CBS Top News｜追逐方格旗：印地赛车的魅力

It's billed as the fastest racing on earth. Indy Cars, as they're called, can hit 240 miles an hour on an oval track – that's more than a football field every second. And a second is about all it takes to end someone's day.

In this sport, not all the big names are drivers. David Letterman has co-owned an Indy Car team since 1996, and in that time, Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing has won the Indy 500 twice.

We asked Letterman himself what made Indy Car racing so appealing. "When I was a kid, my family (and every family on our block) would have it on the radio. And it would be Memorial Day, and Dad would be home from work, and we'd be having a cookout. And I can remember listening to the broadcast sitting in a tree. So, that was my first memory of it. It wasn't an option; it was mandatory. It was part of the culture of living in Indianapolis."

I asked, "And now that you're a co-owner, which you've been for almost three decades now –"

"Isn't that crazy?" he laughed.

"What's your role on race day?"

"On race day? Listen to the race, sitting in a tree," Letterman replied. "That's what they want me to do."

There are now 17 race days every year, at tracks from coast to coast, and the sport is promoting a new crop of heroes, like Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden. He's won the Indy 500 (still considered the granddaddy of the Indy series) back-to-back, in 2023 and 2024 . By tradition, the winning driver celebrates with a big swig of milk, and in 2024, Newgarden's wife and son joined him in another Indy tradition: kissing the speedway track.

We caught up with Newgarden a few weeks ago before the Long Beach Grand Prix. I asked him, "Do you have a mantra that you say? Anything you tell yourself?"

"I don't know that I have a specific mantra, but I try not to be superstitious," he replied. "I just try to be positive more than anything. If that's my mantra, it's positivity."

Team McLaren driver Pato O'Ward has just about everything a race car driver needs; the only thing he's missing is an Indy 500 win. He's come agonizingly close, and in 2024 O'Ward just about had it won, but Newgarden passed him in the final lap. "I know I'm going to get my Indy 500 win, because I've been damn good there every single year," O'Ward said. "So, I know the more I put myself in that position, I'm going to get at least one."

What is it like to win one of these races? According to Letterman, "It's a jolt of adrenaline I have never experienced in my life. There was a crush of people around me. And suddenly I'm not just Dumbbell Dave, the talk show host. I'm the owner of the Indianapolis 500 winner. And that euphoria stays with you, well, you may be able to tell, I still have a touch of that in me."

For more than a century, speed demons have been chasing Indy Car trophies. The first Indianapolis 500 dates back to 1911, and it quickly became one of the premier sporting spectacles of the year, drawing huge crowds attracted by the sound and the speed. In 1926, racers sped better than 90 miles an hour!

In the last century, Indy Car racing has changed: it's much faster, and recently more popular. The Indy Car brand withered for a few years under an internal re-organization, but now the crowds are coming back. This year's Indy 500 grandstand was sold out for the first time in nearly a decade, and the place is starting to look like it did back in 1969, when Mario Andretti took the checkered flag.

Asked how sweet that milk tastes, Andretti said, "Honey cannot compare!"

At 85, Andretti's still in the game as a team owner. "I think the ability of the drivers that you have in place [today], the talent is unprecedented," he said. "It's unbelievable, yeah."

I asked, "Are you saying those guys are more talented than you were?"

Well, he didn't go that far.

Race car safety has come a long way since Andretti's day; the track walls are now padded, the drivers are more protected. But while it's safer, it not safe , and the worst can still happen, says AP motorsports reporter Jenna Fryer. "It'll never be safe; you can never call racing safe," she said. "They can be idiots. And if they get upset with each other and one wants to retaliate against the other, you know, people do stupid stuff. They see red, they kind of forget what they're doing for a second. There's no way to ever say, 'Racing is safe.'"

But for drivers, it really is just part of the game. Asked if he ever thinks of the danger while driving, O'Ward replied, "No. You think of winning. You think of winning when you're in that car. At least I do. That's all I think of."

This year's Indy 500 winner wasn't O'Ward or Newgarden, or anyone from Letterman's team. It was Spanish driver Alex Palou .

But there are nine more races this season, and on an oval track, you never know what's around the bend.

Letterman said, "What I love about it is the romance of it. And the sound is unlike anything you've ever heard. The sound is something humans were not meant to hear."

I asked, "What does that sound do to you?"

"This is a good measure for my heart; if it doesn't accelerate my heart beyond what human's hearts should be accelerated, then there's something wrong," he said.

When asked what he would say to someone who has never seen an Indy Car race, Letterman said, "Oh, for God sakes, it doesn't even pertain to motor sports fans, just go. I mean, one day. It's unimaginable. And you may not go back, but you'll talk about it the rest of your life."

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview with David Letterman

For more info:

Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing

Josef Newgarden

Pato O'Ward

Mario Andretti

Associated Press motorsports reporter Jenna Fryer

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Indianapolis 500

Indycar.com

Team Penske

Story produced by John D'Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.

Copyright ©2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

它被誉为地球上速度最快的赛车运动。印地赛车在椭圆形赛道上时速可达240英里（约386公里）–相当于每秒驶过一个足球场的长度。而短短一秒钟，就足以让车手的比赛戛然而止。

在这项运动中，并非所有知名人物都是车手。大卫·莱特曼自1996年起便共同拥有一支印地赛车车队，在此期间，拉哈尔-莱特曼-拉尼根车队已两次赢得印地500大赛冠军。

我们询问了莱特曼本人，是什么让印地赛车如此引人入胜。他回忆道：“小时候，我家（还有街区的每户人家）都会通过收音机收听赛事。每逢阵亡将士纪念日，父亲会休假在家，我们一边烧烤野餐，我还能想起自己坐在树上听广播的情景。这就是我对赛车最初的记忆。这不是可选项，而是必须参与的仪式——它是生活在印第安纳波利斯的文化烙印。”

我问道：“如今你已成为共同所有者，而且这一身份已持续近三十年——”

“这难道不疯狂吗？”他笑着说道。

比赛当天你负责什么工作？

莱特曼答道：“比赛当天？他们想让我坐在树上听比赛。”

如今，这项赛事每年在全美各地的赛道上举办17个比赛日，并涌现出一批新锐车手明星，如潘世奇车队的约瑟夫·纽加登。他连续在2023年和2024年赢得印第安纳波利斯500大赛（仍被视为印地系列赛的巅峰赛事）。按照传统，冠军车手会豪饮牛奶庆祝，而在2024年，纽加登的妻子和儿子还与他共同践行了另一项印地传统——亲吻赛道。

几周前长滩大奖赛前夕，我们采访了纽加登。我问他：“你有什么常说的口头禅吗？或者会对自己说些什么？”

“我不确定自己有什么特定信条，但我尽量不迷信，”他回答道，“最重要的是保持积极心态。如果非要说是信条，那就是乐观主义。”

迈凯伦车队车手帕托·奥沃德几乎拥有赛车手所需的一切条件，唯一缺少的就是一场印第安纳波利斯500大赛的胜利。他曾数次与冠军失之交臂，2024年更是几乎触手可及，却在最后一圈被纽加登超越。"我确信自己终将赢得印地500冠军，因为我每年在这里的表现都相当出色，"奥沃德表示，"只要持续保持这样的竞技状态，至少拿下一座冠军奖杯是迟早的事。"

赢得这样的比赛是什么感受？莱特曼（Letterman）描述道：“那是一种我此生从未体验过的肾上腺素飙升。人群簇拥在我周围，突然间我不再只是脱口秀主持人‘哑铃戴夫’，而是印第安纳波利斯500大赛冠军得主。这种狂喜会一直伴随着你——嗯，你大概能看出来，我现在还残留着那种兴奋感。”

一个多世纪以来，极速狂徒们始终追逐着印地赛车的荣耀。首届印第安纳波利斯500大赛可追溯至1911年，这项赛事迅速成为年度顶级体育盛事之一，引擎轰鸣与风驰电掣的景象吸引着如潮观众。1926年，赛车手们更是创下了时速突破90英里的惊人纪录！

上世纪以来，印地赛车运动发生了巨大变化：车速显著提升，近年人气更是高涨。尽管印地赛车品牌曾因内部重组沉寂数年，如今观众正重新回归。今年的印地500大赛看台门票近十年来首次售罄，现场盛况逐渐重现1969年的辉煌——当年马里奥·安德雷蒂（Mario Andretti）正是在此摘得黑白方格旗。

当被问及牛奶的香甜程度时，安德雷蒂答道：“蜂蜜都比不上！”

85岁高龄的安德雷蒂仍以车队老板的身份活跃在赛场上。"我认为当今车手们的能力和天赋是前所未有的，"他说道，"这简直令人难以置信。"

我问道：“你是说那些家伙比当年的你更有才华吗？”

不过，他并未做到那种程度。

美联社赛车记者詹娜·弗莱尔表示，自安德雷蒂时代以来，赛车安全性已取得长足进步：赛道护墙加装了缓冲垫，车手防护也更为周全。但尽管安全性提升，这项运动仍非绝对安全，最坏的情况仍可能发生。"赛车永远不可能安全，你永远无法宣称这项运动是安全的，"她说，"车手可能会犯蠢。当他们彼此恼火，一方想报复另一方时，人们总会干出些蠢事。怒火中烧的瞬间，他们甚至会短暂忘记自己在做什么。永远不可能断言‘赛车是安全的’。"

但对车手而言，这不过是比赛的一部分。当被问及驾驶时是否考虑过危险，奥沃德回答道：“没有。你只想着赢。坐进赛车时，你满脑子都是胜利。至少我是这样。这就是我唯一的念头。”

今年印第安纳波利斯500大赛的冠军既不是奥沃德，也不是纽加登，更非莱特曼车队的任何成员。夺冠者是西班牙车手亚历克斯·帕卢。

但本赛季还有九场比赛，在椭圆形赛道上，你永远不知道下一个弯道会发生什么。

莱特曼表示：“我钟爱其中的浪漫气息。那种声音与你听过的任何声响都截然不同，它本不该被人类耳朵所捕捉。”

我问道：“这声音对你有什么影响？”

他说：“这是检测我心脏状况的好方法——如果它没有让我的心跳加速到超出常人应有的水平，那就说明出了问题。”

当被问及会对从未看过印地赛车比赛的人说些什么时，莱特曼表示："拜托，这甚至无关你是不是赛车迷，只管去看吧。我是说，哪怕就一天。那种体验超乎想象。或许你不会再去第二次，但你会一辈子都津津乐道。"

**网络独家**：大卫·莱特曼深度专访

欲了解更多信息：

拉哈尔-莱特曼-拉尼根车队

约瑟夫·纽加登

帕托·奥沃德

马里奥·安德烈蒂

美联社赛车运动记者珍娜·弗赖尔

讴歌长滩大奖赛

印第安纳波利斯500大赛

印地赛车官网

潘世奇车队

报道由约翰·达梅利奥制作。编辑：史蒂文·泰勒。

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