It’s almost like “Back to the Future” this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the roar of engines racing around the hallowed oval will usher in the month of May.

A Verizon IndyCar Series open test for all full-season veteran drivers – and a certain three-time Indianapolis 500 winner returning to the sport for May – is set for Monday. It will be followed on Tuesday by a day set aside for Indy 500 rookie orientation and refresher testing for veterans out of an Indy car for at least a year. Wednesday is reserved for manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda to test with a select number of drivers.

The April 30-May 2 testing dates rekindle memories of days gone by at IMS, to a time when the track opened for practice on May 1 and the race ran on May 30 for a true “Thirty Days in May.” As fond as those recollections may be for those with a historic perspective, the drivers participating in the testing this week are more concerned with the here and now.

For most of those testing, it will be the first opportunity to drive the 2018 Indy car with its universal aero kit at IMS in preparation for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil on Sunday, May 27 (11 a.m. ET, ABC and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network).

Among the eager to turn a wheel is Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, who won “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” as a rookie two years ago.

“It’s a whole new car, so there’s a massive test list that we’re going to try and get through,” Rossi said. “I think it’s just about finding the things that are good and the things that are bad, and the things that will carry over from years past.

“It’s no secret that we’ve had really good cars there, so I think everyone on the team is a little bit apprehensive about if it’s all going to translate.”

Andretti Autosport has fielded three of the last four Indy 500 winners in Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), Rossi (2016) and Takuma Sato (2017). As Rossi admitted, though, that was with the previous generation car.

James Hinchcliffe sat on the Indy 500 pole in 2016 but, like Rossi, isn’t certain if past heroics guarantee future success. The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver is glad he’ll have three teammates for the race, with full-season rookie Robert Wickens joined by one-off driver Jay Howard and part-time series driver Jack Harvey (in a collaboration with Meyer Shank Racing) in the SPM stable.

“It’s so new for everybody,” Hinchcliffe said of the new car. “We’re all starting from scratch, we’re all starting from ground zero.

“For us, (the testing) is just to log miles. We’ve got four cars in the race this year, which is a first for us. I think it’s a great year to have four cars because of all the extra data that we can gather with the new car. Ultimately just learn as much as we can. We’ve had a lot of really bad tests this year that we turned into really solid race weekends. We’re hoping to have a good test that we turn into an even better race weekend.”

Like SPM, Team Penske is upping its ante to four cars for the month. Helio Castroneves seeks to join one of the most elite groups in all of sports if he can win May 27 and join legends A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as the only four-time winners of the event. Castroneves – who will also race in the INDYCAR Grand Prix on the IMS road course on Saturday, May 12 (3:30 p.m., ABC and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network) – will test with the full-season veterans on Monday.

Tuesday’s rookie orientation and veteran refresher features the return to INDYCAR of Danica Patrick. The first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500 and the highest female finisher in race history is closing her groundbreaking career at this year’s race, driving the No. 13 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing. Patrick is also scheduled to see track time during Wednesday’s manufacturer test day.

Monday’s open test and Tuesday’s rookie/refresher day both run from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and will stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com and the INDYCAR YouTube channel (youtube.com/indycar). Kevin Lee and Dave Furst will call the action from the broadcast booth, with Jake Query and Katie Hargitt reporting in pit lane.

There will be no stream of Wednesday’s manufacturer test (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) but all three days are open free to the public, with viewing locations at the IMS Museum parking lot, Turn 2 viewing mounds and South Terrace grandstands.

For ticket information on the INDYCAR Grand Prix and rel="noopener noreferrer" Indianapolis 500, visit IMS.com.