Indy 500 Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Indy 500 trivia questions with answers. The Indianapolis 500 has been run at the same 2.5-mile rectangle since 1911, and more than a century of racing has piled up traditions, records and oddities that reward anyone who pays attention. This quiz covers the whole story: the balloon race that opened the track, the mirror on the Marmon Wasp, why the winner drinks milk, who sings before the command, and how a car pulled out of a hotel lobby won the race. It starts with the questions every fan should get (how many cars start, what the track is nicknamed) and builds to the ones that separate casual viewers from Month-of-May obsessives: the 1912 push to the line, the 1981 win that changed hands twice, the shortest race on record and the record margin set in 2026. Perfect for race-weekend parties or a Memorial Day quiz night. Every answer was checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on the race, the Speedway, individual runnings and the drivers involved, and each question carries its citation. No recycled listicle errors.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 driving which yellow-and-black car?
Marmon Wasp
The Marmon Wasp was driven by Ray Harroun, Marmon's chief engineer, who had retired from racing until the company persuaded him to race one more time.
Q 02What device did Ray Harroun famously bolt onto his car for the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911?
A rear-view mirror
A rear-view mirror was Ray Harroun's answer when rival drivers complained that, racing without a riding mechanic, he couldn't see cars coming up behind him.
Q 03Which Indianapolis Motor Speedway founder went on to help create the Lincoln Highway and develop Miami Beach?
Carl Fisher
Carl Fisher was worth an estimated $50 million or more by 1925, but the 1926 hurricane that battered Miami Beach and the Depression left him nearly penniless.
Q 04What was the very first event held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in June 1909?
A gas-balloon race
A gas-balloon race came first; the motorcycle races that followed later that summer were cut short because the track's surface was in such poor condition.
Q 05Before its famous bricks were laid in 1909, what was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's surface made of?
Stone and tar
Stone and tar made up the first surface, but after crashes killed five people at the first car races in 1909, the owners repaved the track with bricks.
Q 06How much of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's original brick surface is still exposed at the start/finish line?
One yard
One yard of the 1909 bricks was left bare at the start/finish line when asphalt covered the rest of the old brick surface in 1961.
Q 07What is the race-control tower beside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's start/finish line called?
The Pagoda
The Pagoda's first version went up in 1913, but as speeds rose the owners decided it stood too close to the track and razed it after the 1925 race.
Q 08Which World War I flying ace bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1927?
Eddie Rickenbacker
Eddie Rickenbacker still owned the Speedway during World War II, when it sat unused for four years and fell into ruin before he sold it in 1945.
Q 09Who bought the run-down Indianapolis Motor Speedway in November 1945 and revived the race after World War II?
Tony Hulman
Tony Hulman, a Terre Haute businessman, bought the Speedway after Wilbur Shaw, a three-time winner of the race, persuaded him to save it.
Q 10Which team owner bought the Speedway and the IndyCar Series in November 2019?
Roger Penske
Roger Penske owned the Speedway when his own team was caught breaking the rules in 2025 Indy 500 qualifying, and he pushed out three of its top executives.
Q 11Which driver's post-race taste for buttermilk started the Indianapolis 500's Victory Lane milk tradition?
Louis Meyer
Louis Meyer was caught on camera drinking buttermilk after a win, and dairy promoters who saw the picture began supplying milk to later winners.
Q 12Why did the Indianapolis Motor Speedway switch to one big 500-mile race in 1911?
Its crowds were shrinking
Its crowds were shrinking across many smaller races in 1910, so the owners planned one big event and weighed a 1,000-mile or 24-hour race before choosing 500 miles.
Q 13What did Emerson Fittipaldi controversially drink first in Victory Lane after winning the 1993 Indianapolis 500?
Orange juice
Q 21Which driver came back from a 1984 crash that mangled his feet to win the Indianapolis 500 twice more?
Rick Mears
Rick Mears won again in 1988 and 1991, then announced his retirement at his team's Christmas party after the 1992 season.
Q 22Al Unser's fourth Indianapolis 500 win in 1987 came in a car that had been pulled from where?
A hotel lobby display
Al Unser began May without a ride, but after Danny Ongais was hurt in practice, he got a backup car that had been a hotel lobby display.
Q 23Who is the youngest winner of the Indianapolis 500, taking the 1952 race at 22?
Troy Ruttman
Troy Ruttman took the win only after the race leader's steering broke late in the race.
Orange juice came first because Emerson Fittipaldi was a Brazilian orange grower, and two days later he issued an apology through the American Dairy Association.
Q 14Which song is traditionally sung just before the engines are started at the Indianapolis 500?
Back Home Again in Indiana
Back Home Again in Indiana was first sung at the race in 1946 by opera singer James Melton, and it went over so well that he was invited back.
Q 15Which television star was the Indianapolis 500's usual pre-race singer from 1972 to 2014?
Jim Nabors
Jim Nabors did not know all the words when he was first asked to sing in 1972, so he wrote them on his hand.
Q 16Why is the final practice before the Indianapolis 500 called Carb Day?
Teams tuned their carburetors
Teams tuned their carburetors in race-day trim at that last practice, and the name stuck even though no qualified car has used a carburetor since 1963.
Q 17Who in 1977 became the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500?
Janet Guthrie
For Janet Guthrie, the Speedway reworded its starting command that year to 'In company with the first lady ever to qualify at Indianapolis, gentlemen, start your engines.'
Q 18Which driver's third place in 2009 is the best Indianapolis 500 finish by a woman?
Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick led late as a rookie in 2005 but had to save fuel, was passed and finished fourth.
Q 19Who became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times, with his 1977 victory?
A. J. Foyt
A. J. Foyt won in 1977 only after race leader Gordon Johncock's car broke down late in the race.
Q 20How do drivers earn starting spots at the Indianapolis 500?
Timed laps
Timed laps set the grid: each driver runs four alone against the clock, and once the field is full, a faster run bumps the slowest car out.
Q 24Which four-time Indianapolis 500 winner is nicknamed Spider-Man for climbing the fence after victories?
Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves won his third Indianapolis 500 in 2009, just weeks after a Miami jury acquitted him of federal tax charges.
Q 25What is the Indianapolis 500's slogan?
The Greatest Spectacle in Racing
The Greatest Spectacle in Racing was coined by WIBC copywriter Alice Greene as a cue telling radio engineers when to cut to a commercial.
Q 26Who lost the 1992 Indianapolis 500 to Al Unser Jr. by 0.043 seconds after starting from last on the grid?
Scott Goodyear
Scott Goodyear lost by even less than it looked: USAC later estimated 0.0331 seconds, since the winner's timing transponder sat in his car's nose, but 0.043 stayed official.
Q 27Who won the 2026 Indianapolis 500 by 0.0233 seconds, the closest finish the race had ever seen?
Felix Rosenqvist
Felix Rosenqvist took the lead from David Malukas on the very last lap, beating him to the line in his eighth Indianapolis 500 start.
Q 28Why did Rutherford's 1976 Indianapolis 500 win last only 102 laps?
Rain ended the race
Rain ended the race while Rutherford led, and when it returned just as officials prepared to restart, they called it after only 255 miles.
Q 29What was the Indianapolis 500's rowdy infield nicknamed?
The Snake Pit
The Snake Pit got so wild that for the 1981 race the Speedway put bleachers in the Turn 1 infield to curb the partying.
Q 30What figure stands on top of the Indianapolis 500's Borg-Warner Trophy?
A naked man waving a flag
A naked man waving a flag tops the trophy, and so many winners' faces were added below him that it needed new bases, the latest in 2004.