25 Facts About The Indy 500 - mental_floss List Show Ep. 420
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- A weekly show where knowledge junkies get their fix of trivia-tastic information. This week, John shares some facts about one of his favorite subjects . . . The Indy 500!
Special thanks to our friends at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for helping us with the video, particularly Cathy Kightlinger and Donald Davidson.
Subscribe for new episodes of mental_floss every Wednesday!
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Actually John, the correct milk choice is chocolate. Always chocolate
Never thought I'd watch a video about racing all the way through...ah the things I do for John Green! :)
This year will be an amazing running of the Indy 500. I've been to every race for the past 25 years....even worked there as a yellow shirt when I was in college. I'm so proud to be apart of this event. As a Hoosier I hold the Indy 500 very near and dear to my heart.
+Tomahawk Matt Growing up in Indiana. I always watched the race with my dad. I even checked out a few time trial at the track. One year I was actually in Indy on race day. I was so excited to be able to watch and be in the same city as the race. I couldn't find it! No one told me it's blocked in Indy. So anyway, I live in Fort Wayne and can actually watch on TV, all the pomp and circumstance on race day still brings a tear to my eye.,
+Tomahawk Matt Too bad you didn't actually attend "collage".
***** There's nothing quite like it, is there?
BubbaSmurft Grammar Nazi
Congrats John on landing the pace car job! From a fellow Hoosier, race fan.
It was happy when he mentioned Dan Wheldon, may he rest in peace
Congrats on the pace car gig 👍🏾
Looking extra pink today
okay, I smiled like a Cheshire cat just reading the title 😁
your work, here, is done ;)
Episode 420. Puff, puff, play.
+Deborah L. I'm with you, Deborah!
Lived in Indy straight through the 80's. Been to the speedway a grand total of once, and that was just for trials.
No mention of the Little 500?! It would have been a great fact.
John reminded viewers that this past May was the 100th running of the 500. My son and I attended. We drove to Indianapolis from my parents home about an hour away. I've been to the 500 numerous times. The starting time of the race was traditionally 11am, it seems to change with the whim of the TV networks. Usually we would leave for the track around 6am in order to allow for traffic. The word was put out through the media that this being the 100th running, allow for more time to get to the speedway. We left @ 5am. By the time we got to IMS, traffic on 16th street was the worst I've ever seen. In 90 minutes we moved about 4 blocks. Various businesses along 16th street rent out their parking lot to race goers. There's a gentleman's club (aka strip club) that's closed on Sundays anyway, that is our usual parking spot. It's relatively cheap-$30, and within easy walking distance of the track. Due to the traffic nightmare, we parked on a side street, for free, making sure it wasn't a tow-away zone and walked about 4 miles to The Speedway. We saw saw a fantastic race with the most unexpected and thrilling finish, then trudged 4 miles back to my car. Bottom line: The Indy 500 is a great race and a great experience, but wear comfortable shoes and be prepared for lots of traffic.
no disrespect to Elliot but i smile everytime its john green.
+Puffn Treez Especially on episode 420. B)
I LOVE JOHN GREEN.
That is all. Thank you.
You forgot to mention that the phrase "Gentlemen, start your engines" was coined by Wilbur Shaw who was credited with "saving" the raceway after WWII. (and he was my uncle.)
The national park service is celebrating
it's 100th anniversary this year. It'd be nice to see a mental floss video on that.
Dude! You're running the pace car?!?! AWESOME!!!!!
I am going to the race! So, pumped. Maybe we will see you there!
chocolate milk!
Have fun pacing the race!
So... Grey hair is now your thing Mr Green? or are those blonde highlights? 😂
Very much enjoy yours and the other Mental Floss videos.
@6:03 It sounded like he said "Thanks for watching menopause video..."! lol
The golf course is also called The Brickyard, I've played it! There was a midget car race going on while I was playing the holes inside the track.
My family goes every year but never let me. Finally I can go and I'm so pumped.
You failed to mention that we can hear the cars going around the track from over two miles away, or that after the race traffic almost comes to a stop up to two miles from the track, or that the track owners now want the tax payers of Indianapolis to help support the track. Although you omitted the many downsides of the race, it is still a great video.
+Bill Campbell Unbelievable- the citizens obviously have been circumvented by special interests, because if the city administrators were operating in the people's best interests, then they have this whole thing leveraged- where else can the legendary "Indianapolis 500" be held? Fucking Peoria?
That is a shame really- as much money that event makes now, the people of the city of Indianapolis should see a lot of return for hosting the race.
I cannot say I am too surprised.
+Bill Campbell I still like the fact you can hear the cars as you drive by on 465.
*****- You can hear them as far south as I-70, and maybe beyond.
Skim milk is water lying about being milk.
Here's another fact: John Knox Presbyterian Church, located less than 3 miles away from the track, closes race day and has a service on Saturday night because of traffic!
Ep. 420 should have been X facts about Marijuana.
+Boot I think the Green brothers do enough videos on pot lol.
I literally looked in the comment s to see if anyone mention 420 and pot and it was the third comment lol
+Beastin OnYou excuse me 1st and 2nd comment
420 blaze it!
You should've waited til 500 to do this and do a drugs episode for this.
Or, you know, do this show in time for the 100th race and not two years later
I live in Henryville, Indiana. It two hours away from Indi!
How was it to get told to speed up by Simon Pagenaud?
Yea INDY!!!!
This year was my first carb day at age 14.. It's pretty crazy
Yay, you mentioned Helio Castroneves! Too bad you didn't mention Fittipaldi. :/
+Thiago Monteiro Yeah, I figured there'd be a "one guy who didn't drink milk" joke in there.
episode 420 could've been use so much more productively
+its coming around again Productively? 420? Really? ;)
+Sigurd Johansson -- _Creatively_ would've been a better choice.
+its coming around again I just paused it and John looks completely stoned.
Helloooooo
Fact #26: If you win the Indianapolis 500, fly to Charlotte, and win NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 later that day (even more grueling, for NASCAR cars take the 400-lap race at a slower speed), NASCAR will hand you $20,000,000. Also, as the Monaco GP is held that day, it is considered the most action-packed day in all of motorsport.
I thought the brickyard was where the Pacers played. (oh snap)
Thats the fieldhouse.
Sam Atwell
I know - bricks are bad in basketball.
+ljmasternoob Lol
how often does someone gets "lapped" where someone passes them goes all the way around the track and passes them again?
You film Mental Floss in Speedway? Where? I live in Speedway and can't think of any place suitable.
In 2011, wheldon only led the last few thousand feet after the leader, j.r. Hildebrand, crashed lapping a car in turn 4. I blame rookie error on that
hey I was at the Grand Prix
You missed many inc. ... Emmo's OJ, It's called the "yard of bricks", '71 pace-car crash, Helio's '02 win was stolen from PT (and those are just off the top of my head).
I can't believe you forgot to mention the 1995 event where Jacques Villeneuve won the only 505 miles race (due to a 2 laps penalty he got early in the race)!
No mention of Graham Hill, the only man to win Indy, Le Mans and the Monaco GP?
Juan Pablo Montoya only won two out of the three there, maybe Jacques Villeneuve if you count the F1 WDC too.
Something is different in this video. Different lights or different camera or something?
+Bitterspit Yeah, I see it, too, but I can't put my finger on it. John looks kinda bright but also desaturated. Maybe they shot too dark and had to brighten up in post.
+Bitterspit The white balance on the camera is off. He looks magenta. That, or the lights they were using have a magenta spike in them and they didn't correct that by adding a green gel in front of the light to bring it back to the normal color temperature.
John is my favorite. I don't care what color he is. I'd watch Mental Floss in black and white, lol. They should do an episode on silent films or something similar and shoot it in black and white! Everyone would freak out, think of the flood of comments! Happy Flossing!
blaze it actually
They don't air the race on live TV in Indianapolis
nice new glasses
How about the fact that our NBA team is called the Pacers, mostly because of the pace car used to start the race?
when's the episode one the North West 200 thats my question John.
You wouldn't have to. If you are in the indy 500; strap in, hold on, punch it and let it rip. What happens in a race car stays in a race car.
so no facts about the cars today but many in-depth facts about men in moustaches racing
Is the Indy 500 anything like the Grand Prix?
No. Grand Prix is associated with road/street racing. Indy 500 is an oval. 2 very different disciplines. In general F1 = road/street, NASCAR = Ovals ( couple exceptions), Indycar = all 3: road, street and ovals.
does John's hair look more grey than normal? or is it just me?
The shape of the speedway is called a Squircle
Why are they other paths on the track?
It's for the Moto GPX races. Instead of just the four turns for bikes they turn the infield into a long winding race course.
The road course was created for the 2000 edition of the US GP of Formula 1 but the race was dropped shortly after the 2005 tyre-wear debacle (a strike happened because of safety concerns, only 6 out of the 20 drivers actually started the race). MotoGp stepped in in 2008 but that started with problems too because the tail of a hurricane visited the racetrack during race day!
EXTRA FACT - The F1 course races in a clockwise manner, going the wrong way around the oval's Turn 1 and mainstraight. The MotoGp course races in an anti-clockwise manner but complete avoids the oval's T1 because of safety reasons
+Sunhawk7ajj The IndyCar series also drives on that twisting road course as one of their events. That is the GP of Indianapolis that John mentions he was the pace car driver for.
+Diego Ruiz It seems to be an unwritten rule somewhere that all oval races run counter-clockwise and all (most?) road/street course races run clockwise. Does anyone know the reasons/origins of that difference?
aggieblue Athletics is to blame, the weight balance of the human body is also important. Athletics started to run anti-clockwise because your body tends to weight more on the left side (heart is to blame) and also because spectators would usually see the runners go left-to-right like in reading
Roadcourse racing was invented in France but became famous once it hit England. Cars in the isles are right-hand driven (RHD) so the natural design for them was to make their races clockwise so the driver could be seated on the inner loop, putting some extra weight on the right tyres for traction's sake
Someday there will be a guy who says, "I only drink vanilla flavored soy milk."
Indy 500 isn't really Formula One though, even though it was part of the series in the 50s and 60s. On that note, how about a Facts episode on Formula Ones.
I CLICKED ON THIS VIDEO SO QUICKLY I CANT
4:46 Nah. Chocolate Milk.
"A rectangular shaped oval"? Dude, I know you write YA books, but that's like saying "A triangle shaped square"
+Billy Suter A rounded rectangle
+Billy Suter A round cornered rectangle.
+ohthepeppers Exactly- everybody knows that is a freakin squircle if I ever saw one! (maybe superellipse?)
I expected so much more for the 420th episode :(
Perhaps someone here will know the answer to this: Is there any other type of motor racing other than indy-car that has a rolling start? I thought that it was a uniquely American concept? Certainly BAR (British Amateur Racing) in its many forms (Legend, Formula 2000, etc) uses a static grid start as does F1 etc. I don't think it would work on most other types of circuit.
NASCAR certainly does and I think the World Endurance Championship does too. Or at least Le Mans.
Nope Le Mans is famous for the start being the drivers running to their car. And Nascar and Indy Car are synonymous. IE they are the same thing. Suzuka was also a run start but it is now a static grid.
+Gordon Lawrence Le Mans hasn't used the running start since the early 70s. NASCAR and IndyCar aren't synonymous at all.
Ah you are correct LeMans adopted a rolling start apparently for safety reasons.
Gordon Lawrence - yes, more likely than not, a result of Jacky Ickx protesting against the nonsense of running across the track to their cars, during the 1969 event. He simply walked across the track while other drivers ran to their cars - and somehow managed to win the race by a mere 100yds.
One of the obvious problems of that type of start, was that drivers would have a tendency to take off without buckling up their seatbelts.
That may appear to be a slight lack of rudimentary procedures for driving a race car, but after hearing Dan Gurney admit about the common practice of putting on the seatbelts (and steering by the mere use of his knees) while engaging the Mulsanne Straight at full song, it is perhaps understandable why Jacky Ickx and others took exception to that traditional start back then.
Shouldn't your Speedway/Vatican comparison be to Rome, not Italy?
+Braden Walker I think John went with Italy because Vatican City is a country.
wait John, what happened to your hair colour?
Speedway is to Indianapolis as Vatican is to Rome not Italy. Otherwise the set up would be Speedway is to The United States of America as the Vatican is to Italy. I don't actually care, I just had the overwhelming urge to type this once I thought about it.
Facts about the olympics.
Based
What is going on with johns face weird white balance
I wonder if we'll see a day when the winner opts for non-dairy milk?
That will be the day the fans turn on the winner.
Oh no there making a left turn...
And they're making another left turn...
What's that up ahead? A left turn...
Watch out for that left turn...
They're approaching the left turn...
How will they handle the next left turn...
Left turn...
Left turn...
Left turn...
Left turn...
Left turn...
Left turn...
**Hundreds of Left turns later**
It finally ends.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who heard "wieners" at 0:23 :)
SPeedway is a country then
+Patrick Allen I think his comparison with Vatican/Italy is a little off. Vatican/Rome would be more adequate. But then the Vatican is still a country of its own so you still got a whole thing there... Actually my home county (Rhein-Sieg) in Germany has another county (Bonn) inside of it. Borders can be weird.
+Patrick Allen - Speedway is a city within a city. Indianapolis, the 13th largest city in the U.S., has grown until it surrounds the town of Speedway. (The Vatican is a country within a country.)
Nothing about the Snake Pit?
What happens in the Snake Pit must forever stay in the Snake Pit.
What about women and the Indy 500? Who was the first woman to race the Indy 500? Has there been a woman driver in the Indy 500? What about the first black driver to race in the Indy 500? Do these people exist in the Indy 500?
First Woman Driver: Janet Guthrie 1977.
Other Females: Lynn St. James, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick, Milka Duno, Anna Beatriz, Simona De Silvestro, Katherine Legge, and Pippa Mann (running this year).
African Americans: Wille T. Ribbs, and George Mack.
Milk preference from a guy who eats his raisin bran with water... I forgive you, John.
why didn't you make this episode about weed as it is the 420th episode?
The Indy 500: because F1 is too complicated for you.
I was hoping about a fact on how much fuel is consumed...probably not a nice number
Um, chocolate milk?
you said Speedway is a town...
the Vatican is a different country...
Isn't it what the Vatican is to Rome?
So.... Indy 500 is Formula One? o.O
+СестрыПоОружию No, it is one of the races in the American "IndyCar" series.
+СестрыПоОружию No. IndyCar and F1 are not related. The cars only bear a passing resemblance.
+СестрыПоОружию only if you consider drag strip racing similar to rallying
Pissing your pants multiple times to win a race... Like a MAN!
It's called an 'oblong'
yo he looks like the older or slower or I really don't wanna be here version of the guy who's on sci sho
End credits on the left side... I feel uncomfortable.
REALLY.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Andretti Curse. 🚙 🏎 🏎 🏎 🏎 🏎 🏎 🏎 Good luck pace-carring, John !
Why not 600?
+deaththekid416 Well the first Indianapolis 500 took eight hours to complete. I imagine they didn't make it 600 because it would take too long.
Episode 420 wasted.
I'm really disappointed.
Vatican City is a country within a city, Speedway is not a country within a city...
Why do American races go just in circles? I mean that's kind of counterproductive if you consider that many features in modern cars were developed in racing, and really racing in oval is pretty much as different as real world driving as possible. Does suspension in these cars differ from left to right? Only good thing about racing in oval that I can think of is that every visitor gets about the same experience of the race, unlike F1, Moto GP, WTCC, DTM, or WRC and such where one spectator sees the car just in one corner and that's it.
+kara88bg Actually they aren't really circles but if anything all lap style races of any type are circular in shape as they all need to get to the start/finish.
ThyBountyHunter Well yes you're right they aren't circles but they have only left turns (duh like I've discovered hot water), how does that relate to road cars except the engines being simmilar?
+kara88bg It's not "just going in circles", Indy has 4 corners and the drivers have to treat them all as separate. And they're not out there just dilly-dallying around, they're competing against other skilled drivers who want to win. What that means is you have to make 800 turns as close to perfect as you dare without pushing too hard all while the entire field is trying to do the same thing.
With Indy it's about controlling speed, and the shape of the IMS track lends itself to that, you have to go fast but you also have to be able to maintain control in a turn. An Indy car would leave an F1 car in the dust on that track BECAUSE Indy cars are all about going fast whereas F1 is more about engineering of downforce and grip management. I don't think one is better than the other, but I would hope you can see that they are different end objectives.
As to your question about "why?", you answered it yourself. Track designs where spectators in stadiums can watch the entire race are a huge part of what drove the popularity. It's something that's hard to appreciate until you've been to an American stock car race in person. While I'm not the biggest NASCAR fan, I have been to races and the spectacle when you're actually in the crowd is a thing unto itself. Watching road course races where cars whiz through a single corner for a couple hours in person is nowhere near as appealing.
***** You are right about that, I find going to a F1 race a thing of prestige more than enjoyment, people say that its all about sound, well you can hear it from the outside just as well without paying 150 to 320 euros (that's like 170 to 320$) for a seat.
My personal preference is WRC but its pretty crappy for actual spectators. Since most Europeans watch races primarily on TV maybe that's why don't understand the appeal of NASCAR or Indy 500.
+kara88bg Nascar the suspension does differ on ovals while road courses are more symmetrical. From oval track racing wiki "Oval track racing is the predominant form of auto racing in the United
States. According to the 2013 National Speedway Directory, the total
number of oval tracks, drag strips and road courses in the United States
is 1,262, with 901 of those being oval tracks and 683 of those being
dirt tracks." So 270 are drag strips and 91 are road courses. I don't know if tracks like Daytona are counted for both oval and road however.
missed an opportunity to present 500 facts about the indy 500
I couldn't
Should've been weed 420
disappointed that its ep 420 and its not about weed
dude, i don't think i could have made it.
But they just drive around in circles
Didnt think the bait would actually get a bite :)