Originally Posted by Honest-Sam:
I didn't count, but I think only 31 cars attemped to qualify. Of those, after at least two DQ's, only 28 are shown to have completed a 4 lap qulifying run.
From USAC's website:
QUALIFICATIONS: (Held May 22-23 - 4-Lap Times) 1. Doug Heveron, 22x, Heckman-45.184; 2. Jimmy McCune, 19, Durnwald-45.699; 3. Tony Elliott, 5, Nolen-45.703; 4. Dave Steele, 91, Puglio-45.862; 5. Eric Gordon, 2, Bowman-45.863; 6. Mat Neely, 44, Contos-45.926; 7. Jeff Bloom, 26, Bloom-45.934; 8. Billy Puterbaugh Jr., 23, Nolen-45.997; 9. Tate Martz, 32, Martz/Alexander-46.049; 10. Troy DeCaire, 66, Nowling-46.088; 11. Brian Gerster, 50, Ram-46.119; 12. Brian Tyler, 10, Harshbarger-46.178; 13. Shane Cottle, 4, Contos-46.253; 14. Johnny Rodriguez, 14, Pierson-46.416; 15. Brad Armstrong, 81, Blake-46.475; (TOP 15 ON MAY 22 LOCKED IN), 16. Russ Gamester, 46, GMI-46.616; 17. Jason Blonde, 42, T & T Promotions-46.623; 18. Aaron Pierce, 29, Pierce-46.691; 19. Kenny Biro, 22, Biro-46.762; 20. Brandon Whited, 5, Hale-46.842; 21. Rex Norris III, 63, Norris-46.842; 22. Jeff Banyas, 07x, DJ-46.943; 23. Ike Beasley, 99x, Stickney-47.084; 24. Sonny Hartley, 27, DJ-47.427; 25. Brent Berry, 51, Berry-47.398; 26. Kevin Feeney, 99, Stewart-47.745; 27. Jim Swain, 46x, Swain-48.226; 28. Tom Paterson, 11, Paterson-50.519.
QUALIFICATIONS CONCLUDE MAY 23
The cars of Ryan Litt, Jacob Wilson & Tyler Underwood failed to go directly to tech. This caused their times to be disallowed. That makes 28 cars qualified for the 60th running of the Little 500.
I don't ever remember the field not being filled the first day of qualifing. Normally it is filled with the top 15 locked in and the second day being the bump day. It has probably happened before that I just don't remember it.