INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The world's largest single-day sporting event will be run in front of another full house, and central Indiana residents will be able to watch the telecast of the Indianapolis 500 live.
Race organizers announced Wednesday that reserved seating for this year's race would be sold out by the end of the day and that the local blackout would be lifted.
Official attendance figures for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” are not announced, but there are an estimated 275,000 grandstand seats around the 2.5-mile oval and the total crowd, which includes general admission tickets on the infield, reaches an estimated 350,000.
“Anticipation for race day is approaching an all-time high right here in central Indiana and across the globe,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said in a statement. “We can’t thank the world’s greatest and most loyal fans enough. The stars of the IndyCar Series are ready for an unparalleled showcase of speed, bravery and competition in front of a historic and massive crowd.”
It’s the second straight year reserved seats have sold out, marking the third time it’s happened since 2016. The local blackout also was lifted in 2016 and 2025.
All badges and passes providing access to pit lane and Gasoline Alley also are sold out, making four-time IndyCar champion and defending 500 winner Alex Palou hopeful he can become the seventh back-to-back 500 winner — and the first to do it in front of two sellout crowds. Palou posted the fastest speed in Tuesday's first practice session.
“I think last year, it got announced like the Saturday before (the race) so we're like a week ahead, so it's big,” Palou said. “It's incredible to see that and to be part of it when there's so much momentum. I feel like I've been seeing that every single race.”
For those who want to attend the race but don't have tickets, all hope is not lost.
General admission tickets and a limited number of hospitality tickets are still available. Plus, reserved seats can still be purchased on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's official resale marketplace through 4 p.m. on May 20. Practices also will be held Thursday, Friday and Monday with qualifying set for Saturday and Sunday. The final practice will be held May 22, Carb Day.
“Last year, the energy was wild, so it's special — even with the rain delay and all of the people sticking around,” said Santonio Ferrucci, who has finished in the top 10 in each of his seven career starts at the Brickyard. “It's impressive.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Alex Palou celebrates after winning the IndyCar championship Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The murder convictions and life sentence of Alex Murdaugh were overturned Wednesday by the South Carolina Supreme Court because the court clerk at his trial suggested he was guilty, but the disgraced lawyer won’t be leaving prison any time soon.
Prosecutors say they plan to retry Murdaugh, which likely means there will be another lengthy trial for the case that because of the combination of money, power, Southern accents and treachery has become a true crime sensation with several streaming miniseries, best selling books and dozens of true crime podcasts.
Murdaugh, 57, will remain in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and currently is serving a 40-year federal sentence.
Prosecutors said they would aggressively seek to try Murdaugh again on the murder charges with state Attorney General Alan Wilson saying he respected the court's decision but no one is above the law.
Murdaugh's lawyers pointed out that trial will look a lot different, as the justices also ruled days of evidence at the murder trial about how Murdaugh stole from clients, many of them in dire straights, shouldn't be allowed next time.
Still, the ruling is a win for Murdaugh, who admits to being a thief, liar, insurance cheat and bad lawyer, but has adamantly denied killing his wife Maggie and younger son Paul since he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.
“Alex has said from day one that he did not kill his wife and son. We look forward to a new trial,” Murdaugh’s lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said in a joint statement.
In their unanimous ruling Wednesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court said the conduct by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted.
A few jurors said Hill, assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh's body language when he testified in his own defense and to not be fooled, confused or thrown off by what he might say.
“By urging the jurors not to be fooled or convinced by Murdaugh’s defense, Hill essentially implored the jurors to find him guilty, the ultimate issue in the case,” the justices wrote, adding that the comments insinuated there was something unusual and suspicious about his decision to testify.
Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury,” the justices wrote. “Our justice system provides — indeed demands — that every person is entitled to a fair trial."
The court said Hill's motivation was the “siren call of celebrity” and her goal was to increase sales of her book on the trial called “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.” It was pulled from publication after plagiarism allegations were made.
“As her book’s title suggests, it turns out Hill was quite busy behind the doors of justice, thwarting the integrity of the justice system she was sworn to protect and uphold,” the justices wrote in an unsigned 27-page ruling.
Hill’s attorney in her criminal case didn’t return a phone call or email seeking comment.
Hill has pleaded guilty to lying about what she said and did during the Murdaugh trial, including showing graphic crime scene photos to several media members. The journalists were not named and the photos were not described at her December hearing.
“The court rightly described her conduct as "‘breathtaking,’ ‘disgraceful,’ and ‘unprecedented in South Carolina,'” Murdaugh's lawyers said.
Prosecutors argued that the clerk’s comments were fleeting and the evidence against Murdaugh was overwhelming.
The justices also had a warning for the next judge to try the murder case — be cautious on how much evidence of Murdaugh's thefts from his law firm and clients to allow those jurors to hear.
Some brief evidence of how Mudaugh stole is fine and how it might connect to him killing his wife and son. But the court said details like how some of the people Murdaugh stole from were disabled or vulnerable could unfairly turn against him jurors who should be focused just on whether he killed his family.
Investigators said Murdaugh was addicted to opioids and his complex schemes to steal money from clients and his family’s law firm were starting to unravel when he shot his younger son, Paul, with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, with a rifle, at their home in Colleton County in 2021.
Murdaugh told investigators he hadn’t seen them for an hour or so before he discovered their bodies, but his voice was recorded in a video on his son’s phone made about five minutes before the killing.
The weapons used in the killings have not been found and prosecutors did not present any clothes with DNA or blood evidence.
FILE - Alex Murdaugh, convicted of killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, in June 2021, listens during a hearing on the motion for a retrial, Jan. 16, 2024, at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, S.C. (Gavin McIntyre/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill listens during her guilty plea, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)
FILE - Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh arrives in court in Beaufort, S.C., Sept. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/James Pollard, File)
