Scott Dixon chasing exclusive company during Indy 500 qualifying

Bruce Martin
Special to FOXSports.com

INDIANAPOLIS — What makes the "Month of May" at the Indianapolis 500 so unique is the format just to make the race.

As Rick Mears loved to say, the Indianapolis 500 is actually two races.

There is Race Day on Memorial Day Sunday as 350,000 fans jam the world’s largest sporting stadium for the largest, single-day sporting event in the world.

But the first race is for the Indy 500 pole, as drivers go on a nerve-wracking, danger-risking, thrill ride just to make the starting lineup over a 10-mile, four-lap run around the 2.5-mile oval. 

Unlike most races where the fastest lap constitutes the  qualification speed, for the Indianapolis 500 it’s a four-lap average. That requires equal amounts of skill, precision, strategy and bravery.

For the driver that has the fastest four-lap average and wins the Indianapolis 500 pole, it’s bigger than winning most races on the regular season schedule. And for the next week leading into the buildup for the race, they are known as the "Fastest Driver at the Indianapolis 500."

That’s quite an honor for any race driver and nobody held it more often than the great Rick Mears.

The third driver in Indianapolis 500 history to win the race four times, holds the record for most Indy 500 poles with six. That earned the Team Penske driver from Bakersfield, California the nickname, "Rocket."

He could have also earned the moniker, "The Van Man."

During Mears career, the series sponsor at the time, PPG, gave the Indy 500 Pole Winner a customized van.

"I think I ended up with four of them," Mears told FOX Sports. "I gave one to my brother and they've moved around from time to time, different places, different people."

Of all the great drivers that have competed