1921 Indianapolis 500 1921 Indianapolis 500 The 9th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1921. Ralph DePalma dominated yet another early running of the 500, but again fails to win. He led 109 laps, and had a two-lap lead at the halfway point. A connecting rod broke, and he dropped out on lap 112. DePalma retires with one win, and 612 laps led in the "500." His laps led record would not be matched for 67 years until Al Unser, Sr. tied it in 1987. Tommy Milton won the first of two 500 victories.
Indianapolis 500 Chip Ganassi became the first car owner to win the Daytona and Indianapolis 500s in the same year, with Jamie McMurray winning the Daytona 500 and Dario Franchitti winning the Indianapolis 500. In 2010, Bruton Smith (owner of Speedway Motorsports, Inc.), offered $20,000,000 to any driver, IndyCar or NASCAR, who can win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day starting in 2011—a feat that has never been done before. For 2011, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway moved the start time of the Indy 500 back to 12:15 PM EDT (prior to 2005, the engines started at