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Without a doubt, the 1960 Indianapolis 500 was the most exciting one ever. Jim Rathmann fought a fierce duel with defending Indy champion Rodger Ward. For the entire second half of the race both cars were never more than a few car lengths apart and swapped the leads dozens of times. However with less than 4 laps to go, Ward saw the white cords showing through on his front tire and decided to back-off and be content to take second place than risk a tire blowout. Ironically if you ever see a picture of Rathmann pulling into victory lane, you can see the cords showing through on his right rear tire. Since the rear tire was out of Rathmann's view he was unaware of the serious state of wear on his tire. This was Jim's first and only Indy win after finishing second three times.
