Indy 500 Traditions

When Indianapolis Motor Speedway was paved in 1909, more than three million bricks went down across the 2.5-mile oval. The brick surface gave the track its enduring nickname: the Brickyard.

The bricks were covered with asphalt over the decades, but a single yard-wide strip at the start/finish line was preserved as a tribute. The "yard of bricks" is the only original brick paving still in the racing surface today.

The "kiss the bricks" celebration is a more recent tradition. It was started by NASCAR's Dale Jarrett and crew chief Todd Parrott after winning the 1996 Brickyard 400, and migrated to Indy 500 winners and pole sitters in the years that followed. Today every 500 winner kneels at the start/finish line and kisses the bricks with their team — one of the most photographed moments in American motorsport.

The milk tradition dates to 1936, when three-time winner Louis Meyer was photographed drinking buttermilk in Victory Lane after the race. His mother had told him it was the best thing to refresh him on a hot day. A dairy industry executive saw the photograph, recognized the marketing opportunity, and made sure milk was available the following year.

Since then, milk has been presented to the winner in Victory Lane essentially every year. The American Dairy Association of Indiana publishes a list each May of every driver's milk preference — whole, 2%, fat-free, or buttermilk — so that the winner gets their choice the moment they climb out of the car.

There has been one famous deviation. After winning in 1993, Emerson Fittipaldi drank a bottle of orange juice instead of milk to promote his Brazilian orange grove. The backlash was substantial; he drank milk after his earlier wins in 1989 and 1990.

The Borg-Warner Trophy was commissioned in 1935 by the Borg-Warner Automotive company and first presented in 1936. It stands approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs around 110 pounds. The body of the trophy is sterling silver.

The trophy is best known for the bas-relief sculpted face of every Indy 500 winner that adorns it. New faces are added each year by sculptor William Behrends. The original trophy retroactively included sculptures of every winner from 1911 onwards.

The trophy itself stays at Indianapolis Motor Speedway between races. Winners receive a smaller replica — affectionately called the "Baby Borg" — which they keep. Drivers' faces appear on both the original and the replica.

Carb Day is the final on-track session before the race itself. Held on the Friday before race day, it gives teams a last hour of practice in race trim to make final setup adjustments.

The name is a holdover from a different era. When the practice was first formalized, drivers used the session to dial in their carburetors — hence "Carb Day." Modern IndyCars have used fuel injection for decades, but the name has stuck.

Carb Day has grown into its own event. The hour of final practice is followed by the Pit Stop Competition, a head-to-head bracket between race-team pit crews, and an afternoon concert on the infield stage. For many fans, it has become the unofficial start of the race weekend.

"Back Home Again in Indiana" is performed live in front of the grandstand in the final minutes before the race begins. The song was written in 1917 and has been part of the Indy 500 pre-race ceremony since 1972.

For more than four decades, the song was performed by entertainer Jim Nabors, whose rendition became inseparable from the race itself. Nabors retired from the tradition in 2014 and passed away in 2017.

Since 2014, the song has been performed by Jim Cornelison, the longtime national anthem singer for the Chicago Blackhawks, whose booming baritone fills the speedway. The performance comes after the National Anthem and the military flyover, immediately before the command to start engines.

The command to start engines is given just before the pace lap begins. It has been part of the race since the early decades of the 500.

The wording has evolved with the field. For most of the race's history, the command was "Gentlemen, start your engines." When Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify in 1977, IMS owner Tony Hulman amended it to "In company with the first lady ever to qualify at Indianapolis, gentlemen, start your engines."

Today the command is given as "Drivers, start your engines" when one or more women are in the field, "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines" when there is at least one female driver, or "Gentlemen, start your engines" in years with an all-male field. The command is traditionally given by a member of the Hulman-George family or by an invited guest.

The Indy 500 was the first major American motor race to use a pace car, and the tradition has continued every year since 1911. The pace car leads the field on the parade lap and pace lap before pulling into pit lane as the green flag waves.

Manufacturers donate the pace car each year, and being selected is considered a major branding moment. The pace car driver — a celebrity, a former driver, or an executive — is announced in the lead-up to race day.

The 1911 pace car was a Stoddard-Dayton, driven by Carl Fisher, one of the speedway's founders. Since then, pace cars have ranged from Cadillacs and Corvettes to Mustangs and Camaros.

The Pagoda is the multi-story timing-and-scoring building that overlooks the start/finish line. It houses race control, scoring, broadcast booths, and luxury suites.

Five different Pagodas have stood on the site across the speedway's history. The current structure — instantly recognizable from broadcasts — was completed in 2000 as part of the speedway's modernization for the Brickyard 400 era. It is sometimes called the "fifth Pagoda."

The Pagoda is one of the most photographed buildings in motorsport. Its silhouette is part of the IMS brand identity and appears on tickets, merchandise, and broadcast graphics.

Indy 500 qualifying is the only major race in the world where you can fail to make the grid. Only 33 cars start the race, and historically more than 33 have entered.

"Bumping" happens when a faster car runs a qualifying attempt that pushes a slower car out of the field. The slowest qualified car is on the "bubble." If a quicker car runs after them, the bubble car is bumped to provisional non-qualifier status — and must re-attempt to get back in.

In the modern qualifying format, bumping is concentrated in Last Chance Qualifying on Sunday afternoon, where cars outside the top 30 fight for positions 31, 32, and 33. The slowest car after Last Chance is bumped from the race entirely.

In the 1960s and 70s, the "Snake Pit" was an unsanctioned, raucous fan area inside Turn 1 of the speedway infield. It became famous — and infamous — for the parties that took place there during race weekend.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway formalized the area in 2010 as the Snake Pit Presents stage, an EDM festival held inside the speedway on race day. Major touring DJs perform back-to-back sets while the 500 unfolds on the track. It has become one of the largest dance festivals in the Midwest.

The Snake Pit is general admission, ticketed separately from the race, and attracts a demographic the speedway has worked hard to bring into the sport over the past fifteen years.