Hollywood's finest scriptwriters couldn't have come up with a better story line. A 92-year-old American car race where the winners celebrate with milk rather than champagne; where female drivers are more popular than their male counterparts; and where all V8 engines, supplied by Honda, run on renewable ethanol fuel.
Welcome to the immensely popular Indy 500-mile race, a mega-event held in Indianapolis, Indiana over the Memorial Day weekend in May, and whose once-sinking popularity has bounced back thanks to some shrewd marketing, a corporate reconciliation and a Sports Illustrated sex symbol.
The Indy 500 track can cater to up to 400,000 fans, but recent audiences haven't been anywhere close to capacity. For the last 12 years, a feud between two racing organizations, the Indy Racing League and Champ Car, contributed to a dramatic drop in spectator numbers for open-wheel racing as people became disillusioned with big-name teams and drivers switching between leagues or escaping to other more lucrative racing series such as NASCAR.