2011 Indy 500: Previewing The 'Most Important Race In History'

he Greatest Spectacle in Racing is full of tradition and history, but this year's edition is all the more so as the famed Brickyard celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. If that isn't enough for you, then consider that this year's Indy 500 field is one of the strongest in decades - and that, at Indianapolis, nothing is predictable.

May 29, 2011 - A hundred years is a long time. How long? When the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race was first held in 1911, the RMS Titanic was still under construction in Ireland, Orville and Wilbur Wright were touring the country and showing folks their newfangled "aeroplane," and Yale University had America's best college football program.

The racing machines that will tour the 2.5-mile rounded rectangle located at the crossroads of 16^thStreet and Georgetown Road in Speedway, Indiana during this year's Indianapolis 500 are a long way removed from the Marmon Wasp that Ray Harroun drove to victory in the first Indy 500 at a whopping 74.602 mph average speed. By comparison, Canadian Alex Tagliani drove his No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara-Honda to the top spot in qualifying with a four-lap average speed of 227.472mph, which is fast enough for a commercial airliner to get airborne.