Townsend Bell’s TUDOR ride set for 2015, with Scuderia Corsa

By Nov 7, 2014, 10:52 AM EST
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NBCSN IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell will stay behind the wheel in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship next season, as he and Bill Sweedler will shift from AIM Autosport to Scuderia Corsa.

They’ll share the No. 63 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 rather than the No. 555 entry. It keeps them together for another season in a GTD-spec 458 after also running a Lotus Evora (2012) and Ferrari F458 Italia (2013) previously in the American Le Mans Series.

“It goes without saying that we are very excited about joining Scuderia Corsa,” Bell said in a release. “On many levels, this partnership will make a lot of sense. I’m thrilled to be continuing our relationship with Ferrari and to continue driving the Ferrari 458 Italia. Scuderia Corsa won two races last year, they are a championship winning team, and as a bonus for me it is great to be joining a team that is also based in Los Angeles where I live! I am looking forward to a lot of success with this program.”

In terms of schedules, there is only one TUDOR GTD and IndyCar weekend conflict. On August 23, the TUDOR Championship will be at VIRginia International Raceway while IndyCar is at Pocono Raceway.

Otherwise the two schedules slot up nicely to allow Bell an opportunity to continue his dual role as full-time analyst and full-time sports car driver.

If an opportunity presents itself for Bell and Sweedler to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as has been reported by Sportscar365, that weekend would conflict with the IndyCar weekend in Toronto, June 13-14. Bell and Sweedler have yet to race at Le Mans.

This was the second GTD signing announced earlier this week; additionally, TRG-AMR has confirmed Christina Nielsen alongside James Davison for a full season in the No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage. Nielsen, a young Danish driver, competed in the IMSA Porsche GT3 USA Challenge this year and sporadic TUDOR Championship events. Davison ran the full season and scored the last four poles in a row; he also made his Indianapolis 500 debut.

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