86 Stats in 86 Days Until 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans – Day 65, 24 Hours of Le Mans Overall Winners to Compete in Indy 500 (May 25, 2018)

The 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans is 22 days away! This is the 65th day of the 86 Stats in 86 Days Until the 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans blog.

Each day from now until the Friday before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 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 15 drivers who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall and competed in the Indianapolis 500. John Duff was the first to do so, in the 1920s, while Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson became the most recent when they won in 1997.

24 Hours of Le Mans Overall Winners to Compete in Indy 500

- A.J. Foyt: 35

- Geoff Brabham: 10

- Dan Gurney: 9

- Bill Whittington: 5

- Don Whittington: 5

- Graham Hill: 3

- Vern Schuppan: 3

- Davy Jones: 3

- Stefan Johansson: 3

- Jochen Rindt: 2

- John Duff: 1

- Masten Gregory: 1

- Hurley Haywood: 1

- Al Holbert: 1

- Michele Alboreto: 1

Notes of Interest

- A.J. Foyt and Graham Hill are the only drivers to win both races. Foyt won the Indianapolis 500 four times (1961, 1964, 1967 and 1977) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967, while Graham Hill won the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972. Foyt is the only one of the two that won both races in the same year.

- Hill is the only driver to win Indianapolis, Le Mans and the Formula 1 World Championship.

 - John Duff was the first 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner to contest the Indianapolis 500. The 1924 co-winner at Le Mans made his only start at Indianapolis in 1926, when he finished ninth.

- The 1967 and 1983 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans are the only races in which all of the winning drivers competed in the Indianapolis 500. A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney won in 1967, while Hurley Haywood, Al Holbert and Vern Schuppan teamed together to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1983.

- Davy Jones and Dan Gurney were the closest drivers on this list to joining Foyt and Hill as winners of both races. Jones led 46 laps in the 1996 Indianapolis 500 en route to finishing second; he led as late as Lap 192. He went on to win that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with Alexander Wurz and Manuel Reuter. Jones is also the last 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner to compete in the Indianapolis 500 in the same year.

- Meanwhile, Gurney won Le Mans in 1967 and finished second in the 1968 and 1969 Indianapolis 500s, as well as third in 1970.

- Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson won the 1997 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both drivers had already competed in the Indianapolis 500 before their win; Johansson three times (1993-1995), and Alboreto once (1996). Alboreto competed in two Indy Racing League events during the 1996-97 season but not Indianapolis. Their 1997 win came with Tom Kristensen, the first of his nine career victories.

- Several other drivers, like Mario Andretti, Johnny O'Connell and Sebastien Bourdais, have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in their class, in addition to competing in the Indianapolis 500.