Rain threat diminishing ahead of Indy 500

Rain will probably be a factor in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 – but not to the extent that we won’t see someone drink the milk at the end of the day.

That seems to be the consensus across the latest round of weather forecasts, and paints a brighter picture than some of those issued even a few hours earlier. Part of that is due to a patch of morning rain appearing further north than anticipated, sparing the Speedway from an early downpour, although according to the popular IndyCar Weatherman Twitter account, the chances of flash storms during the afternoon is now higher.

https://twitter.com/Indycar_Wxman/status/1132594577154510848

Brief storms and lightning activity caused Friday’s Carb Day running to be cut slightly short, and struck the Speedway again yesterday afternoon.

The 500 has been relatively lucky with weather: only three races (1915, 1986 and 1997) have been fully postponed due to rain, and two others (1967, 1973) were partially postponed. The race has been cut short of its full 500 miles due to rain on seven occasions, most recently in 2007.