Bill Vukovich led the race for 150 laps and was in front with less than nine laps to go when his steering mechanism failed. That opened the door for 22-year-old Troy Ruttman to take the victory.

Ruttman, who remains the youngest 500 winner, was driving a car owned by J.C. Agajanian. He wound up beating runner-up Jim Rathmann by a whopping 4 minutes, 2.36 seconds. Freddie Agabashian had won the pole at 138.010 mph in a diesel-powered Cummins, but a failed supercharger ended his day after 71 laps as the reliable Offenhauser engine powered the top 24 finishers.

Although the race had no fatalities, 16 of the 33 starters would later be killed in racing accidents.