IndyCar President Doug Boles issued the following statement on the passing of Alex Zanardi:
Editor’s note:
I never saw Zanardi race in person, but I enjoyed watching the telecast. He was aggressive yet measured in his approach. After his accident at Lausitzring in 2001, he became a paralympic hand cycling champion.
It is a shame that the politics of Open Wheel racing at the time prevented him from racing at Indianapolis. His face would surely have been on the Borg-Warner trophy. Alex Zanardi was a champion in competition and in life.
Some deaths of retired drivers sting more than others, and the passing of Merle Bettenhausen, 82, hurts a lot. Merle was the last surviving member of the Bettenhausen family, one of IndyCar racing’s legendary families. They didn’t have the succeess of the Unsers or the Vukoviches of the world. The Bettenhausen story is one of tough luck, tragedy, and injury.
Patriarch Tony, the 1951 and 1958 national champion, had a second-place finish in the 1955 Indianapolis 500, But he only led a few laps in 1958. He entered May in 1961 mas a heavy favorite to win, but h suffered fatal injuries while test driving a car for his friend Paul Russo the day before Pole Day.
Brother Gary lost the use of his right arm in a racing accident at Syracuse, which prompted Merle to retire soon afterwards. Brother tony, Jr. owned an IndyCar team and died in a plane crash in 2000.
Merle’s story follows the family lineage of setbacks and resiliency. In 1972, after showing promise in USAC dirt champ car races, Merle got a ride at Michigan. Early in the race Bettenhausen tangled with Mike Hiss, his car slammed the wall and caught fire. Bettenhausen lost his right arm below the elbow. He had a prosthetic made with clip at the end so he could still race.
He returned to the track just about one year later, in a midget race. Bettenhausen won his 14th race after his return. H raced for another year, but retired in mid 1974 after Gary’s accident.
Merle Bettenhausen in his first race after losing his arm. USAC photo.
Merle stayed active in racing. he started a business selling fuel and tires at sprint and midget races. He mentored some drivers hlped his brothers in their efforts at IMS.
The Bettenhausen brothers, 1981. 9L tor_ Tony, Jr. Merle, Gary. Photo courtesy of Mike Thomsen.
With Merle gone, Unser, Rahal, Andretti, and Foyt are the last legacy families left who have had descendants race in the 500. If you see a member of one of these families, stop, say hello, and thank them for the memories. The foundation of IndyCar racing was built on these families.
INDIANAPOLIS (Thursday, April 30, 2026) – The 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X – a true American hypercar and America’s quickest production car– will lead the field to the green flag for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.The Corvette ZR1X Pace Car invites race fans to celebrate America’s semi-quincentennial anniversary with purpose-driven patriotism and American craftsmanship forged into this year’s bold livery .Indiana University Head Football Coach Curt Cignetti, in celebration of IU Football’s undefeated National Championship season, has been named honorary Pace Car driver and will pace the field of 33 drivers in the Corvette ZR1X to start “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” “America’s hypercar will be front and center at the Indianapolis 500, and it has the speed to stay there,” Global Corvette and Performance Cars Team Executive Chief Engineer Tony Roma said. “The ZR1X is made for the racetrack. This Corvette, inspired by America’s 250th anniversary, will absolutely give Coach Cignetti and the fans a thrill.” The Corvette ZR1X delivers 1,250 horsepower across all four wheels, combining a 186-hp electric motor on the front axle with a 5.5L twin-turbo V8 putting 1,064 hp to the rear wheels. For Pace Car duty, the ZR1X is equipped with the Carbon Aero package, including dive planes on the front bumper, underbody aero strakes and the rear wing, which creates more than 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speed.The Corvette ZR1X achieves incredible acceleration – capable of zero to 60 mph in under 2 seconds – and can reach 233 mph, approaching speeds seen by race cars in the field .“As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, this Pace Car design reflects both where we’ve been and where we’re headed,” Chevrolet Global Executive Design Director Phil Zak said. “Every element – from the badging to the colors – were deliberately crafted to honor this milestone while expressing a forward‑looking vision of Chevrolet design.”Designed in tandem with the Stars and Steel Collection, the Pace Car features the stars‑and‑stripes decals running across the car. This exclusive ZR1X was custom painted, appearing Arctic White from the driver side and Admiral Blue from the opposite profile. Every detail was considered, including the painted striping running down the ZR1X’s carbon fiber spine on the rear hatch. Inside, Santorini Blue seats are paired with red accent seat belts and red stitched floor mats for a cohesive, performance‑driven interior. “Having America’s sports car, the Corvette, pacing the field feels especially fitting this year as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary,” INDYCAR and IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “With race car-like performance, the Corvette ZR1X is the perfect choice to pace the field of 33 in the Indianapolis 500.”Corvette is the longest-running car nameplate in automotive industry history, so it’s no surprise Corvette has paced “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” more times than any car. The 2026 race marks the 37th time for Chevrolet to pace dating back to 1948 and the 23rd time overall, all since 1978, for America’s favorite sports car. Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information on all Month of May events and activities at IMS.
Caio Collet had the fastest speed of two day IndyCar Open test in this morning’s session at 226. 381 miles per hour. The speed held through the afternoon round, which was led by Josef Newgarden at 225.617.
Practice began 75 minutes late as the track dried from overnight and morning rain, bvut once things started, the morning session got very busy quickly.
The 24 year old Brazilian rookie driver for A J Foyt Racing was very happy with his run, but a bit surprised.
Caio Collet
“No, no, never expected that,” Brazilian driver Collet said. “Obviously, the team has a good background here and has done really, really well the last couple of years, especially last year. As a rookie, I was just trying to learn things and see how everything went. But the team, they did a really good job and got me up to speed quickly, and I got really comfortable.
“Obviously, a lot of things I still have to learn, especially in traffic. I have to understand how to manage traffic and how to get by people. But I think by myself I felt really good, and the team gave me a really good car both days.”
The cool, windy afternoon was not without issues. A caution came out as a fox scampered across the track between turns 1 and 2. IndyCar’s television partner just had to get a plug in.
Katherine Legge completed the two phases of the refresher program with an hour alone on the track and the remainder during the final practice.
Late in the session, Jack Harvey’s car began trailing a large plume of smoke between turns and three and four. The white contrail followed Harvey into the pits where he was greeted by the AMR Safety Team. The wind took the smoke cloud southward through the pits where it lingered for a minute or two.
While a loo at the combined results of the four sessions shows Collet on top, some things stand out. Newgarden and Conor Daly were consistently near the front of the charts. Takuma Sato finished seventh overall but showed consistent lap times.
Alex Palou ranks fourth on the combined sheet driving e the car in which he won Long Beach. How fast will, he be in his speedway car?
I was struck by the /slowness of the Andretti cars- Will Power 18th, Kyle Kirkwood 27th, and Marcus Ericsson 31st.
It was fun to see cars on track in oval trim. Next week’s Sonsio Grand Prix may be a bit anticlimactic..
Notes
Some sad news today as we learned of the death of Merle Bettenhausen. Bettenhausen is the last of the Bettenhausen family, whose patriarch, Tony, won two national titles. He achieved on of his titles without winning a race.
Merle’s brother Gary was a talented driver popular with fans in the 80s. Another brother, Tony, drove and then owned a champ car team until his death in a plane crash.
I will have a more detailed story about Merle and his family on Friday.
Happier stuff
IMS looked race weekend ready this week. The grounds crew obviously has worked hard to make the facility almost sparkle.
Saturday the Month of May kicks off with the Mini Marathon in the morning and the REV event at IMS at night. Preparations for REV were underway this we3ek.
It appears that the track is about 10 days away from selling out the grandstands.
The 2028 car may be revealed sometime this month.
Thanks for following along the past two deays. I’m justb getting started.
Caio Collet turned the fastest speed of the two-day open test at IMS in the just completed first practice period of the day.
The top six:
Collet 226.381 mph
Newgarden 226.223 mph
Daly 224.785 mph
Malukas 224.377 mph
Sato 224.130 mph
Rosenqvist 224.104 mph
It’s nice to see an A. J. Foyt Racing car ahead of the field,
Overnight and early morning rain pushed the sstart of the first round to 11:15 am Eastern time. Katherine Legge has the track to herself to complete the refresher program.
The next all car session is scheduled to begin at 2:15 pm and run until 5 pm.
The pace car for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 will be revealed tomorrow morning. The pace car announcement used to be o I looked forward to, but since it has become exclusively a Chevrolet product, it’s just not that big a deal to me. I loved the anticipation of seeing which car company would lead the field to then green flag. Another fun tradition assigned to the dustbin of history.
1956 marked a new era in auto racing. The American Automobile Association (AAA), which had sanctioned racing in the United Staes since 1903, announced at the end of 1955 that they would no longer run the sport.
AAA decide that they had had enough after 1955, which saw three drivers – Mike Nazaruk, Manny Ayullo, and Bill Vukovich- killed on track in May, and the deaths in non-championship events of Jerry Hoyt and Jack McGrath.
Speedway owner Tony Hulman created the United States Auto Club (USAC), which would serve as the sanctioning body of championship open wheel racing fora little more than 40 years.
The old Pagoda would witness its final race after a 30- year reign as the focal structure at the track. The old guard of pre-World War II drivers was dwindling, although some had a few more years left.
Heavy rains put the chances of running the race on May 30 in doubt, but brilliant work by groundskeeper Clarence Cagle and his crew got the track ready for the scheduled day.
The race itself was a chaotic affair with seven incidents between laps 21 and 160. Despite the carnage 19 cars were still running at the finish. The front row of Pat Flaherty, Jim Rathmann, and Pat O’Connor all led laps.
Flaherty took the lead for on lap 76 and was never caught.
Flaherty made Indianapolis 500 appearances off and on. 1955 and 1956 were the only consecutive years in which he ran the race. He was injured severely in a race in August but survived. He would not return to the speedway until 1959, his final 500. One of the fortunate drivers of the era, Flaherty died in 2002 at age 76.
The Pagoda was razed about a month following the 40th running of the 500, and its replacement was the rather pedestrian steel and glass master control tower, a non-descript square typical of architecture of the time. The tower was replaced by the current pagoda in the early 2000s.
1957 would also see a wall separating the pits from the race track, and the modern pit lane began to take shape. The modern era had begun.
Notes
Flaherty’s driving career at Indy had some unusual characteristics. He drove in five races, but only two consecutively as noted above. He finished 10th in 1950 and 1955. In all five races Flaherty finished within two positions of where he started.
Flaherty replaced 1955 winner Bob Sweikert, who had left the Zink team earlier in the year.
Trepidation for the 1956 race was high after the previous year. The post-race headline in the Indianapolis Star read “Flaherty Wins As Death Shuns Wreck Strewn 500.”
While the race was going on, in Fresno, California, the family of 1953 and 1954 500 winner Bill Vukovich unveiled a memorial.
From Indianapolis Star . (left to right0 Vukovich’s daughter Marlene, widow Esther, son Bill, Jr.
On a perfect day for running, Conor Daly led the opening test day at IMS with a speed of 225.394 mph. Helio Castroneves and Takuma Sato were second and third quickest. Sato, in third, was just 0.1 seconds behind Daly. The trio are all part time drivers. Sato and Castroneves drive only in the 500.
Daly cautioned everyone to not read too much into the results.
“There are several cars that aren’t running their race cars yet,” Daly said. “It’s just testing; we can’t overreact to test results. But honestly, every time we went out there, we did seem to be pretty quick, which is good. Our mission this month (May) is one day at a time.”
Daly led the pack for a while in the morning session as well. The fast times were with a tow. Kyle Kirkwood was the fastest without a tow on Tuesday.
The day started under a cloud cover with a bit of a chill in the air, but by noon blue sky and sunshine broke through. While the temperature didn’t rise much, it was pleasant and great for running. Wednesday’ s forecast calls for even cooler temperatures. Rain starting tonight could continue into the morning, possibly delaying the 10 am scheduled start.
All rooki3es- Dennis Hauger, Jacob Abel, Mick Schumacher, and Caio Collet- passed the Rookie Orientation Program.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, Jack Harvey, and Ed Carpenter completed their refresher laps. Katherine Legge had gearbox control issues and did not turn a lap. She will have an opportunity Wednesday during the noon-1 pm lunch break to complete the refresher phases.
Notes
There is always something special about the first spring day of practice at IMS. For me it marks the official end of winter, and a promise of warm days and race cars ahead. It is part of the circadian rhythms of anyone born n Central Indiana.
I don’t know what Arrow McLaren was aiming for with this look, but it appeared to be some sort of camo. Each car had the words “Test Spec” on the side.
In addition to Daly, the Team Penske cars looked strong today. It was nice to see Will Power on top of the pylon for a bit this afternoon, but Andretti looked a little off pace. Chip Ganassi racing did not run their speedway cars today.
Tomorrow, I will be on site in the afternoon. Look for a story mid-morning about 1956 500 in honor of its 70th anniversary.
In a clean dat=y to date, cars are running at IMS as preparations begin for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. The tops ix this morning:
Newgarden 223.415 mph
Sato 222.850 mph
O’Ward 221.842 mph
McLaughlin 221.715 mph
Ferrucci 221.449 mph
Malukas 221.441 mph
The ROP/Refresher session saw all but two drivers complete their tests. Four time winner Helio Castroneves, 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter, Jack Harvey completed the refresher program. Katherine Legge had a gearbox issue. She went out for an install lap with a minute left in the allotted time period. Legge is not eligible to participate in this afternoon’s practice.
Caio Collet, Mick Schumacher, and Jacob Abel completed the rookie orientation program. Dennis Hauger has completed phase 2 of the rookie program and is eligible to run this afternoon.
A cool cloudy morning has turned unto a partly sunny afternoon with pleasant temperatures.
I’ll be back with a wrap-up of the day’s acivities this evening.
Weather- Forecasted high of 64 degrees this afternoon after a stormy night. Rain should not be a factor during the test.
Today and tomorrow mark the unofficial opening of the track for May. Given the IndyCar schedule this year, I wonder why this test couldn’t have been conducted early next week, you know, when it is actually MAY. .IIn the years when the race id on the 24th I always feel like we get gypped out of a whole week of May. Fortunately, t5his occurs occasionally, and the following year the Indianapolis 500 assumes its rightful and proper date on the calendar of May 30.
I would not read too much into the speeds over the next two days. conditions will be cooler than they will be in three weeks, and we don’t know what each team is looking for this week.
Juncos Hollinger, Dreyer & Reinbold Form Partnership
A technical alliance and co entry arrangement was announced yesterday between full time team Juncos Hollinger Racing and Indy only team Dreyer &Reinbold. The link to the full story is here:
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 