Motorsport's Grandest Stage 

The end of May brings together three of the world's leading motorsports series on the same day with breakfast in Monaco, lunch in Indianapolis and dinner in Charlotte. Across all three races, Shell technology powered the top teams showcasing its track to road prowess. While there are weeks of build up for all three races, no other event comes close to matching the Indianapolis 500 in scale, heritage and passion.

The 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 brought together celebrities from every discipline and over 300,000 spectators to experience the largest single day sporting event in the world. Scroll through to relive the weekend and continue to celebrate Team Penske's record-extending 18th Indy 500 win. Watch the video below and continue through the site for a look at the weekend’s activities.

Stats in this report are as of June 20, 2019

First-Ever Indy 500 Broadcast on NBC

This year’s Indy 500, the first-ever on NBC, delivered a 3.86 overnight rating, up 15% vs. 2018 and the best in three years. The overnight rating peaked in the final quarter-hour at 4.56 when Simon Pagenaud out-dueled Alexander Rossi to win his first Indy 500. This was the highest overnight for a Sunday afternoon sports event on NBC in more than four months and the highest overnight for a sports event on Sunday. In Indianapolis, an evening replay of the race (the live broadcast was blacked out) garnered a household rating of 10.98. The largest live TV audience came from Dayton, Ohio with a rating of 9.77.

Wednesday May 22
Josef Newgarden’s Celebrity Ping Pong Tournament presented by Shell V-Power Nitro+

Leading up to the race on Wednesday evening, Shell also sponsored Josef Newgarden’s second annual ping pong tournament to raise money for SeriousFun Children’s Network, which is a charity that was founded by actor Paul Newman. The event was a 12-team tournament made up mostly of current IndyCar drivers but also featured members from Shell, Team Penske and even Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Andrew Luck. Over $85,000 was raised for charity, marking a big success for the event’s second running.

Thursday May 23
Indy 500 Media Lunch Presented by Shell and Team Penske

On the Thursday leading up the Indy 500, we hosted over 130 members of the media for a special event and luncheon featuring the partnership between Shell and Team Penske. The rich collection of media including members from NBC Sports, SBJ, USA Today, ABC, Autoweek and more were all treated to close up time with the eventual Indy 500 winner, Simon Pagenaud. Guests also had the chance to experience a mixology demonstration put on by Shell scientists, Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden.

Guests were treated to a Shell goodie bag, a special edition Indy 500 book from Team Penske, and one lucky winner walked away with a $500 Shell gas card for promoting the brand messaging.

Thursday May 23
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Dinner

A special group of people gathered to celebrate some of motorsport’s most famous names in an exclusive setting.

Friday May 24
Welcome to the Hub of the Indy 500

IndyCar takes over the city of Indianapolis for the entire month of May and at the center of that action downtown is our host hotel, the JW Marriott. Each year, new graphics dress the outside of the hotel and let everyone know where HQ is for all of the off-track activity. Our guests were welcomed in on Friday to custom branded keycards featuring the Shell V-Power Nitro+ logo and a special welcome bag featuring apparel gifts for the weekend.

Shell Mixology and Friday’s Customer Dinner

Once everyone got settled, we took over the lobby bar of the JW Marriott with a special presentation of Shell Mixology featuring Shell scientists, Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves. The lobby provided a great place to come together for the first time of the weekend and get the festivities started off in the best way possible. Shannon Bryan, the Shell scientist leading mixology, had a blast showcasing creatively designed cocktails designed to replicate Shell’s new four levels of defense engineered into the new Nitro+ fuel.

Following the Mixology presentation, guests went to a private dinner at OP Italian hosted by Dan Little and continued the great connections and conversations that only come from getting together.

Saturday May 25
On track, off track and everywhere between 

The day started off with an exclusive, police-escorted drive to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to go behind the scenes with Team Penske one day before the biggest race of the year. Our group got exclusive access to get up close to Josef Newgarden’s car and learn all it takes to succeed in such a demanding sport. Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden also stopped by to share more about how they prepare for the Indy 500.

Exclusive pace car rides

Our first group of guests and influencers got to feel what it is like to complete a couple of laps around the Speedway in one of the official pace cars of the event. An opportunity exclusively available through sponsorship activation, this was a highlight for many of our guests and you can see why. Only a handful of people other than the drivers get to experience something so exclusive.

Visiting the spa or teeing off at Brickyard Crossing? The choice is yours.

Leading up to the event, we gave our guests the chance to partake in a variety of activities surrounding the event on track. Guests could book an appointment at the spa downtown, tee off at Brickyard Crossing, or enjoy the famous downtown parade that attracts over 300,000 people. Building in these extra events allowed guests to customize their weekend a bit further depending on their interests.

Saturday May 25
Once in a lifetime dinner with Mario Andretti

Dinner on Saturday evening, the night before the Indy 500, was no ordinary affair for our guests. We had after-hours access to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum with a beautiful dinner set for our whole group amongst some of the rarest and most significant race cars in the world.

Our dinner included very special guests as well. Mario Andretti spent nearly an hour with the group sharing some of his insights, stories and thoughts about the world. Hearing from such an accomplished man quickly became a highly for guests. He then stayed after to take photos with each and every guest next to his 1969 Indianapolis 500 race-winning car.

After Mario left and after another course of dinner in the museum, we got to hear from Donald Davidson who is the lead historian at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He mentioned that IMS is the only race track in the world to employ a full time historian on staff. After 103 unbelievable races, it makes sense. Don shared every detail you can imagine about the story of the Speedway and guests loved learning more and more about the significance of where we all sat.

We also showed a short clip of Mario’s documentary during our dinner together, which ended up being emotional to know you had just met someone so impactful across so many disciplines.

Watch the full version below

Saturday Evening Photo Gallery

Sunday May 26
All of this and the race hasn’t even started yet

To attend the Indy 500 is one thing, a massive bucket list event in any lifetime. But to attend the Indy 500 with such remarkable access is something completely different. Guests were able to feel the preparation and intensity Team Penske goes through ahead of the race leading all the way up to seeing Josef Newgarden strapped in the car on the grid moments before the green flag. That feeling of being part of the team is something only a partnership can provide.

Race day proved to be the cap to one of the most special weekends in sports. Sunday morning, our guests were escorted by local police from the JW Marriott to the race to soak in all of the pre-race ceremonies that make the Indy 500 so special.

More pace car rides came Sunday morning just before the race. There were 10 ceremonial pace car riders before the green flag, 9 of our guests and then Mario Andretti. It doesn’t get much more exclusive than that. When the race began, they had the ultimate vantage point from the Suites looking over the famous front stretch of the Speedway. 

The race itself proved to be extremely exciting with the winner coming down to the very last turn of the last lap when Team Penkse driver Simon Pagenaud took the checkered flag. Because of Shell’s affiliation with him, we got invited down to celebrate in victory lane - which everyone did very fittingly.

One more police escort had us back at the JW Marriott within 20 minutes after the celebration ended, where other groups waited up to three hours to get back due to traffic.