Australia's IndyCar champion Will Power has collected more than AUD $1 million for finishing a narrow second in the Indianapolis 500 – but it would have been $2.1 million more, had he won.
Power was 0.1046 seconds behind Juan Pablo Montoya as they crossed the yard-of- bricks finish line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, otherwise known as The Brickyard, two days ago – about 10 metres between the noses of the two Penske-Chevrolets.
It was the fourth closest finish in the 99 times the event called "the greatest spectacle in racing" has been run.
The awards were held the following night, with Colombian Montoya receiving US $2,449,055, or about AUD $3.140 million.
Power received US $792,555, or AUD $1.016 million.
The 34-year-old from Toowoomba had led America's major open-wheeler race five times for a total of 23 laps of the 4km (2.5-mile) superspeedway at speeds that averaged 260km/h despite almost a quarter of the laps being run under caution.
Second place was by far Power's best finish in the classic. He had been fifth twice in seven previous starts.
Montoya's victory was his second, 15 years after he won as a rookie. He led only nine laps and seized it for the last time from Power four laps from the chequered flag.
The 1912 winner, Joe Dawson, led only two laps and the late Dan Wheldon only one – the last – in 2011 after J.R. Hildebrand crashed at the last of the race's 800 turns.
The total payout on this year's Indy 500 was US $13,397,315 – or AUD $17.174 million.
The other two Australians in the race, Ryan Briscoe and James Davison, collected the best part of AUD $1 million between them after starting at the back of the 33-car field in Honda-powered cars qualified by other drivers.
Briscoe received US $368,805 (AUD $472,770) for finishing 12th for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport.
Davison completed less than 60 per cent of the 800km (500-mile) distance for Dale Coyne Racing and was classified 27th but still picked up US $344,055 (AUD $441,044).
Brisbane-born New Zealander Scott Dixon collected US $615,805 for his fourth-place finish and taking pole position (worth US $100,000) ahead of second-fastest qualifier Power.
The prize money in America's top racing dwarfs that in other series around the world, including Formula One – although F1 teams reap huge payouts based on season performance.
However, while the dollars are enormous in the US the drivers would have to split the prize money with their teams – perhaps giving up half or more of it, depending on their contracts.
One of Roger Penske's NASCAR drivers, Joey Logano, collected US $1,581,453 for winning the biggest race in that stock car series, the Daytona 500 in Florida, in February.