Indiana Football Overtakes Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ahead of Indy 500

The Hoosiers are bringing a bit of a different meaning to "Back Home Again in Indiana" to the Brickyard this May

Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti during spring football practice at Memorial Stadium on Thursday, April 9, 2026. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As Indiana fans have learned in recent years, "Googling" something can give important information on a given topic.

However, when one Googles "Indiana University at Indianapolis 500" or "Indiana Hoosiers Indy 500 Connections" there isn't much that pops up historically, aside from the Little 500 that takes place in Bloomington each spring.

Despite being roughly 50 miles from campus, there aren't many historical connections between Indiana and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rival Purdue is generally the college most closely associated with the Indy 500, considering its band has played at it for roughly the last century.

However, that doesn't keep things from being a bit of an "Indiana Takeover" this Memorial Day Weekend at the Brickyard.

Curt Cignetti Taking Pace Car Role Very Seriously

Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti made it clear this offseason that he was remaining focused on watching film and getting ready for the 2026 season. He turned away pretty much every offer besides an interview here or there, aside from one.

Driving the pace car at the Indianapolis 500.

And that's a role that Cignetti is clearly taking very seriously.

Found this interesting from @jdouglas4 on Curt Cignetti and his Indy 500 pace car duties.

Cignetti is back in the pace car tomorrow for more training. #iufb #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/TouIrzMNyK

— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) May 23, 2026

I have no doubt that Cignetti is taking his role seriously and it's easy to see how one would want to get the possibility of a first lap yellow flag handled as discussed in the video above.

That said, if I'm Curt Cignetti, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to be claiming "I need more practice" ever minute possible this month if I'm getting to drive a Corvette around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at roughly 150 miles per hour.

Indiana Fan Alex Palou the Runaway Favorite

For those that don't follow IndyCar racing regularly, Alex Palou won last year's race and is the Shoehi Ohtani or Patrick Mahomes of the sport.

It's not that he just won the Indianapolis 500 last year, but that he's won 11 of the last 23 races in the series, and won four of the last five series championships, while currently leading the standings this season.

Since moving full-time to Indianapolis, Palou has become quite the sports fan for local teams. He celebrated last year's Indy 500 victory by going to an Indiana Pacers playoff game hours later, and also jumped on the Hoosiers football bandwagon last fall as he checked out Bloomington for the drubbing of UCLA.

INDY 500 CHAMP ALEX PALOU IS HERE 🙌@AlexPalou joins Big Noon Kickoff 🏎️@IndyCarOnFOX | @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/z6BHbcK4C7

— Big Noon Kickoff (@BNKonFOX) October 25, 2025

For my money, Sunday's race is essentially Palou vs. the field of 32 other drivers.

The betting odds aren't quite that, but they're not far off as he's an overwhelming favorite and starting from the pole position.

Perhaps there is no more fitting way to see Indiana football's rise than to look in its backyard and see it, for the first time, taking over the Brickyard for the world's biggest single-day sporting event.