American Speed: INDYCAR

Single-seat, open-wheel race cars like those used in the Indianapolis 500 have been competing at exhilarating speeds for about half of America’s 250 years. The sport’s roots can be traced to 1902, although historians usually date the beginning to a few months after Indiana entrepreneur Carl Fisher and friend Lem Trotter drove an automobile from Dayton, Ohio, to their home in Indianapolis in the fall of 1908. The rough roads required numerous stops to repair punctured tires.