By Dick Mittman
indy500.com

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

New Qualifying Format | New Qualifying Q&A | 2005 Indy 500 Schedule

Lewis Strang in 1911, Wild Bill Cummings in 1933 and Buddy Rice in 2004 all started on the pole in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. But each of them got there through a different qualifying procedure.

Qualifying, like the race cars, speeds, drivers' equipment and other aspects of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," has undergone change to keep pace with the times and to make it more attractive to the fans.

It's part of the evolution that continually goes on in every phase of life, including sports.

Qualifying for the pole for the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911 had no excitement because it all was a matter of who got to the post office first.

In 1911, qualifying was more a matter of a driver getting his car to reach 75 mph from a flying start on a quarter-mile stretch of the main straight. This was done May 27-28, and a driver was given three attempts to reach that speed. Forty drivers succeeded.

Then management sorted through the entry blanks and lined up the 40 drivers according to the date when their entries were received. Strang, driver of one of three Cases entered, was the lucky early bird and got the pole. Oddly, the other Case entries started eighth and ninth.

Since it took Ray Harroun nearly seven hours to win the race, the pole didn't mean a whole lot. Harroun started 28th. Ralph Mulford finished second, and David Bruce-Brown third after starting 29th and 25th, respectively.

The next year, 75 mph still was the qualifying minimum, but a full-speed lap was required. Entry arrival still determined the pole for the 24 drivers who met the requirement. Gil Anderson received the honor, but Joe Dawson won after starting seventh.

Luck determined the pole-sitter in 1913-14 after the 75-mph minimum was attained. A draw took place, and Caleb Bragg's number was pulled out in '13 and Jean Chassagne's the next year.

Eighty miles per hour became the speed needed to make the race in 1915. And the pole was awarded to the fastest driver among those who reached the minimum speed. Howdy Wilcox thus became the first official pole winner by speed alone. He finished seventh behind winner Ralph DePalma, who started second.

Johnny Aitken earned the pole in 1916 as a first-day qualifier. The qualifying method was altered to make qualifiers on succeeding days start behind those who went first. The starting field was expanded to a maximum of 33 cars in 1915, but it wasn't until 1919 that it was filled.

The four-lap qualifying concept, still used today, was introduced in 1920. Ralph DePalma became the first to grab the pole on a four-lap run, averaging 99.15 mph. However, only 23 cars made the 80-mph minimum.

The speed was elevated to 90 mph in 1926 and reduced to 85 in 1930. The field size was opened to 40 in '30, but only 38 qualified.

In the depth of the Great Depression in 1933, a new qualifying format was designed to send the cars around the 2 ½-mile oval 10 times, or 25 miles. The catch was that it had to be done with only 3 gallons of fuel.

Cummings took the pole in 1933, averaging a track record 118.530 but finished 25th. The field expanded to a record 42 that year, but returned to 33 the following May. Also in '33, a second-day qualifier was eligible to compete for the pole. The speed minimum reached 100 mph in 1933, too.

The 10-lap qualifying format stayed in effect until 1938. Qualifying returned to four laps in 1939 and has been the norm ever since.

While four-lap qualifying has been standard since 1939, other aspects of the format have changed since then.

For starters, the minimum speed requirement was dropped after the 1963 race, when it was 135 mph.

The number of days of qualifying also has changed recently. From 1998-2000, qualifying was trimmed to one weekend. In 2001, qualifying returned to two weekends. However, there was no qualifying on the Saturday of the second weekend. Sunday was Bump Day.

Qualifying will return to a traditional, four-day format over consecutive weekends in 2005.

Even small details such as the number of warm-up laps and the way drivers signaled the start of a qualifying attempt have changed. Warm-up laps became limited to three after World War II and reduced to two in 1982. Drivers used to raise their hand in the air to signal the start of a qualifying attempt, a practice that was ended after the 1973 race.

There also have been a few exceptions to the rules over the years.

In 1947, there was qualifying on the Monday after time trials supposedly were complete, as a half-dozen drivers were allowed to run after the final gun sounded when the qualified drivers agreed to the belated attempts. Mel Hansen and Emil Andres qualified for the field in that extra session.

There also has been qualifying at 5 a.m. on Race Day, in the 1920s.

The number of cars allowed in the field also has deviated from the standard 33 twice since the end of World War II, as 35 cars started in 1979 and 1997.

So the latest qualifying changes announced Sept. 14 by Speedway officials, with bumping on each of the four qualifying days and 11 spots available on each of the first three days of qualifying, are just the latest in the efforts to make the chase to earn a spot in the starting field appealing to the fans and competitors.

But the new format still has many common threads with Indianapolis 500 tradition.

There still are four-lap qualifying runs, and the driver with the fastest average speed on the first day - unless all 11 first-day qualifiers are bumped - will sit on the MBNA Pole on Race Day, May 29.

There are the traditional four days of qualifying, with the grid set on a day-by-day sequence as in the past. This continues to reward a driver for qualifying earlier in the month of May.

And qualifying still will produce the traditional 33-car field.

What the new qualifying format does do is give teams and drivers many more opportunities to become the pole-sitter or make the field. And it also makes qualifying even more exciting for drivers, teams and fans, a constant goal of the Speedway since the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. ***

2005 tickets: To purchase tickets, camping or parking for the 89th Indianapolis 500, contact the IMS ticket office at (800) 822-INDY or log on to www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

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