Indianapolis 500 Fun Facts
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Indianapolis 500 Fun Facts

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Rain Postponements

Indianapolis 500

Sometimes Mother Nature interferes with the running of the Indianapolis 500, and there’s not always a “window over Terre Haute”. Complete postponements, partial postponements, rain shortened races and more make up this section.

Rain Delays
Rain Delay

Complete Postponements

  • The 1915 race, scheduled to run on Saturday, May 29 because Memorial Day fell on a Sunday, was postponed on Friday because of several recent rainstorms and rescheduled for Monday, May 31.
  • The 1986 race was scheduled for Sunday, May 25, but rain forced postponement of the event until the following day, which was also washed out. The race was then rescheduled for, and successfully run, on Saturday, May 31.
  • The 1997 race was scheduled for Sunday, May 25, but was postponed by rain. Rain stopped the race after 15 laps on May 26, and it was completed on Tuesday, May 27.

Rain Delay

Partial Postponements

  • The 1967 race was rained out after 18 laps and finished the following day.
  • The 1973 race was started on Monday, May 28, but the first-lap accident involving Salt Walther forced the red flag, and the race was rained out before it could be restarted. It was postponed again on Tuesday, May 29, after rain began falling during the second parade lap. The race finally got under way on Wednesday, May 30, but rain again caused the race to be stopped and ruled complete after finishing 332.5 miles.

Dario Franchitti crosses the Yard of Bricks in the rain in 2007

Rain-Shortened Races

  • 1926: 160 laps (400 miles)
  • 1950: 138 laps (345 miles)
  • 1973: 133 laps (332.5 miles)
  • 1975: 174 laps (435 miles)
  • 1976: 102 laps (255 miles)
  • 2004: 180 laps (450 miles)
  • 2007: 166 laps (415 miles)

Additional Rain Notes

  • The 1926 race is the first race to have been stopped by rain twice in the same day. The race was temporarily halted because of rain on Lap 71 and was declared officially over when rain once again stopped the proceedings at the 400-mile mark.
  • In 1940, the final 50 laps were run under the caution light because of rain.
  • In 2001, the race was stopped on Lap 155 due to rain. The race was restarted after a 16 minute, 34 second delay.
  • The 2004 race was stopped by rain twice. The race was halted for 1 hour, 47 minutes because of rain on Lap 28 and was declared officially over when rain once again stopped the race at the 450-mile mark.
  • The 2007 race was stopped by rain twice. The race was halted for 2 hours, 57 minutes because of rain on Lap 113 and was declared officially over when rain once again stopped the race at the 415-mile mark.