Indy 500 car catches fire in scary scene as Alexander Rossi exits furious

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi started the 109th running of the famous race promisingly before his gearbox caught on fire while pitting. 

The race was full of early carnage: Kyle Larson crashed early and exited for the NASCAR Cup Series. Scott McLaughin called his crash on the formation lap "the worst momenr" of his life.  

Rossi flew into the pit spot on the 75th lap, and a routine refueling turned fiery. "Oh fire, there’s fire all over the car," the FOX broadcast beckoned. "Fuel had gone out, and fire down on pit lane. That’s something you never want to say.”

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Rossi sprinted out of his No. 20 car. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver took a few paces, realized his race was over, and pelted his gloves into the ground in disgust.

"It’s always a terrible situation, and it’s so disappointing," a calmer Rossi admitted to FOX during the broadcast. "It was such a phenomenal racecar. The team made a great decision to stay out there when that first split happened with the strategy."

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"Everything that we were doing on the 20 Java House stand was awesome. That’s what’s so painful about this place is you have to have so many things go right and it’s just disappointing because it’s another opportunity gone but, that’s the way it goes.”

The FOX broadcast initially surmised the issue was a fuel leak, but the 33-year-old Rossi clarified the issue once his race was officially finished. 

"I don’t know the full details, I just know the gearbox was starting to go up in temp a lot. I don’t know if oil was starting to come out or what…it was a gearbox issue."

Rossi was not the only driver to see his race end early: Robert Schwarzmann, Sting Ray Robb, and NASCAR's Kyle Larson – on double duty — didn't make it through the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

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Larson's crash may prove to be a blessing in disguise for the former Cup Series winner. He risked missing Sunday night's Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina, due a weather delaying the start of the Indy 500. He was seen exiting the course in a private helicopter.

Rossi has yet to capture another Indy 500 title since breaking through with his famous 2016 win as a rookie. The No. 20 car driver has eight career wins in the circuit.