Johnny Rutherford, in his eleventh attempt, won the race from the 25th starting position, the farthest back since Louis Meyer in 1936.

The 1974 race was his 17th Indy 500 start (all consecutive), breaking the record of 16 previously held by Cliff Bergere and Chet Miller.

In the first half of 1974, NASCAR decided to trim all of their race distances by 10%, as well as scale back practice and ancillary events.

* Includes days where trackactivity was significantlylimited due to rain After the tragic 1973 race, several changes were made to the course, as well as the car rules.

[9] In addition, the inside wall from turn 4 to the pit entrance, which had played a part in the fatal 1973 crash that killed Swede Savage and the 1964 crash that killed Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs, was moved in, which allowed cars to have a much easier entrance into the pit lane as asphalt replaced grass in that area.

Tom Binford, the new chief steward for 1974,[11] requested the construction of an elevated booth, to be located on the outside of the track at the start/finish line.

Just three days after the 1973 race, USAC held an urgent meeting to draft emergency rule changes in time for the Pocono 500.

An energy-absorbing material was to be placed in the spot formerly occupied by the right-side tank, and total fuel allotment for the 500 miles was reduced from 375 to 340 gallons.

[17] Three-time Formula One World Champion Jackie Stewart who was reporting for ABC Sports filmed a piece on improved safety and he said "The cars wishing to enter the pitlane should continue though turn four low on the racetrack on the new black surface.

I don't much like the idea of the infield to be used by emergency equipment to go in the opposite direction of the race cars themselves but of course these are ambulances and wreckers so it may have to happen.

The pit lane has been extended by a full one and a half football fields in length, it's demarcation point is this structure.

Stewart then question Binford about the changes saying "I think they are two benefits that I could think of off hand, one of is that we can bring the pace car off sooner then [sic] we were able to do in the past, out and away from the field in the fourth turn."

[20] When a driver was on his three warm-up laps, a crew member(s) from his team was now stationed at the north end of the mainstretch, and provided with two flags (green and yellow).

When the car came around after the third and final warm-up lap, the crew member was instructed to wave a green flag in the air to signify the driver will begin the run.

Furthermore, the rules made it clear that the instant the yellow flag was waved by the crew, the run was aborted, irrespective of the position of the car out on the track.

That situation made for some precarious maneuvers to the pit lane or to cars stopping out on the track to avoid crossing the finish line and 'locking in' the undesirable qualifying time.

Firestone made a heralded return to Indy car competition in 1995,[23] and eventually became the exclusive tire supplier starting in 2000.

New chief steward Tom Binford was adamant that he was preparing to have the gun fire at exactly 2:30 p.m. to close the pole round.

However, several observers noted that the 31⁄2 hours scheduled for pole round would not be enough time to make it through the entire qualifying draw (at least 46 cars).

A. J. Foyt drew the first spot in the qualifying order, and was the first car to make an attempt when the track opened at 11 a.m. His four-lap speed of 191.632 mph placed him tentatively on the pole position.

His car featured a controversial "king sized" turbocharger, which some competitors complained was too large to be controlled by the standard issue pop-off valves.

The field was only filled to 15 cars, and several drivers, including Mario Andretti and Gordon Johncock were still in line and eligible for the pole.

Both teams made engine changes, but USAC declared them ineligible for the pole round since they were not in line at the stroke of 11 o'clock.

The final car to make an attempt was rookie Jan Opperman, who qualified for the 32nd position, bumping Denny Zimmerman.

During the second sequence of pit stops around lap 50, teammates Gordon Johncock and Steve Krisiloff both ran out of fuel.

Under the yellow, A. J. Foyt had a terrible pit stop of 53 seconds, which allowed Rutherford to take the lead for the first time on lap 65.

Five laps later, Pancho Carter lightly brushed the wall exiting turn four, but the car did not suffer significant damage.

David Hobbs' 5th-place finish was the only top ten at Indianapolis for a foreign driver in the 1970s (except Andretti, who was born in Italy but was a naturalized U.S. citizen).

Immediately after the checkered flag was waved for Johnny Rutherford, a multitude of fans streamed onto the active track in turn three.

Since April 25, 2019 the full race broadcast was made available on the official Indianapolis Motor Speedway YouTube channel.