102 Stats in 102 Days Until 102nd Indy 500 – Day 68, Most Starts By Birth Country/Nationality (April 22, 2018)

The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 35 days away! This is the 68th 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 most Indianapolis 500 starts by birth country/nationality. Several drivers are of other or dual nationalities, so take a look at the Notes of Interest for clarification.

Most Starts By Birth Country/Nationality

- A.J. Foyt: 35 (United States)

- Mario Andretti: 29 (Italy)

- Helio Castroneves: 17 (Brazil)

- Arie Luyendyk: 17 (Netherlands)

- Scott Dixon: 15 (New Zealand)

- Roberto Guerrero: 15 (Colombia)

- Scott Goodyear: 11 (Canada)

- Geoff Brabham/Ryan Briscoe/Will Power: 10 (Australia)

- Dario Franchitti: 10 (Scotland)

- Tomas Scheckter: 10 (South Africa)

- Oriol Servia: 9 (Spain)

- Dan Wheldon: 9 (England)

- Takuma Sato: 8 (Japan)

- Dominic Dobson: 7 (Germany)

- Josele Garza: 7 (Mexico)

- Stephan Gregoire: 7 (France)

- Gil Andersen: 6 (Norway)

- Derek Daly: 6 (Ireland)

- Kenny Brack: 6 (Sweden)

- Eliseo Salazar: 6 (Chile)

- E.J. Viso: 6 (Venezuela)

- Simona de Silvestro: 5 (Switzerland)

- Tero Palmroth: 4 (Finland)

- Raul Riganti: 3 (Argentina)

- Mikhail Aleshin: 3 (Russia)

- Charles Van Acker/Didier Theys: 3 (Belgium)

- Jochen Rindt: 2 (Austria)

- Louis Chiron/Stefano Coletti: 1 (Monaco)

- Tomas Enge: 1 (Czech Republic)

- Ed Jones: 1 (United Arab Emirates)

Notes of Interest

- Mario Andretti was born in Italy but became a United States citizen. After Andretti, Ralph DePalma had the most starts by an Italian-born driver, with 10. However, DePalma also became a United States citizen. Teo Fabi was next on the list with eight Indianapolis 500 starts; Fabi raced as an Italian.

- Scott Dixon was born in Australia but races under the New Zealand flag, as his family is from there and he was raised there. Denny Hulme, born in New Zealand, competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times.

- Gil Andersen was born in Norway but later became a United States citizen. Andersen was the first foreign-born driver in the Indianapolis 500, the only foreign-born driver in the inaugural race in 1911, and the only Norwegian-born driver to compete in the race.

- Dominic Dobson was born in Stuttgart, Germany, to a U.S. Army officer, but raised in Seattle, Washington. Other drivers born in Germany that competed in the Indianapolis 500 were Max Sailer, John A. Mais, Kurt Hitke, Christian Werner and Christian Lautenschlager, all who made one start in the race (essentially making this a five-way tie). However, many of their nationalities remain unknown, as some lived in the United States for a period of time. Additionally, the politics and occurrences in Europe in the 1910s through 1940s make it difficult to determine if a driver was a citizen of the country in which they were born or resided.

- Likewise, Jochen Rindt was born in Germany, but raised Austrian, so he is listed as Austrian in the list.

- Charles van Acker was born in Brussels, Belgium, but became a United States citizen and died in South Bend, Indiana, in 1998. Meanwhile, Didier Theys raced as a Belgian throughout his career.