INDIANAPOLIS — There was something different about the 100th anniversary running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it because it had been 25 years since I last walked around the speedway and covered the race.

But there was definitely something different.

The Indianapolis 500 had become the second best race on Memorial Day Weekend. It had been more than a decade since the speedway had hosted a full house.

But with a crowd estimated at nearly 250,000, it appears that once again the “Greatest Spectacle in Sports” has taken over as the king of motorsports on the final weekend in May.

In fact, although I didn’t see much of the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte Sunday night, it looked as if you could almost pick your seat in the stands. That may be bad news for NASCAR fans because the IZOD IndyCar Series is coming to life and if it can pull even a small percentage of fans away from America’s other top series, then it should be very happy.

According to those who have been watching the Indianapolis 500 for many years, Sunday’s crowd was the biggest since about 1995. That was the year before the big split in the series that left open-wheel racing in America in a very dark period for a very long time.

I am sure that the significance of Sunday’s race had something to do with the large crowd, but for those who came to help celebrate the 100th year, and for those watching at home, they got to see a pretty spectacular finish to what was a very interesting race.

The crowd roared to life when Danica Patrick took the lead late in the race and was still out front with 12 laps remaining before having to pit for fuel. The speculation around whether or not that was Patrick’s final 500 as she may or may not jump to NASCAR full-time in 2012, kept the race in the spotlight the entire month.

And when Patrick was replaced by rookie JR Hildebrand, things got even more exciting and intense. After all, Hildebrand was one turn away from becoming the first “real” rookie to win the 500 since George Souders in 1927.

Even after Hildebrand unexpectedly hit the wall coming out of Turn 4, it appeared that he might just have enough momentum to carry him to the finish line ahead of the rest of the field.

But alas, a man who had won the race before, but would be out of a job come midnight because of a one-race contract, passed him and created a stir that will be felt for months to come.

Dan Wheldon’s victory was exciting, but it was also met with much joy because he is a well-liked individual and his owner, Bryan Herta is a fan favorite as well.

There was much to like about this 500. The IndyCar Series has a lot of new faces, who have personalities that translate well to the fans and to multimedia.

Perhaps something that was lost in all the post race exhileration was the fact that a pair of Americans finished second and third.

One of the knocks on Indianapolis and the series itself was the invasion of the foreign drivers decades ago. The common race fan doesn’t necessarily like to follow drivers they have a hard time understanding or pronouncing their names.

But with the likes of Hildebrand and Patrick, American open-wheel race fans can relate and are willing to plunk down their hard-earned money to come watch the race.

It was nice to see the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filled with race fans, celebrities and a full field of talented drivers.

Perhaps the next 100 years of racing at IMS will be as spectacular as Sunday’s edition.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com