Racing – 500 (or so) Reasons to Watch the Indy 500

Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am EST

Published: May 21, 2015

The Indianapolis 500 will take place this Sunday. Photo by momentcaptured1 (flickr) [<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0">CC License</a>].

“The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is set to go once again this Memorial Day weekend. And while the over 100-year-old race may look overly simplistic to outsiders, there is plenty of action to keep bettors glued to the TV for every painstakingly similar lap, including fancy new safety precautions that will create slower speeds! (Will the excitement never end?)

We jest. Driver safety should of course come first. And there’s still plenty to keep race fans – who truly do exist – entertained.

On that note, here are odds on just about every possible race event that could happen this Sunday.

(1) Odds to win the Indianapolis 500

· Scott Dixon (#9): 9/2

· Simon Pagenaud (#22): 11/2

· Will Power (#1): 11/2

· Helio Castroneves (#3): 13/2

· Tony Kanaan (#10): 13/2

· Juan Pablo Montoya (#2): 7/1

· Marco Andretti (#27): 12/1

· Field: 23/1

(2) Odds on who will be interviewed first after the winner crosses finish line

· Winning racer’s family: 1/3

· Winning racer’s team/management: 9/2

· Winning racer’s pit crew: 14/1

(3) Odds of a first-time winner: 3/2

(4) Odds the winner finishes faster/slower than the 2014 winner

· Faster (2:40:48.2304-) 3/1

· Slower (2:40:48.2306+) 1/3

(5) Odds on the type of milk the winner will drink

· Two-percent: 5/7

· Whole: 3/2

· Skim: 60/1

(6) Over/under – number of racers who DNF (do not finish): 16.5

(7) Over/under – average speed (mph): 177.998

(8) Over/under – fastest lap: 39.9850

(9) Over/under – margin of victory between 1^st and 2^nd place: 0.115

(10) Over/under – number of caution flags: 6.5

(11) Over/under – number of laps led by winner: 47.5

(12) Odds of a wire-to-wire finish: 1,243/1

(13) Over/under – final Nielsen rating for the race: 4.0

(14) Over/under – length of Straight No Chaser’s rendition of “Back Home Again in Indiana”: 60 seconds

(15) Over/under – the maximum number of flips by any single car that crashes: 1.5

(16) Odds of a fight on the racetrack or in the pits: 158/1

(17) Odds of fight matchups

· Will Power and Alex Tagliani: 200/1

· Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay: 400/1

· Charlie Kimball and a Grizzly Bear: 4,500/1

(18) Odds Jeff Gordon gets bored in the pace car and tries to win the race himself: 350/1

(19) Odds Jim Nabors returns to sing Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”: 45,008/1

(Photo Credit The359 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Eric Thompson

Sports Writer

Eric Thompson has been with SBD since 2015, serving as a sports betting expert in NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB. If you want someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes sports news and betting, Eric is your man. Having studied economics at university, he understands what value is and how to spot it.

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Racing – 500 (or so) Reasons to Watch the Indy 500

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