As pandemic restrictions lift, sporting events once again welcome fans, and the 2021 Indianapolis 500 will be no different. After postponing 2020’s race until August, when it was run with no onlookers, organizers of the Indy 500 have returned it to its traditional date on Memorial Day weekend — which this year means Sunday, May 30.
Best of all, the gentlemen (and lady — Switzerland’s Simona De Silvestro is the lone female competitor this year) will start their engines in front of 135,000 fans packed in the stands to see what they hope will be an exciting race. So far these are the most exciting races in Indy 500 history.
Although the 2.5-mile oval racetrack hasn’t changed much since the first Indy 500 was run back in 1911, the cars speeding over the asphalt have. Ray Harroun won the first Indy 500 with an average speed of 74.59 miles per hour. Racing along a local highway at that blistering pace today might earn you a speeding ticket — but it’s far from the 157.824 mph Japan’s Takuma Sato averaged when he won last year’s race. (It’s hard to know what Indy stars would make America’s worst cities to drive in.)
Those numbers are average speeds throughout the race, but individual drivers have driven much faster. Tom Sneva took one lap at more than 200 miles per hour — the first Indy participant to reach that speed — in 1977. Arie Luyendy had previously recorded the fastest qualifying lap speed at 237.498 in 1996.
Click here to see the winner of every Indianapolis 500 since 2000.
Winning the Indy 500 isn’t just about who has the fastest car (though that helps). It’s about who has the skill to maneuver around 32 other cars to pass the checkered flag, which will be waved for the 105th time this year (the race was suspended for two years during World War I and four years during World War II).
Methodology
Information on driver names, the name of each car or entrant (often a corporate sponsor), the make and model of each car (typically the manufacturer of the chassis and the engine, respectively; Offy, for instance, is the famed Offenhauser Racing Engine), the number of laps the winning driver led by during the course of the race, and the prize money the winning entry took home all come from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Indianapolis 500 Historical Stats.
Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2000: Juan Pablo Montoya, #9
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Target / G Force / Oldsmobile
> Winnings: $1,235,690
> Lead during the race: Led 167 laps out of 200
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Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2001: Helio Castroneves, #68
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Marlboro Team Penske / Dallara / Oldsmobile
> Winnings: $1,270,475
> Lead during the race: Led 52 laps out of 200
Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2002: Helio Castroneves, #3
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Marlboro Team Penske / Dallara / Chevrolet
> Winnings: $1,606,215
> Lead during the race: Led 24 laps out of 200
2003: Gil de Ferran, #6
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Marlboro Team Penske / Panoz G Force / Toyota
> Winnings: $1,353,265
> Lead during the race: Led 31 laps out of 200
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Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
2004: Buddy Rice, #15
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Rahal-Letterman Argent/Pioneer / Panoz G Force / Honda
> Winnings: $1,761,740
> Lead during the race: Led 91 laps out of 200
Source: Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2005: Dan Wheldon, #26
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Klein Tools/Jim Beam / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $1,537,805
> Lead during the race: Led 30 laps out of 200
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Source: Gavin Lawrence / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2006: Sam Hornish Jr., #6
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Marlboro Team Penske / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $1,744,855
> Lead during the race: Led 19 laps out of 200
Source: Harry How / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2007: Dario Franchitti, #27
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Canadian Club / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $1,645,233
> Lead during the race: Led 34 laps out of 200
Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2008: Scott Dixon, #9
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,988,065
> Lead during the race: Led 115 laps out of 200
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Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2009: Helio Castroneves, #3
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Team Penske / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $3,048,005
> Lead during the race: Led 66 laps out of 200
Source: Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2010: Dario Franchitti, #10
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,752,055
> Lead during the race: Led 155 laps out of 200
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Source: Nick Laham / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2011: Dan Wheldon, #98
> Car name or entrant/make/model: William Rast – Curb/Big Machine / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,567,255
> Lead during the race: Led 1 laps out of 200
Source: Nick Laham / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2012: Dario Franchitti, #50
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,474,280
> Lead during the race: Led 23 laps out of 200
Source: Chris Graythen / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2013: Tony Kanaan, #11
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Hydroxycut KV Racing Technology-SH Racing / Dallara / Chevrolet
> Winnings: $2,353,355
> Lead during the race: Led 34 laps out of 200
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Source: Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2014: Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28
> Car name or entrant/make/model: DHL Honda / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,491,194
> Lead during the race: Led 56 laps out of 200
Source: Robert Laberge / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2015: Juan Pablo Montoya, #2
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet / Dallara / Chevrolet
> Winnings: $2,449,055
> Lead during the race: Led 9 laps out of 200
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Source: Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2016: Alexander Rossi, #98
> Car name or entrant/make/model: NAPA Auto Parts / Curb Honda / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,548,743
> Lead during the race: Led 14 laps out of 200
Source: Chris Graythen / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2017: Takuma Sato, #26
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Andretti Autosport Honda / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $2,458,129
> Lead during the race: Led 17 laps out of 200
Source: Patrick Smith / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2018: Will Power, #12
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet / Dallara / Chevrolet
> Winnings: $2,525,454
> Lead during the race: Led 59 laps out of 200
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Source: Clive Rose / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2019: Simon Pagenaud, #22
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Menards Team Penske / Dallara / Chevrolet
> Winnings: $2,669,529
> Lead during the race: Led 116 laps out of 200
Source: Andy Lyons / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
2020: Takuma Sato, #30
> Car name or entrant/make/model: Panasonic / PeopleReady / Dallara / Honda
> Winnings: $1,370,500
> Lead during the race: Led 27 laps out of 200
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