10 Indy Car Records that will never be broken

[MS]

Lots of Andretti, Unser and Foyt in those records. Do you think any of those records listed will be broken?

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/indycar/g39564492/10-indycar-records-never-be-broken/

[dalz]

I think the "youngest" could be broken. It's the sport's trend; someday soon a well-funded, talented youngster could zoom up the RTI, perhaps skipping a rung or two, and make it to the big show at 17, and by luck of birhdate be younger than Phillipe.

Funny thing, like most I thought Nelson was just a silly fop out there on a lark when he started, but I ended up kinda liking him. Too bad he lost interest.

[Vic Mackey]

I'm pretty sure the rules require you to be 18 now, so that one is locked until they get rid of the rule.

[Oddy]

With current rules it's pretty tough to have a dominant car for the season, so many of those records are pretty safe.

[KenK]

11. Billy Arnold won the 1930 Indianapolis 500 leading 198 of the 200 laps.

[Belanger99]

I think that the oldest starter is unlikely to be broken, this generation isn't likely to stick around as long.

I think Foyt's 67 wins is probably safe, someone would have to average 7 wins a year or ten seasons, or 3.5 over 20. I don't see that happening in today's world.


The .769 winning percentage of 1964 is one I am really sure will be safe. It would be difficult for someone to reach Al's 10 of 18 in 1970 as well.

[Privateer]

I've a feeling someone will come along younger than Phillippe. Forever's a long time.

Put this down and the safest of any list of lead-pipe cinch locks on this list. Al Unser led 66.8% of the laps (1,527 of 2,287) in his dominant 1970 season.

To put this one in perspective, only two other IndyCar drivers in history have led more than 50% of the laps in a season. Mario Andretti led 54.5% of the laps in 1966 and Michael Andretti led the field in 53.8% of the laps in 1992.

It's a shame how lost to history Michael's 1992 season has become. Also, how did Bourdais do in those ChampCar seasons, he never came close to this mark?

Some others, courtesy of ChampCarStats:

DNS/DNQ's - probably a very incomplete list, but whoever has it will never be passed, CCS has Bob Harkey at 46
DNS/DNQ's without a start - ditto, they have Potsy Goacher at 11
Starts without a win - Raul Boesel on 199, for comparison Conor Daly right now is on 89, this is a hard one to beat because you would need to have a full-time ride for at least 12 years without winning
2nds without a win - Vitor Meira with 8, THIS WILL NEVER BE BEATEN...poor Vitor
Starts without a Top 5 - Hiro Matsushita at 117, this could be beaten, you'd just need a backmarker ride buyer there for 7 to 8 years full-time

Also, with 5 more starts and if no Top 10 comes before then, Dalton Kellett will tie Milka Duno's Starts without a Top 10 record at 43. 3 races left this season so it would have to wait until 2023 if Kellett returns. Bear in mind though if Kellett due to attrition gets a Top 10 after breaking the record, the record reverts back to Milka.

[Belanger99]

I think that the oldest starter is unlikely to be broken, this generation isn't likely to stick around as long.

I think Foyt's 67 wins is probably safe, someone would have to average 7 wins a year or ten seasons, or 3.5 over 20. I don't see that happening in today's world.


The .769 winning percentage of 1964 is one I am really sure will be safe. It would be difficult for someone to reach Al's 10 of 18 in 1970 as well.

I may have to rethink the 67 considering Dixon is at 53. Of course I thought Tiger would have passed Jack's majors records by now too, so we will see.

[Privateer]

I may have to rethink the 67 considering Dixon is at 53. Of course I thought Tiger would have passed Jack's majors records by now too, so we will see.

At 4 wins a year which may be beyond Dixon now, he still wouldn't pass Foyt until 2026. I don't think he'll drive that long nor will he have that win rate.

One thing when it comes to stats like poles and wins that is completely ignored is the people in the Dixon, Bourdais, Franchitti, etc. generation had an era where there were almost double the races compared to what would be normal meaning all their stats are inflated compared to other eras (take the 15 IRL races and the 15 CART/ChampCar races in a year and combine into a common 18-race schedule: there's 12 less wins to go around). It's why I don't get the Foyt critique of his total they ran more races then. Look at history, no he didn't, it's nowhere close to what say NASCAR had pre-early 1970s and how Petty got to 200, Pearson to 105. Going through his racer history the most races of what became Indycar I ever see Foyt running in a season is 20.

When the last of the truly successful pre-2008 drivers retire (barring one-offs, just Dixon and Castroneves left at this point, Power pre-merger only had 3 victories), those high numbers are going to really stand for a long time.

[Belanger99]

At 4 wins a year which may be beyond Dixon now, he still wouldn't pass Foyt until 2026. I don't think he'll drive that long nor will he have that win rate.

One thing when it comes to stats like poles and wins that is completely ignored is the people in the Dixon, Bourdais, Franchitti, etc. generation had an era where there were almost double the races compared to what would be normal meaning all their stats are inflated compared to other eras (take the 15 IRL races and the 15 CART/ChampCar races in a year and combine into a common 18-race schedule: there's 12 less wins to go around). It's why I don't get the Foyt critique of his total they ran more races then. Look at history, no he didn't, it's nowhere close to what say NASCAR had pre-early 1970s and how Petty got to 200, Pearson to 105. Going through his racer history the most races of what became Indycar I ever see Foyt running in a season is 20.

When the last of the truly successful pre-2008 drivers retire (barring one-offs, just Dixon and Castroneves left at this point, Power pre-merger only had 3 victories), those high numbers are going to really stand for a long time.

Thats what I thought too, about Dixon. I don't see him driving until he's 50.

[Vic Mackey]

One thing when it comes to stats like poles and wins that is completely ignored is the people in the Dixon, Bourdais, Franchitti, etc. generation had an era where there were almost double the races compared to what would be normal meaning all their stats are inflated compared to other eras (take the 15 IRL races and the 15 CART/ChampCar races in a year and combine into a common 18-race schedule: there's 12 less wins to go around).

That would only matter if they were racing in both series, which they weren't. Nobody was running 30 races a year and getting twice the opportunities to run up their stats, they were only running one series' 15.

[Privateer]

That would only matter if they were racing in both series, which they weren't. Nobody was running 30 races a year and getting twice the opportunities to run up their stats, they were only running one series' 15.

Sebastien Bourdais ran 55 races from 2004-07 and won 28 of them. If the series had combined prior to 2004, he wouldn't have won 28 times the next 4 years because he would've been up against a stronger field, and everyone in the IRL would have less wins than they do because they would've been up against a stronger field. This is basic common sense. That's why the guys from this era are all near the top of the all-time wins list is because there were more total races for that generation to win meaning the wins got spread around more. In all-time wins, Dixon is 2nd, Power is 5th, Bourdais is 7th, Castroneves, Franchitti, and Tracy are tied for 10th. You want to compare it to stick-and-ball sports, compare offensive stats from an NBA/ABA to when there was one only league.

Guy out there that can challenge these numbers, you're looking at Newgarden, but he'll turn 32 in December and has 24 all-time wins, so he has 8 seasons remaining until he turns 40 so to pass Dixon's current number would be 4 wins in 8 years, or 5 wins in 6, 6 wins in 5. The field is probably too strong for him to get more than 5 a year.