The Untold Truth Of The Indy 500

The Indianapolis 500 is the most famous auto race in the world. This Memorial Day weekend race has been thrilling fans since 1911. But there are some things that you might not know about this legendary sporting event, like how that milk tradition got started, and why there's a naked guy on the winner's trophy.

Time is such a premium in the Indy 500 that pit stop crews have mastered the ability to fill up a race car with gas and change its tires in just six seconds—about the time it takes most regular drivers just to unscrew the gas cap on their car.

But what about the other kind of pit stop—going to the bathroom? Obviously, stopping driving in the race to do so is out of the question. Race car driver Danica Patrick, who finished in the Top 10 of the race five times, explained to Women's Health magazine what race cars drivers do—and it's not wearing adult diapers. "You can go right there in your suit," she said. People do it all the time, but I never have." Patrick said she tried to relieve herself one time in the car, but she just couldn't do it herself, because doing it that way just "feels very unnatural." No kidding. Between sweat and the possibility of other body fluids, that race suit must reek by the end of the Indy 500. Yeesh.

Way back when people thought of automobiles as "horseless carriages," some Indianapolis businessmen wanted to help the fledgling auto industry in the state. So in 1909, Carl Fisher, Frank Wheeler, James Allison, and Arthur Newby built what was initially called the Indianapolis Motor Parkway outside of the city. This outdoor track was a place for car companies to try out improvements to automobiles on an actual road, as opposed to driving in, say, a cow pasture.

The track's name was changed shortly after to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the place held small auto races, in the style of horse races at the time. Instead of horses, the competition featured different auto brands and styles competing against each other, to show potential auto buyers the cars' capabilities. Imagine today if you decided whether to buy a Honda Civic, Ford Focus, or Chevrolet Cruze by seeing drivers take them for a spin around the track.

Fisher and his business partners then decided that instead of continuing to hold these races, they'd hold just one massive race each year to garner attention. So the Indianapolis 500 was born in 1911, with a $14,250 purse for the winner (about $350,000 in today's money). The cars have changed, the world has changed, but the race is still held at the same track on Memorial Day weekend each year and with the same number of miles.

The actor best known for being TV's Gomer Pyle is also an excellent singer. And the way he started singing "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the race sounds like something out of The Andy Griffith Show's Mayberry. In 1972, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman spotted Nabors sitting at the race. These were the days before celebrities hid in corporate boxes, so Nabors was visible by the start-finish line. Nabors explained that "Mr. Hulman came over to say hello and he recognized me from my shows in Tahoe, and he said, 'Hey, would you like to sing the song?'"

Naturally, Nabors assumed that "the song" would be "The Star-Spangled Banner." But you know what they say about what happens when you assume. When he went to perform, the actor/singer then asked the conductor of the Purdue "All-American" Marching Band what key the song was in. The conductor said there was only one key. "I said, 'No, Star-Spangled Banner's got two keys,'" he recounted. The conductor said, ”'You're not singing that.' I said, 'What the hell am I singing?'" Surprise, surprise.

The bandleader told him, "You're singing the traditional song that opens the race, 'Back Home Again in Indiana.'" Nabors said, "I looked at him kind of funny and said, 'I'm from Alabama. You still want me to do it?'" The conductor then asked Nabors if he knew the song. He responded, "I know the melody, but I don't know the words."

So the singer ended up writing the lyrics to the song on his hand and using them as a reference when performing the tune. Golly, as Gomer Pyle would say. Nabors must have done a good job with that seat-of-the pants rendition, because he sang it again for most of the next 40 Indy 500s before retiring in 2014. Shazam.

Unlike how there's a new trophy in Major League Baseball for each World Series champion to keep (or in the case of the Chicago Cubs, to let the Commissioner's Trophy be manhandled at a rock concert), there's only one trophy for the winner of the Indy 500—the Borg-Warner Trophy. It's like how there's only one Stanley Cup for hockey, only this award is a little, well, racy. Just take a look at the random naked man waving a race flag at the top of the race trophy, a stylistic nod to the ancient Greeks.

Indy 500 race officials present the Borg-Warner Trophy in Victory Lane after each Indy race. The award is made of sterling silver, is nearly five feet five inches high, and weighs 110 pounds. Every single person to win the race has their face crafted in sterling silver and placed on the trophy. To accommodate all of those winners, two bases have been added to the award.

While the trophy is very impressive from a distance, it looks a little weird close up. Between all the faces staring out on the trophy, and the figure on top with full genitalia on display, it's no wonder USA Today calls the Borg-Warner Trophy "one of the creepiest in sports."

And unlike how the Stanley Cup gets passed around in the winning hockey team's organization throughout the year, the Indy 500 winner doesn't get to take home the Borg-Warner trophy itself. About eight months after the race, the winner does get a "Baby Borg" custom-made trophy of their own, though, to keep, with their likeness on it. That award also features the naked flag-waver, too. Thankfully, they don't custom-make the nude figure each year.

One of the many traditions of the Indy 500 is having a pace car every year, usually driven by a celebrity, to lead the cars around the track at the beginning. In recent years, the car has been a souped-up Chevrolet Corvette or Camaro, and the winner of the race usually gets to take the car home. Pretty sweet.

What wasn't so sweet was what happened with the 1971 pace car, a Dodge Challenger. Local car dealer Eldon Palmer was driving the orange car with Tony Hulman Jr., owner of the speedway, riding shotgun. Astronaut John Glenn and broadcaster Chris Schenkel were in the back seat. The car was tooling around the track, but when Palmer went to hit the brakes, the equipment locked up. The Challenger then crashed into the photo stand at around 60 miles an hour. Yikes.

Miraculously, despite that speed, nobody died, and everybody was okay in the car. However, Russ Lake, a man taking photos in the stands, broke his hip and leg in the crash and still suffers health issues from it. But he took the accident in stride. "That's my claim to fame," Lake said decades later. "How many people can say they were on a photo stand hit by an Indy 500 pace car?"

As for the pace car itself, the front took a beating in the accident. So 1971 Indy 500 winner Al Unser Sr. received an intact Dodge Charger and not the pace car after the race. But the original vehicle still exists. Palmer restored the car he crashed and sold it to collector Steve Cage for a reported $200,000. Maybe Unser should have asked to receive the original car instead. The pace car is now on display in the American Muscle Car Museum in Florida. Wonder if the brakes were fixed as well.