Indy 500 field is separated by 2.121 seconds -- and 27 years

Alex Palou, who is 26 years old, will start Sunday's 107th Indianapolis 500 from pole. Mykal McEldowney-USA TODAY SportsINDIANAPOLIS -- Drivers, start your calendars.

When the 33-car field jumps into the collective throttle to start Sunday's 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, every move they make will be measured by both the smallest and largest increments of time. Laps tracked down to the tiniest fractions of the stopwatch, those results produced by racers whose careers and lives are measured in years and decades.

"Out on the racetrack, we are separated by seconds -- actually not even seconds, barely seconds," explained Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy 500 winner who will roll off from…