Overview The Little 500 is Indiana University's relay bike race, run by teams of four students over 200 laps of a quarter-mile cinder track for the men and 100 for the women, and it is the race behind Breaking Away, the 1979 film that won an Academy Award. It runs each April at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, and the Student Foundation bills the weekend as the World's Greatest College Weekend. Howard S. Wilcox Jr. of the IU Foundation started it in 1951 and modeled it on the Indianapolis 500, which his father had won in 1919; the women's race followed in 1988. The 2026 races were the 75th men's and 38th women's. The IU Student Foundation runs it, and the race was founded to raise scholarship money for IU undergraduates working their way through college. On site Every team rides the same standardized single-speed, coaster-brake bike, supplied by the organizers, and riders swap it in an exchange zone that runs 16 feet either side of the start and finish line. The race-day grid is the fastest 33 teams in each race from qualifications. The Spring Series leads into it on the same track, with individual time trials, Miss N Out elimination races and team pursuit. A rookie has to log at least 17.5 hours of track practice by race week to compete. Both races stream live on YouTube, and tickets are mobile only. Audience Teams ride for fraternities, sororities, residence halls and independent clubs, and rookies go through a fall ride school with skills clinics, seminars and an online exam before they reach the track in spring. The Student Foundation counts more than 25,000 fans coming to Bloomington each April, and in 2025 the stadium held 18,920 while the broadcast drew more than 76,000 views on YouTube and IU's own channels. Track record An all-freshman residence hall team, Willkie Sprint, won the first women's race in 1988. Barack Obama dropped in on the women's race in 2008. The race had raised more than $2 million in scholarships by 2019, and in 2025 its Students Helping Students campaign raised over $60,000 for student mental health. Brand presence Coca-Cola, Pizza X and the Indiana University Bookstore were among more than 15 sponsors on the 2026 race page. Packages include a title sponsorship, a turn sponsorship on the track and a dual team sponsorship that backs two teams.