Pocono 500 (IndyCar)

The Pocono 500 was an IndyCar Series race held at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, located in the Pocono Mountains. The first Indy car race at Pocono was held in 1971. It was the first major event held at the track, shortly after its completion. The race was sanctioned by USAC from 1971 to 1981, and then by CART from 1982 to 1989, and was known as the Pocono 500. The race was removed from the CART calendar following the 1989 running, due to poor track conditions, as well as poor revenue for the promoter.

After a 23-year hiatus, the event was revived by the IndyCar Series in 2013. Following management changes at the facility, and after comprehensive safety improvements were completed at the track, the race was scheduled for Independence Day weekend. For 2013, the race was scheduled for 400 miles, and was part of the IndyCar Triple Crown. For 2014, the race returned to its traditional 500-mile distance, and was scheduled in mid-to-late August.

A. J. Foyt is the most successful driver, with four wins. Rick Mears won the race three times during the CART years, and Will Power has won three times under IndyCar sanctioning.

The 2014 race, won by Juan Pablo Montoya, stands as the fastest 500-mile race in Indy car racing history. At an average speed of 202.402 mph (325.734 km/h), it was the first 500-mile race to be completed in under two and a half hours.

The Pocono 500 began in 1971, as part of the USAC National Championship Trail. It was part of USAC's "triple crown", consisting of the Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and California 500. The race was popular, and the unique track layout was said to have been designed specifically with Champ/Indy cars in mind. USAC sanctioned the event through 1981.

During the early years, the Pocono 500 utilized an expanded two-week schedule, shorter, but similar to that of Indianapolis. A week of practice was followed by two days of time trials (Saturday-Sunday), followed by race day the following weekend. In some years, qualifying also consisted of four-lap runs, mimicking Indy. During the USAC years, the race was held in late-June/early-July, and for a time, race day itself was scheduled around Independence Day. For the first number of years, the starting field consisted of 33 cars, lined up in eleven rows of three, the same as Indy.

For 1977, the race schedule was trimmed back to one week. Practice opened on Tuesday, with time trials scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and the race on Sunday. Additionally, qualifying was reduced to two-lap runs instead of four-lap runs. Despite financial issues, traffic woes, and seemingly constant weather problems, the "Indianapolis of the East" established itself as a popular race on the National Championship Trail, attracting crowds in excess of 100,000 spectators during most of the 1970s. Nevertheless, various squabbles between track ownership and the sanctioning body were common.

In 1979, the race occurred in the midst of the first USAC/CART "Split". Nearly all of the CART-based teams skipped the event, angering track management, who remained loyal to USAC. Attendance and revenue dropped, and nearly bankrupted the facility. For 1980, IMS agreed to lease the track for the 1980 CRL schedule, which featured a full field of competitors. The 1981 race was even more controversial. Most CART teams again boycotted the event, and the track management ultimately sued for damages. USAC opened up the entry list to Silver Crown cars in order to fill out the grid, and it was run as a two-class race.