Some of the drivers roll out this 'safety' word, and suddenly it ties everybody's hands. But those arguments make no sense anyway. Remove downforce and you actually improve safety
Rick Mears on downforce, Motorsport.com, October 28th 2015
Less than a mile an hour and I'm on pole. It's tough. It's IndyCar. It's why we love it.
Scott McLaughlan on qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 22nd 2023, via Speed Street
I am stupid.
Zach Veach on Zach Veach after an off track excursion, IMS, July 4th 2020
Everyone remembers the pole winner for two weeks. Everyone remembers the race winner for life.
Dan Wheldon on the Indy 500
What a day. This place is magical. It is still the 'beginning of the season' for me but everything is starting to fall into place. This is the best month of May, ever.
Helio Castroneves after winning the Indy 500, May 2009
The Indy 500 is one of the greatest events in the sport. Drivers all over the world know this. I belong there. Because I'm a racer.
Fernando Alonso on The Indy 500, The Players Tribune, May 18th 2017
Heeeeeee's on it!
Tom Carnegie
Second place is nothing.
Marco Andretti, Indy 2006
It looks so easy when you watch it on TV, but it's not.
Franck Perera on racing ovals, Homestead 2008
The track is narrower than I thought! You watch the television and you see three cars alongside on the main straight - now I am in the car on the main straight and it's hard to imagine how you can fit three cars there at speed.
Fernando Alonso after his first test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 3rd 2017
I am a connoisseur of information!
Conor Daly on silly season rumours, Trackside, September 13th 2016
I promise you this: it isn't the last you've seen of me at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. My last time there will not be a day when I'm walking out with my tail between my legs.
Paul Tracy, Indy Bump Day 2010
It's great that it's one minute after six!
Marty Roth, Indy Bump Day 2007
It was talent and skill, that's how I did it. A masterful display of driving ability!
James Hinchcliffe on getting through the gap that took him from 17th to 6th at Mid Ohio, August 2014
This place isn't easy. It's not supposed to be easy. This place starts the 33 fastest, best-prepared cars. Obviously, I missed.
Paul Diatlovitch, Indy Bump Day 2007
He said its the best team out there. If its the best team, he shouldn't have a problem.
Chip Ganassi on whether he'd allow Jaun Pablo Montoya to test for Penske, Houston, October 2013
If we're not racing hard, we're not racing.
Tony Kanaan, St Pete's 2007
The day started when I walked into Gasoline Alley and saw the grandstands. It was my first time here on race day and it was quite unbelievable.
Alex Tagliani on the 2009 Indianapolis 500
Whoever has got the big balls is going to go fast!
Helio Castroneves
When you tug at a guy in the pit lane, I think that is taking advantage of your gender, because it puts me in an awkward position.
Dan Wheldon on Danica Patrick, June 2007
Having raced all over the planet, I would say that IndyCar is the toughest beast yet to master for me.
Felix Rosenqvist, Motorsports.com, September 17th 2019
Pounding down toward the yard of bricks...
Tom Carnegie
It takes a lot of guts to expose yourself in front of millions of people, in front of all the media, in front of all your peers. If somebody came to me and said, "Hey, you want to run Texas in an IRL car," I'd say, "Hell, no. I don't want to get embarrassed." She's doing that. I have a lot of respect for that.
Jeff Burton on Danica Patrick, June 2010
"Many people always ask me why I sign off 'Until we meet again.' Because goodbye is so final. Goodbye, Dan Wheldon."
Marty Reid, Las Vegas, October 16th 2011
We won a 500-mile race - not the right one, but we won a 500-miler...
Will Power on the 2016 season, ESPN.com, September 18th 2016
That was the hairiest day I've ever had.
Ryan Hunter Reay, Indy 500 Bump Day 2009
At 220mph friendship, risk and victory become extremely volatile.
Dan Wheldon
I'm tired of being nice about it. The fact is, grip created by aerodynamic downforce is our enemy... At the moment, the downforce is so great that it masks the handling and hurts the racing
Rick Mears on what's wrong with IndyCar, Motorsport.com, October 28th 2015
This is and always will be the greatest spectacle in racing. This is the Indianapolis 500.
Leigh Diffey, as the green flag waved at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 29th 2022
No way. That's the best part about our cars, no power steering, high aero, get it done.
Scott McLaughlin on adding power steering, via Twitter, April 26th 2021
Again, I was scared to death. I had zero grip, and I was lifting at the start/finish line going into one. It's embarrassing.
Marco Andretti, Kansas 2007
Whether you're a fan in turn 1 or turn 4, it doesn't matter what position you have. We all make the Indianapolis 500 what it is.
Josef Newgarden on The Indy 500, June 2023, via Twitter
Whatever you heard, somebody made it up. For the first two days, he talked nonsense because he had a concussion. It doesn't matter what he was saying. He doesn't even remember it.
Tony Kanaan on the rumours of Dario Franchitti's retirement after Houston, 2013
I'm 38. I'm a legit 38. I don't know how old you are, but I'm legit 38. March 3 1981.
Ed Carpenter to Tony Kanaan on the suggestion that he was over 40, Gateway, August 24th 2019
I have learned more in one week here than I did in my entire Formula One career.
Jean Alesi, Bump Day, Indy 2012
Eyes on the starter...
Tom Carnegie
It's like a reunion to come back here every May. I've never retired. I always say, "I'm not done yet."
Parnelli Jones, Indy 2007
It's a living, breathing, organism.
Eddie Cheever on Indianapolis Motor Speedway
It's amazing how different an Indycar is from anything else on a racetrack.
Alexander Rossi, Autosport.com, April 26th 2017
Every podium tastes like glory and every victory more so.
Alex Palou on the calibre of competition in IndyCar, September 5th 2023, via Marca.com
I'd have finished my career very disappointed had I not won the Indy 500. It's an amazing feeling and an amazing event.
Will Power on winning the 102nd Indy 500, racer.com, August 7th 2018
Back at the big house next weekend, kids.
Alexander Rossi on the Harvest GP, Twitter.com, 24th September 2020
I drove it like I stole it!
Helio Castroneves, St Pete's 2006
The Indy 500 was the defining stage of my career.
Mario Andretti
NASCAR has nothing on us. Look at the crowd at Indy – that's three Daytona 500s all in one place.
Graham Rahal on the Indianapolis 500, Racer.com, June 4th 2016
If he thinks I'm not going to remember that, HE'S CRAZY!
Danica Patrick on Dan Wheldon, Milwaukee 2007
Antony! Yer losin' 3 seconds a lap! Now get yer foot into it, I'm not gonna tell ya again!!
AJ Foyt, Chicagoland 2004
I lifted a little, but I didn't touch the brake.
Will Power on the art of restarting, St Pete's, March 30th 2014
I can tell you one thing, with 50 to go, I thought we were going to go home and close our tent.
Roger Penske, Indy 2006
My picture isn't everywhere, but people recognize me. I'm telling you, it's the nose.
Tony Kanaan, May 2007