The Jigger Award: It’s the one no one really wants!!

Leon Duray (Jigger) Sirois, now living in Virginia, is the former race driver from whom the award is named. Jigger, who received the nickname in honor of riding mechanic "Jigger Johnson", is the son of long time 500 mechanic Frenchy Sirois (who worked on the Belond ‘laydown’ car that Sam Hanks won with in 1957 and Jimmy Bryan brought home first in 1958) and came oh-so-close to answering for all time the age-old question:

Can the pole car be bumped?

It came closest in 1969:
Sirois was the only driver to attempt qualification on a weather-plagued first weekend of time trials. His crew waved off his attempt after he recorded his first three laps at 161, 162, and 160. Had he completed his final lap at a speed in the 160-mph bracket or above, Jigger’s average would have been above that of the slowest car in the 33-car starting field - the 160.851 MPH of Peter Revson. That would seem to have put Sirois starting on the pole with the slowest speed in the 33-car field. Donald Davidson, noted Indy 500 race historian, says the pole car can indeed be bumped, when on the ‘bubble’, if it has the slowest speed in the 33-car field.

The Jigger Award is a hard-luck award presented annually by the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association at the Indianapolis 500 AARWBA breakfast. It is made up of a gold-color metal whiskey jigger (used) mounted on a base attached to a plaque. Each recipient’s name is listed on the plaque with the year that the award was presented.

Sirois took his failure to make the starting field with good grace and did not blame his crew. The Jigger Award was the brainchild of member Dick Mittman, then an auto racing writer for The Indianapolis News and now a semi-retired Speedway publicist. And the list of recipients follows. Some of the recipients have a message on their ‘keeper plaque’ some do not, they seem to be left off due to lack of imagination of the selection panel...or were lost following the breakfast.

1969	Jigger Sirois		Jigger Sirois in 1969 IMS photo
1970	Tony Adamowicz	Who had three good laps and was on way to a solid qualifying run when a yellow light flashed back on momentarily ‘by mistake’.
1971	John Mahler	He qualified the car and was bumped by car owner Dick Simon because of sponsor commitments.	John Mahler IMS photo
1972	Art Pollard	TBD	Art Pollard IMS photo
1973	Johnny Parsons, Jr.	TBD	Johnny Parsons Jr. IMS photo
1974	Al Loquasto	TBD
1975	AARWBA	(for losing the trophy, later recovered by Jack Martin and John Fugate behind a door in the museum.)
1976	Salt Walther
1977	Vern Schuppan	Lap 1) - 190.436; lap 2) - 191.612; lap 3) - 189.633; lap 4) - NO GAS! Schuppan graciously accepted and said, "I owe this to my crew."	Vern Schuppan IMS photo
1978 Tie	Larry Cannon	1st attempt - Oil tank exploded; 2nd attempt - 1st lap) - 190.476; 2nd lap) - boom, boom, ... hit the wall!
1978 Tie	Roger Rager	1st attempt - 188 + yellow; 2nd attempt during the warm-up lap, hit the wall!
1979	United States Auto Club	For the month of May, may it rest in peace.
1980	Janet Guthrie	Lap 1) - 184.089; lap 2) - 184.691; lap 3) 184.124; lap 4) - wave off, (by car owner).
1981	Bob Frey	1 -Sitting at the line when the rains came; 2 - puked engine; 3 - too slow; 4 - at line, stalled 3 times at 6 p.m
1982	Geoff Brabham	1. Over 200 mph with ease. 2. A warm up too long; 3. a rules change forgotten, put him back in the pack.
1983	Johnny Rutherford	Who wound up in hospital with the car(s) in a junkyard and a rookie on the pole!
1984	Bill Alsup	Finally he got something for being next in line.
1985	Chet Fillip	First he crashed, then was mashed by a bumper. Out of cars, circle bars was a dumper.
1986	Mike Nish	211, then the wall, the Nish wish went swish!
1987	Phil Krueger	Mechanic and driver - and a May to forget!	Phil Krueger IMS photo
1988	Pancho Carter	A lap at 209 had Pancho feeling fine; but then two crashes...and left on the line.
1989	Johnny Rutherford	The 25th race was not to be... a bump, and blue smoke for all to see.
1990	Salt Walther	Longest wait to return - shortest wait to be bumped!
1991	Roger Penske	Won the pole with Mears. Lost second in lineup by calling off Emmo.
1992	Mike Groff	Qualified row 10, but got the business!
1993	Robby Gordon	Accomplished in one day, what the media couldn’t do in 10 years.
1994	Mark Smith	Bumpity, bumpity, bump. Bump, bump! No Smith in the race again!
1995	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lap 1) 224.955 mph lap 2) 225.445 mph lap 3) 226.097 mph lap 4) Penske Yellow.
1996	Two 500 Mile Races On May 26th.	P H O O E Y ! !
1997	IRL Guaranteed 25/8 rule.	Cancelled for '98. Backfired in '97
1998	Scott Harrington	"Determination is your asset Misfortune your regret If you quit racing, Boxing is your best bet."
1999	Mike Borkowski	A Rookie Mistake: The Indy 500 song is NOT "Back Home Again In Alabama"
2000	Roberto Guerrero	Hired by AJ Waved off by AJ Fired by AJ	Roberto Guerrero IMS photo
2001	Raul Boesel	From Brazil to Indy Four lap average of 221.879 miles per hour But Treadway'd away. Back to Brazil
2002	Billy Roe	Two times in Two times out That's what the Jigger is all about!
2003	Jeff Ward	Won the IRL race at Texas in 2002, Had helmet in hand & nothing to do... Came to Indy with the promise of a ride, At month's end had only his pride!	Jeff Ward Photo by Dana Garrett, IMS
2004	A.J. Foyt, Jr. And Tony Stewart	"A pair of Trouble Makers At Indy"
2005	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	Late to Qualify fighting an uphill battle. Squeezing 215.039 mph & 33rd for a few hours Bumped by Giaffone
2006	Marty Roth	Practice, spin Practice, spin Practice, spin, practice, slide - Hit the wall - That's all.		Marty Roth Photo by Dana Garrett, IMS
2007	P.J. Jones	The scale is not The real deal So PJ is Out of the field		P.J. Jones Photo by Ron McQueeney, IMS
2008	Mario Dominguez	Three spins Three crashes Three chances Nothing more

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