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

Eric Thompson

by Eric Thompson in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500 will take place this Sunday. Photo by momentcaptured1 (flickr) [CC License].

“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 1st and 2nd 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)

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