1955 – Bryan is Winner of 100 at Fairgrounds

Jimmy Bryan raises his hands in victory after winning the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. 

Indianapolis, Ind. (September 17, 1955) – Jimmy Bryan of Phoenix, Ariz., won the 100-mile auto race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Saturday, outlasting Johnny Thomson of Springfield, Mass., by an eighth of a mile.

It was the second straight victory for Bryan in the Hoosier Hundred and the third for the Dean Van Lines Special In. the three-year-old event. Bryan's time was 1 hour, 11 minutes and 26 seconds for an average of 63.98 miles an hour.

Bryan passed Thomson on the 56th turn around the one-mile track and held the lead the rest of the way. Thomson had taken the lead on the 32nd lap when Bob Sweikert, the national AAA champion, and the 1953 winner, went out with engine trouble.

Sweikert, who won the pole position with a qualification mile in 38.53 seconds, was far out in front when his car died on the back stretch.

Rodger Ward of Los Angeles spun on the fourth lap, and the race was slowed for six laps. He was not injured.

The race was delayed an hour after Edgar Elder of Fresno, Calif., crashed broadside through a guard rail and fence on the second lap of his qualification run.

He was not injured, but his car was out of the race. He had run the first lap in 38.18 seconds, best time of the day.

Sweikert has the season championship clinched with 2,150 points. Bryan moved into second with 1,800 points. Thomson and Tony Bettenhausen of Tinley Park, Ill., who had been tied for second, dropped to third and fourth with 1,060 and 1,020.


Results –


1. Jimmy Bryan, Phoenix, Ariz.
2. Johnny Thomson, Springfield, Mass.
3. George Amick, Lynwood, Calif.
4. Tony Bettenhausen, Tinley Park, Ill.
5. Pat O'Connor, North Vernon, Ind.
6. Don Freeland, Los Angeles
7. Ed Elisian, Oakland, Calif.
8. Jimmy Reece, Oklahoma City
9. Andy Linden, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
10. Johnny Kay, New Britain, Conn.