102 Stats in 102 Days Until 102nd Indy 500 – Day 90, Average Finish of Drivers Who Have Won Race (May 14, 2018)

The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 13 days away! This is the 90th 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.

Here are the average finishes of every driver who has won the Indianapolis 500. Ray Harroun is the only driver with a perfect record, winning in his only start in 1911. The average finish is based on the car that the driver started. For example, Joe Boyer was credited with an 18th-place finish in the 1924 race in the car he started, though he finished the race in another car, started by L.L. Corum, en route to victory. The same holds true for Mauri Rose in the 1941 race; Rose co-won the race after finishing the race in the car started by Floyd Davis.

Average Finish of Drivers Who Have Won Indianapolis 500 (Best to Worst)

- Ray Harroun: 1.0 (1 race)

- George Souders: 2.0 (2 races)

- Ray Keech: 2.5 (2 races)

- Alexander Rossi: 4.0 (2 races)

- Bill Holland: 4.4 (5 races)

- Jimmy Murphy: 5.0 (5 races)

- Gaston Chevrolet: 5.5 (2 races)

- Dario Resta: 5.67 (3 races)

- Jacques Villeneuve: 5.67 (3 races)

- Rene Thomas: 6.0 (4 races)

- Helio Castroneves: 7.0 (17 races)

- Dan Wheldon: 7.33 (9 races)

- Ralph DePalma: 9.0 (10 races)

- Dario Franchitti: 9.1 (10 races)

- Juan Pablo Montoya: 9.2 (5 races)

- Lee Wallard: 9.25 (4 races)

- Parnelli Jones: 9.29 (7 races)

- Frank Lockhart: 9.5 (2 races)

- Jules Goux: 9.6 (5 races)

- Mark Donohue: 10.0 (5 races)

- Wilbur Shaw: 10.15 (13 races)

- Al Unser: 10.22 (27 races)

- Joe Dawson: 10.33 (3 races)

- Gil de Ferran: 10.5 (4 races)

- L.L. Corum: 10.83 (6 races)

- Scott Dixon: 10.87 (15 races)

- Tommy Milton: 11.0 (8 races)

- Rick Mears: 11.2 (15 races)

- Louis Meyer: 11.5 (12 races)

- Emerson Fittipaldi: 11.55 (11 races)

- Arie Luyendyk: 11.94 (17 races)

- Bobby Rahal: 12.0 (13 races)

- Jim Clark: 12.0 (5 races)

- Tony Kanaan: 12.13 (16 races)

- Bobby Unser: 12.26 (19 races)

- Mauri Rose: 12.27 (15 races)

- Pat Flaherty: 12.4 (5 races)

- Jim Rathmann: 12.79 (14 races)

- Al Unser Jr.: 12.89 (19 races)

- Fred Frame: 13.0 (8 races)

- Billy Arnold: 13.2 (5 races)

- Bob Sweikert: 13.4 (5 races)

- A.J. Foyt: 13.43 (35 races)

- Jimmy Bryan: 13.44 (9 races)

- Rodger Ward: 13.47 (15 races)

- Howdy Wilcox: 13.82 (11 races)

- Eddie Cheever: 14.29 (14 races)

- Gordon Johncock: 14.33 (24 races)

- Johnnie Parsons: 14.5 (10 races)

- Bill Vukovich: 14.6 (5 races)

- Buddy Rice: 14.83 (6 races)

- Floyd Davis: 15.75 (4 races)

- Bill Cummings: 16.0 (9 races)

- George Robson: 16.33 (3 races)

- Tom Sneva: 16.5 (18 races)

- Sam Hornish Jr.: 16.5 (8 races)

- Kelly Petillo: 16.78 (9 races)

- Johnny Rutherford: 17.04 (24 races)

- Troy Ruttman: 17.08 (12 races)

- Buddy Lazier: 17.1 (20 races)

- Sam Hanks: 17.15 (13 races)

- Danny Sullivan: 17.17 (12 races)

- Peter DePaolo: 17.29 (7 races)

- Graham Hill: 17.33 (3 races)

- Ryan Hunter-Reay: 17.6 (10 races)

- Takuma Sato: 17.75 (8 races)

- Mario Andretti: 17.86 (29 races)

- Kenny Brack: 18.6 (5 races)

- Joe Boyer: 19.2 (5 races)

- Louis Schneider: 19.2 (5 races)

Italicized indicates driver competed in 2017 Indianapolis 500.  

Notes of Interest

- Of the winners that have competed in the Indianapolis 500 at least five times, the top 10 drivers with the best average finishes are: Bill Holland (4.4); Jimmy Murphy (5.0); Helio Castroneves (7.0); Dan Wheldon (7.33); Ralph DePalma (9.0); Dario Franchitti (9.1); Juan Pablo Montoya (9.2); Parnelli Jones (9.29); Jules Goux (9.6); and Mark Donohue (10.0).

- Castroneves has the best average finish of a winner with more than 10 starts.

- Outside his 15th-place finish in the 1953 Indianapolis 500, Holland averaged a 1.75 finish in his first four races (1947-1950; won once and finished second three times).

- If Joe Boyer was credited with first instead of 18th in his 1924 victory (co-won with L.L. Corum), his average finish would move from 19.2 to 15.8.

- If Mauri Rose was credited with first instead of 26th in his 1941 victory (co-won with Floyd Davis), his average finish would move from 12.27 to 10.6.

- Louis Schneider’s average finish of 19.2 included a 42nd-place finish in the 1933 race; 42 cars are the most ever in an Indianapolis 500 field. Without that finish, Schneider had a 10.8 average finish in his first five races (1927, 1928, 1930, 1931 and 1932).