Meet Dr. John Greenman, (unofficial) keeper of race stats

Training for 12 months takes dedication. Keeping race records for 50 years takes love.

Dr. John Greenman, a family practice physician in Bluffton, Ind., has meticulously tracked the Little 500 race data since he was an IU freshman in 1958.

He devised a points system for race results: the champion team gets 33 points, 2nd place gets 32 points — all the way down to 33rd place, which earns 1 point.

According to his system, the all-time top men’s team is Phi Gamma Delta (1588 points) and top women’s team is Kappa Alpha Theta (710). The tally reveals which teams have been consistently strong during the men’s 60 years and women's 22 years, rather than highlighting the teams with the most championships. The all-time winningest team, the Cutters, rank down at 16 in Greenman’s system because the team didn’t start racing until 1984.

During his time at IU, Greenman lived in Dodds House, a residence hall in Teter quad.
Although he never rode in the Little 500, he was friends with many riders, including several race legends.

His roommate at one point was Bob Stoller, team manager for the 1962 Phi Psi squad on which the film “Breaking Away” is based. He also knew Dave Blase, the inspiration for the film’s main character, Dave Stoller.

“Dave did like the Italians and did shave his legs,” Greenman said. “He had bicycles everywhere.”

Greenman said he still occasionally runs into Blase at Italian operas performed by Jacobs School of Music students.

When Greenman was on campus in the late ’50s and early ’60s, the race took place at Tenth Street Stadium, where the Arboretum is today. He also said one problem for riders was missing dinner to practice. In that era, residence halls served meals only at set times, and riders often had to sacrifice supper for track time.

But Greenman said the biggest difference he sees between today’s race and the ’60s races is the prevalence of independent teams — those that are not affiliated with a specific residential hall or greek house.

“My two gripes about the independent teams are that they can get riders from anywhere and that they don’t have any backing,” Greenman said. “The idea is for students to support a single team, so if there are independent teams, they should have some connection to a single dorm or house.”

Greenman still travels to Bloomington for most of the Spring Series events, of which Miss ’N Out is his favorite “because participants are riding for the team but really riding for their own survival.”

Expect to see him in the stands this weekend, sitting below the shade of the press box with pencil in hand.

“Look for the man with the Dodds House hat,” he said.