Despite not coming away with the results either driver desired, Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin still earned a healthy piece of the Indy 500 prize package.
The Indy 500 is well known for its massive prize payout.
Initially, awarding drivers prize money who finished in the top 12 was an incentive for more drivers and teams to enter the race.
Today, each of the 33 drivers in the field receives some part of the prize pot.
Race winner Helio Castroneves was the only driver in this year’s race to exceed the USD $1 million bracket, with his victory earning him $1,828,305.
That figure is an 18 per cent increase on what Takuma Sato took away for his win in last year’s race.
Alex Palou was devastated to finish runner-up to Castroneves on Monday. Still, the new championship leader walks away from the race with $649,305 in the pocket.
Dixon’s 17th place earned the Iceman $316,305, not a bad payout after an unfortunate yellow in the first round of pitstops ruined his race.
McLaughlin was snapping at the heels of a top ten result for most of the race before a drive-through penalty dropped him back to 20th.
Still, the IndyCar rookie is now $151,305 richer after the race.
Marco Andretti, Simona De Silvestro, and Stefan Wilson each shared the smallest payout of $100,305.
Small stuff compared to other sports. Wimbledon, for example, pays £2.35 million to both the men’s winner and to the women’s winner. Total prize fund for all competions (and there are lots) was nearly $50 million US in 2019. The 2020 event was cancelled because of Covid but insurance cover saw £10 million distributed amongst the 620 players who missed out.
You realise they actually get paid to drive for a season on top of the prize money they win? And if you want to get into serious money have a look at how much Lewis Hamilton earns each season in F1.