Month of May

Only by winning a major (non-athletic) contest does one force Andrew Luck to play second fiddle during this parade, but Josh Kaufman did just that.

Yesterday morning, Julie Vance was visible through the front windows, piecing together the intricate wreath that Sunday’s Indy 500 winner will wear on the victory podium—as every champion has since 1960.

In the 113-year history of the Indianapolis 500, a rookie has won only eight times.

They’ll start the race behind everyone else. As an added insult (literally), they dutifully attended the Last Row Party—an annual Indy tradition that returned yesterday evening after a hiatus last year.

In attendance were Ryan Hunter-Reay’s fellow IndyCar stars also starting in this year’s Indy 500, including 2013 winner Tony Kanaan, a dapper bow-tied J.R. Hildebrand, and James Hinchcliffe, plus members of rock band Live.

“When I won my first race, I wasn’t allowed to spray champagne because I was underage. So Dave [Letterman, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing] decided to send me some.”

The ceremony was particularly close to the heart of one attendee, Indianapolis native Cammie Doyle. Her brother, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jeremy Doyle, died in 2005 while deployed in Iraq.

The Voice winner and Indy resident will join made-for-TV couples for the Memorial Day Weekend festivities.

Busch is attempting to join an exclusive club of drivers to complete “The Double,” the feat of racing, on the same day, in the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600.

Check out Shoup’s photos for up-close looks at some of IndyCar’s biggest stars—Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Simon Pagenaud, Bronte Tagliani, and more.

No. 9: “Be open to meeting new people. We are Hoosiers with hospitality. And if you lose a flip-flop, don’t stress. You will probably find one as you’re leaving.”

“I’ve sprained a wrist; I’ve separated cartilage between a rib,” says Hinchcliffe. “Even when I flipped a car, I walked away. This has been by far the most dramatic accident, I guess.”

When he has downtime, Newgarden says, he likes to annoy his engineers in the garage area while they work on his car. When not at the track, he likes to watch movies—most recently Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.

Thackston is the newest member of the public-announcer crew at IMS—and only the third woman in the track’s 100-plus-year history to hold such a position.

There was plenty to see on Saturday at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s inaugural IndyCar road race.