List of Indianapolis 500 pole-sitters

Indianapolis 500 Pole Position

James Hinchcliffe won the pole position in 2016.
Award details
Sport	Indy Car Racing
Competition	Indianapolis 500
Discipline	Verizon IndyCar Series
Given for	Pole Position for the Indianapolis 500
English name	Verizon P1 Award
History
First award	1911
Editions	100
First winner	Lewis Strang
Most wins	Rick Mears (6)
Most recent	James Hinchcliffe

Winners of the Pole position for the Indianapolis 500. The pole position is the first starting position on the grid, situated on the inside of the front row, and is held in high prestige at Indianapolis. Due to the nature of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, the pole-sitter is currently determined seven days before the race (and in past years as many as 15 days prior). As a result, the pole-winning driver and team receives considerable pre-race attention and accolades in the days leading up to the race. In most circumstances, but not necessarily, the pole-sitter is the fastest car in the field, and thus one of the pre-race to win the race.

Verizon currently sponsors a $100,000 award given to the pole winner. Rick Mears holds the all-time record with six career pole positions. Ten drivers have won the pole position in two consecutive years, but no driver has ever won three years in a row. The Indianapolis 500 has been won from the pole position a total of twenty times (out of 100).

Since the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, all cars have been required to undergo a speed time trial qualification run in order to be allowed to race. Since 1939, the starting grid (including the "pole position") has been determined utilizing four-lap (10-mile) qualification runs. Each qualification run is performed with no other cars on the track. This format differs from traditional road racing and NASCAR qualifying, in which multiple cars are on the track simultaneously in an "open qualifying" session. It also differs from most other oval races in which qualifying speed is based on a single "hot" lap. The theory is that each car could give its best performance if there were no other vehicles on the track to impede them.

Ironically in modern times, cars can actually run faster with other cars on the track due to drafting. Nearly every unofficial practice speed record has been achieved by exploiting another car's slipstream, referred to colloquially as receiving a "tow.". Starting roughly around the 1960s, electric eyes and radar guns were used to measure trap speeds at select locations, namely at the end of the long straightaways, in an effort to determine the cars' top speeds. Since the early 1990s, sophisticated electronic scoring devices have been installed at the track and inside the cars to measure additional trap speeds (straightaways, turns, etc.). However, the official scoring only reflects the time and speed at the start/finish line. All other measurements are unofficial.