May 25th: 4
1975, 1980, 2003, 2008
May 26th: 5
1974, 1985, 1991, 1996, 2002
May 27th: 7
1972, 1979, 1984, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2007
May 28th: 5
1978, 1989, 1995, 2000, 2006
May 29th: 6
1971, 1977, 1983, 1988, 1994, 2005
May 30th: 52
1911-1914, 1916, 1920-1925, 1927-1936, 1938-1941, 1946-1947, 1949-1953, 1955-1964, 1966, 1968-1970, 1973, 1976, 1982, 1993, 1999, 2004, 2010 (scheduled)
May 31st: 9
1915, 1919, 1926, 1937, 1948, 1954, 1965, 1967, 1986
Note: Denotes the day/date that the race was completed.
Sunday: 34
1974-1985, 1987-1996, 1998-2009
Monday: 15
1915, 1920-1921, 1926-1927, 1932, 1937-1938, 1948-1949, 1954-1955, 1960, 1965-1966
Tuesday: 8
1911, 1916, 1922, 1933, 1939, 1950, 1961, 1997
Wednesday: 8
1923, 1934, 1940, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1973
Thursday: 8
1912, 1928-29, 1935, 1946, 1957, 1963, 1968
Friday: 8
1913, 1924, 1930, 1941, 1947, 1952, 1958, 1969
Saturday: 12
1914, 1919, 1925, 1931, 1936, 1953, 1959, 1964, 1970-1972, 1986
1915: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was originally scheduled for Saturday May 29th. Heavy rains during the week prompted the Speedway to consider delaying the race. On Friday, they rescheduled the race for Monday May 31st.
1919: Slightly breaking from the young tradition, the race, which normally would have been scheduled for Friday May 30th that year, was scheduled instead for Saturday May 31st.
1920: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was scheduled for Monday May 31st.
1926: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was scheduled for Monday May 31st.
1937: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was scheduled for Monday May 31st.
1948: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was scheduled for Monday May 31st.
1954: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was scheduled for Monday May 31st.
1965: May 30th fell on a Sunday, so the race was scheduled for Monday May 31st.
1967: The race started on Tuesday May 30th, but rain red flagged the race after 18 laps. The next day, Wednesday May 31st, the race was resumed, and completed.
1973:The race was scheduled for Monday May 28th. Rain delayed the start until mid-afternoon. At the start, a multi-car accident red flagged the race. Before the accident could be cleaned up, rain fell again, and the race was postponed until the following day. On Tuesday May 29th, the cars attempted to start the race again, but it began to rain during the pace lap. The red flag was put out, and the race was delayed yet another day. Late in the afternoon on Wednesday May 30th, the race finally started. After 133 laps, rain fell yet again, the race was ended, and Gordon Johncock was declared the winner.
1986: The race was scheduled for Sunday May 25th. Rain, however, washed out the entire day. On Monday May 26th, the rain continued, and forced another postponment. Speedway and television officials decided to reschedule the race for the following weekend. On Saturday May 31st, the race was successfully completed.
1997: The race was scheduled for Sunday May 25th. Rain fell just before pre-race ceremonies were to begin, and the rest of the day was washed out. On Monday May 26th, the race was rescheduled for 11 a.m. Pre-race ceremonies were held, and the race started on-time. After 15 laps, however, rain fell once more, and the race was red flagged. The rain continued, and washed out the rest of the afternoon. After some consideration, officials decided to resume the race the following morning. On Tuesday May 27th, the rain had stopped, and the track was dry. The race resumed on lap 16, and it was run to completion.
Interesting Notes
2009 will mark the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500.
The 100th Running of the "500" will be held in 2016.
In 2001, the Indianapolis 500 reverted back to a three-week format. Starting in 2005, Carb Day and the Freedom 100 were moved to Friday, and four days of qualifying were resumed. If the "500" schedule continues in this current form, barring rain, future dates will be as follows:
| Year | # | Opening Day (Sun.) | Time Trials (Sat.-Sun., Sat.-Sun.) | Freedom 100 (Fri.) | Carb Day (Fri.) | Race Day (Sun.) |
| 2010 | 94th | May 9 | May 15-16, 22-23 | May 28 | May 28 | May 30 |
| 2011 | 95th | May 8 | May 14-15, 21-22 | May 27 | May 27 | May 29 |
| 2012 | 96th | May 6 | May 12-13, 19-20 | May 25 | May 25 | May 27 |
| 2013 | 97th | May 5 | May 11-12, 18-19 | May 24 | May 24 | May 26 |
| 2014 | 98th | May 4 | May 10-11, 17-18 | May 23 | May 23 | May 25 |
| 2015 | 99th | May 3 | May 9-10, 16-17 | May 22 | May 22 | May 24 |
| 2016 | 100th | May 8 | May 14-15, 21-22 | May 27 | May 27 | May 29 |
| 2017 | 101th | May 7 | May 13-14, 20-21 | May 26 | May 26 | May 28 |
| 2018 | 102nd | May 6 | May 12-13, 19-20 | May 25 | May 25 | May 27 |
| 2019 | 103rd | May 5 | May 11-12, 18-19 | May 24 | May 24 | May 26 |
| 2020 | 104th | May 3 | May 9-10, 16-17 | May 22 | May 22 | May 24 |
| 2021 | 105th | May 9 | May 15-16, 22-23 | May 28 | May 28 | May 30 |
| 2022 | 106th | May 8 | May 14-15, 21-22 | May 27 | May 27 | May 29 |
| 2023 | 107th | May 7 | May 13-14, 20-21 | May 26 | May 26 | May 28 |
| 2024 | 108th | May 5 | May 11-12, 18-19 | May 24 | May 24 | May 26 |
When the "500" began in 1911, it was alway held on Memorial Day, May 30th. Memorial Day was first held in 1868 and was then referred to as Decoration Day. The first "500" in fact was held on a Tuesday. Subsequent races were held on May 30th no matter what day of the week it was, except for Sunday. If the 30th fell on a Sunday, the race was bumped to Monday the 31st. For the 1915 race, May 30th was a Sunday, so originaly the Speedway planned the race to be Saturday the 29th. Torrential rains on Friday forced the management to move the race until Monday. From that year on if the 30th was a Sunday, for no apparent reason other than that 1915 misfortune, the race was held Mondays. Time trials began to be scheduled for the two weekends prior to the scheduled running of the race. The track opened for practice usually the first of May, but some years even had track action as early as April 28th.
On June 28, 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill was signed into law, which was intended to insure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on a particular Monday, rather than a specific date. Washington's Birthday (eventually referred to as Presidents' Day), Memorial Day, Veterans' Day (which was eventually changed back), and Columbus Day were all changed from their traditional date to a specified Monday, to be effective starting in 1971. Memorial Day, which was traditionally observed on May 30, was officially moved to last Monday in May. From 1971-1972, the Speedway reacted by scheduling the race on the Saturday of the new holiday weekend. In 1973, in order to better accomadate the "500" Festival Parade, it was decided to schedule the race on Monday. The parade downtown was Saturday, and the public drivers' meeting was Sunday. Due to rain and major crashes, the race was not completed until late Wednesday.
After much consideration, beginning in 1974, the race was to be scheduled on the Sunday of the holiday weekend, the first time to race on Sunday in 63 years. By scheduling the race on Sunday, and with Monday a national holiday, a convenient back-up "rain-day" exists. In its normal form the time trials would still be held the two weekends prior to the race, and opening day was fixed as the Saturday prior to the first time trial weekend. The energy crisis of 1974 is much to blame for the cutback in the schedule, and in that year, only two days of qualifying was held, the two Saturdays preceding the race weekend. Since 1974 there have been only two exceptions. In 1986, the race was rained out on Sunday and Monday, then held the following Saturday, May 31st. In 1997, the race was also rained out on Sunday and Monday, then was completed on Tuesday May 27. Some controversy came from the 1997 rescheduling, since people assumed it would mirror the 1986 delay. It differed slightly from 1986, because on Monday, the race actually got 15 laps underway before rain halted its progress. In hindsight, it seems the Speedway made the right decision to hold it Tuesday instead of waiting until the following weekend. Never before had the race not been held in May, and if the race were to be slated for the following Saturday May 31st, and it were to rain again, it would have been held on June 1st. According to the Indianapolis Star, it did indeed rain on Saturday May 31st.
Beginning in 1998, an experimental "two-week" schedule was used in an effort to cut back racing costs. There was only two days of qualifying, the weekend prior to the race, and opening day was the weekend just before that. Although it first arrived with rave reviews, and the compact schedule made for some exciting practice and qualifying scenarios, some of the tradition of Indy seemed to be lost. It was also feared that a complete rainout of the lone qualifying weekend would prevent any spectator-attendable time trials. In 2001, a three-week format was reintroduced, this time with three days of time trials, and a couple days of practice omitted.
Following the 2004 race, there was considerable discussion regarding the Speedway reverting back to a two-week schedule permanently, citing attendance concerns during practice and qualifying. Instead, the Speedway decided to revert back to four days of time trials, with a revised qualifying format. Opening Day would remain on Sunday, and the first two practice days would be exclusively for the Rookie Orientation Program. Veterans would begin practice on Tuesday. In addition, Carb Day was moved from Thursday to Friday to allow for a larger crowd. The Freedom 100 was removed from the second weekend of time trials, and instead scheduled for Carb Day.
The first race in 1911 began at 10:00 a.m., and the last car finished around 7:00 p.m. Officials estimated that the race would require at least seven hours to complete, and wanted to allow enough daylight to finish the race and still allow spectators time to return home.
The race was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. local time through 1963, as the race still needed many daylight hours to be run to completion. In addition, the state of Indiana had a decades-long unique attitude about their time zone status. By 1918, Indiana was assigned to the Central time zone. After W.W.I.I., state officials banned the use of daylight saving time, and while unenforceable, it was largely followed. In 1961, the state was divided amongst the Eastern and Central time zones, with Indianapolis falling in the Eastern. Eastern Standard time is adopted for the area, and daylight saving time is not observed at all in the Indianapolis area. Despite various tweaks in other parts of the state, the Indianapolis-area remains on year-round Eastern Standard time for over four decades. As a rule of thumb, during daylight saving months, (which includes the month of May), Eastern Standard Time is equivalent to Central Daylight Time.
Starting in 1964, the race was being shown live on closed-circuit television in venues around the country. The Speedway moved the start of the race to 11:00 a.m. EST (12 p.m. EDT) to allow for a larger viewing audience, especially on the west coast. In 1970, the race was scheduled for Saturday for 12:00 p.m. EST (1 p.m. EDT) , but morning rain delay pushed the race back a half hour. Subsequent years were moved back to 11 a.m. EST (12 p.m. EDT). Starting in 1986, the race was broadcast live on ABC television for the first time, but the starting time was not changed.
During that period, officials made efforts to make sure the race started right at the top of the hour. However, it was not always possible. Some years would see the green flag as early as 10:58 a.m., and some a couple minutes after 11 a.m.
In 2005, in order to broaden the television viewing audience, the race was moved to 12:00 p.m. EST (1:00 p.m. EDT). After years of debate, in April 2005, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law that would have Indiana observe daylight saving time. The 2006 race was scheduled for 1 p.m. EDT.
1980: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1981: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1982: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Crash delayed delayed start until 11:54 a.m. EST (12:54 p.m. EDT)
1983: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1984: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1985: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1986: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Pace lap crash delayed start until 11:35 a.m. EST (12:35 p.m. EDT)
1987: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1988: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1989: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1990: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1991: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Rain delayed start until 11:55 a.m. EST (12:55 p.m. EDT)
1992: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Pace lap crash delayed the start by about 5 minutes.
1993: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1994: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1995: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Rain delayed start by 5 minutes
1996: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Rain delayed start by 5 minutes
1997: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
1998: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Rain delayed start until 11:35 a.m. EST (12:35 p.m. EDT)
1999: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
2000: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Rain delayed start until 2:10 p.m. EST (3:10 p.m. EDT)
2001: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
2002: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
2003: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT)
2004: 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT) - Rain delayed start until 1:10 p.m. EST (2:10 p.m. EDT)
2005: 12:03 p.m. EST (1:03 p.m. EDT)
2006: 1:11 p.m. EDT
2007: 1:11 p.m. EDT
2008: 1:11 p.m. EDT
2009: 1:12 p.m. EDT