Right after Scott McLaughlin won the IndyCar season opener at St. Petersburg, becoming the 297th different winner in IndyCar history, I went over the record book and looked for the milestone race winners in IndyCar history as the 300th winner isn't that far away.
When going over the record book, I started thinking about A.J. Foyt and his record 67 victories. How did he get there? We never hear about Foyt's rise to the top and when he became the all-time leader in victories. We know the record and we know it has long been seen as untouchable. But when did it become that way? How long has Foyt been the man on top?
Today is June 15, 2022. The first IndyCar race recognized in its record book took place on June 12, 1909. One hundred 13 years and three days after the first IndyCar race, let's look over the all-time winner progression, from that first race to A.J. Foyt to where we sit today.
Races #1, #2 and #3 - Portland Road Course
IndyCar's first race day was a Saturday triple-header on a 14.6-mile road course in Portland, Oregon. The first two races were three-lap, 43.8-mile races. The final was the Wemme Cup Race, a 102.2-mile, seven-lap event.
The first winner was Howard Covey before Charlie Arnold won race two. Bert Dingley, who finished second in the first two races of the day, won the Wemme Cup Race.
After day one in IndyCar history, there were three drivers tied for the all-time lead. They would get some company.
Seven-Way Tie
There were seven different winners in the first seven races in IndyCar history. After the Portland weekend, there were two races held on June 18-19, 1909 in Crown Point, Indiana. The Indiana Trophy Race and Cobe Trophy Race took place.
Joe Matson won the Indiana Trophy Race and Louis Chevrolet won the Cobe Trophy Race in eight hours, one minute and 39 seconds.
The next race was on July 5, 1909 in Denver. Eaton McMillan won a 290-mile race on a 14.5-mile circuit. On July 10, Harris Hanshue won the Dick Ferris Trophy Race in Santa Monica, California. Later that day, the tie would be broken.
Bert Dingley - Two Victories
On the same day as the Dick Ferris Trophy Race was the Leon Shelter Trophy Race, and Dingley won it to become the first repeat winner in IndyCar history. His time as the sole leader would not last long.
Bert Dingley/Bob Burman/Louis Chevrolet - Two Victories
Bob Burman's first career victory came in the next race on the AAA Championship Car schedule after Dingley's second career victory. Burman won the Prest-O-Lite Trophy Race, a 100-lap event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway held on August 19.
On Labor Day Monday, September 6, Burman scored his second career victory in the Vesper Club Trophy Raceheld on the 10.6-mile Merrimack Valley Course in Lowell, Massachusetts. That same day, Louis Chevrolet would get his second career victory in the Yorick Club Trophy Race.
Dingley's time on top lasted 58 days before he had some company. This tied trio would be broken about three weeks later.
Louis Chevrolet - Three Victories
Chevrolet won the Long Island Stock Car Derby Class D race held in Riverhead, New York on September 29, 1909. Chevrolet was ahead of Burman in second, and Chevrolet got to be the sole leader in IndyCar victories.
Chevrolet closed the 1909 season as the all-time leader.
Louis Chevrolet/Ray Harroun - Three Victories
Chevrolet held the all-time lead, but he did not win any of the final five races in the 1909 season.
The 1910 season opener was held on May 5 at the 2-mile Atlanta Motordrome. Ray Harroun scored his first career victory.
Though a year before the inaugural Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway was busy over the Memorial Day holiday in 1910. Three races were held between May 27 and May 30. Harroun won the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy Race, a 200-mile event on May 28. Two days later, a year before Harroun would make history in another way, Harroun won the Remy Brassard Trophy, a 50-mile race, and he tied Chevrolet for the all-time lead.
Chevrolet's time alone on top lasted 243 days. A familiar name would join these two on three victories.
Louis Chevrolet/Ray Harroun/Bob Burman - Three Victories
The next race saw Burman win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the second Remy Brassard Trophy Race, this time a 100-mile event, on July 2. Harroun was third. Chevrolet was ninth.
It would get a little more crowded on top.
Louis Chevrolet/Ray Harroun/Bob Burman/Bert Dingley - Three Victories
Neither Chevrolet nor Harroun nor Burman won again over the final 11 races of the 1910 season.
In the third race of the 1911 season, Dingley won the Panama-Pacific Road Race held on February 22. The 15-lap, 163.845-mile race took place on a 10.923-mile course starting and finishing in Oakland, California.
Ray Harroun - Four Victories
Harroun's inaugural Indianapolis 500 victory was not just the first Indianapolis 500 ever. It also made Harroun the all-time leader in victories.
Harroun retired after winning the first Indianapolis 500. It was only a matter of time before someone would pass him.
Ralph DePalma - Five Victories
With Harroun retired, his record was waiting to be overtaken. The only problem is no one was biting.
Harroun lasted the entire 1911 season on top. He went a full year as the all-time leader when the second Indianapolis 500 came around, but the 1912 season set up a charge to the top.
Ralph DePalma's first career victory came in 1909 at the Long Island Stock Car Derby where Louis Chevrolet became the first driver to three victories. DePalma won the Class A race that day. He would not win again until the second race of the 1912 season, the Jepsen Trophy Race held on May 4 in Santa Monica.
DePalma would have his infamous defeat later that month at Indianapolis. Later that season, he swept the races held on August 31 at the Elgin Road Race Course in Elgin, Illinois. He won a 254-mile race and a 304.92-mile race in the same day, leveling him with Harroun on all-time victories.
Harroun's time alone on top lasted 459 days.
The next race was the Vanderbilt Cup race held on the 7.88-mile Wauwatosa Road Race Course around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. DePalma scored his third consecutive victory and became the all-time leader on October 2.
With DePalma on top, this was the start of a three-driver battle over the entire 1910s.
Ralph DePalma/Ralph Mulford - Five Victories
DePalma closed the 1912 season as the all-time leader, but Ralph Mulford won the 1912 season finale held at the Brighton Beach Race Course in Brooklyn, New York. It was Mulford's fourth career victory after having one victory in the 1910 season and two victories in 1911.
On July 4, 1913, Mulford won the 200-mile race on a one-mile dirt oval in Columbus, Ohio.
DePalma was on top for 275 days, but he would not be tied for long.
Ralph DePalma - Six Victories
Just under a year after he went level with Harroun for the all-time record at Elgin, DePalma won the Chicago Auto Club Trophy Race on August 29, 1913 and put himself back on top with six victories, but the battle was just starting.
Ralph DePalma/Earl Cooper - Six Victories
While DePalma and Mulford sat tied on five victories, Earl Cooper started collecting victories on a frequent basis over the 1913 season.
His first career victory was in Tacoma, Washington on July 5, 1912.
In 1913, Cooper won five consecutive starts. He won again at Tacoma, one year to the day of his first career victory. Two days later, he won another Tacoma race.
On August 9, Cooper won the Santa Monica Road Race. The final event of the season was a doubleheader held on September 9 in Corona, California held on the 2.768-mile road course on Grand Boulevard. Cooper swept those races and ended the 1913 season level with DePalma for the lead in all-time victories.
This was just the start of what would be an active 1914 season.
Ralph DePalma - Seven Victories
DePalma won the 1914 season opener, the Vanderbilt Cup race, which was held in Santa Monica.
Ralph DePalma/Earl Cooper - Seven Victories
Back in Tacoma, Cooper scored his seventh career victories on July 4.
Ralph Mulford - Eight Victories
Three races were held on 2.5-mile Galveston Beach Course from July 30 through August 3. Mulford won all three of them, his first victories in over a year and he went from third in victories, two off the lead, to the all-time leader in the course of a week.
Ralph DePalma - Nine Victories
Less than three weeks later, DePalma swept a doubleheader at Elgin, winning the two races held over August 21-22.
Ralph DePalma/Ralph Mulford - Nine Victories
Two months after DePalma went to the top, Mulford leveled with DePalma. Mulford won a 100-mile race on the one-mile Galesburg, Illinois oval.
Over the course of the 15-race 1914 season, the all-time lead in victories changed three times and it was equalled on two other occasions. These three drivers weren't done yet.
Ralph DePalma - Ten Victories
The first to double-figures, DePalma's Indianapolis 500 victory in 1915 captured him the top spot solely for the fifth-time in his career.
Ralph DePalma/Ralph Mulford - Ten Victories
A little over two months later, DePalma and Mulford were level again after Mulford won a 300-mile race on the one-mile Des Moines Speedway board oval.
Ralph DePalma - 11 Victories
Three weeks after that, DePalma was alone on top again with a victory in the 100-mile race at the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds.
Earl Cooper - 12 Victories
DePalma and Mulford went back and forth over 1915, but Cooper had a splendid 1915 season himself.
Cooper won the 1915 season opener in San Diego, his eighth career victory. His ninth career victory was at Elgin on August 20. On Labor Day, September 5, Cooper won the 500-mile race around the two-mile Twin City Motor Speedway in Minneapolis with Johnny Aitken as his co-driver.
Cooper then won the 109-mile race at the Arizona State Fairgrounds on November 20 for his 11th career victory. Five days later, Cooper won the 100-mile race on the Panama-Pacific Exhibition Track, a one-mile dirt oval in San Francisco. And the 1915 season ended with a new all-time leader.
Ralph DePalma - 13 Victories
The 1916 season saw DePalma win at Des Moines on June 24 and then Minneapolis on July 4, moving him back into the all-time lead, and DePalma would hold the spot for the rest of the 1916 season.
Earl Cooper - 15 Victories
Cooper tied DePalma on 13 victories in the first race of the 1917 season, winning the George Washington Sweepstakes at Ascot Park in Gardena, California on March 4. Victory #14 was on June 16, the War Derby held on the two-mile Speedway Park board oval in Chicago.
No surprise, Cooper retook the all-time lead in victories in Tacoma on September 3. He held the lead through the 1917 season, but things would change in the 1918 season.
Earl Cooper/Ralph Mulford - 15 Victories
On May 16, 1918, the 1.25-mile Uniontown Speedway board oval hosted the Liberty Sweepstakes, a five-race event. Mulford won the second heat that day and then won the main event, putting him on 15 victories and tying him with Cooper.
Earl Cooper/Ralph Mulford/Ralph DePalma - 15 Victories
On July 28, 1918, Speedway Park in Chicago hosted a doubleheader, a 20-mile race and a 30-mile race.
DePalma won the 20-mile race to open the action, his first victory in nearly 11 months. Cooper, Mulford and DePalma were all level on victories for the first time since August 1, 1914 when Mulford won the second race of the triple-header spread over six days in Galveston. It was the final time the three drivers were tied for the all-time lead because...
Ralph DePalma - 16 Victories
DePalma won the 30-mile race at Speedway Park to complete the sweep and take the all-time lead...
Ralph DePalma - 19 Victories
Then DePalma swept the International Sweepstakes triple-header held on August 17 at the two-mile Sheepshead Bay Speedway board oval. The three races were 20 miles, 30 miles and 50 miles in duration.
Ralph DePalma - 20 Victories
Mulford would win the 1918 season finale in Uniontown. He would win a 30-mile race at Sheepshead Bay on June 14, 1919, but that would be his 17th and final victory. DePalma won the 50-mile race later that day to become the first driver to 20 victories in IndyCar history.
The all-time lead was DePalma's.
Ralph DePalma - 24 Victories
DePalma won at Elgin on August 28, 1920. He would win three times in the 1921 season, all at the 1.25-mile Los Angeles Motor Speedway board oval. His 24th victory came in his 76th start.
DePalma continued racing until 1933. He made 24 more starts in his career, but never won another championship race. Despite not winning once over the final 12 years of his career, DePalma held onto his record.
Tommy Milton put up a viable threat.
Milton's first career victory was in 1917. His first Indianapolis 500 victory came in 1921 and at the end of that season Milton was already on 15 victories. He won four times in 1922 and reached 20 victories with his second Indianapolis 500 victory in 1923. He won once in 1924 and twice in 1925 to reach 23 victories, but he made only one start in 1926 at the Carl G. Fisher Trophy Race at the Miami-Fulford Speedway. He ran the 1927 Indianapolis 500 and then retired from competition, one victory shy of matching DePalma's record.
Earl Cooper kept competing into 1927. He won once in 1921 but didn't win again until 1924. He won once again in 1925 and twice in 1926 to reach 20 victories. It should be noted Jimmy Murphy won 19 races between February 28, 1920 through his fatal accident at Syracuse on September 15, 1924, only three days after turning 30 years old. Murphy had won three consecutive races before losing his life at Syracuse. He won 19 of his 52 starts, a phenomenal 36.538% winning percentage, winning the championship in 1922 and posthumously in 1924.
DePalma not only held the all-time record at the end of the 1920s, but the 1930s... and 1940s... and 1950s.
What did the top ten in victories look like at the end of those decades?
IndyCar All-Time Victory Leaders - End of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s
Ralph DePalma - 24
Tommy Milton - 23
Earl Cooper - 20
Jimmy Murphy - 19
Ralph Mulford - 17
Eddie Hearne - 11
Dario Resta - 10
Louis Chevrolet - 10
Peter DePaolo - 10
Frank Lockhart - 10
During the 1930s, only 46 races total took place over those ten years, meaning the top ten all-time victory leaders didn't change. Louis Meyer came the closest to the top ten with eight victories. Bill Cummings had six victories at the end of that decade.
World War II interrupted the 1940s and no races took place from September 2, 1941 until the 1946 Indianapolis 500. In the 1940s, only 49 races took place. Rex Mays would have eight victories by the end of the 1940s. Mauri Rose reached seven victories. Wilbur Shaw, Tony Bettenhausen and Johnnie Parsons would each reach six victories.
However, things were picking up at the end of the decade. The schedule was up to 14 races in 1949, and we would see consistent schedule lengths over the 1950s, meaning a shakeup in the record book was imminent.
IndyCar All-Time Victory Leaders - End of the 1950s
Ralph DePalma - 24
Tommy Milton - 23
Tony Bettenhausen - 22
Earl Cooper - 20
Jimmy Murphy - 19
Jimmy Bryan - 19
Ralph Mulford - 17
Eddie Hearne - 11
Johnnie Parsons - 11
Rodger Ward - 11
Dario Resta - 10
Louis Chevrolet - 10
Peter DePaolo - 10
Frank Lockhart - 10
Four drivers reached the ten-victory milestone during the 1950s.
Bettenhausen was the first to get there in the second race of the 1951 season, the Rex Mays Classic at Milwaukee. Bettenhausen ended that season with 17 career victories. Parsons won the 1951 season finale at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, California to reach ten career victories. Parsons would win the 1952 season finale at the Arizona Fairgrounds, his 11th and final victory.
Bettenhausen only ran the Indianapolis 500 in 1952. He was a part-time driver from 1952 through 1957 and went nearly two years between victories. Bettenhausen won twice during the 1953 season. His 20th victory was at Syracuse on September 8, 1956.
While Bettenhausen was away from full-time competition, a pair of young drivers emerged. Rodger Ward scored his first two career victories in successive races early in the 1953 season. Jimmy Bryan scored his first career victory in the penultimate round that year.
Bryan would win the 1954 championship with five victories, including four consecutive to close the season. He would win six races in 1955 but finish second in the championship to Bob Sweikert. Bryan bounced back to take another two championships in 1956 and 1957. Bryan won four races and two races respectively. He ended the 1957 season with 18 career victories.
Bettenhausen returned to full-time competition in 1958. Bryan won the Indianapolis 500 that year, as he stepped back from full-time competition. Bettenhausen took the title in 1958 despite not winning a race. Ward quietly won races. He had three victories in the 1957 season and two in 1958.
In 1959, Bettenhausen won the second race of the season at Trenton, but Ward won the Indianapolis 500 and took control of the championship. Ward won at Milwaukee and DuQuoin to reach the ten-victory milestone. He won the Hoosier Hundred at the end of summer and the championship was practically his. Bettenhausen won the penultimate race of the season at the Arizona Fairgrounds, his 22nd career victory.
Ward won twice during the 1960 season but lost the championship by 290 points to A.J. Foyt. Foyt did not get his first victory of the season, and career, until the Ted Horn Memorial on September 5. Foyt won four of the final six races.
However, darkness would hang over the early 1960s. At Langhorne, the fourth round of the 1960 season, Jimmy Bryan lost his life in an opening lap accident. Bettenhausen lost his life in practice for the 1961 Indianapolis 500.
Ward won three more times in 1961, bringing his career total up to 16, but Foyt won four times, including his first Indianapolis 500. Foyt opened the 1962 season with a victory at Trenton, but Ward picked up his second Indianapolis 500 victory that May. Foyt won the two races following Indianapolis and Ward ended that streak with a victory at Trenton. Ward won again at Syracuse, his 20th victory and Foyt won the penultimate round of the season at Syracuse, ending the season on 12 career victories, ninth all-time. Ward took his second championship at the end of 1962.
In the next two seasons, the IndyCar record would be changed forever.
Ward and Foyt again went at it for the championship in 1963. Each driver won five times over the 12-race season. Parnelli Jones won the Indianapolis 500 and Jim Clark won at Milwaukee in August. While they were level on victories, Foyt had 11 top five finishes. His worst finish was eighth in the Phoenix finale. Ward had nine top five finishes but failed to score points in two races and missed the Langhorne round at the end of June.
But the final two races of the season were most important for Ward.
Rodger Ward - 25 Victories
Ward had picked up his 23rd career victory at the Hoosier Hundred in September. Foyt clinched the 1963 championship with his victory eight days later at Trenton while Ward retired after six laps due to a fuel leak.
After Johnny Rutherford wrecked out of the lead on lap 13 at Sacramento, Ward went on to lead the final 88 laps and tied Ralph DePalma for the all-time lead in victories. At the Phoenix finale, Ward passed Chuck Hulse on lap 31 and led the final 70 laps to become the all-time leader in victories.
DePalma became the all-time leader on July 28, 1918. For 16,548 days, 45 years, three months and 20 days, DePalma held the all-time lead in victories until Ward surpassed him.
Ward would not hold onto the all-time lead for long.
IndyCar All-Time Victory Leaders - End of the 1963 Season
Rodger Ward - 25
Ralph DePalma - 24
Tommy Milton - 23
Tony Bettenhausen - 22
Earl Cooper - 20
Jimmy Murphy - 19
Jimmy Bryan - 19
Ralph Mulford - 17
A.J. Foyt - 17
Eddie Hearne - 11
Johnnie Parsons - 11
A.J. Foyt's 1964 Season
We all know the story of Foyt's 1964 season. Seven victories to open the season, including his second Indianapolis 500 victory. Ten victories from 13 starts but lost in it is the history we have taken for granted.
A.J. Foyt - 27 Victories
Foyt's eighth victory of the season at DuQuoin on September 7 tied him with Rodger Ward for the all-time lead in victories. Nineteen days later, Foyt won the Hoosier Hundred to break the record. His victory at Sacramento, the penultimate round of the season, put him on 27 victories.
Ward's reign as the all-time leader lasted 314 days. Ward's final career victory was on April 24, 1966, a little over a month before his final start, which came in the Indianapolis 500.
A.J. Foyt - 67 Victories
Foyt went on to win 40 mores races after the 1964 season through his final start nearly 28 years later.
A year after he became the all-time leader, Foyt was the first driver to reach the 30-victory milestone in the Hoosier Hundred. Foyt would be the first to 40 victories on September 29, 1968 at Sacramento, hit 50 on April 6, 1975 at Trenton and made it to 60 on August 6, 1978 at Texas World Speedway.
By the end of the 1970s, Foyt's win rate decreased. He won at Silverstone later in the 1978 season, Foyt's third and final road course victory in IndyCar competition. His others were at Continental Divide Raceways in Colorado in 1968 and at Mosport in 1977.
With the USAC/CART split, Foyt remained on the USAC side of the fence at the start. He won six races in 1979 on his way to taking his seventh and final championship. His final victory was in a rain-shortened Pocono race on June 21, 1981, the final USAC Championship Car paved race at a track other than Indianapolis. The race ended 88 laps prior to the scheduled distance. Geoff Brabham was runner-up in his third career start. Tom Bigelow and George Snider rounded out the top four. Harry MacDonald was fifth on debut. MacDonald's only other start was a month later in the CART Michigan race.
It was the IndyCar debut for Jack Hewitt, who would not make his Indianapolis 500 debut until 1998. Front-engine dirt cars filled out the 29-car field.
Foyt's 67th victory came in his 286th start, a winning percentage of 23.426%. He would make another 83 starts and his final winning percentage dropped to 18.157%. Foyt's final start was the 1992 Indianapolis 500, a ninth-place finish, nearly 35 years after he finished ninth on debut at Springfield.
21,081 Days Later
At time of posting, Foyt has been the sole leader in IndyCar victories for 57 years, eight months and 20 days.
For perspective, Foyt became the all-time leader almost a year before Mario Andretti scored his first career victory. Foyt reached the 30th victory when won the Hoosier Hundred on September 18, 1965. Andretti had one victory to his name at that time. At the end of the 1970s, Foyt was 30 victories clear of second, and that was Al Unser.
As we know, Scott Dixon is the closest active driver to Foyt. Dixon is on 51 victories and will turn 42 years old this in a little over a month. Seventeen victories is a lot. Not impossible for Dixon, but highly unlikely for a driver who might have five full seasons left.
Fourteen drivers have at some point held a share of the all-time lead in IndyCar victories. Eight drivers have held the record on their own. Will we ever see a 15th? Will someone ever reach 68 victories?
Foyt's record will remain intact for the foreseeable future. It will reach day 21,082 and go far beyond that.
