Five-spot is slang that was used for the five-dollar bill in the 1930s. Click here to check out the new look!Close

"Gentlemen, and lady, start your engines.
Gentlemen, and Lady, Start Your Engines!

Janet Guthrie was the first woman ever to race in the Indianapolis 500. She set a number of milestones in other racing events as well. She finished 9th at Indy in 1978. The best finish by a woman in the race's history until Danica Patrick, who holds the record of having the highest finish by a woman in the Indy 500—third place.

Guthrie says, "When I first started racing, my job as an aerospace engineer paid for my racing expenses. Also, I built my own engines and did all my own mechanical work. Later, at Indianapolis and in NASCAR Winston Cup, I had sponsors. It's a very expensive sport."

"Very few drivers are successful enough to make money from racing," she says. "In order to be competitive, you must be absolutely passionate about the sport."

Close

Tyler is 9 years old and lives in Austin, Texas. He loves car racing.

Tyler's favorite race is the Indianapolis 500 in Indiana. It occurs each May, on the Sunday before Memorial Day.

He learns about the race from the Indy 500 website.

Go 500 miles in three hours!

During the race, more than 30 drivers race their cars around a big loop track that is 2 ½ miles around. The winner will go around the track 200 times in less than three hours.

Sometimes the cars can reach speeds of more than 230 miles per hour! The car will go three to four times faster than highway traffic. This also is faster than a jet during takeoff.

Where the money comes from

The Indy 500 is one of the world's biggest sporting events. If you count the people in the infield, more than 600,000 fans attend the race. Millions more watch it on TV.

Money to put the race on comes from:
Tickets for the Indy 500 cost between $40 and $150.

• The racers. Each team pays an entry fee to race a car.
• The fans. Tickets for the Indy 500 cost between $40 and $150.
• Food and drink sales. All those fans buy a lot of pop and snacks. It's usually pretty hot in southern Indiana by Memorial Day!
• Sponsors. About 25 companies pay to have their names put on race events and products.

Indy 500 organizers pay a lot of money to workers and businesses to help with the race.

Tyler's Mom is taking the family to the Indy 500 this year. Until now, he had never thought about costs...