1974 Indianapolis 500

58th running of the Indianapolis 500

The 58th 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 26, 1974. Johnny Rutherford, in his eleventh attempt, won the race from the 25th starting position, the farthest back since Louis Meyer in 1936. It was the first of his three Indy victories, and started a three year stretch where he finished 1st 2nd 1st. The race was run relatively clean, with no major crashes or injuries, a sharp contrast from the tragic 1973 event. In order to increase safety, significant improvements were made to the track and cars. Foyt would go on to start a total of 35 consecutive races (1958–1992), and as of 2023, still holds the record for most starts.

The race was run in the wake of the energy crisis, which precipitated several changes to the schedule. During the offseason, government officials were pressuring sports and recreational organizations to curtail their energy consumption. Track management did not want to shorten the traditional 500 mile race distance, but agreed to voluntarily curtail other track activities. In the first half of 1974, NASCAR decided to trim all of their race distances by 10%, as well as scale back practice and ancillary events. Earlier in the year, the Daytona 500 was notably trimmed by 20 laps (the race officially started on lap 21), and the race ran a distance of only 450 miles. Furthermore, the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring were canceled outright. USAC opted to cut a week of practice out of the schedule for the Indy 500. Previously, the track would open for practice on May 1 (or as early as the Saturday before May 1). For 1974, the track opened three weeks before the race. Time trials were cut back from four days to two. Pole day would be held on the Saturday two weeks before the race, and Bump Day would be held on the Saturday one week before the race. In addition, the track would begin opening on practice days around 12 noon, rather than the previous 9 a. m. Normally, the first few hours of practice were quiet and leisurely with few cars taking advantage of the track time. Thus they were deemed superfluous and excessive on resources and operating costs. This change was also introduced because it made logical sense to have drivers practicing on the track at the same time of day as they would be running in time trials and the race itself (theoretically it would better mimic the conditions encountered on those days). The reduced on track time was seen as a way to reduce overall fuel consumption – fewer days that fans would drive their cars to the track – but a mostly insignificant reduction of the actual methanol fuel used by the race cars.

After the tragic 1973 race, several changes were made to the course, as well as the car rules. The pit lane was widened, and lengthened to the north by about 400 feet. In addition, the inside wall from turn 4 to the pit entrance, which had played a part in the fatal 1973 crash that killed Swede Savage and the 1964 crash that killed Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs, was moved in, which allowed cars to have a much easier entrance into the pit lane as asphalt replaced grass in that area. The heights of the inside and outside retaining walls were also raised and set at a uniform height, a second safety fence was added to the existing fencing throughout, and several rows of trackside seats on the main straightaway were removed. Also part of the improvements were a new flagstand and officials' booth. Tom Binford, the new chief steward for 1974, requested the construction of an elevated booth, to be located on the outside of the track at the start/finish line. The flagging duties were moved to the new perch. Previously they were done from a small trackside platform on the inside grass along the pit lane, and prior to that, on the race track itself. Though flagman Pat Vidan did not particularly like the confines of the new flagstand). Just three days after the 1973 race, USAC held an urgent meeting to draft emergency rule changes in time for the Pocono 500. Rear wings were reduced in size from 64 inches to 55 inches. On board fuel capacity was reduced from down to , and fuel tanks were only allowed on the left side of the car, with the exception of a 21/2 gallon pick up tank. An energy absorbing material was to be placed in the spot formerly occupied by the right side tank, and total fuel allotment for the 500 miles was reduced from 375 to 340 gallons. By May 1974, the rules were changed once more, further reducing the total fuel allotment to 280 gallons, and rear wings down to 43 inches. Three Time Formula One World Champion Jackie Stewart who was reporting for ABC Sports filmed a piece on improved safety and he said "The cars wishing to enter the pitlane should continue though turn four low on the racetrack on the new black surface. I don't much like the idea of the infield to be used by emergency equipment to go in the opposite direction of the race cars themselves but of course these are ambulances and wreckers so it may have to happen. The pit lane has been extended by a full one and a half football fields in length, it's demarcation point is this structure. Now this I disapprove of because if a race car hit's this, it's going to be a horrible accident and I think it's unnecessary. The new pit lane operation however I think is going to be considerably safer and considerably better then what we ever seen at Indianapolis before." Stewart then question Binford about the changes saying "I think they are two benefits that I could think of off hand, one of is that we can bring the pace car off sooner then [sic] we were able to do in the past, out and away from the field in the fourth turn." During time trials, all cars were required to carry a pop off valve to control turbocharger "boost." Maximum boost levels were set at 80 inHG. During time trials, a new safety rule was put into place to convey to the officials the start of a qualifying attempt. When a driver was on his three warm up laps, a crew member(s) from his team was now stationed at the north end of the mainstretch, and provided with two flags (green and yellow). When the car came around after the third and final warm up lap, the crew member was instructed to wave a green flag in the air to signify the driver will begin the run. If the crew waves a yellow flag, or waves no flag, the run does not start, the car returns to the pits, and the attempt does not count. As in previous years, each car was still permitted up to three official qualifying attempts. Previously, the driver himself would make the decision on whether to start the qualifying run. He would do so by raising his hand in the air as he approached the start/finish line. Due to the significantly rising speeds, and the awkwardness of doing so in the increasingly confined cockpits, this practice was abandoned. For instance, during qualifying in 1970, Lloyd Ruby raised his hand to make his attempt, but officials did not see it, and inadvertently waved him off. After he persuaded the officials for a do over, he burned a piston. It was also in the interest of safety, reflecting upon an incident that involved Bobby Grim during the 1959 race. Grim suffered magneto failure and began coasting to the pits. As was customary for drivers of the time, he raised his arm to signify to the other drivers he had lost power. However, due to the high speed he was still traveling, he painfully dislocated his arm in the process. This new arrangement also made it simpler for the crew to "wave off" an unsatisfactory attempt already in progress. At any time during the four lap run, if the crew was dissatisfied with the performance, they could wave a yellow flag, and officials would immediately abort the run. Crews could now wave off a run without needing input from, or conveying the message to, the driver out on the track. Previously the only way to wave off a run was to pull into the pits. Typically, crew members would use hand held stopwatches and clock their car from a reference point in turn four. That would give them enough time to estimate their forthcoming lap time, and decide whether to abort the run before the car crossed the start/finish line. Furthermore, the rules made it clear that the instant the yellow flag was waved by the crew, the run was aborted, irrespective of the position of the car out on the track. If the car continued down the mainstretch, it would not matter if he/she proceeded to cross the finish line. Previously, if a car physically crossed the finish line, the run counted and was locked in, even if the team was intending to wave off the run. That situation made for some precarious maneuvers to the pit lane or to cars stopping out on the track to avoid crossing the finish line and 'locking in' the undesirable qualifying time.

The 1974 race would be the last, temporarily, for Firestone, who dropped out of Indy car competition effective at the end of the season. Firestone had been a fixture at the Indianapolis 500 dating back to 1911. Firestone shod cars had won the Indianapolis 500 a total of 48 times to date, including the first race and 43 consecutive from 1920 to 1966. By the mid 1960s, Goodyear had joined the sport, and began a fiercely competitive "tire war". Firestone had not won the 500 since Al Unser won back to back in 1970 1971. Starting in 1975, Goodyear became the lone tire supplier for Championship Car racing and the Indy 500 an arrangement that would continue through 1994. Firestone made a heralded return to Indy car competition in 1995, and eventually became the exclusive tire supplier starting in 2000.

Qualifying was scheduled for two days (Saturday May 11 & Saturday May 18). Each day was slated to have two separate sessions, an early session from 11:00 a. m. to 2:30 p. m., followed by a late session from 2:30 p. m. to 6:00 p. m. The four total sessions were intended to mimic the traditional four days of time trials which had been scaled back for 1974 due to the energy crisis. The pole position was to be the fastest driver before 2:30 p. m. on the first day (May 11), or once the original qualifying draw had exhausted. Officials announced that the pole round would be extended beyond 2:30 p. m. only if all cars had not yet had their opportunity to make their allotted attempt. Qualifiers from the late session would line up behind the qualifiers from the early session, and so on. Rain, however, threw a wrench into the plan on both days. Pole qualifying ended up stretching in to the second day. Once the pole round was finally completed, bump day qualifying immediately commenced, and the four sessions plan was scrapped.

Pole Day was scheduled for Saturday May 11. A. J. Foyt drew the first spot in the qualifying draw, and was the first car to make an attempt when the track opening at 11 a. m. His four lap speed of 191.632 mph placed him tentatively on the pole position. Wally Dallenbach completed a run of 189.683 mph, which put him in second starting position. His car featured a controversial "king sized" turbocharger, which some competitors complained was too large to be controlled by the standard issue pop off valves. Ultimately, Dallenbach's blower was deemed legal, but USAC ruled that the team had to use the same turbo in the race. They would not be allowed to swap it out for the more fuel conservative smaller turbo on race day. At 12:25 p. m. rain halted qualifying. Only nine cars had completed an attempt. At 3:35 p. m., the track was dried, and qualifying resumed. Five more cars were able to take to the track, but rain returned, and the track was closed for the day at 4:20 p. m. The field was only filled to 15 cars, and several drivers, including Mario Andretti and Gordon Johncock were still in line and eligible for the pole. Al Unser and Johnny Rutherford, however, both suffered blown engines during the day, and had to forfeit their spots in the qualifying line. Both would be ineligible for the pole, and would have to be second day qualifiers.

The track opened for time trials on Saturday May 18 with eleven cars still eligible for the pole position round. Gordon Johncock was the first driver out, and he completed a run of 186.287 mph. The next car out was Mike Hiss, who qualified third at 187.490 mph. Andretti was the last driver who was a factor for the pole, but he ended up fifth. At 12:30 p. m., the pole round was officially over, with A. J. Foyt holding on to the pole position. The field officially was filled to 24 cars. As soon as the pole round had concluded, rain fell, closing the track for almost four hours. At 4:20 p. m., the track was dried and re opened for Bump Day time trials. Rutherford, who missed out on the pole round, qualified at 190.446 mph, the second fastest car in the field. Since he was a second day qualifier, however, he was forced to line up behind the first day qualifiers in 25th position. With fifteen minutes left in the day, the field was filled to 33 cars. Johnny Parsons bumped Jigger Sirois out of the field with nine minutes left. The final car to make an attempt was rookie Jan Opperman, who qualified for the 32nd position, bumping Denny Zimmerman. Sammy Sessions and others were left waiting in line at the 6 o'clock gun. A protest was filed by owners representing nine cars that were not able to make an attempt (mostly due to the numerous rain delays), but it was dismissed.

RowInsideMiddleOutside1 14 A. J. Foyt 40 Wally Dallenbach Sr. 68 Mike Hiss2 20 Gordon Johncock 5 Mario Andretti 98 Mike Mosley3 48 Bobby Unser 24 Tom Sneva 73 David Hobbs4 44 Dick Simon 8 Gary Bettenhausen 21 Jimmy Caruthers5 82 George Snider 77 Salt Walther 60 Steve Krisiloff6 4 Bill Vukovich II 55 Jerry Grant 9 Lloyd Ruby7 42 Jerry Karl 18 Bill Simpson 11 Pancho Carter 8 89 John Martin 27 Tom Bigelow 61 Rick Muther9 3 Johnny Rutherford 15 Al Unser 1 Roger McCluskey10 56 Jim Hurtubise 94 Johnny Parsons 45 Jim McElreath11 79 Bob Harkey 51 Jan Opperman 59 Larry Cannon

At the start, Wally Dallenbach blasted from the middle of the front row to take the lead into turn one. His aforementioned "king sized" turbocharger was credited for the fast start, but its reliability was a source of considerable concern. Dallenbach set a new race record for one lap of 191.408 mph on lap 2, as he pulled out to a sizable lead. The lead was short lived, however, as Dallenbach broke a piston and coasted to a stop on lap 3. Attrition was very high early on, as eight cars dropped out with mechanical problems by lap 11. Mario Andretti and Gary Bettenhausen each broke a valve, and Mike Mosley blew an engine. Rick Muther pulled into the pits with problems during the pace lap, but rejoined the race, only to lose a piston after 11 laps. A. J. Foyt took the lead when Dallenbach dropped out. Rutherford was charging dramatically from the 25th starting position. By lap 23, he was running third, and on lap 24, he passed Bobby Unser to take 2nd position.

The top five consisted of Foyt, Rutherford, Bobby Unser, rookie Tom Sneva and Al Unser. By lap 45, Rutherford was driving very aggressively in traffic, and caught up to Foyt. The two cars ran nose to tail over the next several laps. During the second sequence of pit stops around lap 50, teammates Gordon Johncock and Steve Krisiloff both ran out of fuel. They coasted back to the pits and lost considerable time on the track. Bobby Unser also ran out of fuel, and top of that, had a 39 second pit stop. On lap 62, the first caution came out when Larry Cannon stalled on the backstretch. Under the yellow, A. J. Foyt had a terrible pit stop of 53 seconds, which allowed Rutherford to take the lead for the first time on lap 65. The green came out on lap 68, but only lasted three laps, as Jimmy Caruthers blew an engine, and dropped oil on the track. Five laps later, Pancho Carter lightly brushed the wall exiting turn four, but the car did not suffer significant damage. On the next green flag pit stop around lap 90, Rutherford was on the receiving end of good luck. He ducked into the pits under green, but seconds later the caution came out for a spin by Jan Opperman, which allowed Rutherford to pit with little time lost.

Jerry Karl crashed in turn 3 after completing 115 laps. During the caution, Johnny Rutherford exited the pits right in front of second place A. J. Foyt, and held the lead. Seconds later, the green light came back on while the drivers were in the southchute. Foyt got the jump on the restart, and passed Rutherford for the lead in turn 2. At lap 130, Foyt, Rutherford, and Bobby Unser were running 1st 2nd 3rd. Al Unser dropped out on lap 131 with a broken valve, bringing out the caution for a tow in. Foyt ducked into the pits, and Rutherford was now the leader again. On lap 138, the green light came back on. Foyt came through traffic and passed Rutherford for the lead down the mainstretch. A lap later though, Foyt's car began smoking, and he was issued the black flag due to leaking oil. After two pit stops, Foyt dropped out with a broken turbocharger scavenger pump. Rutherford took over the lead on lap 141, and seemed to have the race in hand. Bobby Unser was the only other car on the lead lap, but was between 15 20 second behind. Rutherford had a close call in turn one while attempting to pass lap traffic. As he was lapping Pancho Carter and Jim McElreath, Carter spun right next to him in turn one. McElreath narrowly avoided him, and all three cars continued. Rutherford gave up the lead only one more time on lap 176 during a pit stop. He led the final 24 laps to win his first Indianapolis 500. David Hobbs' 5th place finish was the only top ten at Indianapolis for a foreign driver in the 1970s (except Andretti, who was born in Italy but was a naturalized U. S. citizen). Immediately after the checkered flag was waved for Johnny Rutherford, a multitude of fans streamed onto the active track in turn 3. This forced the race steward to immediately halt the race, rather than give lapped drivers five extra minutes to complete the race distance as had been the custom since 1964 (before 1964, the time allowed was even longer). The fan incursion caused the Indianapolis 500 race rules to be changed for 1975 and beyond, so that the winner crossing the line ends the race, and all competitors behind the race winner are allowed only to finish their current running lap under green.