One tyre decided the outcome

A.J Foyt wins the 1961 Indianapolis 500 at the wheel of a Bignotti-Bowes Racing Associates-entered Watson-Offenhauser (picture-above), at the average speed of 139.130 mph or 223.908 km/h, after a race-long battle with the pole man Eddie Sachs. It is the first of his 4 Indy 500 wins.

Eddie Sachs and A.J Foyt were battling for 1st-2nd in the latter stages of the race. On Foyt’s final scheduled pit stop, his crew was unable to properly engage the fuel mechanism, and his car did not take on a full load of fuel. Foyt returned to the track, and was pulling away from Sachs. Foyt’s car was running faster due to the light fuel load, but his crew signalled him that he would be unable to make it to the finish without another pit stop. The crew borrowed a fuel feed mechanism from Len Sutton’s team, and signalled Foyt to the pits.

Foyt gave up the lead on lap 184 for a splash-and-go. That handed the lead to Sachs, who was now leading by 25 seconds. With three laps to go, the warning tread showed on Sachs’ rear tire and Sachs decided to play it safe. Rather than nurse the car around, he pitted to replace the worn tire on lap 197. Foyt took the lead with three laps to go and won his first (of four) Indy 500 by a margin of 8.28 seconds.