Enduring legacy: Indy 500 race

There's still another year to go before we see the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, but as the track itself opened in 1909, the folks at Indy decided to celebrate their centennial over a three-year period beginning in 2009. The racing community took a few years off to fight the World Wars, so this year actually marks the 94th race, which will undoubtedly give the revellers in Indianapolis another excuse to party it up in six years. Why not go for the gold and declare an eight-year centennial period, or maybe round up to even a decade?

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Triple Crown race commonly known as the ‘Indy 500', first opened as a gravel-and-tar track, hosting a number of minor races. With an eye on a more desirable place in racing lore, the track was paved with 3.2 million bricks at the urging of principal owner Carl G Fisher after several fatal accidents resulted from dodgy track conditions. With its 500 mile (805km) race length, Indy quickly joined the ranks of North America's elite racing events, and currently enjoys perhaps the best name recognition of any American race.

The ‘500' was first held, and continues to be held, on May 30 every year, which is the American Memorial Day holiday. That first time out, winning driver Ray Harroun drove a Marmon "Wasp", which featured a novel technology of Harroun's own invention; the rearview mirror. Harroun further broke from convention by forfeiting the use of a ‘riding mechanic", who, according to convention, served as a sort of onboard diagnostician and traffic warning system. Harroun's heretical behaviour earned him the chequered flag, as well as the ire of his fellow drivers, who contested his victory on the grounds that he presented a hazard without the help of a ‘co-pilot'.

This was just the first in a long line of challenges, rivalries and legends that have combined to make the Indy 500 one of racing's most storied and prestigious events.

These days, Indy cars (as they're called) look quite a bit like F1 racers, however, there are a few notable differences. Indy car's popular Aurora V8 is a 32 valve engine that produces around 650bhp. F1 sticks to road courses, while the Indy 500 is run on an oval track. F1 is popular all over the world; Indy car is popular all over Indiana (kidding, as usual).

In recent decades, the race has seen a handful of drivers cross over from the US's beloved Nascar series. Because Indy will run on the same day as Nascar's Coca-Cola 600 starting in 2011, Nascar racing mogul Bruton Smith has offered nearly Dh73.5 million to any driver who can win both events on the same day; a seemingly insurmountable challenge with no precedent.

We're not sure if anyone will ever claim that prize money, but once upon a time the mere thought of a 500-mile race was considered lunacy — therefore creating a prize for 1,100 miles of same-day racing sits nicely in the grand tradition of one-upmanship. Bravo Bruton!

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