These Texas, New Mexico & Arizona Drivers All Won the Indy 500

The Indianapolis 500 has seen many winners since 1911; and yes...drivers from Texas, New Mexico & Arizona have all conquered the grueling 500 mile race in its over 100 year history. Each state has seen multiple winners so let's dive into each states' winners.

4 Texas drivers have all won the Indy 500

The first time a driver from Texas would the Indy 500 would occur during the 1961 Indy 500; Houston's A.J. Foyt would win the 1st of 4 wins at Indianapolis. He would win in 1961, 1964, 1967 & 1977. A.J. would also win the most Indy 500s for Texas.

Johnny Rutherford, aka "Lone Star JR", would be the next multiple winner of the Indy 500; the Fort Worth driver would win the 1974, 1976 & 1980 Indy 500.

The last Texas driver to win an Indy 500 is Dallas' Ryan Hunter-Reay; he would take the checkered flag during the 2014 Indy 500. Ryan's win would also be considered one of the most exciting finishes in the track's history.

2 New Mexico drivers have won the Indy 500

The racing legend from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Al Unser would win a total of 4 Indy 500s during his career. Big Al would win the 1970, 1971, 1978 & 1987 Indy 500; Al also ties with A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears & Hélio Castroneves for having 4 Indy victories in total. Al would pass away on December 9, 2021 at the age of 82 but we never forgot Al...

Al's son, Al Unser Jr., would also see his share of Indy 500 victories. The Albuquerque racer would be a 2 time Indy 500 winner, winning both the 1992 & 1994 races. Little Al would also have possibly THE closest Indy 500 finish during the 92 race.

3 Arizona drivers have won the Indy 500

Interestingly, the 3 drivers who would win for Arizona all came from Phoenix: Jimmy Bryan became the first driver to win for Arizona; he would win during the 1959 Indy 500.

Eddie Cheever would win the 1998 Indy 500,

and Buddy Rice would win the 2004 Indy 500. This would be his 1st of 3 wins in IndyCar.

A Special Mention for the 1963 Indy 500 Winner

Texarkana native Parnelli Jones would be the first driver to hit the 150 mph mark during qualifying. He would end up winning the 1963 Indy 500. Even though Texarkana is considered in Arkansas, it's also on the border of Texas so we'll include him on this list too.

So far it's been over a decade since we've seen a driver from any of these states win the Indy 500. Who will be the next winner? We'll just have to wait and see...

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