Racers compete in teams of four, racing relay-style for 200 laps (50 mi (80 km)) along a quarter-mile (440 yd (400 m)) cinder track.

The events of the Little 500 were dramatized in the 1979 Academy Award-winning movie Breaking Away, which depicts a group of Bloomington townies who enter the race as the "Cutters" (from the local Indiana limestone stonecutters) and defeat the favored fraternity teams.

Four members of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority completed a qualifications run in the 1987 men's event on their 3rd and final attempt, but failed to qualify into the field of 33.

Kappa Alpha Theta has been the most successful Women's Team, qualifying for every race, winning eight times with an average finish of 3.1.

The race returned in 2021 but no spectators were allowed in the stadium due to Monroe County's, Indiana University's, and Big Ten Conference's COVID guidelines.

During his run for presidency, then-senator Barack Obama made an unannounced visit to the Little 500 women's race in 2008.

At the end of the season, teams are given the option to keep their race bikes or to return them to IUSF in exchange for their deposit.

Returned former race bikes are kept at the track and rented out to teams that lack bicycles meeting Little 500 specifications.

Several criteria must be met by a student who desires to participate as a rider in the Little 500: The Little 500 includes four events beside the race itself: Qualifications, ITTs, Miss-N-Out, and Team Pursuit.

The team that wins The Spring Series is also awarded a white jersey to wear during that year's race.

[8] 2024 Pole Sitters: Men's: Sigma Phi Epsilon Women's: Teter Like a qualification, an Individual Time Trial (ITT) is a four-lap (one mile) sprint around the track.

ITTs All-Time Record: Men's: 2005 Hans Arnesen (Alpha Tau Omega) - 02:15.78 Women's: 2018 Brooke Hannon (Melanzana) - 02:33.083 ITTs 2024 Winners: Men's: Luke Naas (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) - 02:26:61 Women's: Audrey La Valle (Kappa Alpha Theta) - 02:39.98 A standard elimination race in track cycling, each heat consists of five to eight riders, depending on the number of riders signed up for the day.

2024 Miss-N-Out Women's Finals: 1st: Audrey La Valle, Kappa Alpha Theta 2nd: Allison Edgar, Teter 3rd: Dorothy Curran-Munoz, Novus 4th: Cecilia Bell, Teter 5th: Tatum Montague, Delta Zeta 6th: Evelyn Morris, Melanzana Run under UCI rules for team pursuit in track cycling's version of the event, two teams of four race around the track.

Team Pursuit All-Time Record: Men's: 1986 Cutters - 08:38.81 Women's 10 Lap Record: 2011 Teter - 07:50.11 Women's 15 Lap Record: 2024 Kappa Alpha Theta - 10:16.95 Team Pursuit 2024 Winners: Men's: Black Key Bulls Women's: Kappa Alpha Theta Indiana University Student Foundation, as well as Riders Council, a group of students that make up the rules committee for the race, also offer fall events for students to participate in.

Thirty years later, in 2009, Smithville produced a half-hour-long documentary, Ride Fast, Turn Left, that followed four teams preparing for and competing in the race.

In February 2015, One Day in April was released which depicts two men's and two women's teams' preparation and dedication preceding the race.

A Bollywood movie Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, based on the Little 500 and an adaptation of Breaking Away, was made in the year 1992, starring Aamir Khan.