Beyond the Flag
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IndyCar: 5 drivers share a unique Indy 500 bond

By Asher Fair

IndyCar, Indy 500Indy 500 2020 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Photos
IndyCar, Indy 500Indy 500 2020 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Photos /
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Five drivers who competed in last year’s Indy 500 did what no drivers had ever done in 103 previous editions of the race, and what hopefully nobody will ever do again.

Through 104 editions of the Indy 500 dating back to 1911, a total of 780 drivers have had the opportunity to compete in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, the crown jewel of the IndyCar schedule.

That numbers was 775 through the first 103 editions of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana.

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Five drivers last year did what none of those other 775 drivers had done before them — and what hopefully no other drivers will ever do again.

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Last year’s race, which was won by 2017 winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing back on Sunday, August 23, featured five rookies: Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward and Oliver Askew, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh’s Alex Palou and A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Dalton Kellett.

Of those five drivers, only O’Ward, who was not an actual IndyCar rookie last season because of the fact that he competed part-time in 2019, had previously attempted to compete in the race. Driving for Carlin, he failed to qualify in 2019.

Last year, he led the rookie pack with a sixth place finish behind the wheel of his #5 Chevrolet after starting in 15th.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced last year’s race to be moved out of May for the first time in its 104-year history, these five drivers are the only five drivers in Indy 500 history to make their Indy 500 debuts in front of no spectators.

They will hopefully forever be the only five drivers who can make that claim.

We had the chance to speak with one of those five drivers, the lone part-timer of that group and the driver who had the least amount of IndyCar experience entering that race: Dalton Kellett.

Asked about how he feels being a part of that quintet, Kellett, who had competed in only three races prior to making his Indy 500 debut, said he hadn’t thought about it much, but that it is kind of cool.

However, he hopes that nobody ever gets added to the list.

“No, actually I hadn’t even really considered that stat,” Kellett told Beyond the Flag. “That is kind of cool! Hopefully that list doesn’t grow, because it was a different year not having fans and we definitely missed that. But yeah, that is kind of a neat little stat. I hadn’t really thought of that.”

Asked if a second Indy 500 — one with fans in the stands — would almost feel like a debut because of the fact that he made his official debut without anybody on the hallowed grounds of the Brickyard, Kellett, who ended up crashing out of last year’s race, explained the difference between the on-track experience and the event experience as a whole.

“I think as far as the on-track stuff is concerned, I don’t think it would feel like another debut, like going at it for the first time again,” he said. “But as far as the experience as a whole event, I really think it would be different, mainly based on what I’ve heard from people that have had that experience at the 500 with the 250,000+ fans on site on race day and just the whole thing.

“When you go on track to qualify, it’s the first time that you’re going around the track with the stands almost full. It actually changes your visual references and all that … I think just how much more busy it would be in a normal year will make the entire experience feel new. But the driving side of it, I think, will still feel the same.”

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Kellett now competes full-time for A.J. Foyt Enterprises and is set to start the 105th running of the Indy 500 in 30th place after a dramatic qualifying session last Saturday. This race, which is set to see a reduced-capacity crowd of roughly 135,000, is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 30.