Indianapolis, IN
Why Indy 500 pit stops are critical in determining the race winner
20 drivers have won more than one Indy 500
Twenty drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 at least twice. Here are the men with multiple victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Scott Horner, Indianapolis Star
The Indianapolis 500 can be decided by the blink of an eye. Six times in the past 10 years, the margin of victory was less than 1 second. In 2023, Josef Newgarden beat Marcus Ericcson in a one-lap shootout by 0.0974 seconds.
While the drivers and team owners get most of the glory, the work by the pit crews is critical in determining the champion. Here’s more about what goes into an Indy 500 pit stop.
How many pit stops are there in the Indy 500?
There’s no set number, but the most common number of pit stops among contenders is six or seven. The number of caution flags, and when they occur, play a role in determining how many stops a driver makes.
Indy 500 pit stop times
An ideal pit stop takes about 7 seconds. A stop includes changing four tires, filling an 18.5-gallon fuel tank and making any desired wing adjustments to create optimum aerodynamics.
The pit stop process takes longer, because the driver must not exceed the 60 mph pit road speed limit when entering pit road and leaving the pit box. The driver also must avoid contact with other cars along pit road and not strike crew members or pit equipment.
Infractions bring penalties, often a “drive-through,” which means the driver must bring the car through pit road at the pit speed limit while racing on the track continues.
Indy 500 history: Here are the 6 closest finishes
Indy 500 pit crew members
Six people comprise the “over-the-wall” members of the pit crew: left front tire changer; left rear tire changer; right front tire changer; right rear tire changer; fueler, and jack operator. They wear fireproof suits and a helmet, just like the driver.
Jack operator: Operates the pneumatic air jack that lifts the car 4 inches off the ground, allowing the tire changers to do their jobs, and disengages the jack after tire work is done but before the driver leaves the pit box.
Fueler: Attaches a hose to the fuel tank, allowing 18.5 gallons of fuel into the car, then disengages the hose without spillage.
4 tire changers: Each carries a tire to be exchanged during the stop. Front tires typically weigh about 13.5 pounds, and rear tires 14.7 pounds. The changer uses a tire gun to remove the wheel nut, removes the tire by hand, puts the new tire on and makes it secure, all in less than 6 seconds.
When the right front tire changer has completed a change, he holds up a hand, then drops it to indicate that it’s OK for the driver leave the pit box.
Indianapolis 500: Here are the five fastest races in Indy 500 history
Other common pit stop terms
Pit road is also known as pit row and the pit lane. The pit box is also known as the pit stall.
What fuel goes into Indy 500 cars?
The IndyCar Series uses an 85%/15% methanol/gasoline blend, also called E85.
How long is pit road?
Pit road is 40 feet wide and 2,263 feet long (42% of a mile) from the start of the attenuator at pit entrance to the end of the wall at pit exit.
More about Indy 500 pit stops
Business Insider profiled a pit crew in 2021, showing how tire changers train for the race season.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The state championship bracket for Indiana high school baseball has been set, with eight teams preparing for the chance of bringing home a state title.
A total of four state title games will be played between Friday, June 19th, and Saturday, June 20th. Classes 1A and 3A will play on Friday, and classes 2A and 4A will compete on Saturday.
All state championship games will be played at Victory Field, the home of the Indianapolis Indians.
The state championship matchups and times are as follows.
Friday, June 19th:
Class 3A state championship: 4:30 p.m. ET
- Guerin Catholic (27-3-1) vs Andrean (30-3)
Class 1A state championship: 8 p.m. ET
- Northeast Dubois (23-5) vs Kouts (31-1)
Saturday, June 20th:
Class 2A state championship: 4:30 p.m. ET
- Evansville Mater Dei (29-3) vs Bluffton (19-10)
Class 4A state championship: 8:00 p.m. ET
- Bloomington South (25-6) vs Lake Central (27-8)
INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — Thousands of people ventured to Military Park in Indianapolis Saturday for the 2026 Indy Pride Festival, including members of the LGBTQ community and their allies.
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John-Michael Riggs, of Tennessee, travels to several pride festivals across the country each year. He said they are important because “it gives people the confidence to be who they are, to show you can go out in public and still not be hated upon.”
Erika Holland-Lesch, who came to the festival with her wife, said, “Pride means everything. It literally feels like Christmas for our community… You feel supported, you feel accepted.”
Chris Bultman said it’s the sixth time he’s attended the Indy Pride Fest.
“It’s really important for me that my friends, my family, feel really valued in this city,” he said. “We show up for pride because pride matters to our city.”
WRTV
For Rikki Wydra, it was her fifth Indy Pride Fest. She said this year’s festival seems bigger to her than in previous years, and she takes that as a sign that support for the LGBTQ community is growing in Indiana.
“You’ll never get any free expression like this any other time of the year in Indiana,” she said. “The vibe is the best.”
The festival came as Indiana Governor Mike Braun proclaimed June as Nuclear Family Month, defining the family as a husband, a wife, and children, causing backlash in Indiana’s LGBTQ community.
“That is absolutely ridiculous,” said Stefonya Shirhall. “This month is fully for the gay community as a whole. We have went through so much to get here and it is amazing to celebrate it.”
WRTV
Festival attendees proudly sported creative costumes, wore rainbow clothing, held rainbow flags, and even cooled down with rainbow fans, keeping vendors busy, like Freddy Reed, who has a business selling pride-themed merchandise.
“I do Pride every weekend in a different city,” Reed said. “It’s amazing. Every town we go to, the people are so happy, they have fun. There’s never fights. Everyone’s nice.”
The positive, festive energy at Indy Pride Fest worked in tandem with the seriousness of the cause of standing up for LGBTQ rights.
“It’s important for people, if part of the LGBTQ community, to attend these because of visibility,” Riggs said. “We need to be seen, we need to be recognized and we need to be celebrated. it’s also important for our allies to attend these events to… uphold and uplift the community and to make us feel like a community at large”
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Fever are now tied for the longest winning streak of the season after Saturday night’s win against the Connecticut Sun.
Indiana took down the Sun, 85-75, to mark the Fever’s third straight win.
Caitlin Clark had an impressive night on the offensive end. Clark had 25 points and knocked down five three-pointers in Indiana’s double-digit win.
Fever center Aliyah Boston also had a productive showing. The fourth-year Fever center recorded a double-double with her 13-point and 11-rebound performance. Saturday marked Boston’s third consecutive game with a double-double, and it’s her fourth this season.
The Fever committed 17 turnovers on Saturday, compared to the Sun’s nine. The difference, though, is that Indiana scored 25 points off turnovers to the Sun’s 14 points.
Indiana improves to 8-5 on the season and looks ahead to a home matchup against the Toronto Tempo at 7:00 p.m. this Tuesday, June 16th.
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