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Japaneese racing fans celebrate winner of Indianapolis 500

"Indy Car Race" by wishymom (Stephanie Wallace Photography) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Auto racing fans in Japan are celebrating driver Takuma Sato’s victory at the Indianapolis 500 yesterday (Sun)

Sato’s second career Indy 500 win came at a race changed significantly by the ongoing pandemic.

It was a historic Indy 500 – for all the wrong reasons.

The pandemic forced it to be postponed from Memorial Day weekend and none of the typical crowd of 300-thousand fans could attend.

Sato – the only Asian to ever win at Indy – says the race remains iconic worldwide even when it’s run amid eerily empty grandstands.

“It is no question I mean it is Indy 500," said Sato. "Yes there’s no spectators. That was a little bit little bit sad. But we all understood.”

It was the first Indy 500 since the legendary Roger Penske bought the track and invested millions in upgrades no spectator had the chance to experience.