102 Stats in 102 Days Until 102nd Indy 500 – Day 64, Polesitters by Birth States (April 18, 2018)

The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 39 days away! This is the 64th 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 is a look at the birth states of the polesitters for the Indianapolis 500. A total of 22 states are represented by 51 drivers, with California leading all states with 12 poles.

Polesitters by Birth States (Drivers and Number of Races)

- California: 12 (Jimmy Murphy: 2; Rex Mays: 4; Fred Agabashian: 1; Bill Vukovich: 1; Jack McGrath: 1; Pat Flaherty: 1; Dick Rathmann: 1; Joe Leonard: 1)

- Kansas: 9 (Johnny Rutherford: 3; Rick Mears: 6)

- Ohio: 8 (Caleb Bragg: 1; Leon Duray: 2; Frank Lockhart: 1; Mauri Rose: 1; Cliff Bergere: 1; Ted Horn: 1; Sam Hornish Jr.: 1)

- Illinois: 8 (Cliff Woodbury: 1; Billy Arnold: 1; Jimmy Snyder: 1; Duke Nalon: 2; Jerry Hoyt: 1; Ed Carpenter: 2)

- Indiana: 6 (Howdy Wilcox: 1; Johnny Aitken: 1; Bill Cummings: 2; Pat O’Connor: 1; Tony Stewart: 1)

- Texas: 6 (Walt Faulkner: 1; A.J. Foyt: 1; Greg Ray: 1)

- Pennsylvania: 3 (Kelly Petillo: 1; Eddie Sachs: 2)

- Washington: 3 (Tom Sneva: 3)

- Arkansas: 2 (Parnelli Jones: 2)

- New York: 2 (Lewis Strang: 1; Peter Revson: 1)

- Colorado: 2 (Bobby Unser: 2)

- New Mexico: 2 (Al Unser: 1; Al Unser Jr.: 1)

- Michigan: 2 (Scott Brayton: 2)

- Arizona: 2 (Billy Boat: 1; Buddy Rice: 1)

- Minnesota: 1 (Tommy Milton)

- Nebraska: 1 (Earl Cooper)

- Maryland: 1 (Russ Snowberger)

- Oklahoma: 1 (Lou Moore)

- North Dakota: 1 (Floyd Roberts)

- Massachusetts: 1 (Johnny Thomson)

- Wisconsin: 1 (Pancho Carter)

- Connecticut: 1 (Scott Sharp)

Notes of Interest

- Drivers from California earned five of the state’s 12 pole positions during the 1950s, represented by five different drivers: Fred Agabashian (1952), Bill Vukovich (1953), Jack McGrath (1954), Pat Flaherty (1956) and Dick Rathmann (1958).

- Bill Cummings is the only driver from Indiana with multiple pole positions: two (1933 and 1937).

- Scott Brayton of Michigan won the pole for the 1996 Indianapolis 500, but was killed during practice the following week. Tony Stewart of Indiana started on the pole. Brayton had started on the pole for the 1995 race, becoming the only driver so far to earn the pole from Michigan.

- While Stewart is the last driver from Indiana to start from the pole, Pat O’Connor is the last driver from Indiana to win the pole, in 1957.

- Rick Mears and Johnny Rutherford combined to earn nine poles for the state of Kansas.

- The states of Ohio and California are the only states with poles for three consecutive races. Mauri Rose (1941), Cliff Bergere (1946) and Ted Horn (1947) earned three straight poles for Ohio, stretching the race before and two races after World War II. Fred Agabashian (1952), Bill Vukovich (1953) and Jack McGrath (1954) earned three straight poles for California in the 1950s.