The Indianapolis 500 with BorgWarner

You won’t see the winner of the Indianapolis 500 uncork a bottle of champagne and celebrate his victory with this drink. The rider who achieves this prestigious triumph receives, following tradition, a bottle of milk. The pilots choose before the race what type of milk they want to drink: whole, skimmed or semi-skimmed, and the organization delivers it to them after winning. This tradition was started in 1936 by American Louis Meyer, a three-time winner of the Indy 500. Meyer followed his mother’s direction to drink milk to recover after the great effort he made during the races.

Great fault of the beginning of this tradition had the repercussion in the press that had what Meyer had done. Since then the “Milk Foundation”, an organization promoting dairy products, fought to make it a custom. It was not followed between 1947 and 1955, but from 1956 a commercial agreement was reached and the celebration with milk has been one more ritual in this career. There is only one exception since then …

Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi is considered one of the best drivers in history, as confirmed by his two F1 world titles, the Indycar title and his two victories in the Indianapolis 500. In his second victory in this career, in 1993, he decided to change the traditional milk for orange juice, and not because he was intolerant or allergic to lactose, far from it. Fittipaldi owned an orange plantation in Brazil and no one like him knew of the publicity potential of his victory.

This did not please the fans present in Indianapolis, who booed and criticized the pilot, and he ended up taking a sip from the bottle of milk that was also handed to him. Despite this, he has gone down in history as the rider who broke tradition.

The first racing car to feature a rear view mirror was the Marmon Wasp, the vehicle that won the Indianapolis 500 in the first edition, in 1911, with Ray Harroun at the wheel. All the cars except this one had two people on board: the driver and a mechanic who informed him of what was happening around him while he was racing. Harroun and his team owner Howard Carpenter Marmon, having conceived of a car that was too narrow, agreed to replace the mechanic with a 7.6 x 20.3 cm rear view mirror that would allow him to see what was happening behind him and compete safely in the oval.

There were protests from the rest of the pilots who participated in the race, because they considered it dangerous not to bring someone to alert them to who could overtake them on a circuit with such reduced visibility as is Indianapolis. Of course, there were also them due to the advantage of not taking a second person in the car. Years before all this, pilot Dorothy Levitt published a book in which she recommended that women who drive carry a hand mirror in the car, which would help them “see back in traffic.” This was not, however, a permanent solution like the one that was put to the test on the 1911 Indy 500. The rear view mirror wasn’t patented until 1921 – it was made by Elmer Berger, who is credited with inventing the today essential device.

Oriol Servià is the Spanish rider who has participated more times in the Indianapolis 500. The pilot born in Pals (Girona), made “the Americas” at the end of the nineties. He participated in the Indy Lights championship, a category one notch below the Indycar, and won it in his second year there, 1999. A year later, he made the leap to the CART championship full time and in 2002 he tried for the first time to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, but he failed.
Since 2008, Servià has been a permanent fixture in the Indy 500, has participated in ten editions (it only missed in 2010) and in 2012 it achieved a fourth place as the best result. In total, throughout his career, he has led 34 laps at Indianapolis. 16 of them in 2018, when he was close to victory with an aggressive strategy, but it was not enough and he had to stop in the pits a few laps from the end to refuel and be able to finish the race.

In addition to Servià, Fermín Vélez from Barcelona participated in the 1996 and 1997 editions, achieving tenth place as the best result. Earlier, in 1923, Pierre de Vizcaya became the first Spaniard to run on the mythical oval: he classified sixth and figure twelfth in the final classification of that race, although he was forced to abandon. The last Spaniard to arrive was Fernando Alonso: in 2017 he made a magnificent debut, qualified fifth and came to lead the race for 27 laps, although he had to abandon due to an engine problem.

The Indianapolis 500 trophy is another peculiarity of the race. The award measures nothing more and nothing less than 163 centimeters and weighs 50 kilograms, in conjunction with its base. It was designed by the automotive components company Borg-Warner and became the official trophy of the race in 1936.

Despite posing alongside him in images of honor, the Indianapolis 500 winners do not receive the original trophy, which remains in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. However, since 1988 the winner of the race has been given a replica, called the “Baby Borg”, measuring 45 centimeters.

One of the curiosities about the “Borg-Warner Trophy” is that it has the face of each and every one of the winners of the Indianapolis 500 on it. From the first, Ray Harroun, to the last, Will Power.

The weather factor is important in any automobile competition. It changes the conditions of the asphalt, demands the best of the skills of the drivers, of the car and can cause an accident if they do not have enough skill to control the vehicle in wet conditions. If it rains, due to the high speeds that are reached in the ovals and the danger that it supposes, the race stops. It can be delayed for minutes, hours, days … or even canceled.

One of the occasions when the race had to be delayed was in 1986: the test was to be held on Sunday, May 25, but was postponed the next day. The rain did not stop and had to be delayed again … until the following Saturday, May 31. In 1976 only 255 miles out of the 500 were contested: the race was stopped for two hours and when it was about to resume it started to rain heavily and was canceled. In 1997 the race was postponed until Tuesday, also due to rain. If the cancellation occurs after 100 laps, the result can be considered valid.

The “Triple Crown” is an award received by the winner of the three most prestigious motor races in the world: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. There is no physical trophy known as the “Triple Crown” and few drivers have come close to achieving it.

Throughout history, only one driver has achieved victory in these three legendary events: Graham Hill. The Briton won the Monaco F1 GP five times (1963, 1964, 1965, 1968 and 1969), the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1972) and the Indianapolis 500 (1966). Only two active drivers can get the “Triple Crown” today: Juan Pablo Montoya (he has won the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco GP, but not the 24 Hours of Le Mans) and Fernando Alonso, who only He has yet to win the Indianapolis 500.

Firestone is honored as the most successful tire manufacturer in the history of the Indianapolis 500. Of the 102 editions contested, Firestone has won 69, or what is the same: it has won 67% of the Indy 500 held since the first edition in 1911. That year, without going any further, Ray Harroun rode Firestone tires on his Marmon Wasp.

Harvey Firestone, founder of the brand, had the great idea to take the tires that his company made to the Indianapolis 500. In this way, it would help the pioneers of American motorsport to achieve victory and, at the same time, promote and test its tires under the most demanding conditions.