Indianapolis Motor Speedway | |||||
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Indianapolis 500 | |||||
Sanctioning body | AAA | ||||
Date | May 30, 1940 | ||||
Winner | Wilbur Shaw | ||||
Winning Entrant | Boyle Racing Headquarters | ||||
Average speed | 114.277 mph (183.911 km/h) | ||||
Pole position | Rex Mays | ||||
Pole speed | 127.850 mph (205.755 km/h) | ||||
Most laps led | Wilbur Shaw (136) | ||||
Pre-race | |||||
Pace car | Studebaker Champion | ||||
Pace car driver | Ab Jenkins | ||||
Chronology | |||||
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The 28th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1940. The winner was Wilbur Shaw in the same Maserati 8CTF he had driven to victory in 1939. Shaw became the first driver in the history of the race to win in consecutive years. It also marked Shaw's third win in four years, making him the second three-time winner of the race. Shaw's average speed was 114.277 miles per hour, slowed by rain which caused the last 50 laps to be run under caution. Shaw took home $31,875 in prize winnings, plus additional prizes that included a car and a refrigerator.
Fourth place finisher Ted Horn was flagged due to the rain shower after completing only 199 laps - one lap short of the full distance. This marked the only blemish on his noteworthy record of nine consecutive races completing every lap. He would eventually complete 1,799 out of a possible 1,800 laps from 1936 to 1948.
The top 4 starting positions finished in the top four places, albeit in shuffled order.
Note: The race was run under caution from lap 150 to 200 due to rain.