Most Americans only pay attention to open-wheel racing one Sunday out of the year. Although the sport doesn’t have a Nascar-like spot in the country’s heart, the Indianapolis 500 manages to generate fan interest—only fitting for an event that’s nicknamed “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Whether this year’s 92nd running of the Indy 500 is your first time watching the race or a beloved annual tradition, the great spectacle may have a few confusing moments. We’ve tried to answer some of the inevitable questions for you.
Why is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway called “the Brickyard”?
Because the original racing surface of the track didn’t work. When the Speedway opened in 1909, its track was made of crushed stone and tar. This mixture was even less functional than it sounds; when racing started several drivers suffered fatal crashes due to the unstable track. The Speedway’s owners wanted to address this problem quickly, so they replaced the track with 3.2 million paving bricks. Thus, the track was nicknamed “the Brickyard.”
What the heck is a Carb Day?
Indy 500 preparations are known as “the Month of May” in racing circles because of the painstaking work that goes into perfecting each car before the green flag drops. Due to the long lead-in time, many of the pre-race days have nicknames and have become events of their own.
Since the field is limited to 33 cars, drivers must qualify for a spot in the race. The pole day qualifying determines not just who will drive in the race, but in what position they’ll start. The final practice day before qualifying is known as “Fast Friday,” because teams really open up their cars and take the speediest practice laps they can.
“Fast Friday” is followed by the Pole Day time trials in which drivers vie for starting their sports and starting positions in the race. When the dust settled after Pole Day this year, Scott Dixon had claimed the top starting spot in the race; he pocketed a cool $100,000 just for winning the pole.
After two more days of qualifying comes “bump day,” or the last day of qualifying. Once 33 drivers have posted qualifying times to fill out the field, any driver who then wants to earn a spot in the race has to post a qualifying time faster than the slowest qualifier currently in the field. The slowest driver is then “bumped” out of the field.
The Friday before the race is known as Carb Day. Carburetion Day, as it was originally known, historically gave teams a chance to calibrate their carburetors for race-day conditions. However, due to the rise of fuel injection no car with a carburetor has been in the field since 1963, and today Carb Day is largely a final chance for drivers to practice in their race-day cars. Pit crews also compete in a pit stop challenge competition on Carb Day.
What songs are sung before the race? 
The Purdue University All-American Marching Band plays a number of signature songs before each year’s race, including “Stars and Stripes Forever” and Indiana’s state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash.” The signature song, though, is “Back Home Again in Indiana,” a beloved tribute to the Hoosier state. The song itself might not be familiar to you, but the crooner who belts it out probably is. Jim Nabors, who played Gomer Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show