After a decade-long sojourn into controversy, competing interests and team boycotts, the Indianapolis 500 is back to the business of showcasing America’s best open-wheel racing show.
And if you don’t think “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," as it’s affectionately called, has reclaimed all the grandeur, excitement and prestige befitting its 100th birthday, it’s only because you haven’t been paying attention the past few years. You certainly weren’t one of the nearly 300,000 people on your feet in the iconic grandstands and massive infield at 16th and Georgetown each of the last few Memorial Day weekends.
Racing purists turned up their noses at open-wheel racing’s biggest day during the late 1990s and early 2000s when the big-name teams refused to field cars in a dispute over the sanctioning body. But even those once disheartened have taken notice that the Indianapolis 500 has recaptured the glory that makes it one of the world’s most significant sporting events.
Here are some reasons — one for each of the 10 decades being celebrated — to check out Sunday’s 100th anniversary of the Indy 500.
1. That special feeling
The atmosphere and tradition of the Indianapolis 500 is unlike anything else in sports.
Nobody does tradition like Indy. From the original brick finish line to the downtown parade to the race-morning festivities and star gazing, nothing compares to the vibe of race week in Indy. The Memorial Day timing is purposeful and significant — with our soldiers past and present honored and celebrated in a way that makes one proud just to watch.
As the thousands of black-and-white balloons rise to blanket the sky above pit road and Mary Hulman George gives the starting command, spectators anticipate the first lap and an always dramatic ending three hours later when victory will change a driver’s life.
2. Split? What split?
The open-wheel racing “split” between what was known as the Indy Racing League and Champ Car (formerly CART) is so 1996. That’s when former Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George formed a new series — the Indy Racing League — to compete with the existing series and changed the Indy 500 qualifying rules to reward race teams for defecting to his new league. The result was essentially a boycott of the Indy 500 by most of the existing big-name teams from 1996-1999. By 2000 it was obvious that both sides were losing, and slowly and sporadically the marquee names like Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi and Andretti Autosport began returning to Indy. Open-wheel racing was officially unified in 2008.
However, the casual fans — who make up the bulk of the Indy 500 audience — don’t even remember what open wheel’s famous rift was about and don’t care. The drivers roll their eyes when the subject is even raised.
3. Everyone wants to come play
It’s a hybrid of Hollywood curiosity and hot trend. Where else does Slash, the guitarist from Guns ‘N Roses, hang alongside Florence Henderson, Jim Nabors, Ashley Judd, David Letterman and Donny Osmond? That’s any random race morning pitside at Indy, where in addition to being huge race fans, Letterman co-owns a race team and Judd’s husband, Dario Franchitti, drives a car. Henderson sings “God Bless America” and Jim Nabors belts out “Back Home in Indiana” as part of the massive prerace celebration.
4. The racing does not disappoint
It is open wheel’s version of a NASCAR Talladega race-style ending complete with split-second margins of victory and controversial finishes that still unsettle drivers decades after the race. Indy has taken “unpredictable” storylines to new lengths.
Al Unser Jr.’s amazing 1992 win by an eyelash over Scott Goodyear is one of the most replayed highlights in all of auto racing and yet even it was eclipsed in drama in 2006 when Sam Hornish Jr. came blazing out of Turn 4 to nip a stunned Marco Andretti a few feet from the finish line.
Danica Patrick led the race with less than 10 laps to go in her 2005 debut and finished a historic fourth. Last year Franchitti scored his second Indy 500 win, holding off a hard-charging field in the waning laps with just enough ethanol left in the tank to drive his car to victory circle.
5. Racing royalty
Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, The Unsers — Al Sr., Bobby and Al Jr.; Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Rahal — all will be trackside. Any other person who’s turned a wheel in competition will be watching.
6. Twin titans
The competition between Chip Ganassi and Indy’s all-time winningest car owner Roger Penske is the best true rivalry in auto racing. Both teams are on top of their game and while the teams’ drivers might not admit it publicly, winning the Indy 500 trumps even winning the season championship.
The Ganassi and Penske organizations are gracious and unfailingly polite to each other. But the fact is, they most want to beat each other — which means bad news for the rest of the field. Drivers from these two teams have won the past six Indy 500s and nine of the past 11.
Ganassi’s Franchitti is the defending Indy 500 winner. Penske’s Helio Castroneves won in 2009.
7. High marks
Castroneves, whose trademark fence-climbing celebration has made him a huge fan favorite at Indy, stands to equal a mark unthinkable in these ultra-competitive times. Should he win Sunday, he would have four Indy 500 victories, tying the all-time mark held by Mears, Unser Sr. and Foyt. And because Castroneves drives for Roger Penske and is only 36 years old, it’s not a stretch to consider him a good bet to make history as the first five-time Indy 500 winner.
8. Underdogs take a shot
For all the great names who have been a part of Indy 500 history, the wonderful thing about this race is the potential for underdogs to make a name for themselves. Nearly every year, there is a podium finisher who sat on the starting grid as a relative unknown or a talented driver who jumped into an underfunded car and made the most of the opportunity.
Brazilian Vitor Meira has finished as runner-up twice in the last six races. Dan Wheldon won the race in 2005 driving for a championship team owned by Michael Andretti, but he’s finished as the runner-up the past two years in a single-car effort fielded by a group of investors including local Indianapolis businessmen and NFL coach Jim Harbaugh.
9. Girl power
We all know about Danica Patrick, but for the second year the Indianapolis 500 will have four women in the starting field. With the exception of horse racing, auto racing is the only major sport where women compete alongside the men and no other major racing series comes close to bridging the gender gap like this.
Joining Patrick is Simona de Silvestro, who just missed the podium in the season opener at St. Petersburg and is competing despite suffering burns on her hands in a crash during practice; Ana Beatriz, a talented young Brazilian, and England’s “other” Pippa . . . rookie Pippa Mann, who became the first woman to ever start from the pole at the Speedway in the 2010 Indy Lights race.
10. Danica
But you guessed it. Love her or begrudge her, Danica Patrick tops the list of reasons why this year’s Indy 500 is must-see. This isn’t hype, it’s history. When it comes to the Indy 500, she is the real deal, with tremendous potential of becoming the first woman to win the race.
She may not have NASCAR figured out yet, and her road-course racing to start the IndyCar season has been underwhelming at best. But the Indianapolis 500 is another story and Patrick has proven herself every bit the legitimate favorite as Castroneves and Franchitti. In fact, only three drivers — Franchitti, Wheldon and Scott Dixon — have a better average finishing record (eighth) than Patrick since her Indy debut six years ago.
She has five top-eight finishes in six starts at Indy, including three top-five efforts and a career-best — not to mention historic — third place there two years ago. She is typically fast in practice and qualifying so her race performances can’t be dismissed as flukes or luck, though she hasn’t been as on her game in the sessions leading up to the race this year.
If she doesn’t win another race in her life — if she doesn’t ever notch a top-five in NASCAR — a gulp of Indy’s victory milk will be enough to secure her place as a racing legend. And who would want to miss that?
Your Privacy Choices | Closed Captioning 
