The buzz was back at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, as one of the largest crowds in years filled Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, who was on the starting grid before the race.
The fans that returned to Indy may have been as many as 350,000, and after so many years of strife with the split in open-wheel racing, got to celebrate a “unified” Indy 500 with all the stars in the starting lineup, including Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon.
And this year’s Indy 500 may help catapult this form of racing back to prominence in the United States, which has been ruled by France and NASCAR for more than a decade.

“We all lived and died a lot in those years of the split. Can we please all put this behind us? Put a period on that thing and let’s move forward. We lived during that time, but we died, too. So, I would just as soon forget about everything that is behind us in that respect. I’m happy there is one IndyCar Series. It’s IndyCar racing again.”

— Chip Ganassi

“Winning the Indy 500, it’s the biggest race in the world to win,” said Mike Hull, the managing director of Target Chip Ganassi Racing. “And whether it is this year when we’ve had what we’re calling unification or whether it was in 2000 when we came here when we were still in another series, to us we feel this is the most important race in the world to win.
“To be blessed to win it again is why we come here every year. We’re excited about this.
“One of the greatest things about the Indy 500 this year outside of what we did today is the fact that the people are back on Georgetown Road. That’s the barometer really when you think about it, and it always has been. When you have what goes on on Georgetown Road happen on Saturday night, you know that people are here, and it’s awesome. And in unification, it is giving us what we need to make this the best thing in the world.”
According to team owner Chip Ganassi, it’s time that “the split” be put to rest.
“We all lived and died a lot in those years of the split,” Ganassi said. “Can we please all put this behind us? Put a period on that thing and let’s move forward. We lived during that time, but we died, too. So, I would just as soon forget about everything that is behind us in that respect.
“I’m happy there is one IndyCar Series. It’s IndyCar racing again.”
With the biggest race of the year over, the IndyCar Series must find a way to capitalize on the momentum it has enjoyed since unification was announced Feb. 22.
Indy 500 winner Dixon is one of the series’ greatest racing talents as the driver from Auckland, New Zealand, displayed his supreme confidence and quiet demeanor.
Its biggest name, Danica Patrick, displayed the competitive fire that makes men fearful of her temper outside of the race car, as she displayed when she marched down to confront Ryan Briscoe after the pit- lane crash with 29 laps left in the race.
Expect to see that highlight replayed throughout the coming weeks.
But as the series heads to Milwaukee, Iowa, Richmond and Watkins Glen, it has to continue to promote itself as an elite form of racing, far different from NASCAR, but with outstanding personalities and young stars.
It’s not going to happen overnight, but with more fans at Indianapolis Motor Speedway than in recent years, it shows that there are plenty of people in the world that still view this as the most exciting form of motorsports.
The challenge is to get the television partners to promote the product, bring more sponsors into the series and sell its stars and its diverse form of racing.
If the IndyCar Series can do that, it can return to the status it once enjoyed.
At least it’s off to a good start in that direction.