Cue the Justin Timberlake meme, as a result of as soon as the clock strikes midnight Wednesday evening, we’ve hit a mystical fifth season that solely passes by Indiana.
It brings rain – – in addition to steamy 90-degree temps. Smells of burning rubber, tenderloins within the fryer and ethanol combine with the street of engines, the and the . – bandana, t-shirt, shorts, socks, hat, sneakers…you identify it.
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Eleven months out of the 12 months, I say I’m the motorsports reporter for IndyStar, however from Might 1-31, – the world’s largest single-day sporting occasion on the earth lengthy dubbed the Best Spectacle in Racing, hosted on the Racing Capital of the World. It’s a beat that grows from attempting to seize a sport to protecting each the automobiles on-track in addition to the way in which through which a metropolis reverberates round a sporting occasion with greater than 100 years of historical past that has withstood two world wars, 4 possession teams and began with the primary rear-view mirror and now .
Hybrid, crashes, what’s subsequent?:
And this 12 months, we’ve obtained , Josef Newgarden’s , Helio Castroneves’ drive for 5 and efforts from IndyCar’s world-famous star Pato O’Ward, its and to hoist the Borg-Warner Trophy for the very first time. It’s , possible the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s and a sporting occasion so fascinating, it might for the primary time .
For a sport that has felt because it’s been ready to launch for a number of years now, this Might’s Indy 500 sits able the place it may function that proverbial match.
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So let’s discuss it. I’m Nathan Brown, IndyStar’s motorsports reporter who’s been on the bottom touring with and protecting the IndyCar collection for the reason that fall of 2019 – simply weeks earlier than Roger Penske took management of a sport his Workforce Penske dynasty had dominated at occasions for half a century. to reply your questions in regards to the state of IndyCar and the leadup to the 2025 Indy 500.
IndyStar motorsports reporter Nathan Brown will host a Reddit AMA Thursday, Might 1 at 1 p.m. on the r/IndyCar web page.
Haven’t got Indy 500 tickets but?:
I’ve attended a dozen 500s, each as a fan first within the early 2000s rising up in central Indiana with 500-obsessed mother and father after which a reporter when my spouse and I moved to Indianapolis almost six years in the past. And through my time within the media heart, I’m onerous pressed to say I’ve had what you’d contemplate to be a ‘regular’ 500 expertise, from the fan-less August version in 2020, to Helio’s historical past in 2021, the return of full fan attendance in 2022, the never-before-seen late-race pink flag in 2023 and Josef’s last-lap magic in 2024 that adopted a four-hour rain delay and a checkered flag falling on the beginnings of nightfall.
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In some methods, that’s why I really like this sport – and extra particularly, this month and this race – is the five hundred’s unpredictability, its drama, the feelings all of it elicits and the tradition that envelopes all the pieces ‘Indy 500’ every Might. The successes of the , Pacers and Fever can ebb and stream as Tremendous Bowls and Remaining Fours come and go, however there’s just one Indy 500, and I’m trying ahead to diving into your questions on it from every angle on Thursday at 1 p.m.
Within the meantime, delivered straight to your inbox each week so that you don’t miss out on any of our award-winning Indy 500 protection this month. And in the event you don’t already, .
