The ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ has blotches too. The Indianapolis 500 is a heritage race in the USA, being held since 1911. Ray Harroun won the first race with an average speed of 74.602 miles per hour over a century ago. Although the race reeks of historical value for the IndyCar series, owned by Roger Penske, it has also been associated with shady activities. Many of these emerged in the 21st century, with the most recent one taking a toll on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s finances.

Immense expectations surround the Racing Capital of the World every year. After all, hosting IndyCar stars like Josef Newgarden who won his second consecutive Indy 500 race this year, comes with massive leverage. However, a few questionable fans can make undue use of that leverage – like somebody did recently, and got himself convicted.

Roger Penske’s hallowed track hit by theft

The 2024 Indy 500 had a record-breaking purse win – $18,456,000. Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden won the race and grabbed a whopping $4 Million. He was earlier accused of a cheating scandal along with teammate Scott McLaughlin for using illegal push-to-pass software. Newgarden lost his victory and McLaughlin lost his podium finish. However, Roger Penske’s team slip-ups came back to bite him differently. Indianapolis Motor Speedway faced an unprecedented debacle ahead of the 2025 Indy 500 festivities.

A central Indiana man, Fred Bear Jr., was accused of selling ‘fake Indianapolis 500 season passes’. Court documents allege that his actions cost IMS and Roger Penske over $150,000. Bear apparently obtained a legitimate pass from someone working security at IMS, then paid a local printer to make the counterfeit copies. Documents show Snake Pit Wristbands and Carb Day Passes also ended up on the secondary market. An Ohio company re-sold the counterfeit passes through third-party sites including Seat Geek, StubHub, and Vivid Seats. “I don’t think anything like this allegation has happened before,” President of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Doug Boles said.

To prevent such a debacle from happening again, Boles issued directives to fans. “You need to get it through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway directly or through our secondary platform. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway guarantees that if you buy those secondary tickets on that platform, you know that they are legitimate.” He also added that people would be wary of seemingly shady activities. “We just encourage people that if you see something that seems weird and somebody is trying to sell you something that seems weird, let us know so we can follow up on it.”

However, Roger Penske’s hallowed track has faced several shady occurrences before, including one that affected racers.

Getting robbed after a race win

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Imagine you are fresh off of a prestigious motorsports milestone and you face a life-and-death situation. Seems pretty wild right? That is what Scott Dixon and retired driver Dario Franchitti faced in 2017. Hours after winning the top starting position for the Indianapolis 500, Dixon was in a merry mood. He was making a food run with Franchitti at a Taco Bell drive-thru for a group of drivers. The 2008 Indy 500 winner and New Zealand native were then threatened at gunpoint. Dixon and Franchitti were subsequently robbed of their wallets and phones and emerged with a fearful story to tell their colleagues.

“It was definitely shocking, disbelief for the most part. It will make you feel really small again,” said Dixon, who couldn’t imagine something like this happening in this day and age. Getting robbed at gunpoint can be a traumatizing experience, and luckily, ‘The Iceman’ was cool and composed throughout, ensuring the safety of himself and Franchitti. This was highlighted when he was asked about his questionable late-night food choice to go to Taco Bell, to which he replied, “I’d still go,” with a laugh.”

By the time practice for the Indy 500 resumed the next day, some were poking fun at the incident. Tony Kanaan, Dixon’s teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, said: “I was supposed to be with them. I’m from Brazil, so I’m a little bit more accustomed to this stuff. I’m glad they’re O.K., and now I can make fun of them.” This was not the only incident of robbery around Indianapolis. In 2014, a robbery and shooting left two men injured in the Coke Lot, a series of sprawling grass lots divided by small creeks where Indy fans have camped for decades. On top of that, the Indy 500 is infamous for public intoxication, and incessant littering.

Evidently, the recent Indy 500 incident does not stand out so much. All it means is another blotch on Roger Penske’s reputation, added to the team owners’ multiple cheating scandals.