It's not only Shwartzman's first attempt at the Indy 500 - it's his first race on an oval in his entire racing career. Shwartzman moved up through the European karting and Formula levels, eventually becoming the Formula 3 champion in 2019 and a test driver for Ferrari's Formula 1 team.

When Robert Shwartzman's dad died, he went through some dark days. Instead of giving up on racing, he pushed harder as a legacy to his father.

Indianapolis 500 rookie Robert Shwartzman crashed into crew members on pit road on Sunday, ending his improbable run in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

It looked like Ryan Hunter-Reay might be heading to a second career Indy 500 victory as he was pacing the field past the halfway point of the race. With 30 laps to go, however, he stalled out in the pits and fell all the way to last place among the drivers still out on the track.

This year, like all years, the month of May at Indianapolis culminates in the 109th edition of the Indianapolis 500, the signature race for the NTT IndyCar Series and a motorsports institution well beyond the state of Indiana.