1 In Every 1,000 People In The United States Are At The Indianapolis 500 Today For The World’s Largest Single-Day Sporting Event

It’s the greatest day in motorsports.

The Sunday before Memorial Day is racing Christmas, with F1 kicking off the day at Monaco before the action moves to Indianapolis for IndyCar’s biggest event, the Indy 500, and things wrapping up with NASCAR in Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600.

The Indy 500 is just getting started after a rain delay, which isn’t great news for Kyle Larson as he makes his second attempt at doing the double, trying to complete every lap in both the Indy 500 and the Coke 600. But it’s also not great news for the massive crowd on hand at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Just how massive is the crowd in Indy? Well the Indy 500 is not only IndyCar’s biggest race, but it’s the biggest single-day sporting event in the world. The grandstands at Indy hold 250,000, while another 100,000 will pack the infield and bring the total number of spectators at the grand event to 350,000.

For reference, the largest attendance ever at a college football game was (ironically) at Bristol Motor Speedway when Tennessee and Virginia Tech competed at the NASCAR track back in 2016 in front of nearly 157,000 fans.

The record for the largest attendance at an on-campus college football game was set at Michigan Stadium back in 2013 when over 115,000 people came out to watch the Michigan Wolverines take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. And in fact, Michigan holds 4 of the top 5 spots for highest attendance at a college football game – which isn’t all that surprising considering the Big House is the largest stadium in the country and third-largest in the world, with an official capacity of 107,000.

As far as concerts, George Strait set the record for the largest ticketed concert in the United States last year when he drew nearly 111,000 people to Kyle Field at Texas A&M. But even that doesn’t hold a candle to the crowd that will be on hand at the Indy 500 today.

In fact, one mind-blowing stat about the attendance at the race: 1 out of every 1,000 people in the entire United States will be at the Indy 500.

It sounds fake, but it’s not.

The inaugural Indy 500 was held back in 1911, long before it became the biggest spectacle in motorsports. And today, rookie Robert Shwartzman will lead the field to the green flag, the first time a rookie has won the pole for the race since 1983.

Pato O’Ward in his Arrow McLaren car is a favorite to win, especially after a scandal rocked Team Penske last weekend when it was found that their cars contained illegal modifications. The Penske cars of two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power were forced to miss qualifying, and therefore will start the race in the back despite Newgarden being one of the fastest in practice.

All of it leads up to today, where 350,000 people will be packed into the sacred ground at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 109th running of the Indy 500. Celebrities like Tom Brady, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter are on hand for the event, which just goes to show the massive scale of the event.

So massive that 1 out of every 1,000 people in America are they.

Mind-blowing.