1960 INDIANAPOLIS 500® WINNER 

Jim Hurtubise arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway^® in 1960 as a rookie. Hurtubise hooked up with car owner Ernie Ruiz to drive the A.J. Watson-built Travelon Trailer Special, with Danny Oakes as chief mechanic. Hurtubise made his qualifying attempt at noon on the last day of qualifying, as dark clouds gathered. 

His first lap was the fastest ever clocked at Indy -148.002 mph! Hurtubise followed that with 149.229, 149.601, and 149.402 for a four lap average of 149.056 mph, which was 2.464mph faster than the record that pole-sitter Eddie Sachs had set on the first day of qualifying. Because of the Speedway's qualifying procedure, Hurtubise started the race in 23^rd position, behind the drivers who had qualified on previous qualifying days. In the 1960 Indianapolis 500^® race, Hurtubise quickly worked his way through the field to 8^th place by Lap 10 and 5^th  place by Lap 32. A slow first pit stop dropped him in the running order, but by Lap 132 Hurtubise had driven back into 5^th place before making his final, and slowest, pit stop of the race. 

Hurtubise was running in 7^th place when a broken connecting rod put him out of the race on Lap 185. After the race Oakes discovered that a cracked oil tank had leaked all of Hurtubise's oil, causing the rod failure. Hurtubise finished in 18^th place, but his qualifying speed and overall race performance earned him the honor of being named Rookie of the Year. Jim Rathmann, driving another Watson Roadster, won the race.