2011 Indianapolis 500

The 95th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 29, 2011. The race was part of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season. The track opened for practice on May 14 and time trials were held from May 21 to 22. Alex Tagliani won the pole position, and the race was won by Dan Wheldon. It was his second Indy 500 win after the 2005 race, and the last win of his racing career. It was the first of two Indy victories for car owner Bryan Herta.

Differing strategies from the frontrunners led to one of the wildest finishes in race history. American rookie J. R. Hildebrand of Panther Racing took the lead with two laps to go. As the leaders were cycling through pit stops, Hildebrand was nursing a car very low on fuel. He was attempting to stretch his tank to the finish line and hold on for an unexpected victory. It would have been the first Indy 500 win for Panther Racing, after three consecutive runner-up finishes, and two series championships. On the final turn of the final lap, Hildebrand went high to pass the slow car of Charlie Kimball. He drifted wide and crashed into the outside wall. As his wrecked car coasted down the front straight, Wheldon slipped by in the final 1,000 feet to take the victory. Hildebrand slid across the finish line to finish second. It was the second Indianapolis 500 that ended in a last lap pass after the 2006 race, and the only time to date that the race winner led only the final lap. Four months later, Wheldon was killed in a crash in the IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, driving the car Tagliani had qualified on the pole in.

The race was the culmination of the three-year-long Centennial era, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the track (1909) and the 100th anniversary of the inaugural race in 1911. Throughout May, the race was advertised as the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 and the Centennial Indianapolis 500. Since the race was suspended during World War I and World War II, the 100th running of the 500 would not be held until 2016.

See Team and driver chart for more information

On April 15, 2011, the Official Entry List was released, featuring 83 cars for 42 entries. As of April 15, thirty-five car/driver combinations had been announced. On May 9, a revised version of the entry list was released. The entry from China Racing was withdrawn. The final list includes 79 cars for 41 entries.

Confirmed former winners entered include Dario Franchitti, Hélio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, and Buddy Rice.

Since the Indy 500 was the first oval race of the 2011 season, per IndyCar regulations, rookies who have not competed on an oval were required to take part in Pre-Indy Oval testing. Scott Speed and Ho-Pin Tung, along with Wade Cunningham (who didn't race Indy but participated at Texas) completed the test at Chicagoland Speedway on May 9. Speed was legally exempt from this test because of previous high-speed oval experience in ARCA and NASCAR, but chose to test with his teammate to learn the car.

Late in the day, reports surfaced that Scott Speed had quit Dragon Racing, after having trouble getting up to speed. The rumor was denied.