INDY DIARIES: "... then I thought, '****, I'm going to win a million bucks!'"

Over 99 runnings, the Indianapolis 500 has become the most famous event in motorsport. That iconic status is built on a bedrock of hundreds of small stories, and to celebrate the centennial race, RACER.com has asked some of the people who are part of Indy's fabric to share a few of those stories with us. Check back every day between now and race day for a new 'Indy Diary' entry.

Arie Luyendyk won the Indy 500 in 1990 and 1997

"I think at the time, my 1990 win was a bit of a surprise, more to outsiders than to insiders. When you spend two or three weeks at Indy, people who are paying attention know who is quick on full tanks, and who is running on their race set-up, and they pretty much figured out that we had our act together that year.

"Around lap 150, Bobby Rahal was leading, and he and Al Unser Jr had trouble with tires blistering. I had a set of tires with blisters, but not as bad as those guys – I think they had to make an unscheduled stop, whereas I could still make my scheduled stop, which made the difference. So Rahal was leading by seven or eight seconds, but I closed in within about five laps. My speeds were almost the same as they’d been in qualifying. I was on a roll and felt like I was on cloud nine, like nothing could go wrong.

"Going down the back straight, I drafted Scott Goodyear, my teammate, and then I drafted Rahal, and then I drove underneath in Turn 3 at the last moment. I think it surprised Rahal because he turned in and then went back up again. But with that move I took a big lead immediately, because I put him in a spot where he had to lift off a little bit. And from thereon I think I went to a 10 or 11 second lead, and just controlled the race.

"With about 10 laps to go I was driving around thinking, ‘s***, my parents are watching this at home’. I know my parents and in-laws were watching the race from Holland, because they showed it live there. The other thought that crossed my mind was, ‘s***, if I win today I’m going to win more than a million bucks!’

"Those are the two thoughts I remember in the last few laps. After that I told myself, ‘OK, stop thinking. Drive’. Throughout my career I have done a lot of self-coaching, and I would self-coach myself through last laps of races.

"When I won the race, I raised my arm when I crossed the finish line, and I actually really hurt my arm because I was still going about 200mph! I remembered that when I won the second time [in 1997], and kept it a little bit lower."