IndyCar put on a heck of a show on Sunday night under the lights at World Wide Technology Raceway just a few miles from the St. Louis Arch National Park, and it all started with a massive bombastic pyrotechnics display as the cars drove down the back straight under formation heading to green flag to start the race. With dozens of cannons of fire aiming straight up into the late evening sky, loaded down with flammables for a display that would easily pass for a strafing in a Hollywood production of a war film, the WWT team was really prepared for a show, and the 325-mile race absolutely delivered.
We meant it when we said boss man increased the pyro budget. 🔥🔥🔥 #pyro #indycar #bommarito500 pic.twitter.com/12TJhOV6Ap
— WWT Raceway (@WWTRaceway) June 16, 2025
While WWT Raceway has traditionally set off a pyro display at the start of its IndyCar races, this one was above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen. The massive explosion scared the crap out of Will Power’s wife Liz, for example, and front-row starter Scott McLaughlin took to Twitter after the race ended to say “Brother that head through the helmet was intense.” It was definitely enough to make me jump backward from the television screen watching it happen live.
Yeah, it’s wasteful and bad for the local environment, and probably could have killed an entire flock of birds, but it looks cool and makes the fans excited for the race to come, and I think that’s all the more reason to do this more often. I want to see big balls of flame at every race I go to. This is truly an IndyCar kind of thing, F1 could never.
Huh huh, fire
There was more to this race than just a few dozen giant balls of flame, though, because the racing across the so-called Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was truly stellar and at times even more explosive. Polesitter Will Power hit the wall with a cut tire early on. Onetime race leader Josef Newgarden drove full-speed into the side of Jacob Abel’s spun car, causing one of the worst-looking crashes I’ve seen in quite a few years, with thankfully both drivers walking away unscathed from a crash that would likely have been career-ending 15 years ago. In the end it was another victory for Kyle Kirkwood, holding off Pato O’Ward for his third win from the last six races, and his first win on an oval. Despite the strong field of drivers and fighting at the front, only Kirkwood and series points leader Alex Palou have won races this season.
Anyway, I, uh, really like fire.
