The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 54 days away! This is the 49th day of the 102 Stats in 102 Days Until the 102nd Indy 500.
Each day from now until the Saturday before the Indianapolis 500, we’ll post a list of stats related to the race. Some are well-known statistics, while others are a little more in-depth.
Here is a look at the drivers who have completed the entire race distance the most times. Helio Castroneves has finished on the lead lap an astounding 15 times in 17 starts to lead all drivers, four more than his closest competitor.
Like many of the top 10 lists, there is a tie for 10th; in this case, seven drivers are tied for 10th, so the list looks at the drivers who have completed the full distance at least seven times.
Number of Times Completing Every Lap of Race (Wins)
- Helio Castroneves: 15 times (3 wins)
- Scott Dixon: 11 times (1 win)
- Tony Kanaan: 11 times (1 win)
- A.J. Foyt: 10 times (4 wins)
- Cliff Bergere: 9 times (0 wins)
- Marco Andretti: 9 times (0 wins)
- Wilbur Shaw: 8 times (3 wins)
- Ted Horn: 8 times (0 wins)
- Dario Franchitti: 8 times (3 wins)
- Louis Meyer: 7 times (3 wins)
- Rodger Ward: 7 times (2 wins)
- Jim Rathmann: 7 times (1 win)
- Al Unser: 7 times (4 wins)
- Rick Mears: 7 times (4 wins)
- Dan Wheldon: 7 times (2 wins)
- Will Power: 7 times (0 wins)
Notes of Interest
- Cliff Bergere and Marco Andretti have completed the full distance the most times by drivers who did not win the race: nine each.
- Scott Dixon holds the record for consecutive races finished on the lead lap with eight, from 2006 to 2013.
- George Snider never finished on the lead lap in any of his 22 races, the most races of any driver. Roger McCluskey (18 starts), Pancho Carter (17), Dick Simon (17) and Wally Dallenbach (13) round out the top five of drivers with most races that did not finish on the lead lap. However, each of the drivers – the victims of bad luck – completed the race, albeit at least one lap off the winner’s pace, on multiple occasions.
- Ralph Mulford was the only driver to complete every lap of the first four Indianapolis 500s, from 1911 to 1914. Charlie Merz completed every lap of the first three races, and Hughie Hughes completed every lap of the first two.
- For six drivers, the only times they finished the full distance came when they won (without a co-winner): Ray Harroun (1911); Frank Lockhart (1926); George Robson (1946); Bill Vukovich (1953, 1954); Graham Hill (1966); and Danny Sullivan (1985). Sullivan made 12 starts, the most of any of these six drivers.
- Johnny Rutherford finished the full race distance in the Indianapolis 500 only four times in 24 starts, but won three of those (1974, 1976, 1980).
- Joe Boyer never completed the full distance in any of his five starts, but co-won the 1924 race with L.L. Corum, taking the winning No. 15 Duesenberg to the checkered flag. Boyer was also credited with 18th, his No. 9 Duesenberg finishing 176 laps. The 1924 race went the full 200 laps/500 miles. Corum completed the full distance three times without the need of a relief driver – in 1923, 1930 and 1933.
- Floyd Davis never completed the full distance in any of his four races despite co-winning the 1941 race with Mauri Rose. Davis completed 71 laps in the No. 16 Wetteroth-Offenhauser before Rose took over on Lap 72, and went the rest of the way. Rose started the No. 3 Maserati from the pole position but retired after 60 laps due to deficient spark plugs. The most laps Davis ever completed in the Indianapolis 500 was 190 laps in the 1937 race.
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