History
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Inaugural Indianapolis 500
A massive crowd, estimated as high as 85,000, witnessed the inaugural running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1911. The race was won in a time of six hours and 42 minutes by a racing version of the locally built Marmon passenger car.
Ray Harroun, of the Marmon engineering department, not only drove it to victory, he also helped design it. In response to objections from other teams during practice that his single-seater had no provisions for the normally carried riding mechanic, Harroun installed (above the cowling) what is believed to have been the very first rearview mirror ever used on an automobile.
Further history was made at the start when track founder Carl Fisher led the 40-car field away with his Stoddard-Dayton passenger car for one unscored lap, then released them to the starter at about 40 mph. It is believed to have been the very first mass rolling start for any automobile race in the world, and quite possibly the first-ever use of a "pace" car at a major event.