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Hot-Lap Bling
- Updated: May 22, 2016
The Indianapolis 500 Champion of Champions ring for 2016. [Allan Brewer Photo]
by Allan Brewer
It has a certain ring to it.
The Indianapolis 500 champion gets a whole lot of cool stuff for crossing the bricks first on Memorial Day: the pace car becomes his (or hers), a big trophy goes in his lap for pictures, and a Brinks truck backs up to his house and starts unloading money like it is going out of style.
Plus, the champ and his crew get something better than a belt: a ring.
Ken Keltner of Herff Jones ringmakers brought the replica Indy 500 Championship ring to the Speedway on Sunday and showed it off to onlookers on a bright sunny day almost as brilliant as his diamonds.
The Champion of Champions ring for 2016 was redesigned with over 30 diamonds circling an engraved “Indianapolis Motor Speedway” One Hundredth Running logo. On one side of the ring is the date, on the other is the owner’s name above two crossed checkered flags.
The rings can be made in various metals: stainless steel, extreme silver, 10 karat or 14 karat gold (yellow or white), with a choice of 1.56 carat cubic zirconia or diamonds.
The diamond rings vary in price from $4,920 to $9,000. For cost conscious race fans, the cubic zirconia models range in price from $760 to $4,841.
According to Keltner there will be only 500 of the replica rings available to the public. Each is certified authentic as a piece of Indianapolis 500 history. There’s also an identical design on a pendant for the ladies whose hands are already full of bling.
Allan Brewer covers IndyCar and other racing series for RacingNation.com. Allan is a fixture at the race track, armed with keyboard and camera, eager to take you inside open-wheel sport where the news is being made. He comes to RacingNation.com with multiple professional awards from the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AWWRBA). He began his motorsports writing career at FastMachines.com; and solely published IndyProRacer.com and A1GP.com, two award-winning websites for open-wheel racing’s junior leagues, prior to becoming IndyCar correspondent at Motorsport.com. He has also covered Formula 1, NASCAR, Formula E, the Indy Lights Series and its predecessor Indy Pro Series, NHRA events and major auto shows. His major interest outside of competition is automotive technology and its application to the cars we drive every day on the public highways.