The Little 500 is a unique event.

The race for United States Auto Club sprint cars takes place each year on the evening prior to the Indy 500. Anderson Speedway hosted the 62nd running on its tight, quarter-of-a-mile paved surface located just northeast of Indianapolis.

The distance is not any kind of a gimmick; it is straight 500 laps. Which lends creed to the term oxymoron when describing a sprint car race.

Figure eight races are held at the speedway during the season. This is relevant because the sprint cars have live pit stops for this race and the crossover roads forming the infield X are transformed into a makeshift pit road.

Cones are put down the middle separating each end. Cars that enter off turn two reenter the track in turn one. Cars entering off turn four would reenter in turn three. Push trucks are at the ready to restart the machines. These are still sprint cars after all. The trucks run on the apron restarting cars under green flag conditions upon their pit exit.

Gravity fed fuel tanks in the pit area were mounted on rigs some 10 feet in the air. The events rules called for a pit stop prior to lap 251 and then a second one before the end of the event.

Teams would lose laps when pitting even under caution because of the nature of the event. Pace laps were so quick because of the tracks small size and the length of the stops was long. Under green conditions five laps could be clicked off in a minute.

Some crews would make this one pit stop all year and wheels are held on with knock offs one large nut- and splines lining up the center section. High-powered lug guns were not the order of the day. Some changed the tires using long breaker bars to tighten and loosen the nuts. Some spinning on was done by hand.

A packed crowd of around 8,000 turned out for the sunny, warm day. A change from the cooler, damp weather Indiana had endured this May.

The Little 500 reference also applies to the 33-car starting lineup formation. Eleven rows of three took the green flag, like the superspeedway version run the next day. And entries came from as far away as California and Florida. Tony Stewart owned the Levi Jones pole-winning machine.

Past winners of the event include sprint car stars David Steele, Bentley Warren, and Wayne Reutimann. Former competitors at Anderson over the years include open wheel standouts Johnny Rutherford, Doug Heveron, Tony Elliott, Gary and Tom Fedewa, A.J Foyt, and Sam Sessions.

Eric Gordon, Brian Gerster, and Russ Gamester were in the field and are longtime USAC competitors who became nationally known through the Thursday Night Thunder series on ESPN in the late 1980s.

Chet Fillips car was an original piece that resembled a supermodified but built to sprint car specs. Its appearance allowed it to stand out from the rest of the field. It was the only car with independent front suspension. All the other sprinters featured straight-axle front ends. His fuel cell had two filler necks and his crew could dump two cans into it at the same time. The radio broadcast referred to it affectionately as a freak of nature.

The former 500 winner was impressively push started by his crew following each pit stop, saving time of frantically waving for a push truck and then awaiting its arrival on pit lane. Fillips was the only car equipped with an onboard starter. A roll from the crew was all that was needed to save on the clutch wear.

Fillip, 51, one of the first cars making a second stop and putting himself into winning position for the races end, brushed the turn-four wall bending the right front corner. Fillip had made NASCAR Cup and Indycar starts during his long career.

Gordon used smart driving and good pit strategy to come from 20th starting position to score his ninth Little 500 win in 18 attempts and the $25,000 winners prize.

The Little 500 is a smaller version of the Indy 500. But there is nothing small about it to anyone at Anderson. The race is a major event to the Midwest short track world. As a track official said THIS is the greatest spectacle in racing.

(Patrick Reynolds is a former NASCAR Team Mechanic)