50 Fun Facts About IndyCar

Which drink is handed to the Indianapolis 500 winner in Victory Lane, a tradition begun by Louis Meyer in 1936?

Milk became the winner's drink after Louis Meyer asked for a glass of buttermilk in 1936, as his mother had urged on hot days. Some modern drivers say they would ask for buttermilk in his honor.

What now-standard car part did Ray Harroun fit to his Marmon Wasp for the 1911 Indianapolis 500?

A rear-view mirror let Ray Harroun race alone, without the riding mechanic who usually watched for cars behind. Rivals objected, but he was allowed to start and won the first 500.

Which Indianapolis 500 prize bears a sculpted likeness of the face of every driver to win since 1911?

The Borg-Warner Trophy is sterling silver, stands more than five feet tall and never goes home with the winner, who receives an 18-inch replica called the Baby Borg instead.

Which Brazilian four-time Indianapolis 500 winner is nicknamed Spider-Man for climbing the fence after wins?

Hélio Castroneves was given the nickname by a television host after one of his fence climbs. In 2007 he also won the fifth season of Dancing with the Stars.

Which Gomer Pyle actor sang Back Home Again in Indiana before most Indianapolis 500s from 1972 to 2014?

Jim Nabors performed the song with the Purdue All-American Marching Band, and bowed out in 2014 only because ill health had made it hard for him to travel.

Which World War I flying ace owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1927 until 1945?

Eddie Rickenbacker, America's top ace with 26 aerial victories, had raced in the 500 four times himself. He paid $700,000 for the track and later suspended the race for the length of World War II.

What kind of contest was the first event ever held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in June 1909?

A balloon race opened the Speedway more than two months before the oval was finished. Nine gas balloons lifted off, and the winner came down in Alabama after more than a day in the air.

Which leisure facility, redesigned by Pete Dye in 1993, lies partly inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval?

A golf course shares the grounds: four of its 18 holes sit in the infield and the other 14 run along the backstretch. It first opened in 1929.

Which late-night talk show host, born in Indianapolis, bought a stake in Bobby Rahal's IndyCar team in 1996?

David Letterman grew up about 12 miles from the Speedway, and the team that carries his name won the Indianapolis 500 in 2004 with Buddy Rice.

Which driver became the first woman to win an IndyCar Series race, at Japan's Twin Ring Motegi in 2008?

Danica Patrick took the lead with three laps left when the cars ahead had to pit for fuel. Three years earlier she had been Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500.

Which Texan, the first four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Daytona 500?

A. J. Foyt won Le Mans at his only attempt, sharing a Ford GT40 with Dan Gurney in 1967, the same year as his third 500 victory.

Which Italian-born Formula One world champion won the Indianapolis 500 only once, in 1969, in 29 attempts?

Mario Andretti finished the full 500 miles just five times, and so many near misses followed 1969 that fans began to talk of a family curse at the Speedway.

Which New Mexico driver beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds to win the 1992 Indianapolis 500?

Al Unser Jr. only just held off Goodyear, who had charged through the field after starting last of the 33 cars. He was born into a racing family in Albuquerque.

Which Canadian won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 despite a two-lap penalty, then took the 1997 Formula One title?

Jacques Villeneuve was docked two laps for overtaking the pace car, then retook the lead when Scott Goodyear failed to serve a penalty for the very same offense.

Which Brazilian two-time Formula One champion won the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 and 1993?

Emerson Fittipaldi upset traditionalists after the 1993 race by reaching for orange juice in Victory Lane instead of the customary winner's drink.

Which English 1966 Indianapolis 500 winner later became the first to complete motorsport's Triple Crown?

Graham Hill won at his first attempt, part of a British invasion of the Speedway in the mid-1960s, and sealed the Triple Crown with victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Which Formula One champion won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in a Lotus, the first victory for a rear-engined car?

Jim Clark won a race in which only six of the 33 starters still had front engines, the first 500 where rear-engined cars were in the majority.

Which American won the 2006 Indianapolis 500 by passing a 19-year-old rookie just before the finish line?

Sam Hornish Jr. won by 0.0635 seconds, about 15 feet, in the first 500 ever decided by a pass for the lead on the final lap.

Which English driver won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 when rookie leader JR Hildebrand crashed at the final corner?

Dan Wheldon was running second when Hildebrand hit the wall leaving turn four. After his death that October, the series' new car was named the DW12 in his honor.

Which driver, who started out in off-road racing, won the Indianapolis 500 in 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1991?

Rick Mears also took pole position for the race six times, and his nephew Casey Mears went on to drive in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Which Nashville-born driver won the IndyCar Series championship in both 2017 and 2019?

Josef Newgarden sealed the 2019 title with four wins and seven podium finishes. His first racing vehicle was a motorized scooter bought at a Tennessee skate shop.

Which driver won the 2019 Indianapolis 500 from pole, the first French-born winner of the race since 1920?

Simon Pagenaud led 116 laps and took the lead for the last time with just over a lap to go, two weeks after winning the road-course race at the same track.

Which American teenager became the youngest winner in IndyCar history at Circuit of the Americas in March 2019?

Colton Herta was 18 when he won the series' first race at the Texas circuit. His father Bryan had raced in both Champ Car and IndyCar before him.

Which two-time Formula One champion skipped Monaco for the 2017 Indianapolis 500, then failed to qualify in 2019?

Fernando Alonso was knocked out of the 2019 field by Kyle Kaiser of the small Juncos team, the very last driver to make a qualifying attempt.

Which network first televised the Indianapolis 500 in 2019, ending a run of 54 straight years on ABC?

NBC became the sole American television home of the IndyCar Series under a three-year contract, with most of the other races shown on its cable channel NBCSN.

Which Japanese technology company became title sponsor of the IndyCar Series in January 2019?

NTT took over the naming rights from Verizon and also became the official technology partner of both the series and the Indianapolis 500.

Which team owner, nicknamed the Captain, bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar in November 2019?

Roger Penske bought both from the Hulman family, owners of the track since 1945. His own team already had more Indianapolis 500 wins than any other.

Which American rookie won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016 by stretching his fuel to the finish?

Alexander Rossi inherited the lead on lap 197 of 200 as rivals pitted, then ran dry after the finish and had to be towed to Victory Lane.

Which Japanese former Formula One driver won the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 and again in 2020?

Takuma Sato had already become the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race in 2013, at his 52nd start in the series.

Which New Zealander won the 2008 Indianapolis 500 from pole and six IndyCar Series titles between 2003 and 2020?

Scott Dixon led 115 laps that day. He had started racing cars at 13, needing special dispensation for a junior competition license.

Which Toowoomba-born driver became the first Australian to win the Indianapolis 500, in 2018?

Will Power led 59 laps and cruised home with a large lead, then added his second IndyCar Series championship four years later.

Which Scottish three-time Indianapolis 500 winner was married to Hollywood actress Ashley Judd from 2001 to 2013?

Dario Franchitti met Judd at actor Jason Priestley's wedding and married her at Skibo Castle in Scotland. He also won four IndyCar Series titles.

Which Colombian won the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2000 and again fifteen years later?

Juan Pablo Montoya led 167 of the 200 laps in 2000, the first rookie to win the race in 34 years. In between his two victories he raced in Formula One and NASCAR.

Which reigning Formula One champion switched to IndyCar racing for 1993 and won the title in his first season?

Nigel Mansell took pole and won on his debut at Surfers Paradise, and for a time he held the Formula One and IndyCar crowns at once.

Which Italian made a daring 1996 overtake at Laguna Seca's Corkscrew that fans simply call The Pass?

Alex Zanardi snatched the win from the race leader with a move so risky that it was banned in later years. The Corkscrew turns were eventually renamed in his honor.

Which driver first completed all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day?

Tony Stewart managed it in 2001, finishing sixth at Indianapolis in the afternoon and third at Charlotte that night. Two years earlier he had fallen ten miles short.

Which seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion switched to the IndyCar Series with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021?

Jimmie Johnson had won five of his seven stock car titles in a row, from 2006 to 2010, and first tested an Indy car with the team in 2020.

Which Hollywood actor co-founded a Champ Car team with Carl Haas in 1983 that won eight drivers' championships?

Paul Newman was a serious racer in his own right, winning four national championships in Sports Car Club of America road racing.

Which former aerospace engineer became the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, in 1977?

Janet Guthrie also became the first woman to race in the Daytona 500 that same year. Her Indianapolis debut ended in 29th place with engine trouble.

Which material, 3.2 million pieces of it, was used to repave Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909?

Paving bricks, each weighing about ten pounds, replaced a surface of crushed stone and tar, and gave the track the nickname that stuck: the Brickyard.

Which California city's IndyCar street race began in 1975 and spent eight years as a Formula One Grand Prix?

Long Beach was founder Christopher Pook's answer to the Monaco Grand Prix, and it became the longest-running major street race in North America.

Which Florida city's IndyCar street circuit uses a runway of Albert Whitted Airport as part of the track?

St. Petersburg joined the IndyCar Series schedule in 2005 as the first race the Indy Racing League had ever run away from an oval.

Which Italian company, founded near Parma in 1972, has built every IndyCar Series chassis since 2012?

Dallara was started by Giampaolo Dallara, an engineer who had earlier worked for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso.

Which tire brand was fitted to the winning car at the first Indianapolis 500 and every winner from 1920 to 1966?

Firestone supplied tires to the IndyCar Series from its first season in 1996 and became the only supplier in 2000.

Which alcohol fuel became the standard in Indy car racing after a fatal crash at the 1964 Indianapolis 500?

Methanol was judged less dangerous than the pump fuel it replaced, and it was what Indy Racing League cars burned when that series began in 1996.

What type of engine powered the STP car that failed eight miles from winning the 1967 Indianapolis 500?

A gas turbine drove all four wheels of the car, and Parnelli Jones was just eight miles from the finish when a transmission bearing failed. Turbines were later banned.

Which crash wall, designed at the University of Nebraska, debuted at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002?

SAFER barrier stands for Steel And Foam Energy Reduction, and by 2005 nearly every oval used by IndyCar and NASCAR had one.

What name is given to the final Indianapolis 500 practice, which comes with a pit stop contest and a concert?

Carb Day is short for Carburetion Day, when teams once tuned their carburetors for race conditions. No qualified car has used a carburetor since 1963.

What is the nickname of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage area, partly destroyed by fire in 1941?

Gasoline Alley kept its name long after the cars stopped burning ordinary pump fuel. The fire broke out on the morning of the 1941 race and delayed the start.

Which rival series did Tony George's new Indy Racing League split from when it launched in 1996?

CART's feud with the Indy Racing League, known as The Split, lasted until its successor Champ Car merged with the newer series in 2008.