Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
The Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year is an award given out every year as part of the Indianapolis 500 festivities. It is voted on by the media.
Typically, the award goes to the driver who finishes the highest in their first Indianapolis 500 start. However, this does not always happen, with the usual exceptions being rookies who qualified particularly well or well a good portion of the race prior to some mishap.
In some cases, the term rookie is very loose, as the "rookie" has experience in Formula One (Clark, Jackie Stewart, Hulme, Cheever, Mansell) and CART (Villenueve, Montoya, Castroneves)
[edit] List of Winners
| Year | Driver | Start | Finish |
| 1952 |  Art Cross
| 20th | 5th |
| 1953 | Jimmy Daywalt
| 21st | 6th |
| 1954 | Larry Crockett
| 25th | 9th |
| 1955 | Al Herman
| 16th | 7th |
| 1956 | Bob Veith
| 23rd | 7th |
| 1957 | Don Edmunds
| 27th | 19th |
| 1958 | George Amick
| 25th | 2nd |
| 1959 | Bobby Grim
| 5th | 26th |
| 1960 | Jim Hurtubise
| 23th | 18th |
| 1961 | Bobby Marshman & Parnelli Jones
| 33rd 5th | 7th 12th |
| 1962 | Jim McElreath
| 7th | 6th |
| 1963 |  Jim Clark
| 5th | 2nd |
| 1964 | Johnny White
| 24th | 2nd |
| 1965 | Mario Andretti
| 4th | 3rd |
| 1966 | Jackie Stewart
| 11th | 6th |
| 1967 |  Denis Hulme
| 24th | 4th |
| 1968 | Bill Vukovich II
| 23rd | 7th |
| 1969 | Mark Donohue
| 4th | 7th |
| 1970 | Donnie Allison
| 23rd | 4th |
| 1971 | Denny Zimmerman
| 28th | 8th |
| 1972 | Mike Hiss
| 25th | 7th |
| 1973 | Graham McRae
| 13th | 16th |
| 1974 | Pancho Carter
| 21st | 7th |
| 1975 | Bill Puterbaugh
| 15th | 7th |
| 1976 |  Vern Schuppan
| 17th | 18th |
| 1977 | Jerry Sneva
| 16th | 10th |
| 1978 | Larry Rice & Rick Mears
| 30th 3rd | 11th 23rd |
| 1979 | Howdy Holmes
| 13th | 7th |
| 1980 | Tim Richmond
| 19th | 9th |
| 1981 |  Josele Garza
| 6th | 23rd |
| 1982 | Jim Hickman
| 24th | 7th |
| 1983 |  Teo Fabi
| Pole | 26th |
| 1984 | Template:Country data Columbia Roberto Guerrero & Michael Andretti
| 7th 4th | 2nd 5th |
| 1985 |  Arie Luyendyk
| 20th | 7th |
| 1986 | Randy Lanier
| 13th | 10th |
| 1987 | Fabrizio Barbazza
| 17th | 3rd |
| 1988 | Bill Vukovich III
| 23rd | 13th |
| 1989 | Bernard Jourdain & Scott Pruett
| 20th 17th | 9th 10th |
| 1990 | Eddie Cheever
| 14th | 8th |
| 1991 | Jeff Andrettie
| 11th | 15th |
| 1992 | Lyn St. James
| 27th | 11th |
| 1993 |  Nigel Mansell
| 8th | 3rd |
| 1994 |  Jacques Villeneuve
| 4th | 2nd |
| 1995 |  Christian Fittipaldi
| 27th | 2nd |
| 1996 | Tony Stewart
| Pole | 24th |
| 1997 | Jeff Ward
| 7th | 3rd |
| 1998 | Steve Knapp
| 23rd | 3rd |
| 1999 | Robby McGehee
| 27th | 5th |
| 2000 | Template:Country data Columbia Juan Pablo Montoya | 2nd | Win |
| 2001 | Helio Castroneves
| 11th | Win |
| 2002 | Alex Barron & Tomas Scheckter
| 26th 10th | 4th 26th |
| 2003 |  Tora Takagi
| 7th | 5th |
| 2004 | Kosuke Matsuura
| 9th | 11th |
| 2005 | Danica Patrick
| 4th | 4th |
| 2006 | Marco Andretti
| 9th | 2nd |
| 2007 | Phil Geibler
| 33rd | 29th |
[edit] Special Instances in the Rookie of the Year Performances
- 1968: Jackie Stewart won the award despite another rookie, Graham Hill winning the race. Stewart was leading with 8 laps to go before oil pressure problems forced him to pit.
- 1996: Tony Stewart qualified 2nd, but was on pole after pole winner Scott Brayton died during practice.
- 2002: Tomas Scheckter lead 85 laps in the race and was the dominant car prior to an accident on lap 173.
