Draft:Hoosier 500

The origins of the Hoosier 500 date back to the founding of Open-Wheels.com in 2012 by Tony Tellez. Initially launched as a blog covering the then-Izod IndyCar Series, the site featured contributions from early writers including Matt Hickey, David Bolton, and a number of other fan contributors.

In early 2017, Tanner Watkins began writing for Open-Wheels, gradually taking on a larger editorial role. Later that year, Tellez stepped away from the project and transferred ownership to Watkins. Under his leadership, the site was relaunched on November 10, 2017, with a new brand identity and a more structured focus on daily news reporting within the Verizon IndyCar Series.

In 2018, Open-Wheels received its first credentials to cover the Indianapolis 500, expanding its presence in professional motorsports media. Over the next three years, the site regularly published interviews with figures such as Mario Andretti and Dr. Jerry Punch, partnered with Driven2SaveLives for May outreach campaigns, and featured ongoing coverage of Road to Indy prospects including Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, and Pato O’Ward.

By 2019, Watkins—a longtime sim racer—began identifying ways to better simulate the Indianapolis 500 experience within iRacing. In response to perceived gaps in the platform's official events, he organized a new virtual race that embraced traditional elements like unlimited qualifying attempts and a three-wide start.

The inaugural Open-Wheels 500 took place on November 17, 2019, and attracted over 100 entrants.{{Cite web |last=thepitwindow |date=2019-11-07 |title=There Is Some Other News |url=https://thepitwindow.blog/2019/11/07/there-is-some-other-news/ |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=The Pit Window by Mike Silver |language=en}} It was widely regarded as a standout independently organized event in the sim racing community. Participation grew in the second edition, held in November 2020, which saw 110 entries. True to its grassroots ethos, the race has historically offered free registration and encouraged open participation, reflecting the inclusive spirit of early Indianapolis 500 races.

In 2021, Watkins stepped away from the event, handing the reins to sim racing broadcaster Arjuna Kankipati. Over the next several years, Kankipati managed two editions of the race, including during the challenges posed by a licensing dispute between iRacing and IndyCar in 2023.{{Cite web |last=Straw |first=Mike |date=2023-11-15 |title=IndyCar Terminates Agreement With Motorsport Games |url=https://insider-gaming.com/indycar-terminates-agreement-with-motorsport-games/ |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=Insider Gaming |language=en-US}} His stewardship was credited with sustaining and evolving the event during a period of uncertainty.

After discussions throughout mid to late 2024, Watkins reacquired the rights to the race, this time bringing on Ryan Schuld as Chief Development Officer. On December 6, 2024, the event was officially rebranded as the Hoosier 500, a move intended to strengthen its ties to Indiana and the heritage of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The rebranding marked a new chapter in the event’s development while continuing the legacy established under the Open-Wheels 500 name. On December 30, it was announced that the Hoosier 500 would have its first title sponsor - Performance Racing Industry.{{Cite web |title=PRI Becomes Title Sponsor, Official Broadcast Partner of Hoosier 500 |url=https://www.performanceracing.com/magazine/industry-news/12-30-2024/pri-becomes-title-sponsor-official-broadcast-partner-hoosier-500 |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=Performance Racing Industry |language=en}}

Across the first four editions of the Hoosier 500, three different drivers have won the race - with each born in a different country.

The Hoosier 500 is held annually on iRacing at the virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile (4 km) oval circuit. The track is a rounded rectangle, with four distinct turns of identical dimensions, connected by four straightaways (two long straightaways and two "short chutes").

The field consists of 33 starters, aligned in a starting grid of eleven rows of three cars apiece. Drivers race 200 laps, counter-clockwise around the circuit, for a distance of 500 miles (800 km). Since its inception in 2019, the race had been scheduled around Veterans Day in mid-November. Starting in 2025, the race will be scheduled for the first Sunday following completion of the Performance Racing Industry trade show as part of the race's corporate partnership. Practice and time trials are held in the two weeks leading up to the race, while miscellaneous preliminary testing is held as early as November.

As the event is not contested as part of a season-long championship, teams prepare for weeks specifically for the Hoosier 500 without distraction from other races in the fall. Due to the high prestige of the event - similar to the iRacing Indy 500 - many of the best teams and drivers on the service rate the value of a win in this race higher than winning a championship.

While rain is available on the iRacing platform, the race is not held in wet conditions. Thus, the race is always scheduled for dry weather conditions, with variance in air temperature, cloud cover, wind, and humidity.

The race does not utilize the green-white-checker finish in the case of a late-race yellow - similar to the Indianapolis 500 and other IndyCar Series races. The race can finish under caution, though each of the first four runnings have each finished under green flag conditions.

The event is contested by virtual "Indy cars", a formula of single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel, purpose-built race cars. All entrants utilize 2.2L V6, twin-turbocharged engines, tuned to produce a range of 550-750 horsepower (410-560 kW). Dallara is at present the sole chassis supplier for the event. Firestone, which has a deep history in IndyCar racing dating back to the first Indianapolis 500, is currently the exclusive tire provider.

The traditional 33-car starting field at the Hoosier 500 is larger than the fields at other IndyCar races held on iRacing. The field typically consists of iRacing IndyCar community regulars - those who race in weekly official series - along with a large contingent of one-off, "Indy-only" entries consisting of drivers from various disciplines such as sports cars, NASCAR, and more.

Technical specifications for the race are currently written by Open-Wheels Motorsports Sanctioning. With the event using a spec chassis - and technical limitations specified by iRacing - the rulebook does not change significantly from year-to-year. In fact, Open-Wheels Motorsports Sanctioning does not enforce any specific technical regulations as each car that races on-track needs to pass iRacing technical inspection first.

Different from the Indianapolis 500, teams enter only one machine for a given car number - there are no "primary" or "backup" cars. There is no penalty for crashes during practice or qualifications, though if a car crashes during the race, they do not get to utilize a backup car.

The race utilizes a hybrid approach to traditional Indianapolis 500 qualifying procedures. The current four-lap (ten-mile) qualifying distance mirrors the same format which was introduced at the Indianapolis 500 in 1920.

Presently, qualifying occurs across two days. On Day 1, only position 1 is set - a day commonly known as Pole Day. All other positions are confirmed after Day 2 - also known as Bump Day - with the fastest 33 drivers in qualifications making the race. Drivers are allowed a total of three attempts across qualifications, with each new attempt forfeiting the previous time posted by the entry.

• Saturday: All entries are guaranteed at least one attempt to qualify via the qualifications draw, and can make additional attempts as time permits. If a driver misses their time to run in the qualifications draw order, they may request an opportunity to qualify in the open queue as time permits. At the conclusion of first day qualifications, the fastest driver will be awarded the highly coveted pole position and is the only driver whose grid position is confirmed at that point in time trials.
• Sunday: There are no guaranteed attempts to qualify - the full session is open on a first-come, first-served basis for drivers to make qualifying attempts. At the conclusion of second day qualifications, the 33 fastest entries with a posted qualifications attempt will be selected for the starting grid - the pole winner on Saturday, plus the next 32 fastest entries. Of the total field of 33, drivers with times posted only on day one will be gridded ahead of drivers who posted qualifications attempts on day two.

For each attempt, cars are required to run one out lap and one warm-up lap. An attempt can be waived off by the team during the warm-up period for any reason, or by race officials for not meeting warm-up pace minimums. Once an attempt officially begins, the attempt can be waved off at any time during the four-lap period by team, driver, or race officials. (Officials will wave off the run if it is obvious that the run will not be fast enough to qualify and it is getting late in the day.) If an attempt is waved off after the run starts, the attempt counts and the previous time is still forfeited.

Each edition of the race has been broadcast live in its entirety on YouTube since 2019. RaceSpot TV carried flagship coverage of the race broadcast since the race's inception in 2019 through the 2024 event, additionally adding final-hour qualifications coverage of the event on both Pole Day and Bump Day.

In 2025, coverage of the Hoosier 500 will move to the Performance Racing Industry's Facebook and YouTube pages as part of the race's new corporate partnership. Production of the event will be handled by P1 Broadcasting, who will provide daily coverage of practice and qualifications in the buildup to race day.

In past editions of the race, practice and qualifications were streamed live on the Open-Wheels YouTube page before RaceSpot TV broadcasts would begin. Today at the 500 is the race's flagship daily show, running for one hour while covering the latest storylines during the event.

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