Watch 2015 Indy 500 Live Online: Start Time, Streaming Video Link For Indianapolis 500

Racing fans can watch the 2015 Indy 500 live online and see who takes the checkered flag in the great start-of-summer tradition.

This will be the 99th running of the race, which is set on Memorial Day weekend and marks the unofficial start of the summer sports season. The Indianapolis 500 takes place on Sunday, May 24, from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Start time is 12:15 p.m.

Fans who watch the Indy 500 live online will see what should be a wide open race. There are a handful of drivers with a legitimate shot at taking the checkered flag, including Helio Castroneves who is looking for his fourth win to join the race’s most exclusive club of winners.

“A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears, three giants of American motorsport, are the only four-time winners of the 500 and the aging group has not welcomed a new member since 1991,” Reuters noted.

There is some other drama going into this year’s race. The practice round saw an unusual number of crashes, with cars often flying off the track. Over five days of practice, three Chevrolet cars ended up upside down.

Chevrolet Motorsports Vice President Jim Campbell said engineers were trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

“One of the drivers had a cut tire and lost control after the tire went down,” Campbell says. “And the car stayed on the ground the entire time, based on our telemetry data. It was only after he got into the wall when the car got up.”

For racing fans who actually live in Indianapolis who don’t have a ticket to sit in the stands, watching the Indy 500 live online might be the only way to see it. As Indy Star writer Gregg Doyel notes, the race has a controversial blackout in the city it calls home.

“You can watch the Indy 500 on live TV just about anywhere in the world, and everywhere in America. Everywhere but this one spot that we – and the Indy 500 – call home.”

“Since 1951 it’s been blacked out in the Indianapolis area, which I realize isn’t news to most of you. But you do realize that’s preposterous, yes? The blackout is all about business and attendance and butts in the seats, understood, but it’s preposterous.”

The reason it’s preposterous? Doyel notes that Indiana taxpayers helped fund $100 million in bonds for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Fans who want to watch the Indy 500 live online will be able to find live streaming video from the race’s official website at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

[Image via Getty Images/Chris Graythen]