SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WIBC) — The Indianapolis 500 means the possibility of drivers making the race that don’t compete on the full-time NTT IndyCar Series circuit. Every year among those drivers are those of the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing stable.

DRR is back once again and trying to make its 25th consecutive Indianapolis 500 while operating as a team that has mostly operated as a team with the sole purpose of racing in the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

However, DRR is in a unique position this year with its budding partnership with Cusick Motorsports and other opportunities for growth.

Then, you add former IndyCar Series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay into the mix as a driver, along with fan favorite Conor Daly.

“It’s great to have Ryan back,” said DRR co-owner Dennis Reinbold. “As soon as the race was over last year, I told him, ‘Hey, if it works out we want you back,’ and it worked out.”

After starting 18th in last year’s race, Hunter-Reay was able to bring his No. 23 machine home in 11th. After his first year as a “one-off” driver with DRR he believes he is in the right spot for his career given how long he has been racing. Hunter-Reay turned 43 this past December.

“I love it. I really do. You have all these guys that are just absolutely dialing in on this one race,” Hunter-Reay said. “You don’t have all these folks being pulled in a million different directions. Right now the rest of the — pretty much the rest of the field is mid-season grind mode right now. These guys (other teams) are tired.”

Hunter-Reay did compete in more than one race last year, filling in for the remainder of the season after the Indy 500 when Ed Carpenter Racing brought him in. Coincidentally, ECR parted ways with Conor Daly and Hunter-Reay ended up taking the seat he left behind. Now Daly and Hunter-Reay are teammates at Dreyer & Reinbold.

The two were once teammates in their days at Andretti Autosport, now Andretti Global.

So, at 43, some may question how long Hunter-Reay thinks he can keep racing.

“I still feel like I’m 28, so I have no idea. It doesn’t even enter my mind,” he said. “I think about this race all the time. That’s what I really love about working with this team and with Dennis, as well, is he’s got that same passion about it that I do, for it that I do. As long as it’s one of the most important things for me and what I focus on, then I don’t really have an answer for you on that because I haven’t thought about it.”

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Since adopting its “equity priorities” in 2016, the Indianapolis city government’s annual grants program has significantly expanded access to funding for the local creative economy, increasing from 45 organizations to 91.

This marks a record for 2024’s investment.

For further insights into the significance of the initiative, WISH-TV contributor Gloria Jimenez joined News 8 on Monday.

The annual grants program has remained core to the city’s support for arts and culture since 1987.

Nearly $1.5 million was awarded to 91 nonprofit arts and culture organizations this year. This funding is substantial enough to generate multi-year support, ensuring stability and future planning, which is a notable win for the community.

Organizations that received this funding were rated based on community impact, artistic alignment, and organizational capacity. One such organization benefiting from this program is El Sistema Indianapolis.

The annual grants program’s expansion underscores the need for fostering a vibrant creative sector and supporting local cultural initiatives.

American Swifties felt like they were somewhere else.

Like they were in Paris.

No, wait, they were really in Paris.

Taylor Swift is back on the road again on the Eras Tour, and she performed in Paris, France over the weekend. Several American Swifties were in attendance at the shows because they found it was more affordable to buy tickets to the Paris show — and book flights and hotels than to even buy one ticket to one of the remaining U.S. tour dates.

While at the Eras Tour show in Paris, Stephanie Gottschalk of Wisconsin told USA Today that she was looking at taking her daughter to one of the Indianapolis concert dates, but it was actually cheaper to go to France.

“The tickets to go to Indianapolis, I checked, are like $5,000 a piece,” Gottschalk told USA Today at the Eras Tour in Paris. “For us to fly here, stay in the hotel and buy the tickets was about $5,000. So half the price and we got to experience Europe. We got to see the Eiffel Tower.”

New Eras Tour setlist debuted in Paris: Taylor Swift has restructured her Eras Tour. Is this the show we’ll see in Indianapolis?

If you still want to see Taylor Swift and are considering trying to get tickets abroad, you can check Stubhub for ticket prices to the following shows. Just follow the link and change the location.

• Stockholm, Sweden: May 17-19
• Lisbon, Portugal: May 24-25
• Madrid, Spain: May 29-30
• Lyon, France: June 2-3
• Edinburgh, Scotland: June 6-9
• Liverpool, England: June 13-15
• Cardiff, Wales: June 18
• London, England: June 21-23
• Dublin, Ireland: June 28-30
• Amsterdam, Netherlands: July 4-6
• Zürich, Switzerland: July 9-10
• Milan, Italy: July 13-14
• Gelsenkirchen, Germany: July 17-19
• Hamburg, Germany: July 23-24
• Munich, Germany: July 27-28
• Warsaw, Poland: August 1-3
• Vienna, Austria: August 8-10
• London, England: August 15-20

Swift returns to the U.S. for the final leg of the Eras Tour in America starting in Miami Oct. 18-20; followed by New Orleans Oct. 25-27; and then, finally, her shows in Indianapolis Nov. 1-3 before heading out for a few more international tour dates.

• Toronto, Ontario: November 14-16, 21-23
• Vancouver, British Columbia: December 6-8

Taylor Swift announced in August she is bringing her “Eras Tour” to Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium for three nights, Nov. 1, 2 and 3.

You may still have a chance to see the Eras Tour in November, but they may be expensive.

Ticket sales through Ticketmaster are officially over. However, several marked-up tickets are still available for the Indianapolis shows on re-selling sites like StubHub and SeatGeek.

Most tickets are priced are anywhere from $1,700 to almost $3,000 each, and the cheapest tickets are for seats near the top of the bowl. Floor seats are anywhere from $4,000 to almost $8,500.

Katie Wiseman is a trending news intern at IndyStar. Contact her at klwiseman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman.