The Marble Indianapolis 500 (also known as the Marble Indy 500) was a marble race held during the month of May activities ahead of the 109th Running edition of the Indianapolis 500, on which this race is based. It was announced in a new channel banner following the end of the Marble Survival Season 2 alongside the much-awaited 24 Minutes of Le Marble, part of a series of marble races based on real-world racing events, and Marbula One.
33 racers, the most in a single JMR race since the first rounds of the Marble Survival 100 the previous year, participated in this race. All 32 Marble League teams were represented by one marble each, while Candy, team captain of the Jawbreakers, also participated in this event, the first time in just four years.
Smoggy took pole position and won the race, followed by Nereid and Mallard. The podium winners, along with 4th place Snowy, are the only marbles to have finished the full 44 laps. All other marbles were lapped, with Slimelime and Radiance lapped twice, while Saucer DNF'd after bouncing off the track at the start of Lap 4. Candy finished 18th.
Venue[]
Similar to the 24 Minutes of Le Marble, the race was held at a modified marble circuit based on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first oval circuit in JMR history. The track, as with many Marbula One tracks as well as Le Marble, has a conveyor belt, which also doubles as a starting grid mechanism to accomodate the 33 grid spots and enable a rolling start. The original starting grid mechanism is still part of the track, but is only used to release marbles during Q1 of qualifying.
The most notable change is that while both short straight sections and all four corners are banked, there are chutes at the middle of the short straight which help keep the marbles on the track by making them bounce slightly. Controversially, the track runs in reverse, meaning it is run clockwise rather than counterclockwise in the real-world circuit. Greg Woods explained: "Why not? It's in marble form."
Cosmetically speaking, the grandstand used in all Marbula One tracks and Le Marble was used again, this time separate from the track itself, hence a separate lane parallel with the last long straight. Unlike most JMR tracks, small sticker of a brick surface was placed near the finish line of the circuit, paying homage to the Yard of Bricks seen on the actual one, albeit more wider.
Unfortunately, many of the well-known traditions of the Indianapolis 500 were omitted in this version, including the performance of "Back home again in Indiana", the starting command, and the celebrations at Victory Lane, the latter of which was replaced by the Marbula One-style celebration of marbles standing on the podium with Champagne instead of buttermilk. Only Greg Woods acknowledges at least the Victory Lane and buttermilk.
Rules[]
All 32 active Marble League teams and one former ML team, the Jawbreakers, entered the race weekend, represented by one marble each.
Qualifying[]
The qualifying format was similar to the one used since Marbula One Season 3.
- ROUND 1: All 33 marbles got one flying lap to set a time. The top 12 marbles advaced to the next round, while the remaining 21 marbles took their respective grid positions for the race, based on their lap time.
- ROUND 2: The top 12 marbles from the previous round participated in a 5-lap race-off, with grid positions based on the results of Round 1 (e.g. the fastest time in Round 1 started in pole position). Once the race-off concluded, all marbles took their respective grid positions for the race, based on their finishing position in this race-off.
Race[]
Like Le Marble and Marbula E, the race distance is determined by time instead of a set number of laps, in this case, 500 seconds, or 8 minutes and 20 seconds + whichever time is left to finish the current lap. However, the on-screen graphics treated as if it has a set number of laps, which is 44. The marble that completes the most laps, followed by the fastest to complete those, wins the race. Unlike Marbula One races and Le Marble, all marbles start from the conveyor belt to perform a rolling start, running as soon as the conveyor belt starts moving.
Results[]
Qualifying[]
| The marble advanced to the 2nd round of qualifying. | |
| The marble was eliminated from qualifying and had their grid position set for the race. |
Round 1[]
| Pos. | Marble | Team | Time | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saucer | Purple Rockets | 8.863 | - |
| 2 | Smoggy | Hazers | 8.886 | +0.023 |
| 3 | Mallard | Green Ducks | 8.897 | +0.034 |
| 4 | Indie | Indigo Stars | 8.910 | +0.047 |
| 5 | Sheep | Wolfpack | 8.947 | +0.084 |
| 6 | Momo | Team Momo | 8.974 | +0.111 |
| 7 | Spade | Black Jacks | 9.014 | +0.151 |
| 8 | Nereid | Oceanics | 9.043 | +0.180 |
| 9 | Minty Swirl | Minty Maniacs | 9.049 | +0.186 |
| 10 | Rezzy | Raspberry Racers | 9.060 | +0.197 |
| 11 | Thunder | Thunderbolts | 9.074 | +0.211 |
| 12 | Yellow | Mellow Yellow | 9.104 | +0.241 |
| 13 | Candy | Jawbreakers | 9.121 | +0.258 |
| 14 | Mocha | Chocolatiers | 9.141 | +0.278 |
| 15 | Speedy | Savage Speeders | 9.147 | +0.284 |
| 16 | Clutter | Balls of Chaos | 9.148 | +0.285 |
| 17 | Dash | Turtle Sliders | 9.180 | +0.317 |
| 18 | Pinky Panther | Pinkies | 9.213 | +0.350 |
| 19 | Cerulean | Kobalts | 9.215 | +0.352 |
| 20 | Radiance | Solar Flares | 9.229 | +0.366 |
| 21 | Tarocco | O'rangers | 9.262 | +0.399 |
| 22 | Glimmer | Shining Swarm | 9.283 | +0.420 |
| 23 | Ecto | Team Plasma | 9.300 | +0.437 |
| 24 | Sheet | Gliding Glaciers | 9.324 | +0.461 |
| 25 | Rima | Team Primary | 9.346 | +0.483 |
| 26 | Rojo Uno | Rojo Rollers | 9.348 | +0.485 |
| 27 | Bumble | Bumblebees | 9.381 | +0.518 |
| 28 | Eve | Midnight Wisps | 9.399 | +0.536 |
| 29 | Quasar | Team Galactic | 9.646 | +0.783 |
| 30 | Hop | Jungle Jumpers | 10.485 | +1.622 |
| 31 | Snowy | Snowballs | 10.652 | +1.789 |
| 32 | Slimelime | Limers | 11.344 | +2.481 |
| 33 | Red Eye | Crazy Cat's Eyes | 11.386 | +2.523 |
Round 2[]
| Pos. | Marble | Team | Laps | Time | Delta | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smoggy | Hazers | 5 | 52.11 | - | 2 |
| 2 | Saucer | Purple Rockets | 5 | 53.28 | +1.17 | 1 |
| 3 | Mallard | Green Ducks | 5 | 53.74 | +1.63 | 3 |
| 4 | Momo | Team Momo | 5 | 54.14 | +2.03 | 6 |
| 5 | Indie | Indigo Stars | 5 | 54.65 | +2.54 | 4 |
| 6 | Spade | Black Jacks | 5 | 54.66 | +2.55 | 7 |
| 7 | Minty Swirl | Minty Maniacs | 5 | 54.84 | +2.73 | 9 |
| 8 | Yellow | Mellow Yellow | 5 | 54.95 | +2.84 | 12 |
| 9 | Thunder | Thunderbolts | 5 | 55.39 | +3.28 | 11 |
| 10 | Sheep | Wolfpack | 5 | 55.41 | +3.30 | 5 |
| 11 | Nereid | Oceanics | 5 | 55.87 | +3.76 | 8 |
| 12 | Rezzy | Raspberry Racers | 5 | 57.22 | +5.11 | 10 |