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The Indianapolis 500 is an American race for open-wheel automobiles held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Run for the first time in 1911, "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" is one of the oldest and richest motorsport events in existence. This event lends its name to the "Indy Car" class of race cars.
The early years
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex was built in 1909, and hosted a smattering of small events before promoters decided to focus on one major event. The creation of a 500-mile race allowed the track to rapidly acquire a privileged status for automobile races. The first "500" was held at the Speedway on May 30, 1911, with Ray Harroun piloting a Marmon Wasp -- outfitted with his invention, the rearview mirror -- to victory.
Although the first race was won by an American driver at the wheel of an American car, European makers such as Fiat or Peugeot soon developed their own vehicles to try and win the event, which they did from 1913 to 1919. However, after World War I, the native drivers and manufacturers regained their dominance of the race, with the engineer Harry A. Miller setting himself up as the most competitive of the post-war builders. His technical developments allowed him to be indirectly connected to a history of success that would last until the mid-70s.
Miller and Offenhauser
In the early 20s, Miller built his own 3.0 litre (183 cu.in) engine, installing it in the back of Jimmy Murphy's Duesenberg and allowing him to win the 1922 edition of the Indy 500. Miller then created his own automobiles, which were powered by supercharged versions of his 2.0 liter and 1.5 litre (122 and 91 cu.in, also the cars' designations) single seaters, winning four more races until 1929. Miller's cars and engines won other seven events until 1938, then run at first with stock-type motors and later with the international 3.0 liter formula.
However, in 1935, Miller's former employees, Fred Offenhauser and Leo Goosen, had already achieved their first win with the soon-to-become famous 4-cylinder Offy. This motor was forever connected with the Brickyard's history with a total of 27 wins, both in aspirated and supercharged form, and winning a record-holding 18 years in a row between 1947 and 1964.
European incursions
In the meantime, European manufacturers, gone from the Indianapolis 500 for nearly two decades, made a brief return just before World War II, with the competitive Maserati 8CM allowing Wilbur Shaw to become the first driver to win consecutively at Indianapolis in 1941. With the Indianapolis 500 having been a part of the World Drivers Championship between 1950 and 1960, Ferrari made a discrete appearance at the 1952 event with Alberto Ascari, but European entries were few and far between during those days.
In fact, it wouldn't be until the Indy 500 was removed from the calendar that Europeans made their return, with Jack Brabham driving his slightly modified F1 Cooper in the 1961 race. In 1963, technical innovator Colin Chapman brought his Team Lotus to Indianapolis for the first time, attracted by the large monetary prizes, far bigger than the usual at a European event. Racing a mid-engined car, British driver Jim Clark was second in his first attempt at the oval track, completely dominating the race in 1965, also interrupting the Offy's success, and offering the 4.2 litre Ford V8 its first success at the race.
Offenhauser too would join forces with a European maker, McLaren, obtaining three wins for the Penske team between 1972 and 1976, with drivers Mark Donohue and Gordon Johncock. This was also the last time the Offy would win a race, its competitiveness decreasing until its final appearance in 1983. American drivers kept on filling the majority of entries at the Brickyard for the following years, but European technology took over. Starting from 1978, most chassis and engines were European, with the only American wins under CART rule being the Wildcat and Galmer chassis in 1982 and 1992. Ford and Chevy engines were built in the UK by Cosworth and Ilmor, respectively.
World Series
After foreign cars became the norm, foreign drivers started showing up at the Indianapolis 500 on a regular base, choosing the USA as their primary base for their motor racing activities. Dutch Arie Luyendyk and Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi became two of American single-seater racing's most successful drivers in the 80s, but other names known from Formula One, such as Italian Teo Fabi and Colombian Roberto Guerrero, were able to obtain good outings as well. However, it wasn't until 1993 that reigning Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell shocked the racing world by moving to the United States, winning the PPG CART Indycar World Series and only losing the 500 in his rookie year because of inexperience with green-flag restarts. European-born or, at least, bred drivers became a regular fixture of Indianapolis in the years to follow.
Organizational problems
At the end of the 1995 season, the Indianapolis 500 was transferred to its fourth ruling body since its inception. At its very beginning, the race was organized under the auspices of the AAA (American Automobile Association), alongside the National Championship, but the USAC (United States Auto Club) took over in 1956, when it became the motor racing sanctioning authority in the USA. Due to control issues of monetary prizes and regulation ammendments in the 1970s, the team owners banded together and formed CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), which started organizing the Indycar World Series in 1978. However, the Indy 500 sided with the USAC for the following years, and the race was temporarily removed from the championship calendar, although the same cars were in attendance and the race offered a bigger prize purse than any of the other venues. Upon finally joining CART, its status within the championship was reduced to the same as any other race, although its popularity (and prize money) remained undisputed.
It was this lack of status within CART, when it was obvious the Indianapolis 500 was the series' flagship, that led to the CART/IMS split and the subsequent CART/IRL feud, coupled with other issues, such as an increasing number of foreign drivers with big bank accounts driving professional American racing drivers away, and the decreasing number of oval races in the series. In its first season in 1996, the IRL (Indy Racing League) series attracted only less talented drivers and smaller teams, and with a change in rules, the CART cars were banned from the Indy 500, but in 2000 Chip Ganassi, while still racing in the CART Champ Car World Series, made an appearance at Indianapolis with his driver, rookie Juan Pablo Montoya immediately winning the race. Being a much higher publicized event than any CART race, other Champ Car teams and engine manufacturers entered the Indy 500 in the following years, and tipped the balance in favor of the IRL. Both CART and IRL still exist as separate entities, but the former's popularity is decreasing, and the latter may gobble their competitors entirely. Still, the "500" continues to be the crown jewel of open wheel racing in North America, with far higher name recognition than any other IRL or CART race.