Twenty-six of the 40 starters retired, a record eight drivers led laps and a rookie from the back of the grid took the flag after the favourite crashed out.
Fred Frame won the 20th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes on Monday 30 May 1932 from 27th on the grid, averaging 104.144 mph. Attrition was heavy, with 26 of the 40 starters retiring, and a record eight different drivers led laps during the race.
The 1932 Indianapolis 500 was the 20th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes, held on Monday 30 May 1932 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was a race of attrition, with 26 of the 40 cars retiring, and it was won by Fred Frame from 27th on the grid, averaging 104.144 mph.
Why was 1932 a test of endurance?
Attrition defined the afternoon. Of the 40 cars that started, 26 failed to finish through crashes or mechanical trouble. Only the survivors reached the flag. A record eight different drivers led laps, and none of them seemed able to hold the lead without some form of trouble.
Billy Arnold, who had won the 1930 race, had looked for a third straight year like the dominant car, but his race ended on lap 59. Fred Frame, who had spent much of the race several laps down, eventually inherited the lead for good on lap 152.
Almost two-thirds of the field did not finish, and the car that won had started 27th.
How did Billy Arnold's race end?
Arnold was leading the race at the midway point when he crashed in turn three on lap 59 and went over the wall. He and his riding mechanic, Spider Matlock, were both badly hurt. Arnold broke a shoulder and Matlock suffered a broken pelvis, in injuries that mirrored those they had suffered in a crash a year earlier.
Arnold never raced again after the crash. Later it emerged that his grandmother had died the previous day, a sad detail alongside his retirement.
What happened to Bob Carey's lead?
With Arnold out, rookie Bob Carey led from lap 59 to lap 94, inheriting the lead after the crash, while Lou Moore moved into second. By the 100-mile mark Arnold's margin was over a minute, and the order was shifting fast.
On lap 94 Carey clipped the outside wall in turn four while leading. He spun around three times and limped back to the pits, the left front wheel damaged. The stop cost him ten minutes, which handed the lead to Ernie Triplett.
How did Fred Frame win from 27th?
Frame got in front for good on lap 152 and won after starting 27th, further back than any previous winner, apart from Harroun's 1911 triumph and Meyer's 1936 win. Frame rode with riding mechanic Jerry Houck, and he pushed on despite repeated problems with an overheating engine.
Frame needed six pit stops, each time to take on water. His steady pace, helped by heavy attrition, carried him through. He had been about four laps down at one point. By the closing stages he had the race in hand, holding more than a 40-second lead over Howdy Wilcox II in the final 20 laps.
Who took pole in 1932?
Lou Moore took pole late on qualifying day, Saturday 21 May, with a four-lap run that averaged 117.363 mph. That was the quickest qualifying effort in three years. His fourth lap, at 118.577 mph, set a single-lap mark for a non-supercharged engine.
This was the third season of the stock-based rules, often called the Junk formula. Speeds were rising again, though they had not yet reached the levels of the late 1920s.
| Day | Result | Notable run |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 21 May | Field filled to 21 cars | Moore on pole at 117.363 mph |
| Sunday 22 May | Two cars qualified | Wilbur Shaw, 114.326 mph |
| Monday 23 May | 26 of 40 grid spots filled by day's end | Bob McDonogh, 113.279 mph |
| Tuesday 24 May | Two cars completed runs | Gus Schrader, 112.003 mph |
| Wednesday 25 May | One car qualified | Chet Miller secured 29th |
| Thursday 26 May | One car completed a run | Louis Schneider took 30th |
| Friday 27 May | Seven cars completed runs | George Howie later crowded out |
| Saturday 28 May | Field filled to 40 cars | Kelly Petillo made the field |
How did practice go in April and May?
Teams and drivers began arriving in early April and set up shop in Gasoline Alley. Argentine driver Juan Gaudino arrived on 13 April to enter for the first time. Gaudino had planned to enter in 1931, then pulled out after a South American crash just before travelling.
Entries were due by midnight on Monday 2 May. The field had 72 entries the year before, and by 1 May at least 40 cars had been entered. The list reached 68 cars by 2 May, and by 3 May it stood at 71 to 72, matching the previous year.
Practice had its share of accidents. On 18 April Joe Russo lost control at the north end and hit the retaining wall, needing three stitches to his lip. Babe Stapp was badly hurt at Legion Ascot Speedway on 27 April and missed the whole of May.
On 4 May Gaudino was hurt when an acetylene torch exploded in the garage area, leaving him with burns to his face and hands. He was expected back in the car within a couple of days.
Which drivers were killed in practice?
The month was marred by two fatalities. On 25 May, Bennie Benefiel's riding mechanic, Harry Cox, died when the car struck the inside wall, shed a wheel and went over the outside retaining barrier at turn one. It dropped about twenty feet and hit two trees before coming to rest against another.
Benefiel was seriously injured, and Cox was thrown from the car and died at the scene. Two days later, on 27 May, Milton Jones and Harold Gray, his riding mechanic, were out on a practice run when their car slid out of control in turn one. It cleared the wall and came down upright on grass beyond the track. Gray survived with a broken arm and internal injuries, but Jones later died in City Hospital, about six hours after the crash.
How did the last qualifying days go?
On Monday 23 May Hartwell "Stubby" Stubblefield made a fast first lap of 117.310 mph and raised his speed to 117.540 mph on the third lap. On his final lap he sensed a tyre going down, so he backed off and coasted towards the pits, shutting the engine off on the main straight.
He coasted across the line, and officials ruled that the run counted. His last lap of 101.488 mph dragged his average down to 112.988 mph, which made him safely qualified but not the fastest.
Bob McDonogh made a steady run of 113.279 mph, the afternoon's best, and he became the first four-wheel drive car in Indianapolis history to qualify. Phil Shafer was the only other qualifier that day, at 110.708 mph.
By the close of day three, 26 of the 40 grid spots were taken. Qualifying dragged on through the week, and on the final day the qualifying window was lengthened to run from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
How did the race start?
The start came at 10:00 a.m.; Edsel Ford was at the wheel of the Lincoln Model KB pace car. Theodore E. "Pop" Meyers rode along to marshal the start. Moore grabbed the front into turn one from the pole, with Arnold next, then Winn in third and Triplett fourth.
Arnold passed Moore on the second lap and began to set the pace. His average after ten laps was 110.250 mph, which beat the 1928 mark. On lap 3 Al Gordon went over the outside wall at turn four, and Stubby Stubblefield sideswiped him, although Gordon and his riding mechanic were not hurt. Gus Schrader was also out on lap 7.
What happened in the first half?
Attrition began early, with several cars leaving the race in the first 100 miles, and the race was already running at a record pace. Joe Huff needed a three-minute stop to repair a leaking radiator cap, and several others made stops for early tyre wear.
At the 50-mile mark Arnold led Moore by 49 seconds, and by the 100-mile mark the margin was a minute and 18 seconds, and Carey was now second. By lap 50 Arnold had lapped everyone except Carey, and he was running at a record pace.
Then came the crash on lap 59. Carey led until lap 94, when he hit the wall and lost ten minutes in the pits. Triplett then led, and Moore dropped out with bad timing gears. Frame, about four laps down, also made a brief stop with water boiling from his radiator.
Who led the second half?
At the midpoint, Triplett led a group of Wilcox II, Schneider and Bergere. Ira Hall moved into the lead on lap 110, but Triplett's lead did not last. Triplett then retired after 125 laps because of a failed clutch, and Schneider went out at the same moment with a broken frame.
With the front of the field thinning, Frame took the lead on lap 126. Shaw was the only other car still on the lead lap. Wilcox and Bergere were a lap behind in third and fourth. Shaw later lost more than nine minutes after stalling in the pits, then dropped out with a broken axle.
How did the closing laps play out?
Three incidents drew attention late in the race. On lap 182 Ira Hall blew a tyre, spun and brushed the wall at the south end. He limped back to the pits without his riding mechanic, was given a one-lap penalty for leaving him behind, and went on to finish seventh.
Luther Johnson lost a wheel on the main straight, and Tony Gulotta's tyre flew off its wheel in turn one, nearly going over the fence into the stands.
Late in the race Pete Kreis skidded and crashed on the main straight. Frame, meanwhile, controlled 58 of the last 75 laps and won by 44 seconds over Howdy Wilcox II, with Bergere third.
Why did the 1932 result matter?
Frame's average, 104.144 mph (167.604 km/h), beat a mark that had stood for seven years, the mark set by Peter DePaolo in 1925. Frame started from 27th, aided by heavy attrition and a steady pace, and his win stood as the furthest back any winner had started, apart from Harroun in 1911.
Riding mechanics were required for 1932, and the race also formed part of the AAA's 1932 championship calendar.
