If the name on the windshield didn’t make it obvious, this is not the car Jeff Gordon originally signed up to drive this weekend. According to ESPN, Gordon was going to drive the pace car until he got an opportunity to jump back into the race itself by filling in for his former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

America’s big hope in Formula One wins America’s greatest spectacle in racing on his first attempt, for America? Yeah, there’s going to be a party. Something tells me there was going to be a party regardless of the outcome with the Indianapolis 500's sold-out crowd, anyway.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway certainly knows how to wake everybody up in the morning. “Legends Day” started off with historic race car laps, and my goodness, these things are fantastic. IMS may be known for its museum, but nothing beats seeing and hearing historic cars in action.

[Cars line up at the starting line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in its second year of existence: 1910. According to Getty Images, this was an early 100-mile race, run before a then-incredible distance of 500 miles was set. Photo credit: Paul Thompson/Stringer via Getty Images]

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