The Indianapolis 500. The 500. The Indy. The race. The legend. The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Here we go again!
Click to play if you want the perfect Paul Page narration experience.
No one nor nothing born as a legend, you earn your place in the history and in the hearts of many generations through the greatness that circles around you. The great-grandfather of racing has reached it's very last double digit edition, a milestone that not many motorsport event has ever reached.
In the dawn of 20th century, the sports scene was very different than what it is today. Today every driver has his face in an interactive book that the whole world can see. But back in the good ol' days if you wanted to your face to be remembered, you had to get it on Borg-Warner Trophy. That one thing has not changed in hundred years. If you want to be remembered long before you've reached the end of the road, you got to win the 500.
The track designer Carl Graham Fisher dreamed about creating a Modern coliseum for auto racing. But he probably newer thought that this creation would live on to became the most well known race track in the world, the ultimate quest for speed and immortality for the motorsports world.
Traditions have born one after another within the century of racing. The Borg-Warner Trophy was first presented in 1936 for Louis Meyer. And after Meyer took his car to the Victory Lane, he took a big sip of milk from a glass bottle and created another tradition. The Balloons were first released in 1947. The catch phrase ”The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” was first introduced in 1955 by Alice Greene. The first winner was Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp in 1911. Jim Nabors first sung the ”Back home again in Indiana” in 1972. First driver to win 1 million dollars was Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989. Fastest ever pole time was set by Arie Lyuendyk in 1996. Most lead changes in 2013. And the fastest ever race in 2014.
This year variety between manufacturers expands with the new aerokits. Will we see an intense overtaking filled race like we've seen since the introduction of the DW12? Is Helio finally going to take his fourth victory and join the league of extraordinary four time winners circle with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears? Or do we get another heart warming story, like we did when Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan, the three great friends who has won the last three races and are now immortalized side by side on the Borg-Warner. Who ever wins, he most definitely have to survive the whole race, through the first and the last of the corners. For the first time and for the ultimate time.
On race day, new page in history is turned when a cappella group Straight No Chaser replaces Jim Nabors for the anthem of Indianapolis state. But here's for you the one and only, none else than Jim Nabors in honor for the greatest spectacle in racing and it's 99th edition.
Schedule
Spoiler:
Highlights from 2010 to 2014
