Top 10 Indy 500s ranked: Andretti, Foyt and more

The famous event was first run in 1911, so picking out the best editions was a tough task.

Among those to miss out are Takuma Sato's storming drive to victory in 2017 - a year when Honda engines had a considerable engine advantage over Chevrolet - Jacques Villeneuve profiting from Scott Goodyear passing the pace car at the final restart to win in 1995, and the 1989 race that ended with penultimate lap contact between leaders Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr, putting the latter into the wall.

And omitting the events that finished under caution, we narrowed down a list of races that had tense finishes and drama aplenty to come up with our top 10 Indy 500s.

Mario Andretti led the majority of the first half of the race for Newman/Haas Lola, but Danny Sullivan had learned well from Penske team-mate Rick Mears - still recovering from his previous year's shunt at Sanair - about constantly fine-tuning his car for the final shootout in 500-mile races.

Sullivan's March 85C got stronger throughout the event, and he found it relatively easy to haul up onto Andretti's tail at the start of lap 120. Moving out to make the pass on the inside of Turn 1, Sullivan found himself having to use the track and the apron, and the transition wobbled his car into a spin.

Remarkably he completed 360 degrees without striking the wall. Equally remarkably, 1969 500 winner Andretti avoided him through the smokescreen. Less than 20 laps later, a fired up Sullivan moved into the lead which he'd never lose, able to pull away from Andretti after all subsequent restarts, with Roberto Gurrero completing the top three in a Team Cotter March-Cosworth.

The closing laps of the Centenary event were epic as a variety of strategy gambles failed to mesh with