A bustling pit area with Champ Cars, trailers, haulers and people milling about as far as the eye can see is a sight to behold, especially when it comes to the “Hoosier Hundred.”

You’ll see that once again this coming Thursday, May 23, in the final USAC Silver Crown Champ Car race that will be held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds one-mile dirt oval with 43 cars and drivers now entered for the prestigious race that’s been held annually since 1953.

Throughout the past 63 runnings of the event, the car count has varied from a high of 57 in 1981 and 1983 to a low of 22 in 1964, 1966 and 2012.  In recent years, the car count has rebounded and the series is at its strongest, most competitive point, from top-to-bottom, in a number of years.

This year’s anticipated car count of 43 is above the average of 38-39 cars between 1953-2018.  It’s expected to be the largest number of cars on hand since 45 machines graced the pit area in 2005, 14 years ago.  Interestingly enough, it wasn’t until the 25^th running of the “Hoosier Hundred” in 1977 that the car count reached above 43.  In fact, only 17 editions of the Hoosier Hundred have had more cars than this year's field will have, and 46 races with less.

With only 18 cars starting in most of the early years, the competition was cutthroat to make the show.  The competition remains cutthroat and drivers are as hungry as ever now with 30 starters usually making the call to start the 100-lap main event.

With the field bigger than its been in nearly a decade-and-a-half, and with the emotional sentiment of finality in the air, this will be one for the record books – a sweet sendoff for one of America’s most legendary races featuring the stars of today with the presence of the ghosts of yesterday’s Indy Mile legends looking on.

HOOSIER HUNDRED CAR COUNTS BY YEAR

1953: 35

1954: 37

1955: 36

1956: 35

1957: 33

1958: 32

1959: 31

1960: 37

1961: 32

1962: 29

1963: 29

1964: 22

1965: 30

1966: 22

1967: 30

1968: 27

1969: 32

1970: 31

1971: 36

1972: 37

1973: 35

1974: 38

1975: 40

1976: 42

1977: 44

1978: 45

1979: 43

1980: 39

1981: 57

1982: 56

1983: 57

1984: 40

1985: 46

1986: 52

1987: 48

1988: 40

1989: 39

1990: 55

1991: 51

1992: 53

1993: 41

1994: 56

1995: 50

1996: 43

1997: 49

1998: 37

1999: 38

2000: 46

2001: 45

2002: 39

2003: 40

2004: 39

2005: 45

2006: 37

2007: Rained Out

2008: Rained Out

2009: 28

2010: 36

2011: 31

2012: 22

2013: 24

2014: 26

2015: 29

2016: 33

2017: Rained Out

2018: 38

2019 HOOSIER HUNDRED ENTRY LIST (43 CARS)

# / DRIVER / HOMETOWN / TEAM

07 JACOB WILSON/Crawfordsville, IN (Wilson Brothers Racing)

08 KYLE STEFFENS/St. Louis, MO (Kyle Steffens)

2 PATRICK LAWSON/Edwardsville, IL (Patrick Lawson)

4 ®CHRIS PHILLIPS/Plainfield, IN (Phillips-Nolen Racing)

6 BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (Klatt Enterprises)

7 KYLE ROBBINS/New Castle, IN (KR Racing)

8 JOHNNY PETROZELLE/Denton, NC (Cornell-Petrozelle Racing)

9 ®CHRIS DYSON/Pleasant Valley, NY (Chris Dyson Racing)

10 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (DMW Motorsports)

12 BRIAN TYLER/Mt. Pleasant, NC (Galas Motorsports)

14 DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN (Dennis & Dave McQuinn)

15 ®CHAD KEMENAH/Alvada, OH (Bob Hampshire)

16 AUSTIN NEMIRE/Sylvania, OH (Nemire-Lesko Racing)

17 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (Goodnight-Byrd Racing)

18 TRAVIS WELPOTT/Pendleton, IN (Travis Welpott-Ernie Gorman Racing)

20 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA (Gene Nolen Racing)

21 JEFF SWINDELL/Germantown, TN (Mark Swanson Encore Team)

22 BILLY PUTERBAUGH, JR./Brownsburg, IN (Robbie Rice-PBR Motorsports)

24 MIKE HAGGENBOTTOM/Levittown, PA (John Haggenbottom)

25 ®JOEY SCHMIDT/Ellisville, MS (Sam Pierce)

26 AARON PIERCE/Muncie, IN (Sam Pierce)

27 ®JASON McDOUGAL/Broken Arrow, OK (Phillips Motorsports)

30 CHUCK LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Chuck & Tammi Leary)

31 ®DAVE BERKHEIMER/Mechanicsburg, PA (Berkheimer Racing)

39 MATT GOODNIGHT/Winchester, IN (Goodnight Racing)

40 DAVID BYRNE/Shullsburg, WI (Byrne Racing)

43 JOHN HEYDENREICH/Bloomsburg, PA (A.J. Felker)

47 ®AUSTIN MUNDIE/Dallas, TX (Les & Patty Butler)

51 RUSS GAMESTER/Peru, IN (Gamester Racing)

53 STEVE BUCKWALTER/Royersford, PA (Five Three Motorsports)

56 KEVIN THOMAS, JR./Cullman, AL (Foxco Racing)

57 ®DALLAS HEWITT/Troy, OH (Dallas Hewitt)

66 BILL ROSE/Plainfield, IN (Bill Rose Racing)

71 SHANE COCKRUM/Benton, IL (Hardy Boys Motorsports)

74 ®CASEY BUCKMAN/Chandler, AZ (C-Buck Motorsports)

77 CHRIS URISH/Elkhart, IL (Chris Urish)

78 ERIC GORDON/Fortville, IN (Armstrong/Slinkard Racing)

81 SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Curtis Williams)

91 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (Hemelgarn Racing)

97 TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN (Hans Lein)

99 ®KOREY WEYANT/Springfield, IL (Scott Weyant)

118 KENNY GENTRY/Henderson, KY (Kenny Gentry)

123 ®JIMMY LIGHT/West Springfield, PA (Two-Three Motorsports)

® = USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year contender

"Hoosier Hundred" activities get underway with pits opening at noon eastern, grandstands at 3pm, drivers meeting at 4pm and practice from 4:45-6pm, with qualifications and racing to immediately follow.  Tickets are $25 for advance adult general admission and $30 the day of the event.  Infield tickets are $20, while general admission for children 11 and under is $10.  Pit passes are $30 for members and $35 for non-members.

A great deal is available for those who don't want to miss a single lap of "The Week of Indy.”  A Superticket is being sold for a savings of 25% off of the regular three-day prices for the Wednesday, May 22 “Tony Hulman Classic” for USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars at the Terre Haute Action Track, the Thursday, May 23 “Hoosier Hundred” for USAC Silver Crown at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and on Friday, May 24 for the Dave Steele “Carb Night Classic” Silver Crown race at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

For just $60, a savings of $20, a fan will receive general admission at Terre Haute and Lucas Oil Raceway as well as a reserved seat for the Hoosier Hundred.  To purchase a Superticket, visit https://usacracing.ticketspice.com/2019-week-of-indy-ticket-sales.

For more information on any of the events, visit http://www.trackenterprises.com/, http://www.usacracing.com/, or call the Track Enterprises office at 217-764-3200.