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The ten youngest IndyCar race winner


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#1 HistoryFan

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 12:40

I was unable to find a list of the ten youngest IndyCar race winners all time (with USAC/AAA). I know Graham Rahal has the record and Marco Andretti was near to that, but can anybody help me with a complete top-10-list?



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#2 E1pix

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 14:55

Greg Moore became the then-youngest winner at 22-something when he won the Milwaukee race in June of 1997.

He was preceded by Jacques Villeneuve when he won the Indy 500, or perhaps a prior race, in 1995.

Edited by E1pix, 20 May 2015 - 14:57.


#3 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 15:22

Scott Dixon and Jimmy Davies are somewhere in the mix too, but it depends on exactly how you want to define the parameters. Dixon was 20 years, 9 months and 14 days when he won Nazareth in 2001 and Davies was 20 years, 2 months, 29 days when he won at Del Mar in 1949 (although he was apparently racing on a fraudulent licence, which claimed he was older).

 

Villeneuve's first win was actually Road America 1994, by which time he was 23 years, 5 months and 2 days. Moore was about 22 years 9 months when he won Milwaukee.



#4 Jim Thurman

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 15:27

This is one that everything in print had wrong. It was misreported as Greg Moore then Scott Dixon when neither were ever the youngest.  The youngest for many, many years....well, from November 1949 until Marco Andretti's win in 2006 was Jimmy Davies, who won at Del Mar at age 20 years, 2 months, 29 days. That Davies was underage for an AAA license at the time and was using an altered birth certificate (much like Troy Ruttman and Jim Rathmann) had a lot to do with it going unnoticed. Davies has never been listed correctly, despite my efforts to correct that. At least with Marco's win, they finally got it right and it became somewhat a moot point. Though when ESPN listed the three youngest winners, Davies name was still absent. And he still belongs in his accurate place on the list, which is still third.

 

Jacques Villeneuve was never even the youngest winner of the Indianapolis 500, which is still Troy Ruttman. In fact, Villeneuve is something like fifth youngest to win the '500', so he'd be a ways further down an overall list.

 

A lot of this came from (and continues to come from) confusion over CART or IRL labelling a "youngest ever" under the blanket "Indycar" instead of including AAA and USAC.  Like so many other situations, these keep perpetuating due to the printed errors.

 

As far as help with a top ten list, I'm afraid you'll have to research that yourself :wave:  Let us know what you find.

 

EDIT: Vitesse beat me as I was typing this :up:


Edited by Jim Thurman, 20 May 2015 - 20:25.


#5 D28

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 19:17

Glad to hear that Troy Ruttman remains the youngest Indy 500 winner, I suspected as much, He was 22 yr 2 m and few days when he won the 1952 race. This also made him the youngest World Champion race winner, depending on how the statement was qualified. When Bruce McLaren became the youngest F1 winner in 1959, he was actually older 22 yr 3 months and a bit.

 

I think Ruttman would  make this list;as he got started when about 15, and had AAA Sprint Car titles before 1952.  



#6 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 20:21

Frank Lockhart should be in the mix too - he was 23 years, 1 month and 23 days when he won Indy in 1926.

 

Plus perhaps Joe Dawson and David Bruce-Brown. But they're from the pre/fictional championship era.  ;)



#7 Jim Thurman

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 20:35

Frank Lockhart should be in the mix too - he was 23 years, 1 month and 23 days when he won Indy in 1926.

 

Plus perhaps Joe Dawson and David Bruce-Brown. But they're from the pre/fictional championship era.  ;)

 

And there's where the conundrum lies. That the cars came to be known as "Championship Cars" even though they pre-date most of the championships. Dawson and Bruce-Brown belong on a winners list involving these types of cars, even if they didn't win in races that counted for a "Championship"  Did they win "Championship" races? No, but they did win in these cars? Yes, they did. It's for someone else to figure out how to divest the nomenclature without getting caught up in semantics.



#8 E1pix

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 22:19

Thanks for the clarifications, Guys!

Yep, most everything in print does seem to be in err on this one... Good on Ya for trying to correct this, Jim!

#9 Jim Thurman

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Posted 21 May 2015 - 16:34

Thanks for the clarifications, Guys!

Yep, most everything in print does seem to be in err on this one... Good on Ya for trying to correct this, Jim!

 

Thanks E1pix. Despite my best efforts, it has proven futile, primarily because everyone is still going off Jimmy Davies given birth date. In digging around, I discovered his correct date of birth and posted about it in 2003: "The Case of Jimmy Davies"

 

Sadly, seeing that Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal have both surpassed Davies in the time since, it will probably prove even more difficult.