1969 INDIANAPOLIS 500

The 53rd International 500 Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1969. Mario Andretti led 116 laps and won for car owner Andy Granatelli. Hard luck driver Lloyd Ruby was leading the race just after the midpoint, but during a pit stop, pulled away with the fueling hose still attached. He ripped a hole in the fuel tank, and was out of the race. The incident put Mario Andretti in the lead for rest of the way. Andretti's victory capped off an up-and-down month of May. He entered the month as a favorite, but he crashed his primary car during practice. Andretti suffered burns but was able to qualify in a back up car for the middle of the front row. Mario Andretti's 1969 Indy 500 win is the lone victory in the race for the storied Andretti racing family. As of 2015, no Andretti has won the Indianapolis 500 since.
Polesitter A. J. Foyt led the race in the early stages, looking to become the first four-time winner of the 500. Near the halfway point, however, a lengthy pit stop to repair a broken manifold put him many laps down.^[1] Despite a hard-charging run towards the end, he wound up managing only an eighth place finish, 19 laps down.
For 1969 not a single front-engined car managed to qualify for the race, and ultimately, one would never do so again. All 33 cars in the field were rear-engined, piston-powered, machines. After the historic failures of the controversial STP Granatelli Turbine machines in 1967 and 1968, USAC imposed additional restrictions that effectively rendered them uncompetitive. The annulus inlet was further reduced from 15.999 in² to 11.999 in², and the Granatelli team parked them forever.
After five drivers were killed at the Speedway in the decade of the 1960s, the month of May 1969 was run relatively clean, with no major injuries. The only injuries for the month were during two practice crashes. Mario Andretti suffered burns to his face, and Sammy Sessions, who suffered a fractured knee cap. Al Unser, Sr. actually suffered the most serious injury of the month, when he crashed his personal motorcycle in the infield. He suffered a broken leg the night before time trials was to begin, and had to sit out the race. Bud Tingelstad served as his replacement in the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing entry.
The car in which Andretti won the 1969 Indy 500 is owned by the Smithsonian, while a replica made from the original blueprints sits on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Indianapolis_500

Starting Lineup:

Row 1	A.J. Foyt	Mario Andretti	Bobby Unser
Row 2	Mark Donohue	Gordon Johncock	Roger McCluskey
Row 3	Jim McElreath	Lee Roy Yarbrough	Gary Bettenhausen
Row 4	Dan Gurney	Joe Leonard	Art Pollard
Row 5	Jim Malloy	Sonny Ates	George Snider
Row 6	Ronnie Bucknum	Johnny Rutherford	Bud Tingelstad
Row 7	Wally Dallenbach	Lloyd Ruby	Arnie Knepper
Row 8	Mike Mosley	Sam Sessions	Mel Kenyon
Row 9	Denis Hulme	Bill Vukovich II	George Follmer
Row 10	Bruce Walkup	Jack Brabham	Carl Williams
Row 11	Larry Dickson	Bobby Johns	Peter Revson
Other Drivers on Entry List:
Al Miller (Krulac)
Al Miller (Krulak)
Al Unser
Bob Harkey
Bob Veith
Bobby Grim
Charlie Glotzbach
Chuck Booth
Cy Fairchild
Dave Strickland
Dee Jones
Denny Zimmerman
George Benson
Graham Hill
Jerry Grant
Jigger Sirois
Jim Hurtubise
Jochen Rindt
Johnny Parsons
Les Scott
Lothar Motschenbacher
Max Dudley
Pat O'Reilly
Rick Muther
Roger West
Sam Posey
Scott Carr
Race Results:
Finish	Driver	Laps	Status	Prize Money
1	Mario Andretti	200	156.867	$206,727
2	Dan Gurney	200	155.337	$67,732
3	Bobby Unser	200	154.09	$45,647
4	Mel Kenyon	200	152.177	$30,612
5	Peter Revson	197	Running	$25,722
6	Joe Leonard	193	Running	$21,602
7	Mark Donohue	190	Running	$21,512
8	A.J. Foyt	181	Running	$50,252
9	Larry Dickson	180	Running	$17,426
10	Bobby Johns	171	Running	$19,841
11	Jim Malloy	165	Running	$17,358
12	Sam Sessions	163	Running	$15,846
13	Mike Mosley	162	Piston	$14,755
14	Roger McCluskey	157	Split header	$15,493
15	Bud Tingelstad	155	Engine	$13,894
16	George Snider	152	Running	$14,016
17	Sonny Ates	146	Magneto	$13,609
18	Denis Hulme	145	Clutch	$12,823
19	Gordon Johncock	137	Piston	$13,585
20	Lloyd Ruby	105	Fuel hose	$13,864
21	Wally Dallenbach	82	Clutch	$12,991
22	Arnie Knepper	82	Accident	$12,189
23	Lee Roy Yarbrough	65	Split header	$12,258
24	Jack Brabham	58	Ignition	$11,725
25	Carl Williams	50	Clutch	$11,809
26	Gary Bettenhausen	35	Piston	$11,541
27	George Follmer	26	Engine failure	$11,994
28	Jim McElreath	24	Engine fire	$11,768
29	Johnny Rutherford	24	Oil tank	$10,963
30	Ronnie Bucknum	16	Piston	$10,929
31	Art Pollard	7	Drive line	$10,816
32	Bill Vukovich II	1	Rod	$11,974
33	Bruce Walkup	0	Transmission	$11,353
Lap Leaders:
1 5	Mario Andretti
6 51	A.J. Foyt
52-58	Wally Dallenbach
59-78	A.J. Foyt
79-86	Lloyd Ruby
87-102	Mario Andretti
103-105	Lloyd Ruby
106-200	Mario Andretti