Photo: Louis Meyer (second from left in car) after the 1936 race.

Third in a series

1936 saw records set, traditions begin, and the first three-time winner in Speedway history as Louis Meyer took his third checkered flag in eight years. Meyer started 28th after bat6tling engine issues all month. But on race day, the power plant came to life as he carved his way through the field to take the lead on lap 89. He lost the lead briefly to Ted Horn, went back into first place on lap 147 and was never caught.

“We sure had a swell ride,” Meyer said after the race. The Indianapolis Star reported that Meyer called the Miller car the best he had ever driven.

Wilbur Shaw actually completed the 500 miles on track in less time than Meyer, but a 17-minute pit stop to tighten loose hood straps cost him the victory. Shaw led 51 laps and finished seventh.

For the 24th running of the Indianapolis 500 cars had a fuel limit of 37.5 gallons for the race. Seven cars ran out of fuel, the first on lap 180, and the last on lap 196.

Meyer set a race record of 109.069 miles an hour. A record crowd of 170,000 watched the historic win.

The number three is tie4d to the 1936 in several ways. Meyer won his third 500, and three long standing traditions were born that day. Meyer was the first recipient of the Borg-Warner trophy. After the race he asked for a glass of buttermilk. Drinking milk after winning the race did not become a tradition immediately. In the early 50s drivers drank a cup of water presented by track president Wilbur Shaw.

Meyer was also the first race winner to receive the pace car.At the suggestion of pace car driver Tommy Milton, the only other multiple 500 winner at the time, Meyer was given the Packard that paced the field.

Louis Meyer drove in three more 500-mile races. He crashed in 1939 and retired immediately. Meyer partnered with Dale Drake to, produce the Meyer-drake engine, a co9ntinuation of the Offenhauser power plant. The engine would be in every winner of the race until1968.

It did not take long for another driver to win three times, or for that matter, for a second driver to accomplish the triple victory. Wilbur Shaw took his third win in 1940, and Mauri rose won number three in 1948, Despite World War II interrupting racing from 1941-1945, IMS saw two new three-time winners in the span of just eight races. The next driver to accomplish three trips to Victory Lane? A. J. Foyt in 1967