Ray leads after 100 laps
Greg Ray, hoping to win the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in his career, is the leader of the Indianapolis 500 at half-distance
The start of the race was marred by a serious of crashes. First polesitter Scott Sharp lost control in the very first corner of the first lap, sliding sideways on the white line on the inside of the track and then shooting across the track and into the outside wall as he tried to correct the 'moment.'
On the restart Sarah Fisher lost control in a similar manner and collected Scott Goodyear as she headed for the wall. The IRL safety crew took some time to extricate Goodyear from his car but there is no further news on his condition.
When the race got underway again points leader Sam Hornish Jr had a near identical spin but luckily avoided contact with the wall and was able to rejoin. Al Unser Jr was less lucky, he hit the wall avoiding the spinning Panther Racing Dallara.
Robby Gordon led the race initially until passed by Ray. Gordon then dropped out of the lead battle after a very slow first pit stop.
Sharp's team-mate Mark Dismore also led for a while but slowed under yellow after 90 laps and had to be towed to his pit.
Penske's CART duo Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves have run in the top six for the most of the race, while Michael Andretti has led twice thanks to being on a different pit stop schedule to the rest of the field.
After 97 laps Ray narrowly leads from Andretti, de Ferran, Castroneves and Robbie Buhl. The top ten is completed by Jimmy Vasser, Tony Stewart, Gordon, Bruno Junqueira and Felipe Giaffone.
Indy500: Starting grid
IndyCar: Colton Herta takes victory at St. Pete
Barber IndyCar: Lap 1 Crash
Barber IndyCar: Palou wins at Birmingham
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