Every April, thousands of people descend on Bloomington and Armstrong Stadium for the Little 500.
The bicycle race has taken on a life of its own and grown since the first race took place more than sixty years ago.
The Little 500 began in 1951, but the idea for the race began a year earlier.
In the fall of 1950, IU Foundation President Howdy Wilcox, who founded the IU Student Foundation earlier that year, stumbled across a bike race between the students of Hickory Hall.
Wilcox liked what he saw and got the idea for the Little 500.
Wilcox pitched the IUSF about starting its own race to raise scholarship money for students. Wilcox’s father was an Indy Car driver who had won the 1919 Indianapolis 500, so the race Wilcox started was modeled after the Indy 500.
The first race took place in 1951 at the old Tenth Street Stadium and nearly 7,000 people attended. The race raised about $6,000 for student scholarships and the first winner was Phi Delta Gamma.
Current Little 500 Race Director Jordan Bailey, who has held his position for five years, characterized the ‘50s and ‘60s races as a hidden and regional race.
It wasn’t until the 1979 movie Breaking Away — a fictionalized story of a bike enthusiast training for and racing in the Little 500 — that the race rose to national prominence.
In the 2000s, AXS TV started broadcasting the race, giving the Little 500 more national exposure.
However, Bailey said the race is still the same as it always has been.
“It is still a race put on by students for students,” Bailey said. “But, it’s a race that makes waves throughout the country.”
Bailey said three or four schools call each year to see how they do it, but he always tells them no one could pull it off because of the great tradition and history of IU’s race.
Only 33 teams qualify for the race each year, and each team can only have four members. The race is currently held at Armstrong Stadium, which holds the quarter-mile cinder block racetrack.
The men’s race features each team racing 200 laps, which is 50 miles, while the women’s race is 100 laps, or 25 miles. The first women’s race was in 1988 after a women’s team nearly qualified for the men’s race.
Each team must be made up of full-time undergraduate students and all racers use the same kind of Schwinn bike. During the men’s race, each team must make ten exchanges, or handoffs, between racers, while the women’s teams must make five.
This year’s women’s race is April 15 and the men’s race is April 16. The men’s race will be the 66th running of the Little 500.
