Thank goodness an ocean divides the world's two most famous automobile races, the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. Otherwise, race fans would sometimes have a hard time trying to decide which one to attend, as they often run on the same day at the end of May, like they do this year.
The Indianapolis 500 always runs on Memorial Day weekend, and the Monaco Grand Prix runs in the principality on the Mediterranean in late May.
Similar Looking Racing Cars
Although the cars that race in these two competitions look similar and are both known as single seat, open-wheel racing cars the two races themselves are a study in contrasts. The Monaco Grand Prix runs through the twisty streets of a picturesque town on an escarpment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The Indianapolis 500 runs on an oval track in a Midwestern U.S. city on flat land, with a clump of downtown skyscrapers surrounded by suburban sprawl as a backdrop.
What they share in common, is that they are both the "jewel in the crown" races of their respective series: IndyCar and Formula 1.
Two Popular Races, Two Different Series
Whereas Monaco has never been more popular or important as a race, the Indianapolis 500 has recently gone through some difficult years.
It is run under the auspices of the Indy Racing League, which was started in 1996 by Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. George is the grandson of Tony Hulman who bought the Speedway in 1945 for $750,000 and turned it into a multimillion dollar family empire.
From 1996 to 2007 the Indianapolis 500 did not represent all of the best drivers and cars in American open-wheel racing after George's series and the CART series broke apart and ran separate races. During that time the Indianapolis 500 suffered as a result. But in 2008, the two series merged [although CART had become Champ Car for a few years] and the United States again has one major open-wheel series.
This should help the Indianapolis 500 to regain some of the lost luster.
Indy 500 Once Too Big
In some ways, though, the Indianapolis 500 got so big for American open-wheel racing that it was even considered by one of the series' former directors to have been a disadvantage to the series.
Andrew Craig, a one-time chief executive of CART once said that this one big race dominated the whole year, and it wasn't very clear to the fans as consumers what was important. "Was it important to win the championship? To win the Indy 500? The Indianapolis 500 almost consumed the sport of open-wheel racing," he said.
Monaco, by contrast, never overshadowed the Formula 1 championship, despite a similarity between the two races in other ways.
"Monaco, with its history and tradition and the great names that have raced and won there in the past, has a lot of the same qualities," George said.
A Triple Crown Of Car Races
In 1995, the last year that the Indy 500 raced before the CART/IRL schism, it was won by Jacques Villeneuve. It also, by the way, raced on the same day as Monaco that year, and Villeneuve - who grew up in Monaco - had said at the time that he would rather be in Indianapolis than Monaco.
He had said that to win the 500 was as big as winning the championship.
He moved to F1 the next year, but never would win Monaco. He is, however, the last of the very few drivers who have ever had a chance to win the so-called triple crown of Monaco, the Indy 500 and the Formula 1 title, or the other variation, of Monaco, the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Only Graham Hill managed to win Monaco, the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans and the Formula One world title.
Even in 2007 when Villeneuve raced in Le Mans, he said he was still aiming to win that triple crown: "It would be great. It is one of the reasons why I'm here.
Mario Andretti, who has always been remembered for winning the Indianapolis 500 early in his career and never again, raced in Le Mans eight times, from 1966 to 2000, and up to the age of 60, but he never added that title to his Formula 1 and Indianapolis 500 crowns. Nor, in fact, did Andretti ever manage to win in Monaco either.
A Track Where Passing Is Easy, A Track Where Passing Is Difficult
Probably the biggest contrast between the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco is that in Monaco it is practically impossible for drivers to pass each other on the narrow track, whereas at Indy, passing goes on throughout the race and often to the very last lap.
Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation, has always said this is part of the appeal of Formula 1, however, comparing it to the different between soccer and basketball.
"You don't get goalless draws in basketball, and in most soccer matches there's one or two goals in the whole one and a half hours," he said.
At Monaco, fans usually have to wait a long time for a goal.
Spectators Love These Races
The Indianapolis 500 is also a huge draw at the track, attracting close to 400,000 spectators. At Monaco, the seating is much more problematic, as spectators not only buy grandstand seats...they rent apartment balconies overlooking the track.
Finally, although these two races have no relation to each other today, in the 1950s Formula 1 drivers who drove at Indy actually earned points for the Formula 1 world championship.
