The auto racing betting favorites to win the 2016 Indianapolis 500 will not just be competing to win any race – and under no circumstances is the Indy 500 any race. In addition to being, as always, the premier event of the Verizon IndyCar Series season – also known as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing – this will mark the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Technically speaking, this will actually be the 99th scheduled 500-mile race of the canon, since the the1916 race was in fact scheduled as a 300-mile race – but don’t let that a matter as small as a couple hundred miles spoil the fun. This is still such a momentous occasion that Darius ‘Hootie’ Rucker himself will sing the national anthem.
Auto racing betting favorites to win the 2016 Indianapolis 500
Scott Dixon (+500). The New Zealander has won the IndyCar Series four non-consecutive times (2003, 2008, 2013, and 2015), and the Indy 500 once (the 92nd edition in 2008, from pole position). Dixon is the leading non-U.S. driver in American Championship Cars with 39 wins, as well as the leading driver in the current IndyCar Series with 38 wins. Other accolades of his include the Jim Clark Trophy (1999, 2001, 2004), the Bruce McLaren Trophy (2003, 2008), Membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2012), New Zealand’s Sportsman Of The Year (2008, 2013), and being selected as one of the 33 greatest drivers in Indianapolis 500 history in global fan poll.
Helio Castroneves (+600). The Brazilian is one of only 9 drivers – and the only one who is still active – to win the Indy 500 at least three times (2001, 2002 and 2009), as well as one of only five drivers to win it back-to-back, making him a strong online betting candidate to win it yet again.
Juan Pablo Montoya. The reigning, defending champion is another auto racing betting favorite, although the fact that he won last year may actually decrease his chances – as noted above, only Castroneves has won the race in consecutive years. On the other hand, the Colombian is the only active driver who has won two legs of the Triple Crown of Motorsport as originally conceived, as well as the only driver to have won the premier North American open-wheel CART title, Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Daytona, Grand Prix of Long Beach, and the Italian Grand Prix as a newcomer in each race.
James Hinchcliffe (+2500). Being the mayor of Hinchtown – presumably located between Suplex City and Parts Unknown – is not the only position that the Canadian can boast of. As it turns out, Hinchcliffe is also the 2016 Indy 500 pole-sitter. The pole position often – though not always – goes to the fastest car in the field, thus making it one of the online betting favorites prior to the race.