The 102nd running of the Indy 500 is officially in the books, and now it’s time for all 33 drivers to get their share of the massive cash purse—whether they won the race, or they crashed out on the first lap. But, exactly how much does a driver get paid for taking part in the iconic race?
Team Penske’s Will Power, the honorable winner of the 500-mile vehicular marathon, got the biggest portion of the purse, of course, which this year totaled a massive $13,078,065. The Indy 500 purse consists of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Verizon IndyCar Series awards, plus other special awards from sponsors, organizers and such.
Power, the charismatic racer from Toowoomba, Australia, took home a grand total of $2,525,454, while home-town hero Ed Carpenter got a check for $911,504 for his second-place finish. Chip Ganassi racer Scott Dixon brought home a worthwhile $587,129 for landing the highest-scoring Honda of the field in third place.
As you’ll see in the amounts below, the dollar amount isn’t always related to the drivers’ final positions. The purse is calculated with several variables in mind, such as fastest laps, the number of laps led, and how many laps were completed by each driver. As a result, Tony Kanaan, who led several dozen laps and crashed out of the race with only 11 laps to go, received a higher amount for his 25th place than Gabby Chaves did for his 14th-place finish.
- Will Power – $2,525,454
- Ed Carpenter – $911,504
- Scott Dixon – $587,129
- Alexander Rossi – $454,804
- Ryan Hunter-Reay – $419,804
- Simon Pagenaud – $419,804
- Carlos Munoz – $254,005
- Josef Newgarden – $400,654
- Robert Wckens – $424,979
- Graham Rahal – $401,229
- JR Hildebrand – $225,305
- Marco Andretti – $364,129
- Matheus leist – $357,129
- Gabby Chaves – $315,305
- Stefan Wilson – $212,330
- Jack Harvey – $200,305
- Oriol Servia – $211,105
- Charlie Kimball – $300,305
- Zachary Claman De Melo – $339,354
- Spencer Pigot – $346,154
- Conor Daly – $200,305
- Max Chilton – $300,305
- Zach Veach – $334,129
- Jay Howard – $200,305
- Tony Kanaan – $346,954
- Sage Karam – $203,305
- Helio Castroneves – $205,305
- Sebastien Bourdais – $348,829
- Kyle Kaiser – $205,805
- Danica Patrick – $208,305
- Ed Jones – $338,129
- Takuma Sato – $300,305
- James Davidson – $200,305