First-timer or veteran Little 500 spectator, here's what you need to know heading into this weekend's festivities at Armstrong Stadium.
When is the 2022 Little 500?
The 34th annual women's race takes place on Friday, April 22at 4 p.m., while the men's 71st running isSaturday, April 23 at 2 p.m.
After a year with no fans, which followed a year with no race for the first time, the stands are open again to spectators. Crowds in the past have regularly exceeded 20,000.
Tickets are $35 in advance, $45 day of the event, $15 for children 12-under, with those 2 andunder are free. They are available through the IU athletics ticket website.
One ticket is good for both the women's and men's race.
Both races will also be livestreamed athttps://broadcast.iu.edu/
Men's race preview:Wide-open men's Little 500 could see another competitive finish
Women's race preview:After fan-less 2021, dark horses ready to challenge women's Little 500 favorites
The origins of IU Little 500
From the very start, it was billed as the 'Worlds Greatest College Weekend.'
But it's true purpose is much greater than the parties that surround the event or the races themselves.The annual bike race began as a men's only event in 1951.
More:Book tells storied history of Little 500's first 50 years
It was the brainchild of Howdy Wilcox, who was named president of the new IU Foundationjust the year before. He was looking for a way to raise scholarship moneywhen hesaw a group of students racing bikes around a dormbuilding.
Wilcox, whose father won the 1919 Indianapolis 500, it sparked an idea.
The race was originally run at the quarter-mile cinder track in the old Tenth Street Memorial Stadium before being moved to a similar track at Armstrong Stadium, home of IU's soccer teams, in 1981.
The race has been traditionally been held on the third weekend in April, but was held in late May last year, with no fans, due to the COVID pandemic. The race was cancelled in 2020.
IU Little 500 history:Ahead of the 2022 race, here are the top moments in its history
Race for a cause
The IU Student Foundation has raised over $2 million since its inception to fundscholarships for working students.
A portion of this year's student ticket sales will also go to the Crimson Cupboard Food Pantry to fight food insecurity and also open a new food bank in the Indiana Memorial Union.
A tricycle race
Awomen's Little 500 race was added to the agenda in 1988.
Prior to that,women had only been able to participate in the Mini 500, which dates to 1955 and took place before big crowds inAssembly Hall, whereparticipants raced on custom-made tricycles.
In 1978,men were allowed to participate, and the first mixed team (two men, two women) was called Half and Half. Interestingly, they and an all-male team that followed in 1982, did notfareall that well.
It wasn't until 1986 an all-male team won. So in1988, separate men's and women's trike races were held. Before long, what had become a serious race, turned into more of a party-like atmosphere with teams wearing costumes, as had been practice in the 1960s.
With waning spectatorship and no desire to replace the aging trikes, the last Mini 500 took place in 2002.
Let's go racing
The race, like the Indianapolis 500 car race it is named after, runs 200 laps for the men, but covers just 50 miles. The women's race is 100 laps and 25 miles.
Each team has no more than four riders and is made up of only full time IU undergraduate students who are amateur riders.
Teams qualifybased on their times posted in a four-lap sprint. Like the big race in Indy, the field in each race is limited to the 33 fastest teams.
During the race each men's team has to complete 10 exchanges (five for the women's teams), or bike hand-offs, which are similar to the passing of a baton in a track relay.
With two laps to go,all riders not on the lead lap will be asked to move to the back or exit the pack, to free the track for the contending teams.
The bikes
To keep the playing field even,Wilcox orderedthat all competitors shouldride the same style of bike. So the Little 500 provides thebikes to the competitors, each one a single speed, coaster brake, 700c wheeled racer.
At various times, AMF Roadmaster, and currently Schwinn, havebeen the bike of choice.
It cannot have any added features such as toe clips, kick stands, water bottle brackets, air pumps or alteredhandlebars. The only differences arein the size of the frame that is matched to the rider who will be using it.
Each team is rented two bikes,at the beginning of the season and the members of the team can purchase the bike after the race. Little 500 bikes are not sold in stores.
The trophy
Yes, that's a replica of the Borg-Warner Trophy presented to the winner of the Indianapolis 500 since 1979. Like the real one in Indy, this one also stays with its owner, the IU Student Foundation but thewinning teams names, year, and miles per hour are engraved on it.
By the numbers
• The fastest time ever posted in the men's race is two hours, one minute, 40 seconds by the Cutters in 1986. The women's record is 1:06.58 by Beyond Control in 1989.
• Defending champs are JETBLACH (men) and Delta Gamma (women).
• This year's top qualifiers are Kappa Alpha Theta (women) and Phi Kappa Psi (men).
2021 women's race:Delta Gamma pulls away from the field for Little 500 win
2021 men's race:Jetblach wins wild race for team's first Little 500 title
• Cutters have the most men's titles with 14, while Kappa Alpha Theta has earned seven women's title.
• This will be the first race without Chuck Crabb as announcer in four decades. That duty now falls to his usual sidekick in the booth, former radio/TV personality Chris Drossos.
Bikes on film
The Little 500 gained wide exposurewith the 1979 release of the the movie Breaking Away, which was filmed entirely in Bloomington.
Itwon an Academy Award for best original screenplay.
The filmIt follows four friends and recent high school grads who end up in the Little 500 after one of them, Dave, who is obsessed with bike racing, becomes enamoredwith an IU co-ed. She just happens to bedating one of the big men on campus and their spat leads them to a showdown in the Little 5.
More:Oscar-winning film remains inspiration to Little 500 riders
Their team is called the Cutters, whichinspired a real life independent (non-fraternity based) team of the same name in 1984.
During filming, amock race was held at Memorial Stadium on Sept.9, 1978. Residents were invited to beextras in the movie.
In 2013, another set of filmmakers documented that year's races for the documentary 'One Day in April.'
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
