Portal:Indiana/Selected article/4
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, often shortened to Indianapolis 500 or Indy 500, is an American automobile race, held annually over the Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event, billed as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing", is one of the oldest and richest motorsport events in existence, having the largest attendance and one of the largest radio and television audiences of any single-day sporting event worldwide. While the official attendance is not disclosed by Speedway management, news media estimate attendance in excess of 270,000.
The event lends its name to the "IndyCar" class of formula, or open-wheel, race cars that have competed in it. It has been broadcast live over radio on the IMS Radio Network since 1952, televised live in 1949 and 1950 on local station WFBM-TV (now WRTV), and not again until ABC Sports was permitted to broadcast the race via tape delay from 1965 to 1985, and then with live flag-to-flag coverage beginning in 1986. On Sunday May 27, 2007, the race celebrated its 91st running and 62nd consecutive year of uninterrupted occurrence. It also marked the first year the TV broadcast was in HDTV. The winner for the 2007 Indianapolis 500 was Dario Franchitti.