James Davison Award
The James Davison Award is an award created in honor of the driver who suffers in the most unique or impactful way in a given Indianapolis 500, whether it's from driver error, a poor car, a mechanical issue at an inopportune time, or other nuisance. Created in 2018, but given out retroactively back to 2010, it honors drivers ranging from Davey Hamilton, its namesake James Davison, and J.R. Hildebrand, to Oriol Servià, Tom Blomqvist and Josef Newgarden.
Background
The James Davison Award was popularized by the YouTube channel mapleboy, who credits the creation of the award to his friend Caleb. Inspired by the unfortunate performance of Davison in the 2018 race, he set out to crown the race's biggest blunder each year. In 2026, the award was retroactively given out for the 2010-2017 races as well.
James Davison Award Winners (2010-Pres)
- 2010: Davey Hamilton described the 2010 Indy 500 as the second-worst moment of his career, behind his accident at Texas in 2001. Driving for De Ferran Dragon Racing, he lost control of his car exiting turn two on lap one of the race while battling for position with Tomas Scheckter and crashed, finishing 33rd after qualifying 14th.
- 2011: J. R. Hildebrand was attempting to stretch his fuel to the finish, and took over the lead with just over two laps to go. On the final lap, he was leading going into the final turn, when he came up on the lapped car of Charlie Kimball, who was slowing to the inside. Hildebrand went high, got into the "marbles," and smacked the outside wall. Without steering, and only on three wheels, his car slid down the frontstretch towards the finish line and the checkered flag. However, Hildebrand was passed by Dan Wheldon on the final 1,000 feet and Hildebrand finished second. It was the fourth consecutive year that the #4 Panther Racing car finished second in the Indy 500, and the team would never again come that close to winning a race before folding in 2014.
- 2012: Jean Alesi was the unfortunate driver of the real winner of this award, the #64 Lotus car of Fan Force United. The car struggled to find the pace necessary to complete rookie orientation for Alesi, who then struggled to find any pace in the car in qualifying. Ultimately, Alesi managed a four-lap average speed of 210.094 MPH, over four miles per hour slower than the next-slowest car, and the only other Lotus in the field. He was black flagged after completing just nine laps, with the remaining Lotus car waved off one lap later.
- 2013: J. R. Hildebrand Crashed in turn one on lap four of the 2013 '500,' an unfortunately early end after qualifying 10th and looking to build on his first two Indy 500 experiences. This crash was ultimately the end of his time as a full-time driver for Panther Racing, as he was released just four days after the race.
- 2014: Martin Plowman, after qualifying 29th for his first-ever Indy 500 in the A.J. Foyt Enterprises #41 car, was running in 26th and three laps down when he hit Josef Newgarden, who was also several laps down, from behind as the yellow flag came out for Scott Dixon's crash on lap 168. Plowman was able to continue and finish 23rd, while the crash ended Newgarden's race. Plowman never again raced in IndyCar.
- 2015: James Davison, the namesake of the award, didn't really deserve his first (retroactive) one in 2015. This title belonged to his Dale Coyne Racing crew, which sent him out into already two-wide traffic on pit lane, causing him to hit teammate Pippa Mann and bounce back into his other teammate Tristan Vautier's pit box, hitting and injuring a pit crew member. The incident ended the race for both Davison and Vautier, while Mann was able to continue but finished three laps down in 22nd.
- 2016: Townsend Bell started the 100th '500' in fourth, tied for his best career starting position in the race. However, much like Davison the previous year, he was involved in a pit lane crash as he and Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay were both attempting to leave their pit boxes and merge into traffic alongside Hélio Castroneves. Bell's right front made contact with the rear left wheel of Castroneves, spinning him into Hunter-Reay. All three cars recovered to continue the race, but Bell would finish his final IndyCar race a lap down in 21st.
- 2017: Jay Howard, who had won the 2006 Indy Pro Series but never received a full-time ride in IndyCar, returned to the series for the first time since 2011 for the 2017 edition of the race with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. His car lost power on the backstretch on lap 32, though he was able to make it back to his pit box. By the time the car was able to return to the track, he was seven laps down. On lap 53, Howard slowed and hit the wall coming out of turn three, leaving polesitter Scott Dixon with nowhere to go. Dixon hit Howard's car and went airborne, with his own car smashing apart on the inside wall in the short chute. Thankfully, neither driver suffered major injuries.
- 2018: The inaugural James Davison Award was given to its Namesake James Davison. He narrowly qualified for the '500' that year after James Hinchcliffe had repeated issues with his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports #5 machine and failed to make the race. Davison, driving for A. J. Foyt Enterprises with Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi, struggled for pace from the opening laps of the race, and was already two laps down when he was hit from behind by 2017 race winner Takuma Sato on lap 48. Davison finished 33rd, while Sato was 32nd.
- 2019: Oriol Servià earned the award for the 2019 '500' after twice blocking contender Alexander Rossi on the frontstretch, nearly running him into the inside wall, while running a lap down in the race. Servia finished the race 22nd for MotoGator Team Stange Racing with Arrow Schmidt Peterson while Rossi finished second, narrowly missing out on a potential second Indy 500 victory.
- 2020: James Davison, driving for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing and Byrd Belardi, won the award again in 2020, though it was more for his car than his own performance. Just six laps into the race, a brake fire destroyed Davison's right front wheel and ended his day. He finished 33rd for the second time in his career in what was ultimately his final Indy 500.
- 2021: Stefan Wilson spun and crashed entering pit lane for his first stop of the race in his #25 Andretti Autosport to earn this honor in 2021. In addition to ending Wilson's race, his crash led to two contenders, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi, running out of fuel before reaching their pit stalls for emergency service during the ensuing yellow flag. Wilson finished 33rd, while Rossi finished 29th, two laps down, and Dixon recovered to finish on the lead lap in 17th.
- 2022: Colton Herta had a violent crash on Carb Day ahead of the 2022 '500,' causing his Andretti Autosport team to have to move to a backup car with limited time to prepare and no time on track before the race. Herta struggled for speed throughout the day before a throttle sensor issue ended his race after 129 laps completed. He finished 30th.
- 2023: Sting Ray Robb took the James Davison Award for 2023. Expectations were low coming in for the Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing rookie after crashing in each of his first two races, finishing a lap down at Long Beach, suffering a mechanical issue at Barber and crashing again in the Indy GP. After surviving the last row shootout to make the race, Robb caused the first yellow flag by crashing on lap 92. He finished 31st.
- 2024: Tom Blomqvist, a highly successful Sports Car driver who won the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship with Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, was given a shot at IndyCar by the team for the 2024 season. With a best finish of 15th through the first four races, Blomqvist qualified 25th for his first '500.' He immediately spun in turn one of the opening lap, collecting Pietro Fittipaldi and 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson. He finished 31st and was immediately replaced in the #66 car by Hélio Castroneves, ending his IndyCar career.
- 2025: Scott McLaughlin didn't even make it to the green flag in 2025, earning him the James Davison Award. After Team Penske faced heavy scrutiny for having failed technical inspection going into Fast 12 qualifying on its other two cars for having modified attenuators prompting the firings of team president Tim Cindric, managing director Ron Ruzewski, and general manager Kyle Moyer in the week leading up to the race, McLaughlin was its lone driver not starting on the last row. On one of the coldest '500' race days on record, McLaughlin lost control of his car while weaving on the front stretch to try to get heat in his tires and hit the inside wall, finishing 33rd.
- 2026: Josef Newgarden made it back-to-back James Davison Awards for Team Penske in 2026. After struggling for speed throughout the first week of practice and qualifying 24th, Newgarden found the pace and topped the speed chart in the final practice session on Carb Day. During the race, he charged up through the field and was in fourth place as the field came to a restart on lap 125, where he got too low in turn four, spun and hit the wall to end his race. He finished 28th.