As fans ran behind the Black Key Bulls during its victory lap, Queen’s “We Are the Champions” played over the loudspeakers at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The celebration stood in contrast to a race that ended with a chaotic finish.
Black Key Bulls secured the 75th men’s Little 500 under a yellow flag finish on Saturday, clinching a third consecutive title in a race ultimately shaped by a late crash.
For nearly 200 laps, the race remained wide open.
Teams like CUTTERS, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Black Key Bulls repeatedly traded the lead, while Cinzano Cycling and Bears Cycling lingered close behind, never allowing the front to separate.
But with two laps remaining, Black Key Bulls was buried in the middle of the pack, out of position as the race barreled toward a sprint finish.
Then everything changed.
On the opening turn of lap 199, Chi Alpha went for an exchange and, when rejoining the pack, collided with CUTTERS. The crash at the front of the race sent riders to the track and turned a sprint into chaos.
Senior Black Key Bulls rider Paul Lee was on the track when it happened.
“When I saw them go down, I was just thinking, ‘I’ve got to get around this and make sure I don’t go down myself,’” Lee said. “It’s hard to believe.”
Lee avoided the crash and pushed through the confusion as the field scrambled behind him. With the race placed under caution because of a yellow flag, Lee found himself in front and secured the win for Black Key Bulls.
“I mean, it’s honestly incredible,” Lee said. “I really can’t comprehend it. We were on our back foot, chasing them, and then they went down — that’s bike racing at the end of the day.”
For much of the race, the eventual winner had been in the mix but not in control like in the previous two years. The constant lead changes and tight pack made it difficult for any team to break away.
That made the final laps even more unpredictable.
“I didn’t know if Paul was going to be able to come around — he was too far back,” Scott Mueller, a member of the reformed 2006 Black Key Bulls group, said. “Then the whole field went down. No one saw it coming, and he was perfectly positioned.”
Just laps earlier, a third straight title seemed unlikely.
“It seemed like we didn’t have a chance at lap 197,” alumni rider Jack Handlos said. “Then a miracle happened. Top teams crashed out, and we were able to stay clear, come around and make history with the three-peat.”
In a tight race defined by constant pressure, shifting packs and split-second decisions, Black Key Bulls’ cyclists once again found themselves in the right place at the right time — even when it looked like they wouldn’t be.
In 2024, the Black Key Bulls came back to win after Sigma Alpha Epsilon held a 22-second lead on lap 120, while last year the team won after holding a commanding 30-second lead with 20 laps to go.
This year’s result capped a run of three championships earned in different ways, but all with the same result — Black Key Bulls first across the finish line.
“People will say it’s a cheap way to win,” Mueller said, “but hey, that’s racing.”
