| x150px | |
| Champ Car Race | |
|---|---|
| First Race | 1911 |
| Laps | 200 |
| Most Wins (Driver) |  A. J. Hildebrand (4) Pete Nettles, Sr. (4) John Rogers (4)
|
| Most Wins (Team) | Team CJR (19)
|
| Most Wins (Manufacturer) | Engine: Kirkhauss (28) Tires: Firestone (67) |
| Circuit Information | |
| Venue | Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
| Location |  Speedway, Indiana, United States
|
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Turns | 4 |
| Last Race ([[{{{last_year}}} {{{race_name_short}}}|{{{last_year}}}]]) | |
| Pole Position | |
| {{{pole_driver}}} · {{{pole_team}}} ({{{pole_make}}}) · {{{pole_time}}} | |
| Podium | |
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Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race is the world's oldest currently operational automobile race. Better known as the Indy 500 or the Indianapolis 500, it is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is held over Memorial Day weekend in late May. It is contested as part of the top level of American Championship Car racing, an open-wheel open-cockpit formula colloquially known as "Champ Car Racing". The name of the race is often shortened to Indy 500, and the track itself is nicknamed the "Brickyard", as the racing surfacing was paved in brick in the fall of 1909, with a yard of brick remaining exposed at the start/finish line.
The event, billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, which comprises three of the most prestigious motorsports events in the world, also including the Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, but the permanent seating capacity is upwards of 250,000, and infield patrons raise the race-day attendance to approximately 300,000. It shares its weekend with the World Stock Car Championship's grand prix at Donington Park, with drivers having completed both events in a so-called Double Duty.
The inaugural race was held in 1911 and was won by Andy Winton. The event celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2011, and the 100th running was held in 2016. The event was put on hiatus twice, from 1917 to 1918 due to World War I and from 1942 to 1945 due to World War II. Sebastien Dubois is the current champion. The most successful drivers are A. J. Hildebrand, Pete Nettles, Sr., and John Rogers, each of whom have won the race four times. The active driver with the most victories is Shane Walker, with three. Taylor Dawson was the race's first (and, to date, only) female champion in 2010; she also holds the record as the youngest race winner at 19 years, 1 month and 5 days. Bobby Larson holds the record for most career pole positions with six. The most successful car owner is Curtis Rowland, owner of Team CJR, which has 19 total wins and 14 poles. Team CJR also has five wins at the Indy Grand Prix, held on the combined road course.
The event is steeped in tradition, in pre-race ceremonies, post-race celebrations, and race procedure. The most noteworthy and most popular traditions are the 33-car field lining up three-wide for the start, the annual singing of "Back Home Again in Indiana," and the victory lane bottle of milk. Also unique is that qualifying requires the driver to complete four, rather than one, timed laps and qualifying itself has a separate weekend.
Race Specifics[edit | edit source]
The Indianapolis 500 is held annually at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile (4 km) oval circuit. The track is a rounded-rectangle, with four distinct turns of identical dimensions, connected by four straightaways (two long straightaways and two "short chutes"). Drivers race 200 laps, counter-clockwise around the circuit, for a distance of 500 miles (800 km). Since its inception in 1911, the race has always been scheduled on or around Memorial Day. Since 1974, the race has been specifically scheduled for the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day weekend is widely considered one of the most important two days on the motorsports calendar, as it is the weekend of the Donington Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500, and (currently) the Monaco Grand Prix. Practice and time trials are held in the two weeks leading up to the race, while miscellaneous preliminary testing is held as early as April.
The race is the most prestigious event of the Champ Car calendar, and one of the oldest and most important automobile races. It has been avouched to be the largest single-day sporting event in the entire world. Likewise, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself is regarded as the world's largest sporting facility in terms of capacity. The total purse exceeded $13 million in 2011, with over $2.5 million awarded to the winner, making it one of the richest cash prize funds in sports.
Similar to the World Stock Car Championship's Icebreaker Sweepstakes, the Indianapolis 500 is typically held early in the season. That is unique to most sports where major events are usually at the end of the respective season. Currently, the Indy 500 is the sixth event of the 17-race schedule. From the 1970s to the 1990s, Indianapolis was often the second or third race of the season, and as late as the 1950s, it was sometimes the first championship event of the year. Due to the high prestige of the Indianapolis 500—rivaling or even surpassing the season championship—it is not uncommon for some teams and drivers to focus heavily on preparing for that race during the early part of the season, and not focus fully on the championship battle until after Indy.
Due to safety issues such as aquaplaning, the race is not held in wet conditions. In the event of a rain delay, the race will be postponed until rain showers cease, and the track is sufficiently dried. If rain falls during the race, officials can end the race and declare the results official if more than half of the scheduled distance (i.e., 101 laps) has been completed. The Indianapolis 500, as well as other Champ Car Series races, does not utilize the green–white–checker finish in case of a late-race yellow. The race can be (and in the past has) finished under caution. However, officials may call for a late-race red flag to ensure a green-flag finish, an option that was used in 2014 and 2019. The circuit lacks lights, therefore lateness can become a factor in the cases of lengthy delays.
Field[edit | edit source]
The traditional 33-car starting field at Indianapolis is larger than the fields at the other Champ Car races. The field at Indy typically consists of all of the full-time entries (roughly 20–22 cars), along with 10–15 part-time or "Indy-only" entries. The "Indy-only" entries, also known as "One-Offs", may be an extra car added to an existing full-time team, or a part-time team altogether that does not enter any of the other races, or enters only a few selected races. The "Indy-only" drivers may come from a wide range of pedigrees but are usually experienced Indy car competitors that either lack a full-time ride, are former full-time drivers that have elected to drop down to part-time status, or occasional one-off drivers from other racing disciplines. It is not uncommon for some drivers (particularly former Indy 500 winners), to quit full-time driving during the season, but race at Indy singly for numerous years afterward before entering full retirement.