In preparing his entry for the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, Howard Marmon, the owner of the Marmon Motor Car Company, wanted his regular driver, Ray Harroun, to pilot the vehicle. However, Harroun had retired from driving the previous year and had no desire to return to the sport. After numerous conversations, Harroun agreed to drive, provided Marmon could hire the best possible relief driver (after the race Harroun would be quoted as saying "500 miles is too long a race for one man to think of driving"). When Marmon told Harroun that Patschke had offered to accept the job, Harroun replied "You can get Cy Patschke?" and the team was set. Patschke would take over from Harroun on lap 70 with the car in fifth place. Due to scoring confusion following an accident, the exact details of Harroun reentering the car are unknown, but it was between laps 102 and 105, and Patschke had the car in either first or second position. Later in the race, Patshke would also take over driving duties for Marmon's other entry, driven by Joe Dawson. Harroun would be recorded as the winner of the race, with Dawson's entry scored fifth (the chaos following the crash left the final results subject to controversy). Patschke's name would not appear in the official scorecard, and his contribution would largely be forgotten.