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Indianapolis 500 Fun Facts
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Indianapolis 500 Fun Facts

Pit Stop Challenge Champions & Runners-Up

Indianapolis 500

The Pit Stop Challenge competition has been a staple of the Indianapolis 500 event since first occurring in 1977. This section breaks down the top two finishers in each competition with driver, team and chief mechanic information.

Pit Stop Challenge
Year Position Driver Team Chief Mechanic Time (sec.) Race Start/Finish
1977 1st Jim McElreath Fred W. Carillo Dave Klym 15.09 20th/23rd
2nd Wally Dallenbach Patrick Racing George Bignotti 15.82 10th/4th
1978 1st Johnny Rutherford Team McLaren Phil Sharp/Steve Roby 13.8 4th/13th
2nd Larry Dickson Polak Racing Chuck Looper 17.27 9th/22nd
1979 1st  Johnny Rutherford Team McLaren Steve Roby 13.51 8th/18th
2nd Tom Sneva Jerry O’Connell Jud Phillips 13.94 2nd/15th
1980 1st Tom Bigelow AMI Racing Division Paul Leffler 14.04 31st/8th
2nd Greg Leffler AMI Racing Division Paul Leffler 14.5 23rd/10th
1981 1st Bobby Unser Penske Cars Ltd. Laurie Gerrish 13 1st/10th
2nd Larry Cannon Kraco Racing Phil Thrasher 23.2 14th/33rd
1982 1st Rick Mears Penske Cars Ltd. Peter Parrott 13.93 1st/2nd
2nd A.J. Foyt A.J. Foyt Enterprises Jack Starne 18.05 3rd/19th
1983 1st Rick Mears Penske Cars Ltd. Peter Parrott 13.86 3rd/3rd
2nd Pancho Carter Alex Morales Johnny Capels 15.528 14th/7th
1984 1st Michael Andretti Kraco Enterprises Brian Stewart 18.52 4th/5th
2nd Howdy Holmes Mayer Motor Racing Steve Roby 18.948 2nd/13th
1985 1st Danny Sullivan Penske Cars Ltd. Chuck Sprague 11.742 8th/1st
2nd Howdy Holmes Forsythe Racing Barry Green 11.75 19th/10th
1986 1st Danny Sullivan Penske Cars Ltd. Chuck Sprague 20.288 2nd/9th
2nd Bobby Rahal Budweiser/Truesports Steve Horne 22.734 4th/1st
1987 1st Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Colin Duff 18.05 1st/9th
2nd Bobby Rahal Budweiser/Truesports Steve Horne 23.27 2nd/26th
1988 1st Danny Sullivan Penske Racing Chuck Sprague 14.782 2nd/23rd
2nd Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Colin Duff 15.006 4th/20th
1989 1st Al Unser Jr. Rick Galles Corp. Owen Snyder 14.716 8th/2nd
2nd Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Colin Duff 26.582 5th/4th
1990 1st Al Unser Jr. Galles-Kraco Racing Owen Snyder 14.094 7th/4th
2nd Bobby Rahal Galles-Kraco Racing Jim Prescott Aborted, NT 4th/2nd
1991 1st Danny Sullivan Patrick Racing Int’l Mike Hull 13.114 9th/10th
2nd Bobby Rahal Galles-Kraco Racing Jim Prescott 13.382 4th/19th
1992 1st Bobby Rahal Rahal/Hogan Racing Jim Prescott 13.324 10th/6th
2nd Eddie Cheever Jr. Chip Ganassi Racing Chris Griffis Stalled, NT 2nd/4th
1993 1st Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing Int’l Owen Snyder 13.118 5th/8th
2nd Mario Andretti Newman/Haas Racing John Simmonds 16.104 2nd/5th
1994 1st Jacques Villeneuve Forsythe/Green Racing Kyle Moyer 12.867 4th/2nd
2nd John Paul Jr. Team LOSI Randy Bain 13.59 30th/25th
1995 1st Jacques Villeneuve Team Green Kyle Moyer 13.982-14.556 5th/1st
2nd Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Tim Bumps 13.982-14.660 4th/25th
1996 1st Davy Jones Galles Racing Int’l Mitch Davis 14.176 2nd/2nd
2nd Roberto Guerrero Pagan Racing Doug Barnes 16.368 5th/5th
1997 1st Kenny Brack Galles Racing Int’l Gary Armentrout 14.284 15th/33rd
2nd Eddie Cheever Jr. Team Cheever Mitch Davis 15.133 11th/23rd
1998 1st Scott Goodyear Panther Racing, LLC Kevin Blanch 17.307 10th/24th
2nd Robbie Buhl Team Menard, Inc. John O’Gara Aborted, NT 5th/31st
1999 1st Davey Hamilton Galles Racing Int’l Darren Russell 12.68 11th/11th
2nd Kenny Brack A.J. Foyt Racing Bill Spencer 14.56 8th/1st
2000 1st Scott Goodyear Panther Racing Kevin Blanch 11.19 13th/9th
2nd Robby McGehee Treadway Racing Rick Hurford 12.72 12th/21st
2001 1st Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Robert Perez 9.2 1st/33rd
2nd Al Unser Jr. Galles Racing Russ Marr 12.67 19th/30th
2002 1st Helio Castroneves Marlboro Team Penske Rick Rinaman 8.555 13th/1st
2nd Jeff Ward Target Chip Ganassi Racing Barry Wasner 10.3433 15th/9th
2003 1st Buddy Rice Red Bull Cheever Racing David Meehan 8.8401 19th/11th
2nd Helio Castroneves Marlboro Team Penske Rick Rinaman 9.1341 1st/2nd
2004 1st Buddy Rice Rahal Letterman Racing Ricardo Nault 12.3365 1st/1st
2nd Helio Castroneves Marlboro Team Penske Rick Rinaman 24.433 8th/9th
2005 1st Sam Hornish Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Matt Jonsson 8.9704 2nd/23rd
2nd Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Jeff Grahn 9.917 18th/3rd
2006 1st Helio Castroneves Marlboro Team Penske Rick Rinaman 8.0852 2nd/25th
2nd Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Dave Popielarz 8.4428 17th/7th
2007 1st Helio Castroneves Team Penske Rick Rinaman 8.335 1st/3rd
2nd Sam Hornish Jr. Team Penske Matt Jonsson 8.888 5th/4th
2008 Canceled due to rain
2009 1st Helio Castroneves Team Penske Rick Rinaman 7.962 1st/1st
2nd Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing Jeff Grahn 9.456 8th/30th
2010 1st Helio Castroneves Team Penske Sean Hanrahan 8.001 1rd/3rd
2nd Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas Racing Todd Phillips 9.548 9th/28th
2011 1st Ryan Briscoe Team Penske Matt Jonsson 7.882 26th/27th
2nd Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin O’Donnell 8.481 9th/12th
2012 1st Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin O’Donnell 13.769 15th/2nd
2nd Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chris Hogue 17.194 27th/4th
2013 1st Helio Castroneves Team Penske Sean Hanrahan 14.475 8th/6th
2nd Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing Kevin O’Donnell 14.854 17th/23rd
2014 1st Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing Blair Julian 11.658 11th/29th
  2nd Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing Mark Weida 12.163 31st/9th
2015 1st Helio Castroneves Team Penske Travis Law 12.561 5th/7th
  2nd Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
Mark Sampson 13.017 14th/3rd
2016 1st Helio Castroneves Team Penske Travis Law 12.235 9th/11th
  2nd Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
Taylor Kiel 19.381 7th/27th
2017 1st Will Power Team Penske Matt Jonsson 11.614 9th/23rd
  2nd James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
13.223 17th/22nd
2018 1st Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Blair Julian 11.614 9th/3rd
  2nd James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
12.495 DNQ
2019 1st Marcus Ericsson Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Bob Jansen 11.794 13th/23rd
  2nd Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing
Blair Julian 13.132 17th/18th
2022 1st Josef Newgarden Team Penske Travis Law 10.949 14th/13th
  2nd Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing
Blair Julian 11.911 1st/21st