F1 drivers who won the Indy 500

Rodger Ward – 1959, 1962

• F1 starts: 12 (1951 – 1960, 1963)
• F1 championships: 0
• Indy 500 starts: 15 (1951 – 1964, 1966)
• Indy 500 wins: 2 (1959, 1962)

The Indy 500 was an official world championship race between 1950 and 1960, meaning that teams and drivers who only competed in the 500 also appear in the final standings of those seasons. It also means that drivers who finished well in the 500 could beat drivers who had a tough F1 season – Ward, for example, won the 1959 Indy 500 and scored eight points in doing so – this finish being enough to beat Graham Hill (who entered seven F1 races that season). 

Of course, the reality is that Ward was an Indy car driver who raced briefly in F1. While 10 of Ward’s 12 ‘F1’ starts come from the Indy 500, he did race in two United States Grands Prix, in 1959 and in 1963. Unfortunately for him, the car he was driving at Sebring in the ’59 edition was a midget with a two-speed-gearbox, which suffered clutch failure after 20 laps.

Four years later, Ward got his hands on a BRM-engined Lotus 24, and started 17th out of 21 cars at the Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, but retired with gearbox failure.

Ward was a hugely talented USAC Championship Car [Indy car] driver, winning the title in 1959 and 1962, and finishing top three for six straight seasons, 1959 through 1964.

Jim Clark – 1965

• F1 starts: 72 (1960 – 1968)
• F1 championships: 2 (1963, 1965)
• Indy 500 starts: 5 (1963 – 1967)
• Indy 500 wins: 1 (1965)

Jim Clark is considered one of the best drivers ever, and still holds the record for the highest percentage of laps led in an F1 season (71.47% in 1963). He was able to apply this talent to multiple series as well, winning the F1 championship twice, the Tasman series three times, and the Indy 500 once, before he was tragically killed in 1968.

Having finished second behind Parnelli Jones’ roadster in the 1963 race, Clark’s Lotus took pole in 1964, but had to retire at…