Drivers with multiple Indy 500 wins

Milton was the first ever two-time winner of the Indy 500. He did it quite early in the race’s history. His first win in 1921 was in the ninth edition of the race, and he won again in 1923. This was a different time for auto racing. Milton had only one functional eye, which would disqualify him from competing in motor sports professionally now.

About a decade after Milton became the first two-time winner, Meyer one-upped him. The Hall of Fame race car driver won the Indy 500 not once, not twice, but three times. His first win came in 1928 and he picked up his second in 1933, before winning his final Indy in 1936. After winning that one, Meyer celebrated by drinking milk, which started that tradition.

Right after Meyer’s success, Shaw quickly became the second three-time winner in Indy 500 history. He won in 1937 and then won back-to-back races in 1939 and 1940, becoming the first driver to win consecutive races at Indianapolis. Later, he served as president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1945 until he died in a plane crash in 1954.

There’s an asterisk on Rose’s first Indy 500 win. His own car in the 1941 race had spark plug issues, and he ended up taking over driving Floyd Davis’ car, which he took to victory. So they shared that title. However, Rose then went on to win in 1947 and 1948, so he still belongs on this list regardless.

Tragically Vukovich died while racing in the 1955 Indy 500. Some considered him the best driver of his era, and his career up to that point indicated that might be true. After all, Vukovich won the Indy 500 in both 1953 and 1954, and he was leading in 1955 before everything went terribly wrong.

Ward was best on track for a stretch of time. From 1959 through 1964, he finished in the top four of the Indy 500 every single year. That included two victories: one in 1959 and one in 1962.

Up to this point, we’ve been talking about a lot of great drivers. Now we’re in the presence of greatness. Foyt is a legend on the track. He won a whopping four Indy 500s between 1961 and 1977. Oh, and he also won a Daytona 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Others would eventually match Foyt’s number of Indy 500 titles, but he did it first.

The Unsers are the first family of Indy. This isn’t the last time that name is going to pop up on this list either. Bobby was the first in the family to win here in 1968, before adding two more titles. He actually won races there in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

And yet Bobby isn’t even the most successful driver in his family. He won three Indy 500s. That’s great. Few people have done that. Even fewer have won four, though, and Al Unser Sr. is one of those drivers. Yes, two brothers combined to win a whopping seven Indy 500s. And we aren’t even done with this family yet!

After talking about the Unser brothers, it’s a bit of a step down to feature a run-of-the-mill two-time winner. Still, Gordy Johncock had an impressive career. He managed to lift the Borg-Warner Trophy in both 1973 and 1982.

Rutherford raced in both stock car and open-wheel racing. That means he appeared in both the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500. He never finished higher than ninth at Daytona, but he won a whopping three Indy 500 races. Clearly, that’s where his strength as a driver was.

Mears is the last of the four-time Indy 500 winners…for now. He won his first race in 1979, and after a couple of wins in the ‘80s he won his final race in 1991. Mears is also the record holder for appearing on the pole position at the race, having earned that honor six times.

Eventually, the world of Indy Car racing would become more international. Fittipaldi, who is from Brazil, is the first multitime winner from a country outside the United States. He also won a Formula One championship.

The Indy 500 got international for a couple of years. In 1989, Fittipaldi won. Then in 1990, Luyendyk, who is from the Netherlands, emerged victorious. It would take a few more years, but in 1997 he added his second Indy 500 win.

Finally, we close out the Unser family. Al Jr. didn’t win four like his father, or three like his uncle, but he won two Indy 500s of his own. That’s not too shabby. His wins came in 1992 and 1994.

Montoya won in 2000, and it seemed like that might be his only victory. Then in 2015, he surprisingly earned his second win at Indianapolis. That’s the longest gap between wins at this race.

Castroneves took Indianapolis by storm by winning in both 2001 and 2002. Then he added a third win in 2009. The Brazilian is still an active driver, so technically he could add a fourth title and enter real hallowed ground in racing history.

The British driver Wheldon won 16 races in his career, and that includes two Indy 500s. His last win came in 2011, which was also sadly the last year he was able to drive. Wheldon died in a crash in a 2011 race. He was only 33 and could have easily had another win in him.

Finally, we have Franchitti. He is the most recent of any driver to win multiple times. He first won in 2007 and then quickly followed up with wins in 2010 and 2012. However, due to injuries from a 2013 crash he had to retire, which means he was unable to potentially add a fourth title to his name.