IndyCar
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50 free IndyCar trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
IndyCar is America's premier open-wheel racing series, and its centerpiece, the Indianapolis 500, has been run for more than a century. Few sports pack in as much history: daredevil pioneers, photo finishes, strange rituals and cars that top 230 mph. This quiz covers the whole story. Expect questions on Indianapolis 500 winners and legends, the customs that surround the big event at the Speedway, champions of the modern era, the 2019 season, famous circuits, and the technology and safety advances that shaped the cars. It is written for casual fans and die-hards alike. The early questions are friendly, while the later ones dig into obscure facts that could leave even a lifelong Indy car fan speechless.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which drink is handed to the Indianapolis 500 winner in Victory Lane, a tradition begun by Louis Meyer in 1936?
Milk
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.
Q 02What now-standard car part did Ray Harroun fit to his Marmon Wasp for the 1911 Indianapolis 500?
A rear-view mirror
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.
Q 03Which Indianapolis 500 prize bears a sculpted likeness of the face of every driver to win since 1911?
Borg-Warner Trophy
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.
Q 04Which Brazilian four-time Indianapolis 500 winner is nicknamed Spider-Man for climbing the fence after wins?
Hélio Castroneves
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.
Q 05Which Gomer Pyle actor sang Back Home Again in Indiana before most Indianapolis 500s from 1972 to 2014?
Jim Nabors
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.
Q 06Which World War I flying ace owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1927 until 1945?
Eddie Rickenbacker
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.
Q 07What kind of contest was the first event ever held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in June 1909?
A balloon race
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.
Q 08Which leisure facility, redesigned by Pete Dye in 1993, lies partly inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval?
A golf course
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.
Q 09Which late-night talk show host, born in Indianapolis, bought a stake in Bobby Rahal's IndyCar team in 1996?
David Letterman
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.
Q 10Which driver became the first woman to win an IndyCar Series race, at Japan's Twin Ring Motegi in 2008?
Danica Patrick
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.
Q 11Which Texan, the first four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Daytona 500?
A. J. Foyt
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.
Q 12Which Italian-born Formula One world champion won the Indianapolis 500 only once, in 1969, in 29 attempts?
Mario Andretti
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.
Q 13Which New Mexico driver beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds to win the 1992 Indianapolis 500?
Al Unser Jr.
Q 21Which Nashville-born driver won the IndyCar Series championship in both 2017 and 2019?
Josef Newgarden
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.
Q 22Which driver won the 2019 Indianapolis 500 from pole, the first French-born winner of the race since 1920?
Simon Pagenaud
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.
Q 23Which American teenager became the youngest winner in IndyCar history at Circuit of the Americas in March 2019?
Colton Herta
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.
Q 14Which Canadian won the 1995 Indianapolis 500 despite a two-lap penalty, then took the 1997 Formula One title?
Jacques Villeneuve
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.
Q 15Which Brazilian two-time Formula One champion won the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 and 1993?
Emerson Fittipaldi
Emerson Fittipaldi upset traditionalists after the 1993 race by reaching for orange juice in Victory Lane instead of the customary winner's drink.
Q 16Which English 1966 Indianapolis 500 winner later became the first to complete motorsport's Triple Crown?
Graham Hill
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.
Q 17Which Formula One champion won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in a Lotus, the first victory for a rear-engined car?
Jim Clark
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.
Q 18Which American won the 2006 Indianapolis 500 by passing a 19-year-old rookie just before the finish line?
Sam Hornish Jr.
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.
Q 19Which English driver won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 when rookie leader JR Hildebrand crashed at the final corner?
Dan Wheldon
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.
Q 20Which driver, who started out in off-road racing, won the Indianapolis 500 in 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1991?
Rick Mears
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.
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.
Q 24Which two-time Formula One champion skipped Monaco for the 2017 Indianapolis 500, then failed to qualify in 2019?
Fernando Alonso
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.
Q 25Which network first televised the Indianapolis 500 in 2019, ending a run of 54 straight years on ABC?
NBC
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.
Q 26Which Japanese technology company became title sponsor of the IndyCar Series in January 2019?
NTT
NTT took over the naming rights from Verizon and also became the official technology partner of both the series and the Indianapolis 500.
Q 27Which team owner, nicknamed the Captain, bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar in November 2019?
Roger Penske
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.
Q 28Which American rookie won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016 by stretching his fuel to the finish?
Alexander Rossi
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.
Q 29Which Japanese former Formula One driver won the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 and again in 2020?
Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato had already become the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race in 2013, at his 52nd start in the series.
Q 30Which New Zealander won the 2008 Indianapolis 500 from pole and six IndyCar Series titles between 2003 and 2020?
Scott Dixon
Scott Dixon led 115 laps that day. He had started racing cars at 13, needing special dispensation for a junior competition license.