Blog Archive

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Here’s Why the Indianapolis 500 Has a 33 Car Starting Grid

I’ve been fielding questions from first-time Indy 500 viewers for the past few days, and one of the big questions has been: why are there 33 cars? And I’ll be honest: for a long time, I didn’t know, I just shrugged it off as the kind of arbitrary tradition that tends to come along with the 500 (you know, that “we did this one way 50 years ago and now we’ve never done anything different”)—and while, yes, it’s kind of arbitrary in the modern era, there actually is a reason for the 33 car field.



a view of a city street filled with lots of traffic

© Photo: Chris Graythen (Getty Images)


The first race in 1911 saw 40 entrants, but it seemed like that might just be a few too many. So, the Contest Board at the AAA—which used to sanction the race—came up with a nifty little formula to determine the safest possible way to host the race. At

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Car
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What IndyCar drivers said after the 104th Indianapolis 500

became the 20th driver to win more than once in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing:” data-reactid=”19″INDIANAPOLIS — Recapping what NTT IndyCar Series drivers said after Sunday’s 104th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Takuma Sato became the 20th driver to win more than once in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing:

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Automotive
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Honda sweeps podium, dominates Chevrolet in 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500

From Autoweek” data-reactid=”32″From Autoweek

Honda camp following the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.” data-reactid=”33″It was a case of smiles all around the Honda camp following the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Too bad the vendors, dealers and other usual guests of the manufacturer at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing weren’t able to celebrate in the suites or the seats at IMS due to the coronovirus pandemic this year.

Takuma Sato’s win was just the tip of the Honda avalanche on Sunday, as the manufacturer swept the podium with Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal finishing second and third. Honda went on to place eight drivers in the top 10, and its drivers led 180 of 200 laps. Leading the lap-leading brigade for the manufacturer was Dixon, who led 111 laps. Sato was

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Automotive
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Sato Wins as Honda Dominates the Indianapolis 500

Although he led only twice for a total of 27 laps, Sato’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda was fast when it counted, in the run from the last round of pit stops to the checkered flag.  Exiting the pits in second to Dixon, Sato swept into the lead on lap 185, then held off several attempts by Dixon to repass as the pair worked their way through lapped traffic.  The race was decided on Lap 196 of the scheduled 200, when Spencer Pigot crashed hard exiting Turn 4, leading the race to end under the caution flag.  The win is the second at Indy for Sato, following his initial “500” triumph in 2017.

Prior to the final pit stops, Dixon had dominated the day in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, leading a race-high 111 laps as the championship leader sought his own second Indy victory.  Starting in the middle of the

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Automotive
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Best photos from a historic Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Takuma Sato (30) pours milk over his head to celebrate winning the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 23, 2020.

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Takuma Sato (30) of Japan wipes tears from his face after winning the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, August 23, 2020.

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Takuma Sato (30) celebrates with teammates after winning the 104th Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020.

Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Takuma Sato (30) celebrates after winning

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Automotive
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Takuma Sato Throws Caution to the Wind to Win 104th Indianapolis 500

From Autoweek” data-reactid=”32″From Autoweek

coronavirus pandemic.” data-reactid=”33″Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing claimed his second Indianapolis 500 triumph with the veteran racer holding off five-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in a race that finished under caution on Sunday in front of an empty Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Greatest Spectacle in Racing essentially ended with five laps to go when Spencer Pigot spun and violently crashed on the frontstretch of the venerable racing facility.

IndyCar officials refused to throw a red flag and the remaining laps were run under yellow flag conditions as safety officials treated Pigot in what amounted to a debris field near pit entrance.

having first accomplished the feat in 2017 with Andretti Autosport.” data-reactid=”40″Sato became a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, having first accomplished the feat in 2017 with Andretti Autosport.

“This is unbelievable,” Sato said

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Automotive
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2020 Indianapolis 500 – Row-by-row race preview

This Sunday, when the green flag flies over the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500, there’s a pretty good chance that someone will have the race on a TV in your house. We’re giving you the chance to impress your family and friends with your knowledge of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, even if you don’t know the difference between a wicker bill and an electric bill. Just print out our row-by-row, easy-to-learn preview of the 33-car field, packed with eight former Indy 500 winners and five rookies, and feel free to shout out these facts as if you already knew them.

How to watch
When: 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday
TV: NBC

Macro Andretti will try to break the “Andretti Curse” from the pole position on Sunday. AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Row 1

Marco Andretti

No. 98
Hometown: Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Team: Andretti-Herta Autosport with Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian
Engine: Honda
Car

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Automotive
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Todt: Indianapolis return would be “very good” for Formula 1 – F1

FIA President Jean Todt believes that Formula 1 returning to Indianapolis Motor Speedway would be very good for the sport because it “has all the ingredients” of an F1 venue.

Todt, who is in Indianapolis to attend the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500, spent Saturday morning at IMS in the company of its new owner Roger Penske.

The IMS road course hosted Formula 1’s US Grand Prix between 2000 and 2007, the last race held in the US until 2012 when it returned at the new Circuit of The Americas in Austin.

Speaking to assembled media including Autosport, Todt said he was “very impressed” with the revamped facilities at IMS.

Asked by Autosport if a potential return to Indianapolis is something the FIA would support, Todt replied: “Well you know the responsibility of the calendar is with the commercial rights holder, but clearly Indianapolis has all the ingredients of

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Automotive
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Could prime Indianapolis 500 starting spot help Marco break the Andretti Curse?

Marco Andretti’s first memories of the Indianapolis 500 (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET) were not made inside the walls of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They come from the parking lot outside Turn 2. That’s where the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Motel, better known simply as the “Speedway Motel,” stood from 1963 to 2009. Every May, the old-school, 96-room motor lodge was the residency of the greatest names in 500 history.

When Mario Andretti started racing there in 1965, his little boy Michael would play on the balcony of the family’s room at the Speedway Motel and swim in the courtyard pool that was lined with those balconies, all while the motel was shaken with the roar of his father laying down hot laps on the 2.5-mile rectangular racetrack only a few hundred yards away.

In the late 1980s, it was Michael’s son who was on the balcony and in the pool, while

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Automotive
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Fuel & Tires: Curse no more? Andretti looks good for maiden Indianapolis 500 win | Sports

I’m going to wake up Sunday morning and have to remind myself it isn’t Memorial Day weekend. That was nearly 90 days ago, which seems like an eternity in this bizarro world of the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet, with the end of summer coming into focus, we will finally get to hear the most famous words in all of motorsports echo through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And echo they will, since you won’t see 200,000-plus race fans in the stands or hordes of people in the infield’s Snake Pit section at the Indy 500. For the first time in the 111-year history of the storied track, the stands will be empty on race day.

What you will see is one of the fastest fields in race history, as 33 drivers from 12 countries try to outsmart, outwit and outperform every other driver on the track to get that drink of milk

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Automotive