102 Stats in 102 Days Until 102nd Indy 500 – Day 86, Most Relief Drivers in a Single Race (May 10, 2018)

The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 17 days away! This is the 86th day of the 102 Stats in 102 Days Until the 102nd Indy 500 blog.

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.

A total of 46 races have necessitated at least one relief driver. Here are the 10 races with the most relief drivers. This only looks at the number of drivers who started the race and were relieved, not relief drivers who relieved the first relief driver. In some cases, however, a relief driver may have made appearances in multiple cars in the same race, therefore counts for multiple drivers.

Most Relief Drivers in a Single Race

- 1927 race: 19 starters were relieved

- 1928 race: 16 starters were relieved

- 1925 race: 15 starters were relieved

- 1954 race: 15 starters were relieved

- 1929 race: 14 starters were relieved

- 1913 race: 13 starters were relieved

- 1911 race: 12 starters were relieved

- 1923 race: 12 starters were relieved

- 1933 race: 12 starters were relieved

- 1937 race: 12 starters were relieved

Notes of Interest

- The first race that went without a relief driver was the 1952 race. A total of 10 relief drivers were utilized during the following year’s race, in 1953, and 15 drivers in 1954. The 1953 was the second hottest race on record, at 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius). One driver, Carl Scarborough, died due to a heat-related illness; he was replaced during the race by Bob Scott.

- George Souders won the 1927 race by more than 12 minutes. He was the only driver in the top 17 that did not require a relief driver. The 18th-place driver, Frank Lockhart, was the next driver to not need relief; he was the defending race winner.

- Ray Harroun, the 1911 race winner, was relieved by Cyrus Patschke in that race.

- Tommy Milton, the 1923 race winner, was relieved by another former race winner, 1919 champion Howdy Wilcox, in that race. It marked the first time in history a driver won the race twice, and first and only time a former race winner relieved the eventual race winner during that race.

- Peter DePaolo, the 1925 race winner, was relieved by Norman Batten in that race.