Honestly, if you walk into the Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, you'll see the Borg-Warner Trophy gleaming with over 100 silver faces. It's a gorgeous, terrifyingly heavy piece of hardware. But those faces only tell half the story. Most people look at the list of past Indy 500 winners and see a neat, orderly progression of names from 1911 to today.
It wasn't orderly. Not even close.
Take 1981. If you look at the record books now, it says Bobby Unser won. Simple, right? Except on race day, Mario Andretti was the one who actually got the traditional victory milk. Bobby was stripped of the win the next morning because he passed cars under a yellow light. Mario "won" for about five months until a panel of judges decided that a fine was a better punishment than a disqualification. They gave the win back to Bobby in October.
Think about that. The "winner" of the biggest race in the world wasn't actually decided until the leaves were off the trees and the racing season was basically over.
The Four-Win Club: Racing's Mount Rushmore
For decades, the math was easy. A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., and Rick Mears. Those were the three titans. They each had four rings. For thirty years, nobody could touch them. It felt like a cursed ceiling. Then came 2021.
Helio Castroneves was 46 years old. Most drivers that age are looking at retirement homes or TV booth gigs. He was driving for Meyer Shank Racing, which—let's be real—wasn't exactly the "Evil Empire" of Team Penske where he'd spent his whole career. But he hunted down Alex Palou in the closing laps, pulled off a pass that made the grandstands shake, and joined the "Four-Win Club."
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Seeing Helio climb the fence at 46 was a reminder that the Brickyard doesn't care about your birth certificate. It cares about who can handle 230 mph with three inches of clearance between their front wing and the wall.
Breaking Down the Multi-Time Winners
The list of guys who have won this thing more than once is surprisingly short. You’d think with over 100 races, we’d have more repeat offenders. But Indy is a cruel mistress.
- A.J. Foyt: The first to hit four (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977). He’s the only guy to win in both front-engine "roadsters" and rear-engine "spec" cars.
- Al Unser Sr.: He won back-to-back in '70 and '71, then waited until 1987 to become the oldest winner ever at nearly 48. He wasn't even supposed to be in that 1987 race; he was a last-minute sub for Danny Ongais.
- Rick Mears: "Rocket Rick." The master of the pole position. He won in '79, '84, '88, and '91. His 1991 duel with Michael Andretti is arguably the best outside-pass in the history of the sport.
- Josef Newgarden: He just pulled off the impossible. Winning back-to-back in 2023 and 2024. Before him, nobody had done the "double" since Helio in 2001-2002. It's incredibly hard to do because the rules change, the cars evolve, and frankly, luck usually runs out.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Early Years
We like to romanticize the 1911 race. Ray Harroun in the Marmon Wasp. He was the first of the past Indy 500 winners, and he famously didn't carry a riding mechanic. Back then, everyone had a second guy in the car to look for traffic. Harroun installed a rearview mirror instead.
But here’s the thing: people still argue about whether he actually won.
There was a massive scoring pile-up during the race. Some contemporary accounts suggested Cyrus Patschke (who drove a relief stint for Harroun) or Ralph Mulford actually completed the distance first. But the timing wire was a mess, and the officials eventually just stuck with Harroun. Imagine the Twitter meltdown if that happened today.
The Evolution of Speed
The speeds these guys hit are just stupid. In 1911, the average winning speed was 74.602 mph. By 2021, Helio averaged 190.690 mph. And that includes the time spent behind the pace car!
If you look at the raw lap times, the progress is terrifying.
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- 1920s: Winners were averaging around 90-100 mph. The tracks were literal bricks (hence the name). If you crashed, you didn't just hit a wall; you hit a wall made of masonry.
- 1960s: This was the revolution. Jim Clark and the "British Invasion" brought mid-engine cars. The speed jumped from 140 to 150+ mph almost overnight.
- 1990s: Arie Luyendyk set the all-time track record in 1996 with a qualifying lap of 237.498 mph. We haven't topped that since because the series actually stepped in to slow the cars down for safety.
The Heartbreak and the "Almost" Winners
You can't talk about past Indy 500 winners without talking about the people who should have won. The "Andretti Curse" is a real thing in Indy lore. Mario won in 1969, and despite being one of the greatest drivers in human history, he never won it again. His son Michael led more laps than almost anyone in history without a win.
Then there’s J.R. Hildebrand in 2011. He was a rookie. He was leading on the final lap. He was 200 yards from the bricks. He went to pass a slow car, hit the "marbles" (the rubber bits on the outside of the track), and slammed the wall. He slid across the finish line in second place while Dan Wheldon zoomed past to take the win.
It was Wheldon’s second win, and tragically, his last. He died in a crash at Las Vegas later 그해. That 2011 victory is one of the most emotional moments in the history of the Speedway.
The Modern Era and the 2025 Shake-up
The most recent addition to the club is Alex Palou, who took the checkered flag in 2025. It was a masterclass in fuel saving and raw pace. Palou is a three-time series champ, but he needed that Indy win to solidify his status as an all-time great.
Winning Indy changes your life. You get the Borg-Warner trophy, you get the milk, and you get your name mentioned in every broadcast for the rest of eternity.
But it’s also a business. Roger Penske owns the track now. He also owns a team. In 2025, there was a massive scandal during qualifying involving "illegal modifications" to the Penske cars. It didn't stop them from racing, but it cast a shadow over the "Captain’s" organization. It’s a reminder that even at the highest level, people are still looking for that tiny edge—sometimes a bit too hard.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you're trying to track the history of these winners or even bet on future ones, stop looking at "who is fast." Look at "who is lucky."
- Track the "Triple Crown": Only Graham Hill has ever won the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Monaco Grand Prix. If you see a driver like Fernando Alonso or Juan Pablo Montoya sniffing around Indy, pay attention. They are chasing immortality, not just a trophy.
- The Starting Position Myth: While winning from the pole is common (21 times), the most frequent winning starting spot outside of the front row is actually further back than you'd think. Ryan Hunter-Reay won from 19th in 2014. Don't count out the mid-pack guys.
- Watch the Pit Stops: In the modern era, you don't win on the track; you win in the pits. A 6-second stop versus a 9-second stop is the difference between being a "Past Winner" and a "runner-up."
- Fuel Strategy is King: Since the cars are so similar now (all Dallara chassis), the winner is usually the guy who can go one lap longer on a tank of gas. Scott Dixon is the master of this, though it hasn't translated into a second win for him yet.
The list of past Indy 500 winners is a living document. It’s full of asterisked victories, 230-mph gambles, and enough spilled milk to fill a swimming pool. Whether it's Josef Newgarden’s back-to-back dominance or a rookie like Palou finally breaking through, the Speedway always finds a way to surprise you.
For those looking to dive deeper into the stats, the best move is to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway digital archives. They have the actual box scores from every race dating back to 1911. You can see the lap-by-lap charts and realize just how close many of these "legends" came to losing everything on Turn 4.