Great Day Today at the Speedway

The Indianapolis 500: the best way to convert money into noise—and turn speed, near misses, and repeated returns into family memory.

See Full Image Riding With Mark Twain

Show Text

The best way to convert money into noise.

Race Day Field Notes

Fast Enough to Touch Disaster

2012 / The 96th Indianapolis 500

Great Day at the Speedway

The 96th Indianapolis 500—the best way to convert money into noise—was fast-paced, with plenty of lead changes and drivers moving in and out of the boundaries of disaster.

There is no secret to ovals. You press the accelerator to the floor and steer left. The drivers who think the brakes are for stopping usually do not win.

As Mario Andretti said, “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”

Field Comparison

Fighter Pilots in a Gymnasium

These open-wheel drivers are like fighter pilots flying inside a gymnasium. Fans remember the crashes. Drivers remember the near misses.

Nobody remembers who finished second except the person who finished second. For the record, New Zealand’s Scott Dixon was runner-up that time.

The Human Cost

Dan Wheldon

The weather was hot in America’s Midwest after an emotional tribute to the previous year’s winner, Dan Wheldon—the popular Englishman whose thrill of speed overcame the fear of death and who died in a horrific crash in Las Vegas that October.

2009–2008

Same Shirt, Different Day

The photographs preserve the recurring ritual: the same speedway, the same family connection, and another year measured by engines, grandstands, and the decision to come back.

Video Evidence