The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 51 days away! This is the 52nd 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 21 drivers who have completed at least 2,200 laps, which is equivalent to 11 full races. This list does not look at relief appearances, in which a driver took over for another driver (or in some cases, was relieved) for the rest of the race or for a period of time in the middle of the race.
Career Laps Completed, Drivers with 2,200 or More
- A.J. Foyt: 4,845
- Al Unser: 4,356
- Helio Castroneves: 3,254
- Al Unser Jr.: 3,173
- Gordon Johncock: 3,158
- Mario Andretti: 3,040
- Buddy Lazier: 3,015
- Arie Luyendyk: 2,957
- Johnny Rutherford: 2,792
- Tony Kanaan: 2,765
- Scott Dixon: 2,669
- Michael Andretti: 2,653
- Bobby Unser: 2,611
- Cliff Bergere: 2,425
- Ed Carpenter: 2,407
- Gary Bettenhausen: 2,372
- Lloyd Ruby: 2,357
- Rick Mears: 2,342
- Jim Rathmann: 2,320
- Raul Boesel: 2,213
- Marco Andretti: 2,205
Notes of Interest
- A.J. Foyt actually completed a total of 4,904 laps; 59 laps were in relief appearances in the 1962 race (Elmer George) and 1973 race (George Snider). He was the second relief driver for George (following 74 laps by Paul Russo), and took over for Snider after Snider gave up his seat following Swede Savage’s accident on Lap 59.
- Six of the 21 drivers on the list are active and competed in the 2017 Indianapolis 500: Helio Castroneves, Buddy Lazier, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Ed Carpenter and Marco Andretti.
- The top 11 drivers and 14 of the 21 on this list have all won the Indianapolis 500 at least once. Michael Andretti, 12th, is the highest driver on the list without a victory.
- Mauri Rose was two laps shy of completing at least 2,200 laps, at 2,198 laps.
- Helio Castroneves, who jumped to third in the 2017 race (completed 200 laps), has completed 3,254 of 3,346 laps, which is 97.3 percent of laps in a race in which he’s competed. Of the 92 laps he did not complete, 91 of those were in the 2006 race, when he retired after 109 laps due to an accident. He also finished one lap down in the 2011 race.
- Buddy Lazier became the seventh driver to complete 3,000 laps, when he did so in 2017. He can climb as high as fourth if he competes in the 2018 race, and completes at least 168 laps (would tie Al Unser Jr.).
- Tony Kanaan, currently 10th on the list, could climb as high as eighth on the list in the 2018 race if he completes at least 192 laps. He would pass Johnny Rutherford for ninth by completing at least 28 laps (tie with 27 laps completed), and pass Arie Luyendyk by completing at least 193 laps (tie with 192 laps completed).
- Marco Andretti can enter the top 20 in laps completed all-time by completing eight laps (would tie Raul Boesel).
- Mario Andretti made a relief appearance for Larry Dickson in the 1968 race for 11 laps, which would bring his total to 3,051. It would not move him any further on the list.
- Lloyd Ruby, 17th on this list, would move up to 14th based on a relief appearance for George Snider in the 1967 race. Ruby finished last after crashing out after completing three laps. Rain began falling after the accident, and the remainder of the race was postponed until the following day. Snider got sick overnight, and Ruby replaced him, completing 96 more laps. His total therefore would be 2,453 laps completed, putting him ahead of Cliff Bergere.
- For Bergere and Jim Rathmann, their totals are different as well, as both received relief help after starting a race. Bergere had relief help in seven of his 13 races, and depending on lap totals, could have completed as few as 2,136 laps (depending on whether or not his relief drivers were lapped, etc.). In five of the nine races in which he was credited with completing 200 laps, he received relief help.
- Rathmann was relieved in two races (1953 and 1954), however, served as a relief driver for another driver during both of those races. Depending on laps he actually completed during the time in the car, he could have completed approximately 2,273 laps (this number is not official), though that would not have affected his 19th-place position. But it’d be just as easy to count the laps in his official finish.
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