After 2013 near-miss, Hunter-Reay confident ahead of this year’s Indy 500

By May 22, 2014, 7:30 PM EDT
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It seems like Ryan Hunter-Reay has been overlooked somewhat going into Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 and it’s a bit strange to wonder why that’s the case considering that he almost won the whole thing last year.

The American came close to drinking the milk, but was jumped on a restart with three laps to go by both race winner Tony Kanaan and Carlos Munoz before a crash triggered a yellow and caused him to finish in third place.

Hunter-Reay will roll off 19th for Sunday’s race after a sub-par qualifying session, but believes that his piece for Sunday is capable of delivering so much more.

“There’s a bit of a gut feeling,” he said today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I do feel pretty confident in the car I have under me for sure. We weren’t too happy with the qualifying effort, but the race car is awesome.”

If so, Hunter-Reay will have the chance to end a hectic Month of May on a high.

He and the rest of the IndyCar contingent have had to prepare for and race the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the IMS road course, then go into ‘500’ practice and qualifying immediately after. And the day following qualifying, they had to go back into their cars again for a special practice session designed to have teams focus on race set-up.

“I think that was the most consecutive days that I’ve strapped myself into a race car,” Hunter-Reay said. “I think it was almost two weeks in total. For sure, there were some stressful times…It’s been busy and the crew’s been busy as well – it’s just been non-stop, so we’re looking forward to Sunday and just getting the main show on with it.”

Like many of the other drivers, Hunter-Reay is counting on the draft to play a major role in Sunday’s outcome. However, there is the matter of warmer temperatures for this year’s running, which could have a notable impact on equipment.

“Being 20 degrees warmer ambient this year should play a factor in handling of the race cars, so you might see that come into play,” he said. “I’m not quite sure though. One thing’s for sure – these cars punch a big hole in the air and create a massive draft. And I think everybody’s going to be nose to tail for a while.”

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33.  Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports