1930 Indianapolis 500

18th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1930
Winner	Billy Arnold
Winning Entrant	Harry Hartz
Average speed	100.448 mph (161.655 km/h)
Pole position	Billy Arnold
Pole speed	113.268 mph (182.287 km/h)
Most laps led	Arnold (198*) *All time race record
Pre-race
Pace car	Cord L-29
Pace car driver	Wade Morton
Chronology
Previous Next 1929 1931

The 18th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1930. The race was part of the 1930 AAA Championship Car season.

Pole position winner Billy Arnold took the lead on lap 3, and led the entire rest of the race. He led a total of 198 laps (all consecutive), which stands as an all-time Indianapolis 500 race record. Arnold was accompanied by riding mechanic Spider Matlock.

Arnold was the first driver to complete the entire 500 miles in under five hours (over 100 mph average speed) without relief help. Pete DePaolo finished the 1925 race in under five hours, but used a relief driver for 21 laps. Arnold would eventually be named the first member of the prestigious 100 mph Club.

The race was marred by the death of Paul Marshall. He was acting as riding mechanic for his brother Cy when their car hit and flipped over the wall. His brother survived with serious injuries.

Rules changes and the "Junk" formula

The 1930 race ushered in a series of substantially new engine rules and specifications. The allotted displacement was increased from 91 ¹⁄₂ cu. in. (1.5 L) to 366 cu. in. (6.0 L). Superchargers were banned with the exception of two-cycle engines, and riding mechanics were made mandatory once again. In addition, the traditional mandate of a maximum 33-car field was lifted.

Contrary to popular belief, the rules changes were not made in response to the stock market crash of 1929. The rules package is sometimes referred to disparagingly as the "Junk Formula" or the "Junkyard," and a common misconception is that it was implemented in order to "dumb down" the cars and maintain full fields during the Great Depression.

Speedway president Eddie Rickenbacker had decided to make the changes in order to lure back the passenger car manufacturers, and make the cars on the track resemble more those sold to the motoring public. Rickenbacker's desire was to move away from the supercharged, specialized racing machines that had taken over the Speedway through the 1920s. It was his vision at the time to bring the Speedway back to its origins and roots as a "proving ground" for the passenger car industry. The rule changes were in fact being laid out as early as 1928, and were approved by the AAA Contest Board in early January 1929.^[1]

Race schedule

Race schedule – May 1930 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat         1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24 Time Trials 25 Time Trials 26 Time Trials 27 Time Trials 28 Time Trials 29   30 Indy 500 31

Color Notes Green Track Available for Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Blank No track activity

Practice

The deadline for entries to be submitted was midnight on May 1. The track was made available for practice a couple days later, with the first car taking to the track on or around Tuesday May 6.^[2] Most cars did not arrive at the Speedway until the second full week, with activity picking up mid-month.

By Monday May 19, a total of ten cars had taken to the track, with Louis Schneider (105 mph) posting the fastest lap thus far.^[3] On Tuesday May 20, the focus of attention was on the 201-c.i.d, 16-cylinder, Sampson Special of Louis Meyer. The car was now completed and wheeled out of its garage at the Steinhart Brake Services building. It was cranked up for the first time, and ready to deliver to the Speedway. Back at the track, Shorty Cantlon turned a lap of 109 mph.^[4]

On Wednesday May 21, Louis Meyer took to the track for the first time, blistering the bricks with a lap of 110.56 mph in the 16-cylinder machine. Meyer immediately established himself as a favorite for the front row.^[5] Meanwhile, Harry Hartz, who had not yet taken any laps in his front wheel drive Miller Special, was still expected to qualify come Saturday.

On Thursday May 22, Ralph Hepburn (112.20 mph) and Billy Arnold (111.83 mph) took laps in Harry Hartz's Miller Special. They were the two fastest laps thus far for the month. Speculation was growing that Hartz was preparing to hand the car over to either Hepburn or Arnold, but no official arrangement had been announced.^[6] As late as Friday night, Hartz was still insisting to the press that he was intending to race the car himself.^[7]

Time trials

Qualifications was scheduled for five days, spanning from Saturday May 24 through Wednesday May 28. Four-lap qualifying runs were utilized, and cars were allowed up to three attempts. The minimum speed required was 85 mph. Time trials would end each day at sundown.^[6]

Saturday May 24

The first day of time trials was held Saturday May 24, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7:01 p.m. L. L. Corum was the first car to qualify.^[8] Car owner Harry Hartz took the #4 Miller Special out for a shake-down qualifying attempt. After one official lap of 110.429 mph, he parked the car and handed it over to Billy Arnold. Arnold proceeded to win the pole position with a four-lap run of 113.268 mph.

One day after smacking the wall, Ernie Triplett qualified sixth. After practicing on Friday at over 111 mph, and being a favorite for the pole position, Louis Meyer fell short of expectations. Meyer qualified second, owing to an ill-conceived gear ratio change the team decided to make on Saturday morning.

No major incidents were reported.

Pos	No.	Name	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
1	4	Billy Arnold	113.208	113.364	113.279	113.222	113.268
2	1	Louis Meyer (W)	111.552	111.843	111.552	110.227	111.290
3	16	Shorty Cantlon (R)	110.281	110.146	110.200	108.630	109.810
4	23	Louis Schneider	104.883	106.282	106.534	106.749	106.107
5	18	Chet Gardner (R)	106.597	105.485	105.746	105.423	105.811
6	17	Ernie Triplett	105.646	105.646	105.907	105.275	105.618
7	22	Russ Snowberger	104.191	104.275	104.749	105.018	104.577
8	15	Phil Shafer	101.237	102.576	102.904	102.412	102.279
9	25	Leslie Allen (R)	101.569	102.064	101.925	102.122	101.919
10	36	Cy Marshall (R)	100.334	100.976	100.874	101.203	100.846
11	33	Frank Farmer	100.111	100.402	100.581	101.374	100.615
12	14	Lou Moore	100.301	99.911	98.879	99.867	99.867
13	35	J. C. McDonald (R)	98.912	98.803	99.032	99.064	98.953
14	29	Joe Caccia (R)	96.567	97.603	97.954	98.318	97.606
15	41	Chet Miller (R)	96.639	97.014	97.762	98.039	97.360
16	38	Claude Burton (R)	93.760	96.277	94.957	95.390	95.087
17	2	L. L. Corum (W)	94.468	94.379	93.730	93.946	94.130
18	39	Johnny Seymour	92.898	93.303	93.565	93.740	93.376
19	32	Charles Moran (R)	88.757	89.982	89.144	91.084	89.733
	4	Harry Hartz	110.429				Incomplete

• Source: The Indianapolis News^[9]

Sunday May 25

Only two cars completed qualifying runs on Sunday May 25. Peter DePaolo was forced to change engines after crankshaft damage suffered on Saturday. Tony Gulotta put in the 12th-fastest speed thus far in the field, but as a second day qualifier, lined up in 20th starting position.

Rookie owner/driver Julius C. Slade quit his run after only two laps, then eventually would hand the car over to Roland Free.^[10] Rick Decker also pulled in after only two laps.

Pos	No.	Name	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
20	9	Tony Gulotta	100.022	100.626	99.823	99.668	100.033
21	5	Peter DePaolo (W)	99.712	99.491	100.615	100.011	99.956
	31	Rick Decker	96.051	94.548			Incomplete
	28	Julius C. Slade (R)	84.778	85.553			Incomplete

• Source: The Indianapolis News^[9]

Monday May 26

Three cars completed qualifying runs on Monday May 26, filling the field to 24 cars. Bill Cummings led the speed chart for the day, with a run of 106.173 mph, the fourth-fastest car in the field. Cummings car arrived late in the day, and he completed his run after 6 p.m., shortly before the track closed for the day. Cummings day was not without incident, as he nearly involved in an accident along with Peter DePaolo as they drove the car to the Speedway grounds.

Four other drivers took to the track, but failed to complete their runs. Bill Denver quit after two laps. Rick Decker, making his second attempt, blew an engine after completing only one lap. Likewise, Julius C. Slade, also making his second attempt in two days, threw a rod on his final lap. Babe Stapp took to the track just before sundown, but pulled off the track apparently before starting the attempt.

Pos	No.	Name	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
22	6	Bill Cummings (R)	105.820	106.496	105.610	105.770	106.173
23	10	Mel Kenealy (R)	102.916	103.448	103.448	103.496	103.327
24	7	Jimmy Gleason	93.613	93.691	93.848	93.682	93.709
	44	Bill Denver (R)	91.501	91.380			Incomplete
	31	Rick Decker	92.507	engine			Incomplete
	28	Julius C. Slade (R)	87.951	88.037	88.054	engine	Incomplete
	8	Babe Stapp					Incomplete

• Source: The Indianapolis News^[11]

Tuesday May 27

Six cars made qualifying attempts on Tuesday May 27, with all six running to completion. Wilbur Shaw led the speed chart for the day, with a four-lap average of 106.132 mph. There were no major incidents reported.

A day after practicing over 100 mph, Joe Huff did not disappoint, putting in the second-fastest speed of the afternoon. Rick Decker, who threw a rod and blew the engine in his #31 Decker Special on Monday, spent the day working a new engine. Decker made a deal with Fred Clemmons, owner of the #48 Hoosier Pete entry. Clemmons was unable to secure a chassis for his 4-cylinder Hoosier Pete engine, so he allowed Decker to install it in his car. The team expected to be out on the track for Wednesday.

Juan Gaudino (#52) and Fred Fansin (#53) officially scratched their entries, after they failed to arrive. At the end of the day, the field was filled to 30 cars. About twelve hopefuls remained, looking to qualify on Wednesday.

Pos	No.	Name	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
25	3	Wilbur Shaw	103.986	107.565	107.862	105.214	106.132
26	34	Joe Huff (R)	100.852	101.203	100.212	102.471	101.178
27	19	Speed Gardner	94.547	96.288	96.123	95.299	95.585
28	26	Baconin Borzacchini (R)	96.494	96.411	94.747	93.274	95.213
29	45	Marion Trexler (R)	92.431	92.764	93.139	93.584	92.978
30	42	Letterio Cucinotta (R)	90.827	91.445	92.156	91.921	91.584

• Source: The Indianapolis News^[12]

Wednesday May 28

The final day of qualifications was held on Wednesday May 28, with time trials officially ending at sundown (7:04 p.m.) A total of eight cars managed to qualify for the race bringing the field to 38 cars. With an entry list featuring as many as 46-47 possible qualifiers, a total of four failed to qualify, and three cars never arrived. No cars were bumped or "crowded out."

Deacon Litz was the fastest qualifier for the day, with a run of 105.755 mph. After two failed attempts, Rick Decker finally made the field, after he finished installation of the Hoosier Pete engine. Fred Roberts and Rollin May failed to complete their attempts. Roberts threw a rod, and May was too slow to meet the 80 mph minimum speed. Doc MacKenzie never made it out to the track, and Sam Greco threw a rod with only thirty minutes left in the day.

Pos	No.	Name	Lap 1 (mph)	Lap 2 (mph)	Lap 3 (mph)	Lap 4 (mph)	Average Speed (mph)
31	12	Deacon Litz	104.676	106.070	106.132	106.157	105.755
32	8	Babe Stapp	104.834	105.895	104.118	104.969	104.950
33	24	Dave Evans	97.171	97.434	98.993	96.681	97.342
34	21	Zeke Meyer (R)	94.997	95.470	94.777	96.195	95.357
35	48	Rick Decker	92.147	92.053	92.147	92.831	92.293
36	44	Bill Denver (R)	90.680	91.185	90.126	90.616	90.650
37	28	Roland Free (R)	89.419	89.552	89.686	89.901	89.639
38	46	Harry Butcher (R)	86.605	86.948	87.133	87.328	87.003
	37	Fred Roberts (R)	80.928				Incomplete
	51	Rollin May(R)	77.640				Incomplete

• Source: The Indianapolis News^[13]

Starting grid

Row	Inside	Middle	Outside
1	Billy Arnold	Louis Meyer (W)	Shorty Cantlon (R)
2	Louis Schneider	Chet Gardner (R)	Ernie Triplett
3	Russ Snowberger	Phil Shafer	Leslie Allen (R)
4	Cy Marshall (R)	Frank Farmer	Lou Moore
5	J. C. McDonald (R)	Joe Caccia (R)	Chet Miller (R)
6	Claude Burton (R)	L. L. Corum (W)	Johnny Seymour
7	Charles Moran (R)	Tony Gulotta	Peter DePaolo (W)
8	Bill Cummings (R)	Mel Kenealy (R)	Jimmy Gleason
9	Wilbur Shaw	Joe Huff (R)	Speed Gardner
10	Baconin Borzacchini (R)	Marion Trexler (R)	Letterio Cucinotta (R)
11	Deacon Litz	Babe Stapp	Dave Evans
12	Zeke Meyer (R)	Bill Denver (R)	Rick Decker
13	Roland Free (R)	Harry Butcher (R)

Alternates

• First alternate: none^[14]

Failed to qualify

• Rollin May (#51) – Incomplete qualifying attempt (Too slow)
• James Klemos/Fred Roberts (#37) – Incomplete qualifying attempt (Engine failure)
• Sam Greco (#49) – Incomplete qualifying attempt (Engine failure)
• Rick Decker (#31) – Engine failure
• Doc MacKenzie (#43) – Did not attempt to qualify
• Fred Fansin (#53) – Withdrawn/Car did not arrive
• Juan Gaudino (#52) – Withdrawn/Car did not arrive
• Duesenberg (#47) – Withdrawn/Car did not arrive

Sources:^[15]

Race recap

First half

Louis Meyer in his 16-cylinder Miller grabbed the lead at the start, out-dueling polesitter Billy Arnold on the first lap. Meyer led laps 1 and 2, then Arnold took the lead on lap 3. Arnold would not relinquish the lead the rest of the afternoon.

On the grid, Rick Decker's engine failed to crank, and he did not start the race. When the crew finally got his car running, it lasted only 8 laps. Chet Gardner was out on the first lap after he spun and brushed the wall on the north end, damaging his left front wheel. Gardner became the first driver in Indy history to drop out of the race without completing a single lap.

A huge crash broke out on the leader's 23rd lap. Fred Roberts (driving relief for Pete DePaolo) lost control and crashed in turn three. He collected the car of Deacon Litz, who suffered a broken arm. Litz's riding mechanic Lloyd Barnes suffered a cut to the head. The cars of Johnny Seymour, Babe Stapp, Lou Moore, and Marion Trexler also got caught up in the incident.^[16] Stapp's car rode up the wall, but he was not seriously injured. Jimmy Gleason's car suffered damage driving through the debris, and he drove back to the pits. He dropped out with what was discovered to be broken timing gears.

After leading early, Louis Meyer was forced to make a pit stop on lap 22 to repair a broken throttle connection. He lost over four minutes in the pits, and dropped as far down as 13th place. He returned to the track, and started charging back up the standings.

On the leader's 31st lap, Cy Marshall wrecked in turn three. The driver was pinned under the wreckage, but survived. His brother, riding mechanic Paul Marshall, was thrown from the car, and died of a fractured skull.

Second half

Billy Arnold won over second place Shorty Cantlon by a margin of over seven minutes (about 4 laps). Arnold was not challenged by any of the other competitors in the second half. During a pit stop on lap 111, Arnold did not request relief help, and managed to drive the entire 500 miles without relief.

Arnold led a total of 198 laps (laps 3–200) to set an all-time Indianapolis 500 record for most total laps led (198), and most consecutive laps led (198).

Second place Shorty Cantlon was relieved by Herman Schurch for laps 97 through 151.^[17]

Louis Meyer worked his way back into the top five by lap 140, but was unable to close the gap on Arnold. Meyer held fourth place over the final 50 laps, and finished sixteen minutes behind.

Box score

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	Laps	Status
1	1	4	Billy Arnold	113.268	1	200	4:58:39.72
2	3	16	Shorty Cantlon (R) (Relieved by Herman Schurch Laps 97-151)	109.810	3	200	+7:17.46
3	4	23	Louis Schneider	106.107	6	200	+11:25.49
4	2	1	Louis Meyer (W)	111.290	2	200	+16:18.35
5	22	6	Bill Cummings (R) (Relieved by Freddy Winnai Laps 113-149)	106.173	4	200	+21:56.39
6	33	24	Dave Evans	97.342	24	200	+25:24.78
7	8	15	Phil Shafer	102.279	13	200	+31:17.65
8	7	22	Russ Snowberger	104.577	11	200	+37:47.24
9	9	25	Leslie Allen (R) (Relieved by Fred Lecklider Laps 51-115) (Relieved by Stubby Stubblefield Laps 116-200)	101.919	14	200	+50:71.79
10	17	2	L. L. Corum (W)	94.130	29	200	+52:52.37
11	16	38	Claude Burton (R)	95.087	28	196	Flagged
12	30	42	Letterio Cucinotta (R)	91.584	34	185	Flagged
13	15	41	Chet Miller (R)	97.360	23	161	Flagged
14	38	46	Harry Butcher (R)	87.003	38	127	Flagged
15	23	10	Mel Kenealy (R)	103.327	12	114	Valve
16	34	21	Zeke Meyer (R)	95.357	26	115	Rod
17	6	17	Ernie Triplett	105.618	9	125	Piston
18	13	35	J. C. McDonald (R) (Relieved by Johnny Krieger Laps 105-112)	98.953	21	112	Fuel tank leak
19	37	28	Roland Free (R)	89.639	37	69	Clutch
20	20	9	Tony Gulotta	100.033	18	79	Valve
21	11	33	Frank Farmer	100.615	17	69	Crash
22	35	44	Bill Denver (R)	90.650	35	41	Rod
23	26	34	Joe Huff (R) (Relieved by Ted Chamberlain Laps 8-27) (Relieved by William Gardner Laps 28-48)	101.178	15	48	Valve
24	25	3	Wilbur Shaw	106.135	5	54	Wrist pin
25	14	29	Joe Caccia (R) (Relieved by Rick Decker)	97.606	22	43	Crash
26	10	36	Cy Marshall (R)	100.846	16	29	Crash T3
27	19	32	Charles Moran (R)	89.733	36	22	Crash T3
28	24	7	Jimmy Gleason	93.709	30	22	Timing gears
29	12	14	Lou Moore	99.867	20	23	Crash T3
30	31	12	Deacon Litz	105.755	8	22	Crash T3
31	32	8	Babe Stapp	104.950	10	18	Crash T3
32	18	39	Johnny Seymour	93.376	31	21	Crash T3
33	21	5	Peter DePaolo (W) (Relieved by Fred Roberts (laps 8-20)	99.956	19	20	Crash T3
34	29	45	Marion Trexler (R)	92.978	32	19	Crash T3
35	27	19	Speed Gardner	95.585	25	14	Main bearing
36	28	26	Baconin Borzacchini (R) (Relieved by Jimmy Rossi (laps 4-7)	95.213	27	7	Magneto
37	36	48	Rick Decker	92.293	33	8	Oil tank
38	5	18	Chet Gardner (R)	105.811	7	1	Spun T1
[18]

Note: Cars not finishing were awarded positions in the order in which they left the track, regardless of lap count

Statistics

Race details

• For 1930, riding mechanics were required.^[19] It was the first time since 1922 that riding mechanics were mandatory.
• This was the first Indy 500 to utilize the green flag to signify the start of the race.^[5][20] Previous years had used the red flag, before the development of standard uniform traffic guidelines and protocol as defined by the MUTCD and AASHTO.
• This was the first 500 after the stock market crash of 1929, and the first to be held under the Great Depression.

Chet Miller

One of the most famous nostalgic stories of Indianapolis 500 lore occurred with driver Chet Miller during the 1930 race. Just short of the mid-way point, Miller was in for a pit stop in his Fronty-Ford. The car, which was made up mostly of Model T parts, was discovered to have a broken right front spring. Race officials would not let Miller return to the track until repairs were made, so the crew began a search for suitable replacement parts.

Within a short time, the crew spotted an unattended Model T, that ostensibly belonged to a spectator, parked nearby in the infield. With the owner nowhere in sight, the crew proceeded to remove the spring they needed, and subsequently installed it on Miller's race car sitting in the pit area. After a stop of over 41 minutes, Miller was back out on the track with the borrowed spring, and drove to a 13th-place finish.

Following the race, with the vehicle's owner still not located, the crew went back to the infield and re-installed the spring on the unknown spectator's Model T. It is believed that the owner of the car was never aware of the entire situation.^[21][22]

Notes

Works cited

• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats – Official Site

References

Grand Prix Race
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