The Formula One drivers hit the track at the Monaco Grand Prix this Sunday. (Photo: Bertrand Guay) » More Photos

Speaking of history, it permeates the very core of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s a place that still remembers what Ray Harroun accomplished when he motored that yellow and black Marmon Wasp into victory circle for the very first time in 1911, or the meaning of Al Unser, Jr.’s now-famous ‘thumbs up’ gesture to Emerson Fittipaldi after the two touched in the closing laps of the 1989 race – sending ‘Little Al’ hurtling into the wall – and Fittipaldi onto his first 500 triumph.

But in recent years, Indy’s great racing narrative has given away to sanctioning body politics and an embattled future – even as open wheel enters another new era this year after 12 years of disunity. Despite the issues, long-time Indianapolis resident Robin Miller and open-wheel reporter for SPEED, still relays that certain affinity towards ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’

“One day a year, it’s still the Indy 500,” Miller said. “It still ranks as the best and it’s still more prestigious than the Daytona 500, Charlotte, Monaco, etc… It’s been diminished in recent years, but it now has a chance to come back with Rahal and Foyt – and great names in rides, I think it’s got a chance.

“Indy is pretty spectacular because it’s really impressive to see 200,000 people in one place. Even for the most callous person that says ‘ah.’ I think when you walk out there on race day at 10:30 in the morning, your like ‘Wow. This is something else.’”

Miller remembers his favorite Indianapolis 500 fondly, as it’s still considered one of the most dramatic finishes in auto racing history when Gordon Johncock’s red-and-blue Cosworth Wildcat held off the hard-charging Rick Mears – who sat in the pole earlier in the day.

“The reason it was so compelling was because Johncock had such a huge lead, but his car was pushing badly – and Mears clearly had the fastest car all month,” Miller remembers. “Johncock was up by 11 or 12 seconds with 10 laps to go, but Mears was going more than a second a lap faster than Johncock. With about three or four laps to go, Jim McKay or Sam Posey started to realize that Mears was catching him. It was great television. Posey was yelling, ‘He’s catching him. He’s catching him.’