The 102nd Indianapolis 500 is 12 days away! This is the 91st day of the 102 Stats in 102 Days Until the 102nd Indy 500 blog.
Each day from now until the Saturday before the Indianapolis 500, we’ll post a list of stats related to the race. Some are well-known statistics, while others are a little more in-depth.
Here is a breakdown of the Indianapolis 500 races by sanctioning body.
- United States Auto Club (USAC): 42 (1956-1997)
- American Automobile Association (AAA): 39 (1911-1955)
- Indy Racing League (IRL): 15 (1996-2010)
- INDYCAR: 7 (2011-2017)
Notes of Interest
- The 1996 and 1997 Indianapolis 500s were contested by the Indy Racing League under the sanctioning of umbrella of USAC (in essence, sanctioning by both the IRL and USAC).
- The Indy Racing League name was dropped for the 2011 season, in favor of INDYCAR. However, the legal entity remained Indy Racing League, LLC.
- Many of the teams from 1982-1995 were fulltime competitors on the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) circuit, however, CART never sanctioned the Indianapolis 500.
- The Indianapolis 500, from 1981 to 1995, was part of the USAC Gold Crown Series, and from 1985 to 1995 was the only race part of the USAC Gold Crown Series, effectively giving two championships to the driver who won the Indianapolis 500.
- AAA sanctioning ended after the 1955 championship season, due in part to accidents in the 1955 Indianapolis 500 (two-time defending race winner Bill Vukovich was killed in the race) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans tragedy (more than 80 people were killed and more than 100 others injured when Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes crashed and struck and launched over a wall into a section of the crowd).
- Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya are the only drivers to win under two different sanctioning bodies, though all of their victories came as part of the IRL or INDYCAR, effectively the same sanctioning body (with a few exceptions).
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