabham	A.J. Shepherd	Gene Hartley
Row 6	Bob Christie	Paul Goldsmith	Shorty Templeman
Row 7	Ebb Rose	Johnny Boyd	Jack Turner
Row 8	Troy Ruttman	Jimmy Daywalt	Bobby Grim
Row 9	Lloyd Ruby	Al Keller	Don Davis
Row 10	Chuck Stevenson	Roger McCluskey	Cliff Griffith
Row 11	Dempsey Wilson	Norm Hall	Bobby Marshman
Other Drivers on Entry List:
Bert Brooks
Bill Randall
Bob Cleberg
Bob Veith
Bob Wente
Bud Tingelstad
Chuck Arnold
Chuck Hulse
Chuck Rodee
Chuck Weyant
Cotton Farmer
Danny Jones
Don Freeland
Duane Carter
Harry Beck
Jack Ensley
Jack Rounds
Jim McWithey
Leon Clum
Mike Magill
Paul Russo
Ralph Liguori
Ray Crawford
Ronnie Duman
Russ Congdon
Tony Bettenhausen
Race Results:
Finish	Driver	Laps	Status	Prize Money
1	A.J. Foyt	200	139.13	$117,975
2	Eddie Sachs	200	139.041	$53,400
3	Rodger Ward	200	138.539	$26,500
4	Shorty Templeman	200	136.873	$16,025
5	Al Keller	200	136.034	$13,725
6	Chuck Stevenson	200	135.742	$9,875
7	Bobby Marshman	200	135.534	$9,550
8	Lloyd Ruby	200	134.86	$8,750
9	Jack Brabham	200	134.116	$7,250
10	Norm Hall	200	134.104	$8,250
11	Gene Hartley	198	Running	$5,820
12	Parnelli Jones	192	Running	$10,350
13	Dick Rathmann	164	Fuel pump	$5,580
14	Paul Goldsmith	160	Oil leak	$5,210
15	Wayne Weiler	147	Wheel	$5,040
16	Dempsey Wilson	145	Fuel pump	$4,920
17	Bob Christie	132	Piston	$4,850
18	Eddie Johnson	127	Accident	$4,730
19	Len Sutton	110	Transmission	$4,650
20	Troy Ruttman	105	Clutch	$6,970
21	Johnny Boyd	105	Clutch	$4,650
22	Jim Hurtubise	102	Piston	$10,410
23	Ebb Rose	93	Oil line	$4,530
24	Cliff Griffith	55	Piston	$4,750
25	Jack Turner	52	Accident	$5,720
26	A.J. Shepherd	51	Accident	$4,440
27	Roger McCluskey	51	Accident	$4,710
28	Bill Cheesbourg	50	Accident	$4,430
29	Don Davis	49	Accident	$4,950
30	Jim Rathmann	48	Magneto	$5,270
31	Jimmy Daywalt	27	Brakes	$4,890
32	Bobby Grim	26	Fuel injection	$4,660
33	Don Branson	2	Valves	$5,080
Lap Leaders:
1 35	Jim Hurtubise
36-41	Jim Rathmann
42-44	Parnelli Jones
45-51	Eddie Sachs
52-75	Parnelli Jones
76-83	A.J. Foyt
84-88	Troy Ruttman
89	A.J. Foyt
90-94	Troy Ruttman
95-124	A.J. Foyt
125-137	Eddie Sachs
138	A.J. Foyt
139-141	Eddie Sachs
142-146	A.J. Foyt
147-151	Eddie Sachs
152-160	A.J. Foyt
161-167	Rodger Ward
168-169	Eddie Sachs
170-183	A.J. Foyt
184-197	Eddie Sachs
198-200	A.J. Foyt