The 87th Indianapolis 500 was an exciting car race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It took place on Sunday, May 25, 2003. Hélio Castroneves, who had won the race twice before, started from the pole position. He hoped to be the first driver in Indy history to win three races in a row.

However, with 31 laps left, his teammate Gil de Ferran from Penske Racing passed him. De Ferran went on to win his first Indy 500, with Castroneves finishing second. This race was part of the 2003 IndyCar Series season and was approved by the Indy Racing League.

For the 2003 season, new car designs were used. Car makers like Toyota and Honda joined the race. Honda had been involved at Indy before, but this was Toyota's first time.

Many people worried that there might not be enough cars or drivers to fill the traditional 33 starting spots. But on the last day of qualifying, the field was filled. This avoided any bad publicity for the event.

Two former presidents, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, attended the race. It was the first time two former presidents were there at the same time. Also, A. J. Foyt IV became the youngest driver ever to race in the Indy 500. He raced on his 19th birthday.

For the first time since the 1970s, the race was not announced as completely sold out. Usually, tickets sold out almost a year in advance. The 2003 race was the first and only Indy 500 win for Toyota. It was also the first time an engine from a Japanese or Asian company won the race.

What Happened Before the Race?

The Indiana design of the 50 State Quarters program showing an IndyCar was released in August 2002.

A big story before the race was the retirement of popular driver Michael Andretti. He announced that the 2003 Indy 500 would be his last race. He wanted to focus on owning a racing team instead of driving. (He later returned to drive at Indy in 2006 and 2007.)

Even though there was a "split" in open-wheel racing, most top teams from the CART series came to Indy in 2003. This was the fourth year in a row that CART teams raced at Indy. More and more teams were joining the Indy Racing League full-time. These included Penske, Andretti-Green, Ganassi, and Rahal.

During the spring, Dario Franchitti from Andretti-Green Racing was hurt in a motorcycle accident. He couldn't race for most of the season. Robby Gordon took his place at Indy. Gordon also planned to race in another big event, the Indy-Charlotte "Double Duty".

After some rule changes, Greg Ray entered the race with car number 13. This was the first time car number 13 was used at the Indy 500 since George Mason in 1914. For many years, the number 13 was not allowed or was avoided because of superstitions.

For the first time ever, a smaller race was held during May at Indy. The Menards Infiniti Pro Series had its first Freedom 100 race. It took place on the Saturday of Bump Day weekend.

Mario Andretti's Test Crash

Andretti-Green Racing driver Tony Kanaan broke his arm in a crash on April 15. On April 23, 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti tested Kanaan's car. Andretti had retired in 1994, so this was his first time driving a major open-wheel car in nine years. If Kanaan wasn't ready to race, Andretti might have qualified the car for him.

During Andretti's test, people noticed he was very fast, even though he was 63 and hadn't driven these cars in a long time. He reached speeds over 223 mph. This made people wonder if he might even try to qualify for the race himself.

Near the end of the test, Kenny Bräck crashed. Andretti drove into turn one at full speed and hit debris from Bräck's crash. His car flew into the air, doing a double flip at over 200 mph. The car almost went over the safety fence. It landed upright, and Andretti walked away with only minor injuries.

Andretti first thought about still trying to qualify. But a day later, he changed his mind.

Race Schedule

Race schedule — April/May, 2003
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
20	21 ROP	22 Testing	23 Testing	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	1	2	3 Mini-Marathon
4 Opening Day	5 Practice	6 Practice	7 Practice	8 Practice	9 Practice	10 Pole Day
11 Pole Day	12	13	14 Practice	15 Practice	16 Practice	17 Practice
18 Time Trials	19	20	21	22 Carb Day	23	24 Parade
25 Indy 500	26 Memorial Day	27	28	29	20	31

Color	Notes
Green	Practice
Dark Blue	Time trials
Silver	Race day
Red	Rained out*
Blank	No track activity

* Includes days where track activity
was significantly limited due to rain

ROP — denotes Rookie Orientation Program

Practice and Qualifying

First Week of Practice

Practice started on Sunday, May 4. About 29 car and driver teams were ready. This was fewer than the usual 33 starters. People wondered who would fill the empty spots. Drivers quickly reached speeds close to 230 mph.

On Tuesday, May 6, rookie Dan Wheldon was the first to go over 230 mph. He reached 231.108 mph. The next day, Kenny Bräck also went over 231 mph. Wheldon set the fastest lap of the month on Thursday, May 8, at 232.202 mph. This was the fastest lap at the Speedway since 1996.

On "Fast Friday," May 9, Arie Luyendyk crashed. He spun and hit the wall twice. Luyendyk hurt his back and neck. He decided not to race and retired from driving for good.

Pole Day Qualifying

Pole Day was set for Saturday, May 10. In the morning practice, Billy Boat crashed hard. His car hit the safety barrier, flew up, and landed against the wall. The barrier was destroyed, but it worked to protect Boat. He was taken to the hospital but was released and cleared to drive. Before the barrier could be replaced, rain started, and a big thunderstorm washed out qualifying for the day.

Pole qualifying moved to Sunday, May 11. The weather was cool and windy. Robbie Buhl was the first to qualify, reaching 224.369 mph. At 12:30 p.m., rookie Scott Dixon was the first to go over 230 mph. Soon after, Robby Gordon took the top spot.

At 12:55 p.m., rookie A. J. Foyt IV tried to become the youngest driver to qualify. He spun but did not hit the wall. He was not hurt.

By 1:45 p.m., many drivers had qualified. Some waited for better conditions. At 2:41 p.m., Tony Kanaan took the lead with a speed of 231.006 mph.

At 4:36 p.m., Hélio Castroneves, who had won the race twice, secured the pole position. His speed was 231.725 mph. Tony Kanaan was second, and Robby Gordon was third. Gil de Ferran qualified 10th.

Second Week of Practice

Practice started again on Wednesday, May 14. Nine spots were still open for the race. Teams got ready for the last day of qualifying. Alex Barron replaced Arie Luyendyk in the Mo Nunn car. By Thursday, 32 car and driver teams were ready.

Some of the fastest drivers who still needed to qualify were Jimmy Vasser and Alex Barron. Vasser missed the first qualifying weekend because he was racing in Germany.

Bump Day Qualifying

The last day of qualifying, Sunday, May 18, started with nine open spots. People were worried that the field might not reach the traditional 33 cars. Airton Daré and Vítor Meira were named as drivers that morning. This meant nine cars were ready to qualify.

Qualifying began at 12:30 p.m. Jimmy Kite was the first car out, but his car stopped with an electrical problem. In the first 30 minutes, three cars qualified, led by Jimmy Vasser. The field grew to 27 cars.

Jimmy Kite returned and qualified successfully. Airton Daré had trouble leaving the pits but also qualified. The field reached 29 cars. Before 2 p.m., Alex Barron and Richie Hearn qualified, bringing the total to 31 cars. Hearn's team used a backup car from Penske.

At 3 p.m., two spots were left. Only two cars remained: Robby McGehee and Vítor Meira. McGehee qualified at 3:30 p.m. At 4:05 p.m., Meira filled the last spot. The track then opened for practice and closed at 6 p.m. No other cars qualified.

The race avoided the problem of not having 33 cars. This had not happened since 1947. Some people in the media called it "Fill Day" instead of "Bump Day." However, many experts said the 2003 field had some of the best drivers in years.

Starting Grid

Row	Inside		Middle		Outside
1	3	Hélio Castroneves (W)	11	Tony Kanaan	27	Robby Gordon
2	9	Scott Dixon (R)	26	Dan Wheldon (R)	15	Kenny Bräck (W)
3	12	Tora Takagi (R)	32	Tony Renna (R)	8	Scott Sharp
4	6	Gil de Ferran	55	Roger Yasukawa (R)	10	Tomas Scheckter
5	7	Michael Andretti	13	Greg Ray	54	Shinji Nakano (R)
6	21	Felipe Giaffone	31	Al Unser Jr. (W)	4	Sam Hornish Jr.
7	52	Buddy Rice (R)	2	Jaques Lazier	91	Buddy Lazier (W)
8	24	Robbie Buhl	14	A. J. Foyt IV (R)	23	Sarah Fisher
9	20	Alex Barron	22	Vítor Meira (R)	19	Jimmy Vasser
10	99	Richie Hearn	98	Billy Boat	5	Shigeaki Hattori
11	44	Robby McGehee	18	Jimmy Kite	41	Airton Daré

Drivers Who Did Not Qualify

Scott Mayer (R) (#18) – Did not pass rookie training.
Arie Luyendyk (W) (#20) – Injured in practice crash.

Race Day Highlights

The Start of the Race

The worries about filling the field disappeared on race day. Mari Hulman George gave the famous command to start engines. All 33 cars began to move from the starting line. This was the last time the race would start at the traditional 11 a.m. EST time.

Hélio Castroneves, who started from pole position, took the lead. He led the first 16 laps. The first yellow flag came out on lap 9 when Billy Boat's car stopped. After the race restarted, Sarah Fisher spun and hit the wall on lap 15. After pit stops, Scott Dixon took the lead on lap 17.

First Half of the Race

Michael Andretti led for 28 laps early in the race. But during a pit stop on lap 98, his car broke down.

On lap 61, Richie Hearn crashed in turn two. Jaques Lazier spun to avoid him. Both drivers were okay.

The lead changed many times in the first half. Tomas Scheckter, Tony Kanaan, and Jimmy Vasser all took turns leading. Hélio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran stayed in the top 5 for most of this part of the race.

Second Half of the Race

Tomas Scheckter led from laps 101 to 128. Hélio Castroneves was right behind him. On lap 127, Airton Dare crashed, causing a caution. All the leaders made pit stops. Castroneves came out of the pits ahead of Scheckter and took the lead. Gil de Ferran was in third. On the restart, de Ferran passed Scheckter for second place.

At lap 150, Castroneves and de Ferran, both from the Penske team, were still first and second. Castroneves was trying to win his third "500" in a row. The leaders made their last pit stops between laps 165 and 168. After these stops, Castroneves and de Ferran were still 1st and 2nd.

On lap 169, Castroneves was slowed down by a slower car driven by A. J. Foyt IV. This allowed de Ferran to pass Castroneves for the lead.

On lap 172, Robby Gordon's car stopped on the track. A yellow flag came out, but the leaders did not pit. Gordon quickly left the track to fly to another race.

With 25 laps left, the race restarted. De Ferran was leading, with Castroneves in second.

The Finish Line

On lap 182, Scott Sharp hit the wall and crashed. After the track was cleared, the race restarted on lap 186. But one lap later, Dan Wheldon spun, hit the wall, and his car flipped over. Wheldon was not hurt.

During the caution for Wheldon's crash, Scott Dixon was warming up his tires. He hit the inside wall, and his car was too damaged to continue.

The race restarted with six laps to go. Gil de Ferran held off Hélio Castroneves by a very small amount (0.2290 seconds) to win his first Indianapolis 500. After the race, Castroneves encouraged de Ferran to climb the catch fence, just like Castroneves usually did after winning. De Ferran retired at the end of the season. He was the fourth Indy 500 winner to retire as the reigning champion.

Castroneves did not win his third race in a row. But his record of 1st, 1st, and 2nd in his first three starts set an Indy record.

Race Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Status	Entrant
1	10	6	Gil de Ferran	228.633	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	200	Running	Team Penske
2	1	3	Hélio Castroneves W	231.725	Dallara	Toyota	200	Running	Team Penske
3	2	11	Tony Kanaan	231.006	Dallara	Honda	200	Running	Andretti Green Racing
4	12	10	Tomas Scheckter	227.768	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	200	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	7	12	Tora Takagi R	229.358	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	200	Running	Mo Nunn Racing
6	25	20	Alex Barron	227.274	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	200	Running	Mo Nunn Racing
7	8	32	Tony Renna R	228.765	Dallara	Toyota	200	Running	Kelley Racing
8	14	13	Greg Ray	227.288	Panoz G-Force	Honda	200	Running	Access Motorsports
9	17	31	Al Unser Jr. W	226.285	Dallara	Toyota	200	Running	Kelley Racing
10	11	55	Roger Yasukawa R	228.577	Dallara	Honda	199	Running	Super Aguri Fernandez Racing
11	19	52	Buddy Rice R	226.213	Dallara	Chevrolet	199	Running	Team Cheever
12	26	22	Vítor Meira R	227.158	Dallara	Chevrolet	199	Running	Team Menard
13	32	18	Jimmy Kite	224.195	Dallara	Chevrolet	197	Running	PDM Racing
14	15	54	Shinji Nakano R	227.222	Dallara	Honda	196	Running	Beck Motorsports
15	18	4	Sam Hornish Jr.	226.225	Dallara	Chevrolet	195	Engine	Panther Racing
16	6	15	Kenny Bräck W	229.509	Dallara	Honda	195	Running	Team Rahal
17	4	9	Scott Dixon R	230.099	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	191	Accident	Chip Ganassi Racing
18	23	14	A. J. Foyt IV R	224.177	Dallara	Toyota	189	Running	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
19	5	26	Dan Wheldon R	229.958	Dallara	Honda	186	Accident	Andretti Green Racing
20	9	8	Scott Sharp	228.756	Dallara	Toyota	181	Accident	Kelley Racing
21	21	91	Buddy Lazier W	224.910	Dallara	Chevrolet	171	Engine	Hemelgarn Racing
22	3	27	Robby Gordon	230.205	Dallara	Honda	169	Gearbox	Andretti Green Racing
23	22	24	Robbie Buhl	224.369	Dallara	Chevrolet	147	Engine	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24	33	41	Airton Daré	223.609	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	125	Accident	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
25	31	44	Robby McGehee	224.493	Dallara	Chevrolet	125	Steering	Panther Racing
26	27	19	Jimmy Vasser	226.872	Dallara	Honda	102	Gearbox	Team Rahal
27	13	7	Michael Andretti	227.739	Dallara	Honda	94	Throttle Linkage	Andretti Green Racing
28	28	99	Richie Hearn	225.864	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	61	Accident	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
29	20	2	Jaques Lazier	225.975	Dallara	Chevrolet	61	Accident	Team Menard
30	30	5	Shigeaki Hattori	224.589	Dallara	Toyota	19	Fuel System	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
31	24	23	Sarah Fisher	224.170	Dallara	Chevrolet	14	Engine	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
32	29	98	Billy Boat	225.598	Dallara	Chevrolet	7	Engine	Panther Racing
33	16	21	Felipe Giaffone	227.210	Panoz G-Force	Toyota	6	Electrical	Mo Nunn Racing

W Former Indianapolis 500 winner

R Indianapolis 500 Rookie

All cars used Firestone tires.

Race Statistics

Lap Leaders
Laps	Leader
1–16	Hélio Castroneves
17–31	Scott Dixon
32–49	Michael Andretti
50	Tony Kanaan
51–57	Tomas Scheckter
58–67	Michael Andretti
68–94	Tomas Scheckter
95–99	Hélio Castroneves
100	Jimmy Vasser
101–128	Tomas Scheckter
129–165	Hélio Castroneves
166	Tomas Scheckter
167	Tony Kanaan
168–169	Tora Takagi
170–200	Gil de Ferran

Total Laps Led
Driver	Laps
Tomas Scheckter	63
Hélio Castroneves	58
Gil de Ferran	31
Michael Andretti	28
Scott Dixon	15
Tony Kanaan	2
Tora Takagi	1
Jimmy Vasser	1

Cautions: 9 for 49 laps
Laps	Reason
9–13	Billy Boat's engine broke
16–21	Sarah Fisher crashed
53–60	Robbie Buhl spun
62–65	Richie Hearn, Jaques Lazier crashed
104–108	Jimmy Vasser's car was smoking
127–133	Airton Daré crashed
172–174	Robby Gordon's car stopped
182–185	Scott Sharp crashed
187–193	Dan Wheldon crashed

How the Race Was Broadcast

Radio Coverage

The race was broadcast live on the Indy Racing Radio Network. Mike King was the main announcer. New people joined the team for 2003. Johnny Rutherford, a longtime expert, became the pace car driver. Dave Wilson and Davey Hamilton joined King in the booth. Hamilton was taking a break from driving after a serious crash in 2001. The broadcast was heard on 555 radio stations.

All four turn reporters returned to their spots from the year before. The three pit reporters also stayed the same. This was the last Indy 500 on the radio for longtime members Howdy Bell and Chuck Marlowe.

Television Coverage

The race was shown live on ABC Sports in the United States. The TV team was the same as the year before. Bob Jenkins was the host, and Paul Page did the play-by-play. This was Bob Jenkins' last Indy 500 on television.

For the first time, the race broadcast had a main sponsor. It was called the "Indianapolis 500 Presented by 7-Eleven." The TV crew called the race from their booth for the last time. In 2004, they would move to a new TV studio.

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2003 Indianapolis 500 facts for kids

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