Indianapolis 500 Winners Who Started From The Pole Position
Eighteen drivers have won the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race from the pole position in twenty-one out of ninety-three races, 22.58%. Two consecutive wins from the pole position has occurred twice, in years 1922–1923 and 2008–2009, and three consecutive wins once, in years 1979–1981.
| Wins | Driver | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Rick Mears | 1979, 1988, 1991 | First three-time winner from the pole position; accounts for three of Mears' four career wins. |
| 2 | Johnny Rutherford | 1976, 1980 | First multiple-winner from the pole position. Accounts for two of Rutherford's three career victories. |
| 1 | Jimmy Murphy | 1922 | First winner from the pole position |
| Tommy Milton | 1923 | First year with consecutive wins from the pole position; accounts for one of Milton's two career victories. | |
| Billy Arnold | 1930 | Led final 198 laps of race, most ever by pole-sitter or race winner | |
| Floyd Roberts | 1938 | ||
| Mauri Rose* | 1941* | * Started from pole position in separate entry than that co-driven to victory, only such occurrence to date | |
| Bill Vukovich | 1953 | Accounts for one of Vukovich's two career victories | |
| Pat Flaherty | 1956 | ||
| Parnelli Jones | 1963 | ||
| Al Unser | 1970 | Accounts for one of Unser's four career victories | |
| Bobby Unser | 1981 | First year with three consecutive wins from the pole position; accounts for one of Unser's three career victories | |
| Al Unser, Jr. | 1994 | Accounts for one of Unser's two career victories | |
| Arie Luyendyk | 1997 | Accounts for one of Luyendyk's two career victories | |
| Buddy Rice | 2004 | ||
| Sam Hornish, Jr. | 2006 | ||
| Scott Dixon | 2008 | ||
| Hélio Castroneves | 2009 | Accounts for one of Castroneves' three career victories |
Read more about this topic: List Of Indianapolis 500 Pole-sitters
Famous quotes containing the words winners, started, pole and/or position:
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)
“Do you know how poetry started? I always think that it started when a cave boy came running back to the cave, through the tall grass, shouting as he ran, “Wolf, wolf,” and there was no wolf. His baboon-like parents, great sticklers for the truth, gave him a hiding, no doubt, but poetry had been born—the tall story had been born in the tall grass.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Not because Socrates has said it, but because it is really in my nature, and perhaps a little more than it should be, I look upon all humans as my fellow-citizens, and would embrace a Pole as I would a Frenchman, subordinating this national tie to the common and universal one.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Ladies there is no neutral position for us to assume.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)