Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year

Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
Original Stark and Wetzel Rookie of the Year Award trophy on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
Sport	Indy Car Racing
Competition	Indianapolis 500
Discipline	NTT IndyCar Series
Awarded for	Outstanding performance by a rookie driver at the Indianapolis 500
History
First award	1952
First winner	Art Cross
Most recent	Scott McLaughlin

Winners of the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Award, first awarded in 1952. No official award was given from 1911 to 1951, even though at least one rookie starter has been present in every running of the Indianapolis 500. The award is voted on by a panel of judges, which is composed of selected members of the media, historians, and a handful of other experts. The voting takes place the night of the race (or the morning after), and does not necessarily go to the highest-finishing rookie. Noteworthy accomplishments during qualifying, regardless of the respective race result, have frequently been a factor in voting. A rookie who competitively runs up front during the race, passes many cars, and/or leads laps (but ultimately drops out) can also garner consideration over another rookie who finished higher, but did so merely by surviving attrition. Other contributing attributes can include personal attitude, sportsmanship, professionalism, and interaction with driver coaches, fans, and media. Years in which two drivers are listed indicate co-winners, due to a tie in the final voting.

The Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year award has been sponsored by the following companies:

• meats (1952–1979)
• JPMorgan Chase (1980–2013) (through different mergers)
  • American Fletcher National Bank (1980–1988)
  • Bank One (1989–2004)
  • Chase (2005–2013)
• Sunoco (2014–2018)
• Marathon Petroleum Speedway convenience stores (2019–present)

This award is separate from the annual rookie of the year award presented by IndyCar, as well as the Jim Trueman Award (rookie of the year) which was handed out by CART. The current award is $25,000 cash and a plaque.^[1] In the early years, when Stark & Wetzel sponsored the award, the prize package included $500 in cash, and a year's supply of meat.^[2]

Definition of a "Rookie"[]

The term "rookie" (or newcomer) at the Indianapolis 500 can at times be misleading. According to race rules, a rookie is defined as any driver who has never qualified for the race and/or has never been on the track during the pace lap, and officially credited with a start. Several unique situations have created confusion, among the many include:

• In 1911, the first Indianapolis 500, all 40 participants are considered rookies. However, at least 23 of the 40 starters had previously participated in early events at the Speedway in 1909 and 1910. Therefore, in the first 500, there were actually only seventeen complete newcomers to the Speedway. In addition, four other drivers who raced in the 500 in subsequent years, had previous experience at the Speedway in 1909 and 1910.^[3] Inaugural 500 winner Ray Harroun had actually won a total of 7 races at the IMS through 1909 and 1910, including the 200 mile Wheeler-Schebler Trophy Race on Memorial Day Weekend in 1910.
• In 1927, Louis Meyer did not qualify for the race, but served as a relief driver. He first qualified on his own in 1928, and was considered a rookie when he won that race.
• Bill Puterbaugh had a notable streak of failing to qualify for the race six times from 1968 to 1974, before finally making the race for the first time in 1975. He was still scored a rookie for the 1975 race, and his 7th-place finish earned him the Rookie of the Year award.
• "Uncle" Jacques Villeneuve qualified for the 1984 race, but crashed in practice. He was not cleared to drive, and was forced to withdraw, and not credited with a start. He returned in 1985, but a crash early in the month prevented him from making a qualifying attempt. In 1986, he qualified and started the race (his third year overall), where he was considered a rookie, and still eligible for the award (he did not win). Members of the media lightheartedly referred to him as "the veteran rookie."
• Affonso Giaffone was a rookie when he first qualified for the 1997 race. As the safety car entered pit lane to start the race, the entire Row 5 where he was starting was involved in an incident in Turn 4 headed to the start, and never saw the green flag to take the start. All three drivers were credited with 0 laps, having taken the track for the pace lap, but not having taken the start. Had he returned in a subsequent year, despite never actually starting the race, he would not have been considered a rookie again.

The term "rookie" can also confuse spectators, as it suggests a young, inexperienced competitor. In reality, it can be a mis-nomer, since several experienced champions of other forms of motorsports have come to Indy and been ruled a rookie because of their first start in the 500 only. Formula One and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup champions were still scored as "rookies" in their first starts.

• Graham Hill was considered a rookie winner when he won in his first start (1966). However, Hill had already won the 1962 World Championship going into the race.
• In 1993, reigning Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell left the international series to sign with the Newman-Haas race team for the entire CART season and the Indy 500. He contended for the win late in the race before finishing 3rd, and earned Rookie of the Year honors as perhaps the highest-profile "rookie" in the race's history.
• In 2012, longtime Formula One veterans Rubens Barrichello and Jean Alesi were by rule, considered race "rookies." Barrichello won the Rookie of the Year award.
• In the wake of the CART/IRL split in 1996, several drivers who first arrived at Indy in the early 2000s had been experienced fixtures of the CART circuit. Juan Pablo Montoya was the 1999 CART champion, but when he raced at Indy for the first time and won in 2000, he was still considered by definition, a "rookie." A similar situation occurred for Hélio Castroneves a year later. After experience in three seasons in the CART series, Castroneves attempted Indy for the first time in 2001. He won the 2001 race, also scored as a rookie. He would go on to win the 2002 race also, becoming the first driver to win the race in his first two starts.
• After the Open-wheel unification in 2008, several former Champ Car drivers arrived at Indy for the first time. All were scored as rookies, despite several having multiple years of experience in major-league Open-wheel racing.
• Despite his status as the 2007 INDYCAR Rookie of the Year, Ryan Hunter-Reay was declared a 2008 Indianapolis 500 rookie, because he had not started the race during his rookie season.
• In the 2014 race, 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch was, by rule, considered a rookie.
• The 2017 rookie of the year, Fernando Alonso was already a two-time Formula One World Champion when he won the award.
• 2019 NTT IndyCar Series rookie driver Patricio O'Ward failed to qualify for the 2019 race and is signed with McLaren Schmidt-Peterson for the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series season. He will be declared a race rookie for the 2020 race, must take the entire rookie test, and be eligible for the award.

Rookie of the Year award winners[]

Year	Driver	Start	Qualifying Speed (mph)	Finish	Race details
1952	Art Cross	20	134.288	5	A total of 8 rookies qualified in 1952, the first instance which the Rookie of the year was to be given. Four rookies finished in the top 12, with Art Cross, Jimmy Bryan, and Jimmy Reece charging from 20th/21st/23rd starting positions to finish finishing 5th–6th-7th respectively. Cross was the highest finishing rookie, about 44 seconds ahead of Bryan.
1953	Jimmy Daywalt	21	135.747	6	Six rookies drove in the 1953 race, on a brutally hot afternoon. Daywalt went the entire 500 miles without relief help, and finished 6th. He was the highest finishing rookie, about two minutes ahead of Ernie McCoy.
1954	Larry Crockett	25	139.557	9	Crockett was the only rookie (out of 6) to go the full 500 miles, doing so without relief help.
1955	Al Herman	16	139.811	7	Only 2 of 8 rookies were running at the finish. Herman was the top-finishing rookie, and the only one to go the full 500 miles.
1956	Bob Veith	23	142.535	7	Veith was the top finishing rookie, and the only one to go the full 500 miles.
1957	Don Edmunds	27	140.449	19	None of the five rookies were running at the finish. Edmunds spun out after completing 170 laps. Fellow rookie Eddie Sachs qualified for the middle of the front row, but dropped out with a fuel leak on lap 105.
1958	George Amick	25	142.710	2	Amick led three times for 18 laps, and was the highest finishing rookie since the Rookie of the Year award started being given.
1959	Bobby Grim	5	144.225	26	Grim qualified 5th and won rookie of the year despite dropping out before the halfway point. Three others finished ahead of him.
1960	Jim Hurtubise	23	149.056	18	Hurtubise was the fastest overall qualifier in the field. On the second weekend of time trials, he set a four-lap track record at 149.056 mph.
1961	Bobby Marshman	33	144.293	7	Jones led two times for 27 laps. However, Marshman charged from last starting position to finish 7th, and for the first time, "co-winners" were awarded.
	Parnelli Jones	5	146.080	12
1962	Jim McElreath	7	149.025	6	Five rookies made the field, with McElreath starting 7th and finishing 6th, the best of all five. None of the other four rookies made it beyond the halfway point. Dan Gurney started 8th, but dropped out with a broken rear end.
1963	Jim Clark	5	149.750	2	Clark led 28 laps.
1964	Johnny White	21	150.893	4	A total of seven rookies made the field. Four were running at the finish, with White finishing 4th, and the only one to complete the full 200 laps. Rookie Dave MacDonald was fatally injured in the major crash with Eddie Sachs on lap 2, and fellow rookie Ronnie Duman became caught up in the accident as well.
1965	Mario Andretti	4	158.849	3	Andretti briefly sat on the pole position with a new track record qualifying speed at the time. Eventually his time was bested, and he started 4th on race day.
1966	Jackie Stewart	11	159.972	6	Stewart led 40 laps during the race, and had a lap lead on the field late in the race. On the 191st lap, he slowed due to low oil pressure, and parked the car. That handed the lead over to another rookie, Graham Hill, who led the final nine laps en route to victory. Even though Hill won the race as a rookie starter, Stewart's performance earned him enough votes to win the rookie of the year award.
1967	Denis Hulme	24	163.376	4	Two rookies were running at the finish, with Hulme charging from 24th starting position to finish 4th. Rookie Art Pollard started 13th, but managed only 8th on race day.
1968	Bill Vukovich II	23	163.510	7	Rookies Bill Vukovich II, Mike Mosley, and Sammy Sessions finished 7th–8th-9th, respectively. Vukovich, son of the 1953–1954 winner, completed 198 laps, and despite tangling with Mel Kenyon just after the halfway point, finished a lap ahead of Mosley and Sessions.
1969	Mark Donohue	4	168.903	7	Donohue (7th place) won the rookie of the year award, despite finishing ten laps behind fellow rookie Peter Revson (5th place). Voters took into account the fact that Donohue (who started 4th) had to make a lengthy pit stop early on, but his race pace was much faster. Revson, who started last, lost a cylinder, and due to the high attrition rate, was able to cruise around to a largely uncontested 5th-place finish.[4]
1970	Donnie Allison	23	165.662	4	Three of the four rookies were running at the end, with Donnie Allison (a NASCAR regular) charging from 23rd starting position to an impressive 4th-place finish.
1971	Denny Zimmerman	28	169.755	8	Zimmerman was the only rookie (out of 4) running at the finish.
1972	Mike Hiss	25	179.015	7	Out of 8 rookies, Sam Posey qualified 7th and finished 5th with 198 laps. But Hiss charged from 26th to 7th, completing 196 laps.
1973	Graham McRae	13	192.031	16	Three rookies made the field, with Bobby Allison the qualifying fastest (12th); but McRae was only one position slower than Allison (13th). Allison completed only one lap, while McRae was credited with 92 laps before dropping out with a broken header, but was by far the highest finishing rookie. Jerry Karl completed only 22 laps, but was still officially running at the finish, as his team made lengthy repairs to a mechanical issue.
1974	Pancho Carter	21	180.605	7	Only two rookies were running at the finish. Carter was 9 laps down in 7th, while Tom Bigelow finished 12th completing 166 laps. On lap 141, Carter spun in turn one and nearly took out race leader Johnny Rutherford. No cars made contact, and Carter continued undamaged.
1975	Bill Puterbaugh	15	183.833	7	Puterbaugh was the fastest rookie qualifier, and had tried for seven years to make the field.
1976	Vern Schuppan	17	182.011	18	Out of only four rookies, Schuppan started furthest up on the grid and finished the highest. He was 5 laps down in 18th pace when the race was called for rain on lap 102.
1977	Jerry Sneva	16	186.616	10	Of seven rookies in the field, Sneva (the brother of pole-sitter Tom Sneva) was the only one running at the finish, as well as the only one to make it beyond the halfway point.
1978	Larry Rice	30	187.393	11	Mears became the first rookie to qualify on the front row since Eddie Sachs in 1957. Rice charged from 30th starting position to finish 11th. Initial voting ended in a tie. At the victory banquet, it was discovered that two of the voters had split their votes. They could not decide whom to vote for, and put both Rice and Mears on their respective ballots. Officials requested that those two voters re-vote, and they both agreed. One voted for Rice, and the other voted for Mears, and a tie still prevailed. Officials at that point declared co-winners.
	Rick Mears	3	200.078	23
1979	Howdy Holmes	13	185.864	7	Holmes was the only rookie that qualified for the field. Seven rookies entered the month and took rookie tests, and a total of four made qualifying attempts. was bumped; while the qualifying attempts of Dick Ferguson and Bill Alsup were disallowed due to rules infractions. That left Holmes the lone rookie, this despite a special qualifying session the day before the race which gave participants one extra chance to make the field.
1980	Tim Richmond	19	188.334	9	Richmond, the fastest rookie qualifier, led one lap during the race. Richmond set the fastest practice lap of the month (193.507 mph), but a crash on pole day morning prevented him from qualifying during the pole round. Richmond ran out of fuel at the head of the mainstretch at the finish, and was credited with 9th position. Race winner Johnny Rutherford famously gave Richmond a ride back to the pit area. Richmond bested nine other rookies in the field – with three others finishing 10th, 11th, and 13th, respectively.
1981	Josele Garza	6	195.101	23	Garza led two times for 13 laps before crashing out of the race. Kevin Cogan (4th), however, was the highest-finishing of the ten rookies in the field.
1982	Jim Hickman	24	196.217	7	Hickman was the highest finishing rookie. He was killed in a crash at Milwaukee about two months later.
1983	Teo Fabi	1	207.395	26	Fabi became the first rookie to win the pole position since 1950, and first since the Rookie of the Year award had been established. He led the first 23 laps of the race. Fellow rookie Al Unser Jr. finished in the top ten.
1984	Roberto Guerrero	7	205.707	2	Three rookies (Guerrero, Andretti, and Al Holbert) finished in the top five. Guerrero was the highest finishing rookie since 1966.
	Michael Andretti	4	207.805	5
1985	Arie Luyendyk	20	206.004	7	Two rookies (Luyendyk and Ed Pimm) finished in the top ten.
1986	Randy Lanier	13	209.964	10	Lanier (the 1984 IMSA champion) was also the fastest rookie qualifier. He was the only rookie out of four running at the finish.
1987	Fabrizio Barbazza	17	208.038	3	Three rookies (Barbazza, Stan Fox, and Jeff MacPherson) finished in the top ten, with Barbazza the highest at third, two laps down. Barbazza's day was not without incident, as he did a complete spin in the second half of the race, avoiding contact with the wall.
1988	Bill Vukovich III	23	208.545	14	Vukovich, the first third-generation starter, was the second-fastest rookie qualifier, and the only rookie (of 5) still running at the finish (albeit 21 laps down).
1989	Bernard Jourdain	20	213.105	9	Jourdain and Pruett had nearly identical months of May in terms of performance. They qualified close together, raced near each other all day, and finished together.
	Scott Pruett	17	213.995	10
1990	Eddie Cheever	14	217.926	8	Two out of the three rookies in the race were running at the finish, with Cheever qualifying fastest and finishing the highest.
1991	Jeff Andretti	11	217.632	15	Only one rookie was running at the finish, Hiro Matsushita, however, after repairs, he was running 51 laps behind. Jeff Andretti dropped out of the race, but was actually scored one place higher than Matsushita. Andretti had actually attempted to qualify for the race in 1990, but was bumped. Therefore, 1991 was his second overall attempt.
1992	Lyn St. James	27	220.150	11	St. James was the first female rookie of the year, and the only rookie out of six still running at the finish.
1993	Nigel Mansell	8	220.255	3	Mansell (the reigning Formula One World Champion) led three times for 34 laps, and was leading on a restart with 16 laps to go. He was passed on the restart, and fell to third, and despite brushing the wall a few laps later, held on to finish the race in third position.
1994	Jacques Villeneuve	4	226.259	2	Villeneuve qualified as the fastest rookie, led the race two times for 7 laps, and was the only other entrant to finish on the lead lap.
1995	Christian Fittipaldi	27	226.375	2	Fittipaldi finished second (the second year in a row a rookie finished 2nd). Two of the six rookies were eliminated in the crash on the first lap.
1996	Tony Stewart	1	233.100	24	Veteran Scott Brayton won the pole position and Stewart qualified second. Six days after pole day, Brayton was fatally injured during a practice crash. Brayton was replaced by driver Danny Ongais, and the car was required to start at the rear of the field. Stewart, who was second, was elevated to the pole position on race day. He led the first 31 laps of the race, and 44 overall before dropping out with engine trouble.
1997	Jeff Ward	7	214.517	3	Ward led two times for 49 laps, and led as late as lap 192 before ducking into the pits for fuel, and finishing third.
1998	Steve Knapp	23	216.445	3	Six out of the eight rookies were still running at the finish, with Knapp the lone rookie on the lead lap.
1999	Robby McGehee	27	220.139	5	Only four rookies qualified, and two dropped out. McGehee was just 1 lap down at the finish while John Hollansworth, Jr. was 8 laps down in 13th.
2000	Juan Pablo Montoya	2	223.372	1	Montoya was the first rookie winner since 1966, and the first race winner to actually be awarded the Rookie of the Year award in the same year.
2001	Hélio Castroneves	11	224.142	1	Castroneves was the second rookie in a row to win the race and the Rookie of the Year award together.
2002	Alex Barron	26	228.580	4	Scheckter led the most laps (85), and turned the fastest lap of the race. He, however, crashed out on lap 173 while leading the race. Barron was the only rookie out of nine to finish on the lead lap.
	Tomas Scheckter	10	229.210	26
2003	Tora Takagi	7	229.358	5	Takagi led two laps.
2004	Kosuke Matsuura	9	220.740	11	Matsuura was the fastest rookie qualifier, and the only rookie running on the lead lap when the race was officially called for rain after 180 laps (450 miles).
2005	Danica Patrick	4	227.004	4	During practice, Patrick ran the fastest practice lap of the month, and was a favorite for the front row. During her qualifying attempt, Patrick's car slipped in the first turn, and she settled for 4th starting position as the fastest rookie. Had she not slipped, she may have been fast enough to qualify for the pole position. On race day, she led three times for 19 laps. She was leading as late as 6 laps to go before finishing 4th.
2006	Marco Andretti	9	224.918	2	Marco Andretti, the fastest rookie qualifier, was leading the race with one lap to go. He was passed by Sam Hornish, Jr. on the mainstrech on the final lap, about 450 feet from the finish line, in the second-closest finish in Indy 500 history.
2007	Phil Giebler	33	219.637	29	Only two rookies qualified, the fewest since 1979. Giebler was chosen as the best newcomer for the month, as the fastest rookie qualifier and highest finishing rookie. This despite crashing during his first qualifying attempt, and again during the race on lap 106 while running 19th. The other rookie, Milka Duno, wrecked earlier in the race. Giebler's 29th-place finishing position is the lowest ever for a rookie of the year selection.
2008	Ryan Hunter-Reay	20	221.579	6	Eleven rookies were part of the field, including several former Champ Car drivers following the open wheel unification. Hunter-Reay, the 2007 IndyCar Series rookie of the year, spent most of the day near the top ten, and was the highest running rookie at the finish, finishing one spot higher than the fastest rookie qualifier, Hideki Mutoh. Hunter-Reay was eligible for the award, despite being a second-year driver in the series, by virtue of the fact that he did not participate at Indy previously.
2009	Alex Tagliani	33	221.115	11	Tagliani was bumped from the field in the final minutes of Bump Day. A day later, his teammate Bruno Junqueira was removed from his ride, and Tagliani replaced him behind the wheel. Rules forced the car to start from the rear of the field. On race day, Tagliani charged quickly up the standings, and by the midpoint, was running 11th. After running as high as 10th, Tagliani was the highest finishing rookie. There was some mild controversy about voting for Tagliani due to the fact that he did not qualify, but he won the award nonetheless, and became the first driver to win the award despite not qualifying for the race.
2010	Simona de Silvestro	22	224.228	14	Six rookies qualified for the race, and four were running at the finish. Simona de Silvestro was one of two female rookies (Ana Beatriz was the other), and qualified in the top 24 cars on pole day. She officially finished one position lower than Mario Romancini, who was the fastest rookie qualifier (started 27th), and the highest finishing rookie (13th). de Silvestro became the third female to win the award.
2011	J. R. Hildebrand	12	225.579	2	After fuel strategies shuffled the leaders in the waning laps, Hildebrand took the lead with three laps to go, and appeared to be on his way to victory. On the final turn of the final lap, he was approaching the slower car of Charlie Kimball, got into the "marbles," and crashed into the outside wall. His car slid down the frontstretch, but in the final 1,000 feet, Dan Wheldon slipped by and took the checkered flag. Hildebrand's wrecked car coasted across the line to finish 2nd.
2012	Rubens Barrichello	10	224.264	11	Josef Newgarden was the fastest rookie qualifier, but Barrichello was the highest finishing rookie. He led two laps during the race.
2013	Carlos Muñoz	2	228.342	2	Muñoz, in his first IndyCar race, led the speed chart during practice twice, and qualified in the middle of the front row. On race day, he led 12 laps, and finished 2nd.
2014	Kurt Busch	12	230.782	6	A total of seven rookies qualified for the race. Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion made a highly publicized effort at Indianapolis, attempting "Double Duty." Busch was the fastest rookie qualifier, posting the 10th-fastest speed on the first day of time trials, then later qualifying for the 12th starting position. On race day, Busch did not lead any laps, but finished 6th on the lead lap. The next best rookie was Sage Karam, who charged from 31st to 9th. Karam received praise from some observers who thought he was more deserving of consideration.[5]
2015	Gabby Chaves	26	222.916	16	Only two rookies qualified for the race, Chaves and Stefano Coletti. Chaves started and finished higher, while Coletti crashed out. Chaves ran as high as 8th during one point in the race.
2016	Alexander Rossi	11	228.473	1	Rossi became the third rookie to win the race and the Rookie of the Year award together. He started the highest out of the 5 rookies in the field, and was the only one to lead laps (14) as well.
2017	Fernando Alonso	5	231.300	24	Two-time Formula 1 World Champion came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2017 and qualified in the middle of the second row of the grid as the fastest rookie qualifier. He led 27 laps in the race before retiring due to an engine failure. Fellow rookie Ed Jones finished in 3rd position.
2018	Robert Wickens	18	226.296	9	Third Canadian rookie of the year, after Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Tagliani. Wickens was the slowest qualifying of the 4 rookies in the field, but was the highest finishing of the group. Less than three months later, Wickens' IndyCar career was cut short after a serious crash at Pocono.
2019	Santino Ferrucci	23	227.731	7	Ferrucci had the second fastest time in Carb Day practice, and was the only rookie (out of 6) to complete all 500 miles.
2020	Patricio O'Ward	15	230.213	6	Third Mexican rookie of the year, after Josele Garza and Bernard Jourdain. O'Ward was fastest during Carb Day practice and ran as high as third during the race. He was the only rookie out of 5 to complete all 500 miles.
2021	Scott McLaughlin	17	230.557	20	Only two rookies qualified out of three entered. McLaughlin ran in the top 10 at one point in the race before a pit-lane speeding penalty dropped him down the order.

Drivers to win award and race (chronologically)[]

Driver	Rookie of the Year	Race Victories
Parnelli Jones	1961	1963
Jim Clark	1963	1965
Mario Andretti	1965	1969
Mark Donohue	1969	1972
Rick Mears	1978	1979, 1984, 1988, 1991
Arie Luyendyk	1985	1990, 1997
Eddie Cheever	1990	1998
Jacques Villeneuve	1994	1995
Juan Pablo Montoya	2000	2000, 2015
Hélio Castroneves	2001	2001, 2002, 2009, 2021
Ryan Hunter-Reay	2008	2014
Alexander Rossi	2016	2016

Rookie winners[]

Officially ten drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 in their first attempt. In 1928, Louis Meyer won the race in his first start, but he had driven relief in the race a year earlier. In the first race in 1911, all drivers were considered "rookies," even though at least 23 of the 40 starters had previously driven in other races at the track in 1909–1910.

• 1911: Ray Harroun (first race; Harroun had driven in early events at the Speedway in 1909–1910)
• 1913: Jules Goux
• 1914: Rene Thomas
• 1926: Frank Lockhart
• 1927: George Souders
• 1928: Louis Meyer (drove in relief in 1927)
• 1966: Graham Hill (was the 1962 World Champion; did not win the Rookie of the Year award)
• 2000: Juan Pablo Montoya (was the 1999 CART series champion)
• 2001: Hélio Castroneves (was a three-year veteran of the CART series)
• 2016: Alexander Rossi

Fastest rookie qualifier[]

Since 1975, a separate award has been presented to the fastest rookie qualifier in the field. It has been sponsored by the American Dairy Association Indiana Inc. since its inception.^[6] The award goes to the rookie who posts the fastest four-lap qualifying average during official time trials – regardless of overall starting position, and regardless of day in which the qualifying run was completed. The award is currently $5,000 cash and a plaque. It is presented at a luncheon a few days before the race.^[7] Each other rookie in the field receives $250. The names of the winners are affixed to a permanent trophy on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Although rookies have qualified for every race dating back to 1911, this particular award has been officially recognized only since 1975.

In 2009, the award celebrated its 35th consecutive year of continuous sponsorship by the American Dairy Association Indiana Inc.. Since 2010 (except for 2015), qualifying has been conducted utilizing two rounds. In all cases, the fastest rookie qualifier award is based on the first-round qualifying speed only.

• 1975: Bill Puterbaugh, 183.833 mph
• 1976: Billy Scott, 183.383 mph
• 1977: Danny Ongais, 193.040 mph
• 1978: Rick Mears, 200.078 mph (started 3rd)
• 1979: Howdy Holmes, 185.864 mph (lone rookie in the field)
• 1980: Tim Richmond, 188.334 mph
• 1981: Josele Garza, 195.101 mph
• 1982: Chip Ganassi, 197.704 mph
• 1983: Teo Fabi, 207.395 mph (won pole position)
• 1984: Michael Andretti, 207.805 mph
• 1985: Raul Boesel, 206.498 mph
• 1986: Randy Lanier, 209.964 mph
• 1987: Davy Jones, 208.117 mph
• 1988: Dominic Dobson, 210.096 mph
• 1989: John Jones, 214.028 mph
• 1990: Eddie Cheever, 217.926 mph
• 1991: Mike Groff, 219.015 mph
• 1992: Jimmy Vasser, 222.313 mph
• 1993: Stephan Gregoire, 220.851 mph
• 1994: Jacques Villeneuve, 226.259 mph
• 1995: Andre Ribeiro, 226.495 mph
• 1996: Tony Stewart, 233.100 mph (started on pole position after fatal crash of Scott Brayton; rookie speed record)
• 1997: Vincenzo Sospiri, 216.822 mph (started 3rd)
• 1998: Jimmy Kite, 219.290 mph
• 1999: John Hollansworth, Jr., 221.698 mph
• 2000: Juan Pablo Montoya, 223.372 mph (started 2nd, won race)
• 2001: Bruno Junqueira, 224.208 mph
• 2002: Tony Kanaan, 230.253 mph
• 2003: Scott Dixon, 230.099 mph
• 2004: Kosuke Matsuura, 220.740 mph
• 2005: Danica Patrick, 227.004 mph (started 4th)
• 2006: Marco Andretti, 224.918 mph
• 2007: Phil Giebler, 219.637 mph
• 2008: Hideki Mutoh, 223.887 mph
• 2009: Raphael Matos, 223.429 mph
• 2010: Mario Romancini, 224.641 mph
• 2011: J. R. Hildebrand, 225.579 mph
• 2012: Josef Newgarden, 224.677 mph (Segment 1 time); 224.037 mph (Fast Nine Shootout time)
• 2013: Carlos Muñoz, 228.171 mph (Segment 1 time); 228.342 (Fast Nine Shootout time)
• 2014: Kurt Busch, 229.960 mph (Saturday time); 230.782 mph (Sunday time)
• 2015: Gabby Chaves, 222.916 mph (one round of qualifying utilized)
• 2016: Alexander Rossi, 230.048 mph (Saturday time); 228.473 mph (Sunday time)
• 2017: Fernando Alonso, 230.034 (Saturday time); 231.300 mph (Sunday time)
• 2018: Matheus Leist, 227.441 (Saturday time); 227.571 (Sunday time)
• 2019: Colton Herta, 229.478 (Saturday time); 229.086 (Fast Nine Shootout time)
• 2020: Rinus VeeKay, 231.114 mph (Saturday time); 230.704 mph (Fast Nine Shootout time)
• 2021: Pietro Fittipaldi, 230.846 mph

Notes[]

Works cited[]

• 2006 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Program

References[]

See also[]

• Indianapolis 500 firsts
• Indianapolis 500 records
• Indianapolis 500 traditions
• Indianapolis 500 by year
• Indianapolis 500 pace cars
• List of Indianapolis 500 winners
• List of Indianapolis 500 pole-sitters
• List of Indianapolis 500 lap leaders
• List of Indianapolis 500 broadcasters
• List of fatalities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• List of American Championship Car Rookie of the Year Winners