Top 25 IndyCar drivers of all-time
By Asher Fair
Top IndyCar drivers of all-time: #20 – Louis Meyer
Wilber Shaw was the second driver to win the Indy 500 three times, having won the race in 1937, 1939 and 1940. The first? That would be Louis Meyer, who managed to secure his third victory in the race the year before Shaw secured his first.
Meyer, who is tied to the start of the “drinking the milk” tradition for Indy 500 winners, won the race in 1928 as a rookie and became the second two-time winner with his victory in 1933, with the first being Tommy Milton (1921 and 1923), before adding a third in 1936.
Even with only eight career victories and, like Shaw, fewer starts than several of the other three-time champions and three-time Indy 500 winners have wins, his stat line is only matched by four other drivers and surpassed by one.
He won back-to-back champions in his first two seasons competing in more than one race in 1928 and 1929, and he added a third in 1933. Keep in mind, championships were a lot different eight, nine or 10 decades ago; Meyer never competed in more than six races in a season, and his 1933 championship season saw him compete in only two of three races.
But still, his success at the highest level makes him worthy of this spot, especially when factoring in his Indy 500 legacy.