Motorsports News by David Vodden
In America and around the world an auto race that began in 1911 will roar to life again this weekend for the 110th time on the hallowed ground of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Indy 500 is the most prestigious race in the world. From its earliest beginnings at the time of the development of the automobile, to May 24, 2026, what happens on the two and a half-mile, square course stands alone in the world of sport. Thirty-two men and one British lady will traverse the course for two hundred laps seeking to place their name in history as the winner of the greatest spectacle in racing. So far there have been seventy-six different winners of the race. In that same time forty-two drivers have died seeking mortality as a 500 Champion. The last fatality occurred in 1996, thirty years ago, when Scott Brayton crashed in a practice run. Twenty-five drivers have won the race more than once with A. J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser Sr., and Helio Castroneves, each winning four times. Castroneves could become the only five-time winner this year. Three-time winners include Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose, Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford and Dario Franchitti. The list of two-time winners includes eleven drivers. There are nine past winners in this year’s race including Castroneves, Josef Newgarden, Takuma Sato, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter Reay, Alexander Rossi, Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Alex Palou. Twenty-one drivers who were not born in America have won the race with four each from France and Brazil. The magnitude of the event can be measured by the sell-out in seats for this year’s race at 275,000. Another 76,000 fans will attend the event in the infield. Lasty, year over seven million watched the event on television or some other broadcast medium. Rewatching the event multiples the eyes on the show many times over. You can see this year’s race on FOX network television at 9:45 am Sunday May 24th. PST.
A late race developing story line of some magnitude involves British female racer Kathyrn Legge. Legge will attempt to complete eleven hundred miles of racing Sunday by first racing the Indy 500 and then flying to Charlotte where she will race in the 600-mile NASCAR CUP race there. This is an amazing feat, to say the least. To be fair, unlike Kyle Larson who tried this double race twice unsuccessfully, Legge’s entry is not about winning but finishing. Both her Indy car and her NASCAR Cup entry cannot score a win [Odds are the basis of this statement] Even so, the attempt is worth following and any level of success defined as finishing one or both events, including even starting both events, is a significant sports achievement for a forty-five-year-old female racer. Her sponsor, E. I. F, which stands for Eyes, Lips, Face cosmetics, is footing the bill which must be huge. To be fair, Legge has run four Indy 500 races. She has raced at LeMans and won in the Toyota Atlanta series in her earlier years. She is a racer, for real. It would be a great story if she makes any level of this adventure a win in any form. Good luck Kathyrn Legge!
For the first time in decades the Sunday race weekend that celebrates our Memorial holiday will not include the Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco. For crazy people like me that Sunday started before dawn in Monaco and ended late in the day in Charlotte North Carolina. This year we all get to sleep in until seven am when the pre-race show starts for the Indy 500.
Enjoy the 500 and the NASCAR 600. Don’t forget the local race scene where auto races occur all around us as part of the big American race weekend.