Being an Indianapolis 500 winner is a great feeling. You get to pour milk on your head in front of millions of people and win some major bragging rights, in addition to having your name inscribed in history books and receiving the lovely BorgWarner Trophy. Yes, and there’s also the money. Josef Newgarden, the winner of the 2024 Indianapolis 500, will take home a cool $4.4 million after winning the race for the second time straight on Sunday.
The successive part is important because he received an extra $440,000 in bonus money from BorgWarner for winning the race back-to-back. All drivers are eligible for this additional award, which is a rolling incentive that increases by $20,000 annually. Helio Castroneves was the last driver to receive this money, having won in 2001 and 2002.
In 2024, a purse total of $18,456,000 was disbursed, an increase of 1,434,500 over 2023. Even if a driver only started the race and crashed a few feet later, all 33 drivers still receive a share of the pie. The winner receives the largest portion, of course, but Pato O’Ward, who placed second, took home a substantial $1,050,500, and Scott Dixon, who placed third, took home $835,000 in addition.
As previously said, drivers are not allowed to keep all of the money. After expenses are subtracted and additional shares are allocated, they will receive between thirty and sixty percent of the money, according on the terms of their pre-negotiated Indy 500 contracts (or yearly contracts for the full-season drivers). A million-dollar dividend might easily evaporate into “just” $350,000 in take-home pay, and that’s before taxes are deducted. Higher percentages can be demanded by drivers of the caliber of Dixon, O’Ward, and Newgarden, while pay-to-play competitors have to give up the bulk to the team.
The winner of the NASCAR championship, Kyle Larson, received $178,000 for finishing in eighth position; however, this amount also included a $50,000 bonus for winning Rookie of the Year, a title that many Indianapolis 500 supporters (and even drivers) believe ought to have gone to Kyffin Simpson, a 19-year-old.