To finish first you must first finish.

Rick Mears

We're all back to square zero!

James Hinchcliffe on the start of a new season, Trackside, March 18th 2014

I don't know him at all. Is he in his own little world?

Kevin Lee on Jacques Villeneuve, Trackside, August 2012

Downforce is the enemy of racing.

Rick Mears, Motorsport.com, September 15th 2016

Everyone thinks that running in dirty air causes the front end to wash out, but actually it affects the whole car and you just can't follow someone close in fast or medium-speed corners since the aerokits came in.

Will Power on aerokits, Motorsport.com, May 4th 2016

I drove it like I stole it!

Helio Castroneves, St Pete's 2006

Rick Mears is a great race car driver. Hopefully I have plenty of years to try to earn his respect again.

Tony Kanaan, Detroit 2007

She was acting like a spoiled brat. I don't respect that. I tried to step away. She kept grabbing on me like a dog that wanted to bite my ankles.

Dan Wheldon on Danica Patrick, June 2007

Since last fall I've been wondering what in the hell it's going to feel like, and now I know.

Danica Patrick on driving an IndyCar after 7 years away, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 1st 2018

It's a Top-10 but after finishing here fifth last year nothing less than that would really be satisfying because you always want more.

Ed Carpenter after the 2009 Indianapolis 500

Patience is a virtue... and someone wasn't very virtuous today.

James Hinchcliffe on an unnamed driver, Long Beach 2014

I can't believe it. I cannot believe it. What a year for this Target team. It was so much fun to be a part of.

Dario Franchitti, Homestead 2009

I bet you'd love to drive one, you just wouldn't want to crash one!

Charlie Kimball to Dale Jr. via Twitter, Pocono, August 23rd 2015

When you go home and you're slow, there's nothing you can do. But when you go home under these conditions it's kind of tough.

Alex Tagliani, Indy 500 Bump Day 2009

I was just hanging back there waiting for someone to make a mistake and it turned out to be me!

Colton Herta on the final restart, Road America, June 12th 2022

If you're an open-wheel racer and not at Indy in May, you're not really a race car driver. You just think you are.

Eddie Cheever

My mom hasn't played much of a role in my racing career. In fact, I think she still wants me to join the Coast Guard. But I still love her.

PJ Chesson on Mothers Day

At 220mph friendship, risk and victory become extremely volatile.

Dan Wheldon

I can't control what size I am and how I'm built. All I know is the NBA doesn't lower the hoop for short guys.

Danica Patrick, June 2005

Everyone remembers the pole winner for two weeks. Everyone remembers the race winner for life.

Dan Wheldon on the Indy 500

For a moment, all is right with the world - Danica Patrick is leading the Indianapolis 500.

Adam Alexander, Indy 2005

If we're not racing hard, we're not racing.

Tony Kanaan, St Pete's 2007

I'm a moving chicane out here!

Juan Pablo Montoya, lap 42 at St Pete's, March 30th 2014

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

I've never been so happy to be in last place.

Ryan Hunter Reay, Indy 500 Bump Day 2009

I came in not knowing what to expect. I basically fell in love with IndyCar.

Romain Grosjean on his rookie season, Laguna Seca, September 19th 2021

The race that made the IRL famous!

Eddie Gossage on the Bombardier Lear Jet 500, May 2009

The last I looked, I earned the label of Indy 500 champion; those lobbing unfounded accusations at me have not.

Eddie Cheever Jr. after Watkins Glen 06

I don't want to take a defeatist attitude here but it's going to be ugly. If IndyCar goes the domed skid route, we're going to be taking a knife to a gunfight.

Sam Schmidt on Chevy's advantage with domed skids, Racer.com, April 7th 2016

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Wilbur Shaw

I prefer to be here, even 34th, then being at home like last year.

Fernando Alonso on the Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 19th 2019

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

Finishing in the Top-10 here was because of nutrition.

A Sarah Fisher malapropism, Texas 2007

Then again my favorite films of all time are Fast and the Furious 1 through 8 or however many of them there are.

Conor Daly on underglow. Via Twitter, July 16th 2020

She probably does not know what that is, so I can say I'm going to Las Vegas to play poker and she'll think it's something like that!

Fernando Alonso on what his mother would think about the Indy 500, motor.as.com, April 20th 2016

Why do you think there are so many skid marks? It's not because it's a lovely corner.

John Andretti, Indy 2010

This is a great decision by IndyCar. Plus it gives me another month to get ready.

Jimmie Johnson on the 2021 season opener being delayed, via Twitter, January 6th 2021

There comes a time in a race where money doesn't matter, living doesn't matter. Winning is the only thing that matters, and so when you go into those corners, it's winning that tells all.

Al Unser Jr.

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

You don't get too many times like that at the Indy 500 where you're out there and you have a chance to win the race right in front of everybody on the last lap.

Sam Hornish Jr, Indy 2006

It's going to be a close finish. I have the bigger nose, I guess I have a good chance.

Tony Kanaan, Kansas 2005

This is a huge day for the IndyCar Series and for our sport as a whole, for sure.

Michael Andretti, February 22nd 2008

I think Briscoe and I had a pretty good race going on, but we got what we got.

Scott Dixon on losing the race and the championship, Homestead 2009

I just kept focused, focused, focused, all day long, getting every corner perfect.

Helio Castroneves, St Pete's 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

The wall came too close and too quickly.

Fernando Alonso after crashing in practice, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 15th 2019

Howard and me set the first and third fastest times of the day, and we both got beaten to grid slot 33 by a kid in Methodist Hospital with a smoking wreck of a car. The magic of Indy, huh?

Paul Tracy, Indy Bump Day 2010

The toughest people out there passing me are my teammates, and I don't get that. I think three of the four of us get what the camaraderie of Andretti Green Racing is.

Marco Andretti on an unidentified teammate after Milwaukee 2009

Now it's obvious we were too conservative, we should have just gone for it

Eric Bachelart, Indy 500 Bump Day 2009