Welcome to our annual Indy 500 fun report — basically, coverage of everything but the actual cars running on the track. If race updates are what you’re looking for, you can find all that and more at IndyStar Sports.

Good morning race fans! That 6 a.m. cannon has sounded and the fireworks have boomed, waking up the town of Speedway as people filter in to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If you’re feeling groggy this morning, the crisp temperatures should help you perk up and prepare to party.

Our IndyStar team — Domenica Bongiovanni,Bradley Hohulin, Alysa Guffey,Tony Cook and Alexandria Burris — have been here almost since the break of dawn. They’re hitting the Coke Lot, Red Carpet, Snake Pit and fanning out among the grandstands so you won’t have to miss a minute of the party action, whether you’re somewhere else in the giant oval or hanging out at home.

You can find live updates of the race itself here.

Of course there’s a party. It’s the Snake Pit

See the celebrities we spotted at Indy 500

…And learn what movie cars those celebs love

Grammy-nominated singer Natalie Grant and actor Terry Crews both love Herbie from “The Love Bug.”

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Colts wide receiver coach Reggie Wayne bought a 1967 Ford Mustang after he saw the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” that features such a car named “Eleanor.”Read more about what other cars that played a role in movies or television shows that celebrities and athletes who walked the red carpet love.

Sprinkles, not the good kind that go on ice cream

Although this is called the fun blog, we did report something unfun: IMS announced a hold on the start of the race amid light on-and-off rain since 11 a.m. As of 1:16, IMS announced that it was anticipating an engine start in five minutes.

After a brief delay and a bit of a rocky start, the race got underway.

Regular attendees might have been having a little PTSD: Last year’s Indy 500 weather included grandstand-clearing thunderstorms and a more than four-hour rain delay that bumped the end of the race perilously close to sundown.

The National Weather Service’s Indianapolis office predicted mostly cloudy skies with the possibility of light rain over Speedway on May 25. The daytime high temperature is expected to hit a mild 68 degrees Fahrenheit at 3 p.m., and winds are expected to remain mild.

See here for the most up-to-date forecast.

—Eric Larsen

Allegiances can shift as quickly as the cars move

A messy start to the Indy 500 left some fans looking for bright spots.

Kit Walker, 43, of Indianapolis, wore a Scott McLaughlin jersey. The driver crashed out of the race before it even started. He also crashed during practice last week.

“He’s having a hard time,” Walker said. “But I just got a new (Pato) O’Ward jersey, so I might change into that.”

Walker and his wife, Jodi, 39, got engaged in the Coke lot eight years ago and said no amount of rain or crashes could ruin race day.

“This is our Christmas,” said Jodi, who sports an Indianapolis Motor Speedway tattoo on her forearm.

As the cars spun out early, Mark Munley, 62, of Zionsville had few words as he watched: “It is what it is.”

His wife Lynne, 62, said she wondered if rain conditions had something to do with the crashes and many caution laps.

“I’ve never seen that happen,” she said.

— Tony Cook and Alysa Guffey

Kiss the bricks, beat the Knicks

Two New Yorkers visiting the Circle City are hoping the Knicks will have a stronger start than the cars on the track.

Cousins James and Brendan Heinz, in their 30s, learned Sunday was the day of the Indy 500 after they bought tickets for Sunday’s Pacers-Knicks game. They bought race day tickets the day of the 109th running.

The duo, sporting bright orange and blue jerseys, commanded attention everywhere they went.

“We’ve gotten some colorful language,” Brendan Heinz said. Seconds later, a passerby heckled him.

It was the Heinz’ first time at IMS and with the shaky start, they weren’t sure whether they picked the right race to attend for the first time. Still, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Plus, “the race is secondary,” Brendan said

— Alysa Guffey

Don’t rain on my race

Daniel Bingamon, 49, of Peoria, Illinois, isn’t fazed by the rain delay. From a spot set up in front of the red carpet, he danced to music played loudly over speakers.

“It happens,” he said of the race hold announced roughly 15 minutes earlier. Bingamon has been attending the Indy 500 for 25 years. He’s been scorched by the sun and drenched by the rain.

Today he came dressed in a black sweatshirt in preparation of the chilly weather.

“The weather doesn’t stop you,” he said.

Most fans adapted to the questionable weather conditions. Race fan and veteran Jeanyce St-Victor, 30, of Indianapolis wore a camouflage umbrella hat in the Turn 4 infield.

“I got it for the sun, but then the rain came,” she said. “It kind of works for both.”

Amy Yeager, 53, who was attending her first race, said despite the rain her experience has been a solid 100.

“I’m OK,” she said, laughing. “I’m here for it.”

Taylor Davis, 30, and Justine Turner, 29 found themselves buying ponchos to keep their race day outfits dry and pristine.

“Everyone is in denial,” Davis said as others around her continued on as normal.

It’s the Indianapolis natives’ first race day, but they aren’t letting the delay bring down their spirits, though Turner was concerned that her rain gear was a little too protective.

“It’s been great,” Turner said, “But I just want people to see my outfit.”

Meanwhile, an announcer reassured fans: “Race day is near.”

— Alexandria Burris and Alysa Guffey

First-timer’s review: Thumbs up

Randall Courtney, 37, David McGill, 40, and Matt Filer, 41, all from Indianapolis, are relative newbies to the Indy 500 despite living in close proximity to the track all their lives.

Filer attended his first Indy 500 two years ago and is back for his second time this year. Courtney first came last year, and for McGill this race is his first.

“I got an invitation from a Black person so I knew it was all good,” said McGill, who has lived in Indianapolis for 26 years.

“Some friends invited me, said it was a good time, said we’d have a nice little tailgate,” he said. “I said I trust these guys. I just came out and said, let’s check it out.”

So far, he liked what he saw. “It’s pretty fun,” he said, “We’re going to for sure have to come back next year.”

Flier said he now realizes the Indy 500 is more than just a race.

“I enjoy just like going to concerts, festivals and stuff, just, you know, bringing a lawn chair, bringing a couple drinks, just hanging out,” Flier said.

— Alexandria Burris

The greatest spectacle in….horse racing???

Rain delays, crashes, and yellow flags may have slowed the Indy 500 but none of plagued a very different but similarly famed race underway in the Snake Pit shortly after the start of the race on the oval.

“We’ve always wanted to go to the Kentucky Derby but could never afford it — but what if we brought the Derby to Indianapolis?” said Cincinnati resident Brandon Small, his torso jutting out of an inflatable horse costume. “We’re thinking on another level.”

Small, 25, was joined in the Snake Pit by five friends who came from as close as Indy and as far as Buffalo, N.Y. Four of them dressed as inflatable horse jockeys, complete with brightly colored silk shirts and caps, while the other sported a dress and sun hat to the play the role of Derby spectator.

Small said the equestrian theme has made him and his friends among the Snake Pit’s most popular attendees, with people coming up to pet or kiss the vacant-eyed sleek and slippery horses all afternoon. Although elbow room is a precious commodity in the middle of the Pit, Small had no regrets about his oversized getup.

“We are exactly where we’re supposed to be,” Small said.

As for the other race, the one experiencing a brief rain delay, Small had few concerns.

“What race?” he said.

— Bradley Hohulin

Keanu Reeves knows something about speed

Actor, musician and, yes, race car driver Keanu Reeves is taking in the Indy 500 action today as a fan.

Reeves, a longtime motorsports fan, was spotted chatting with fans in Gasoline Alley and also hanging out in the stands Sunday morning.

He raced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October and his band, Dogstar, performed at the Indiana State Fair last summer.

— Cindi Andrews

The good, the bad, and the ugly — tattoos of the Indy 500

President Donald Trump didn’t make the race but this flag did

As a fan of President Donald Trump, Matt Hortin said he had hoped the Commander In Chief would make an appearance at the Indy 500 this year.

Trump has a longtime friendship with Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, who invited him to the race and there was some early buzz that Trump would attend. IndyStar reported earlier this month that the president would not attend.

But Hortin, who has attended the race since 2007, still found a way to show his appreciation of the president and his administration. He flew a flag bearing the initials of D.O.G.E., the Department of Government Efficiency, which is a Trump initiative.

“I like what D.O.G.E. is doing, so I thought it would be funny to fly the flag. I know it’s a controversial issue. I said, ‘You know what, I’ll put it up and see if it grabs any attention,’” said Hortin, 43, from Indianapolis.

As of Sunday morning, Hortin said the flag had not sparked any divisive comments but was working to bring people together.

“I’ve heard a few people using it as a landmark, — ‘we’re over by the D.O.G.E. flag,’” he said.

— Domenica Bongiovanni

(Orange) head (no, not that one) above the crowd

Bob Owens and his family attended the race along with “orange man,” an eight-feet-tall grotesque scarecrow with a giant pumpkin head and exaggerated sinister features on top a white Ford 4×4 pickup.

Rising above the tents and flags of surrounding Indy 500 revelers, orange man beaconed to all in the area. Straw peeked from the brown sleeves of his raggedy shirt. Gnarled black nails curved from his fingers. Owens — who made the nearly eight-hour drive from Buffalo, New York with orange man, aka the monster — said he’s passing on this relic of Halloween to his nephews here in Indiana.

This isn’t orange man’s first race. The Owens family came last year, surviving the pouring rain. Besides orange man, they carried a giant 8x 4 foot banner photo the family took at last year’s Indy 500.

Owens said he and his family who live in Lafayette, Carmel and Frankfort, came back for the experience.

“It’s incredible,” Owens said.“350,000 people.”

— Alexandria Burris

Inspecting the inspectors

The technical inspection tent on Gasoline Alley is drawing significant interest from fans this year after a cheating controversy during qualifying surrounding two Team Penske cars.

Jim Leary, 74, of Mooresville, North Carolina, watched as IndyCar officials scrutinized vehicles.

“I have a particular interest this year, not to cast any aspersions,” he joked.

He lamented that the controversy distracted from rookie driver Robert Schwartzman’s pole position win.“It’s unfortunate and it’s unnecessary,” he said.“It would be better if there was some degree of separation” between Roger Penske’s role as a team owner and the owner of IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he said.

“It all rolls down hill,” said Susan Leary, 64, his wife.

Fred Kaub, 64, of Boca Raton, Florida, said he made sure to get a video of Penske driver Josef Newgarden’s inspection. Newgarden car and teammate Will Power’s were sent to the back of the Indy 500 lineup for after violating IndyCar rules with alterations to their cars’ attenuators during May 18 qualifications.

After watching the inspection, Kaub texted his friends: “Everybody’s on par today.”

Daren Cave, 60, of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, is a Newgarden fan and said he likes the way the team handled the incident.

“It appeared to be a minor alteration in my opinion,” he said. Penske’s firing of several people after the incident “proved he takes fairness seriously,” Cave said.— Tony Cook

Pacers and Racers

Many Pacers fans may be starting the day in the Snake Pit but they plan to end it watching Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals in which the Pacers, who have a 2-0 series lead, will take on the hated New York Knicks tonight at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

For some younger fans, it’s hard to remember a Pacers season that matched the epic highs of this year’s improbable playoff run.

“Never,” Nick Leary, 23, said of the last time he was this optimistic about his team. “I was born in 2001, this is the best I’ve ever felt about them.“

Leary, a lifelong Pacers fan who lives in Greenfield, was at home May 21 when Tyrese Halliburton’s last-second shot in the fourth quarter of Game 1 soared off the back of the rim and seemingly impossibly sunk through the hoop to force overtime. Leary said he screamed so loud his neighbors called the cops.

The Indy 500 is already the largest single-day sporting event in the world. For Leary’s friend, Michael Corn, 23, the Pacers game tonight makes today the stuff of legends.

“Best weekend of Indy’s life,” he called it.

Reservations and inhibitions have a way of slipping away in the Snake Pit. While few picked the team that hasn’t reached the NBA Finals since 2000 to win a a championship this year, Leary has no room for doubt.

“With this team, it’s never over ‘til it’s over,” he said. “This year, it feels like destiny.”

— Bradley Hohulin

Seeing the world in black and white

When it comes to fashion for the Indianapolis 500, two colors and one pattern prevail year after year.

In fact, one boutique in Speedway sells only clothes and accessories in those two colors.

See the below gallery of fashion photos from the 2025 Indy 500.

Founding fathers of the Indianapolis 500

There’s no explicit dress code in the Snake Pit, but there’s a lot of sleeves-optional checkerboards, fishnets and cut-off denim. So you tend to stick out if you’re dressed as, for example, a major figure from the American Revolution.

South Bend residents Jacob Byler, 27, and Jeremiah Lerch, 26, are celebrating Memorial Day early with their ode to the United States: a stark white wig and a long blue coat with golden epaulets for George Washington (Byler) and a beige button-up vest with a white cravat and no undershirt for Ben Franklin (Lerch). They came with a Thomas Jefferson and another unnamed colonist, both of whom were elsewhere in the Snake Pit appreciating the fine ale and music of the nation (with a few fewer fifes but maybe just as many drums) they helped birth centuries ago.

This is Lerch’s third straight year in the Snake Pit, while Byler has come most years since 2018. But this is the first year for their costumes, which they purchased specifically for today.

Asked about their plans for today in the Snake Pit, the Founding Fathers had a slight disagreement, simultaneously responding “to celebrate America,” and, “to black out.”

Still they agree it’s hard not to feel patriotic during the military flyover that precedes the Indy 500.

“If you’re not brought to tears, standing on that hill with the planes flying over, you’re not American,” Byler said.

— Bradley Hohulin

A family-friendly Indy 500 Coke Lot???

Just a few hours before the race started, the infamous Lot 1C — or Coke lot — was quiet. Hundreds of tents and lawn chairs sat scattered among large trucks and RVs in the historically raucous section a short hike northwest of the speedway.

A few early risers started their day enjoying the temporary peace.

“Some of these people will miss the race,” Greg Ryan of Fort Wayne remarked sitting in an Ohio State folding chair. A grill nearby would soon snap into action to make a hot breakfast.

The three Ryan brothers — Mark, 59, Jeff, 56, and Greg, 45 — have camped in the Coke lot for some 30 years. Sharing one tent works fine except for the occasional snoring.

Their 81-year-old father slept in their truck nearby for an extra few minutes of snoozing before his 58th year at the track.

“Our dad has gone forever,” Mark said, “And as each one of us got old enough, we came, too.”

What’s changed in the last three decades?

Now it’s definitely more family-friendly, Jeff said. “Much more family-friendly.”

So family-friendly, there was even a school bus, not that it was in the business of transporting students anywhere. Instead, it brought Robbie Anglemyer, 27, from Elkhart to the Coke lot.

Anglemyer needed a new ride to the Indy 500 this spring. So, he headed out to an auction, where he found the perfect fit: the New Prairie High School yellow school bus for $1,200.

His reason for the purchase was simple: “I needed somewhere to sleep for the Indy 500.”

Within a month and a half, he retrofitted the bus to fit two beds — one king and one queen mattress — while keeping eight seats for his passengers. Oh, and he learned how to drive a school bus for the first time.

How was the inaugural drive? “Phenomenal.”

— Alysa Guffey

Ready for the party to start in the Indy 500 Snake Pit

It’s 7:43 a.m. in the Snake Pit, where the early bird gets the earworm.

That’s why 21-year-old Anton Kuharic of South Bend camped overnight outside the IMS after he arrived in Indy just past midnight. Kuharic and his friend Sam Williams, 21, from Fort Wayne, waited at the gates for the Snake Pit to open at 7 a.m. and promptly secured a spot near the stage, where a head-bobbing DJ is working his turntable and flames may shoot up from the floor in thin white-hot columns at any given moment.

“You get the whole experience,” Williams said of being near the front. “We got the music, we got the people — everything.”

Kuharic’s rationale is a bit simpler.

“I like the flames,” he said.

The Snake Pit may be billed as pure chaos, but the concertgoers aren’t aimless. Sipping a spiked iced tea and an IPA, respectively, Williams and Kuharic have specific plans for the morning.

“We ain’t goin’ slow,” Williams said. “We got money to spend, we came prepared. The plan is to crush every beer in sight.”

—Bradley Hohulin

It’s not technically the Snake Pit but there is a snake, sorta

For the eighth year, 29-year-old Chris Friend of Illinois has made the trip to the Indy 500, which he calls the greatest spectacle in racing, with his snake Sammy.

Sammy isn’t real. He’s a little green and yellow plastic snake that Friend holds coiled up in his hand. He jokingly offers passersby the opportunity to hold it.

“He comes with me every year,” Friend says.

Friend first brought Sammy as a prank. He was so well received, Friend has kept up the joke.

“Some people are scared of it. Some people will jump in like, ‘Heck yeah, I want to hold it,’” but it’s all fun.”

— Alexandria Burris

A game of hand-eye coordination

Waiting out in Turn 4 is a game for anyone who is confident their hand-eye coordination skills are as good as that of an Indy Car driver. Each year, Adam Morelli, 37, and Tyler Olliver, 38, bring a jenga made from two-by-fours cut and painted red, black and white.

He and Olliver arrived at 4:30 a.m. Sunday to set up a tent, food and games for their friends.

“We’ll get a lot of stumblers that think they have the hand-eye coordination,” said Morelli, who lived in Indianapolis before moving to Columbus, Ohio, about five years ago.

Over the years, the two have seen some interesting games. Morelli has been coming to the race since 2014, and Olliver since 2017.

Nonetheless, they have not yet witnessed a stranger actually win.

“Those characters are usually fleeting,” Morelli said. “Burn bright. Leave quickly.”

— Domenica Bongiovanni

A little bit of Texas in Speedway

Blue and silver flags fly high above the Dallas Cowboy tent that Jake Musselman, 54, of Kokomo pitched at this year’s Indy 500.

Musselman grew up watching the Cowboys, and he’s spent most of his adult life coming to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on race day.

It was easy for him to marry his two passions. The Cowboys, he proudly says, are America’s team. And the Indy 500 — well, he hasn’t missed a race since 1983.

“It’s something about the energy,” he says. “I love it. It’s sacred grounds. I can’t explain it, but I get serious post-race depression after the race.”

— Alexandria Burris

What you can and can’t bring to the Indy 500 race

If you’ve been to the race before, no doubt you know the drill. Rules are far looser than what you can bring on a plane but a tad more restrictive than what you can bring to a friend’s house party.

Coolers that do not exceed a specified size that are filled with your own snacks, meals and beverages (including those of the alcoholic variety) are a-ok. Glass containers and weapons of any kind are not.

Feel free to bring cash but you’re not going to have much use for it inside the Speedway. IMS is a cashless facility.

More details about what you can and can’t bring can be found in this article or on the IMS website. And if you’re thinking about bringing a trampoline, swimming pool or golf cart, let me save you a click. Those are not allowed.

And while you wait…

The IndyStar staff has spent the past month covering all the intricacies of the Indy 500, both on and off the track.Catch up below with what you might have missed that’s worth a read:The race itself:

Get to know the grid: For newbies and aficianados alike, here’s a complete guide to the starting lineup of Indy 500

Meet the rookies: Race newcomers include one driver bumped from 2024 starting grid

Didn’t make it out to the track? What channel is the 2025 Indy 500 on TV? Schedule, start time, how to watch, where to stream

The action off the track:

IMS Museum gets a makeover: See Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s dramatic new look after $60.5 million revamp

While you’re in the neighborhood: Learn how the town of Speedway embraces culture outside the Indy 500

Want to try something new? Here are new foods sold at the track for 2025

You don’t want to miss: These empanadas, sold at the Indy 500, are the best thing our food writer ate this week

This story was updated to add a video.