2011 Indy 500 | Page 5 | FerrariChat

2011 Indy 500

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by SMS, May 4, 2011.

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  1. URY914

    URY914 Formula Junior

    Feb 17, 2004
    608
    Temple Terrace FL
    Full Name:
    Paul
    Dark horse is Paul Tracy. Again.
     
  2. ferraripete

    ferraripete F1 World Champ

    i am a long time pt fan. i will be rooting for him. in his day, he was a very talented racer. i would love to see his team give him a fast race car.
     
  3. Cornbread

    Cornbread Formula Junior

    Mar 21, 2009
    590
    Bham/Maple Valley WA
    Yep.

    I would like to see Servia, Tracy, Bell in the top spots.

    Tracy has already won one. :D
     
  4. Whisky

    Whisky Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 27, 2006
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    Upper Great Plains
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    The original Fernando
    Damn.

    He doesn't DESERVE anything, he needs to earn it.

    The only guy I would ever say DESERVES another win is Mario, and he tried like hell to earn it.

    Kinda like MS, right?
     
  5. ZUL8TR

    ZUL8TR Formula 3

    Feb 12, 2008
    1,354
    Fishers, IN
    Maybe because she's a Brit and a woman, but Pippa is the most polite driver I have ever heard on the scanner.


    I do have to say it was a very dramatic and fun qualification weekend. The rain bursts contributed to all of that. IMS worked hard to dry out the track each time. Toss in all the small teams excelling while the big teams struggled.

    Definitely looking forward to the race.
     
  6. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
    91,702
    will Andretti buy a seat for RHR and/or Conway like they were planning on doing for Danica?

    those guys are great drivers and will take a big points hit for missing the race.
     
  7. URY914

    URY914 Formula Junior

    Feb 17, 2004
    608
    Temple Terrace FL
    Full Name:
    Paul
    With spec cars, tires and engines how can the top drivers/teams not make the show???
     
  8. Whisky

    Whisky Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 27, 2006
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    The original Fernando
    In this situation, how good you are means NOTHING, it's how much money you or your sponsors bring to the team that decides if you buy a ride in or not.

    Back in like 93 or 94~, neither Penske car made the show, they went home.
     
  9. SMS

    SMS F1 Veteran

    Jan 7, 2004
    6,772
    Indy
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    Bill S.
    Only 2.5 seconds separate all 33 cars. The closest field in 500 history. With constantly changing conditions and limited track time, setup changes might have been a crap shoot.

    Still, it is amazing that series regulars, like 5th in points Conway are watching the race.
     
  10. SMS

    SMS F1 Veteran

    Jan 7, 2004
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    Bill S.
     
  11. solofast

    solofast Formula 3

    Oct 8, 2007
    1,773
    Indianapolis
    When the prelude to the race was a month long there was a lot more practice. EVERY team was honed to a fine edge. The cars were the best each team could make them and they had time to work on setups for every condition. Yes, I know this is a close field, but that's more a result of the spec cars than it is the ability of each team to fine tune them.

    This year there has been a lot of rain and the amount of practice time has been resticted even more. I'd like to see them go back to opening the track for almost the entire month.

    Before, every team was bringing their absolute best to pole day. If they hit the wall going for the pole, there was a week to gather it up and still make the show. Now, if you bend the car on pole day that car is out of the race. Drivers can't push it to the absolute limit, because if you go over the line your race is over. And yes, I know some of the bigger teams have a "t" car, but some teams don't.

    This format is supposed to save teams and engine providers money, and I'm sure it does, but it also takes away from the practice and general level or preparedness that helped make Indy special.

    Now there is more practice and more prep than a typical weekend event, but it isn't at as high a level. When you factor in the loss of practice an qualifying time that the weather interferred with this year it is even worse.

    Bring back all of May in Indy!!!
     
  12. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
    91,702
    pretty sure RHR brought the DHL deal with him.

    Conway's 4th in points. missing a race really hurts that standing. IIRC, there's $1mm for winning the championship.
     
  13. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
    91,702
  14. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    Feb 27, 2004
    15,924
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    Jim Pernikoff
    Well, if A.J. really can't afford to run Junqueira's car, I guess a buyout might be inevitable, but Bruno will really get screwed.

    Frankly, the fair way would be to put the DHL car in the race but to then have Junquiera drive it......
     
  15. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Dec 6, 2002
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    Bubba
    I think AJ would enjoy counting Micheal's money.:D :D :D......all other issues aside, but I agree too you should have to drive your way into the field, not buy it.
     
  16. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #116 BigTex, May 23, 2011
    Last edited: May 23, 2011
    He didn't say he 'couldn't afford it" but only it was self funded....he's been known to unload two or even three entries/numbers off the truck.

    You have to remember the prize money is huge, way back into 6th or 8th finish, so it's called "gambing" IIRC....:D
     
  17. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
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    IIRC, the prize money for finishing 33rd will cover expenses for the month unless you wad up a car. so while AJ may have been footing the bill, he would likely have been "reimbursed" by the speedway :)

    I do agree about racing your way in, but the rules allow for this type of stuff, and if I was Andretti I'd be doing this too.
     
  18. TrentS

    TrentS Formula Junior

    Nov 22, 2005
    789
    South Florida
  19. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Bubba
    Most of his cars DO leave wadded up, tho...........
     
  20. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    Jun 30, 2007
    91,702
    true :D
     
  21. Cornbread

    Cornbread Formula Junior

    Mar 21, 2009
    590
    Bham/Maple Valley WA
    Uber-lame.

    Thats twice in three years for Bruno.

    On the other hand it may keep him alive for another year.

    A Foyt already cost him is back. If any of you have talked to him since that day, he still can't twist his neck worth a sheite.
     
  22. SMS

    SMS F1 Veteran

    Jan 7, 2004
    6,772
    Indy
    Full Name:
    Bill S.
    I was looking up records on team/car/driver post qualifying deals. I recall a story about a guy in the 1930's who's car failed to qualify, so he pledged to "Buy the entire field".

    IMS said he couild not do that, but still until today there is no rule prohibiting buying into the starting lineup like we see from time to time.

    I can't find the story, but here is a nice timeline I came across:


    -- 1911: Ray Harroun wins Indy's first 500-mile race, the “International Sweep-stakes.” He becomes the first to use a rearview mirror, and the race is the first to have a pace car. There are 40 entries.


    -- 1912: Joe Dawson beats a 24-car field for a $20,000 prize in the same year that Boston's Fenway Park opens.


    -- 1913: For the third time in a four-year run, the pole is determined by a draw. First-timer Jules Goux wins the race in a Peugeot.


    -- 1914: René Thomas ups the 500's speed average to 82.474 mph with his victory. Chicago's Wrigley Field opens.


    -- 1915: Qualifying is held for the first time, and Howdy Wilcox wins the pole, but he's just as happy with the diamond stickpin he receives from car owner Harry Stutz in a bet. Ralph DePalma beats Dario Resta in a battle of Italian-born drivers.


    -- 1916: The event is cut to 300 miles to preserve fuel and tires for World War I. Dario Resta wins. Ralph DePalma sits out after demanding a $5,000 appearance fee.


    -- 1917-18: No races are held during the war.


    -- 1919: Howdy Wilcox, the first to break the 100-mph mark in qualifying, starts second, finishes first.


    -- 1920: The four-lap qualifying procedure debuts. Gaston Chevrolet-the youngest Chevrolet brother, age 23-wins the 500. He dies in a crash in the season's last race.


    -- 1921: After mechanical trouble forces Tommy Milton to start 20th of 23 drivers, he scores his first of two 500 wins.


    -- 1922: Jimmy Murphy, one of only two Americans to win a European Grand Prix in an American car (Dan Gurney is the other), is the first to win at Indy from the pole. He uses a Duesenberg.


    -- 1923: Riding mechanics are no longer mandatory, and three supercharged cars from Mercedes enter the race. Tommy Milton wins the most competitive of the early races (28 lead changes among six drivers), although blistered hands require him to turn over the wheel to Howdy Wilcox to complete the race.


    -- 1924: Joe Boyer leads early until supercharger trouble appears to end his race in the opening laps. But he takes over the Duesenberg of L.L. Corum after 110 laps and goes on to win. This is the first of two occasions when co-winners are named. Three Indy winners (Boyer, Dario Resta and Jimmy Murphy) are killed in crashes in a two-week period later in the season.


    -- 1925: Peter DePaolo becomes the first to win the race in less than five hours.


    -- 1926: Ohio-born West Coast dirt-track star Frank Lockhart gets his chance in a rear-drive Miller when Peter Kreis contracts pneumonia. He wins the rain-shortened race.


    ---1927: For the third time in four years, a Duesenberg beats a field of mostly Miller cars. George Souders, in his first 500, takes the lead with 51 laps remaining and wins a few months before Eddie Rickenbacker buys the track.


    ---1928: The race is held a month after Frank Lockhart, the 1926 winner, was killed trying to break the world land-speed record in Florida on the Daytona Beach sand. The win goes to a rookie, Louis Meyer.


    ---1929: Meyer is poised to win again but stalls his car on pit road. Ray Keech wins the race in a Miller. The Speedway opens a golf course on its property as an additional source of income. The silent movie Speedway is filmed.


    ---1930: The grid expands, with 38 cars qualified. The class of the field and race winner is 23-year-old Billy Arnold, a last-minute replacement for Harry Hartz, recovering from a knee injury. Flag colors change, with green meaning “start” rather than “one lap to go.”


    ---1931: The race has a record 70 entries (not to be confused with starters). One is a car for fast qualifier Arnold, the baby-faced driver who leads 155 consecutive laps before a wheel detaches in a crash and kills an 11-year-old boy in a nearby home. Arnold and his riding mechanic are hurt. Louis Schneider, a former motorcycle police officer, wins the 500.


    ---1932: Another record number of entries (72) includes Fred Frame, who wins from the 27th starting spot in a car he didn't expect to be driving after Cliff Durant decided not to compete.


    ---1933: Meyer's second win comes in a year when ticket prices and the purse drop significantly during the Great Depression. Five men lose their lives in the event. Howdy Wilcox II, who was second the year before, is not allowed to start because he has diabetes.


    ---1934: The 10-lap qualifying run is in place for a second year. With a national fuel-supply shortage, competitors are allowed a maximum of 45 gallons. The size of the field shrinks from 42 to 33 cars for safety reasons. Bill Cummings claims the victory.

    ---1935: For the first year, helmets are mandatory, and green/yellow safety lights are installed around the track. Fuel allowance is reduced again, to 42.5 gallons. Rex Mays, 22, becomes the youngest pole winner. Kelly Petillo wins the race.


    ---1936: A new outer wall is installed; it sits 90 degrees in relation to the banked track surface, rather than being installed on the flat ground outside. Asphalt is applied to deteriorating portions of the track. The inside wall is removed. Meyer wins for a then-record third time, receives the new Borg-Warner Trophy and chugs buttermilk to start a tradition.


    ---1937: The fuel limit is lifted, and speeds climb. Jimmy Snyder wins the pole, and his run includes the first lap at the track in excess of 130 mph. The first mid-engine car (a Lee Oldfield-entered, V16 Marmon-powered machine) is entered, although it doesn't make a qualifying attempt. Wilbur Shaw wins his first of three.


    ---1938: Floyd Roberts makes his only stop of the race on lap 105. Per the rules of the day that mandated that drivers had to get out of their cars during pit stops, he exits the car briefly, then hops back in and goes on to a three-minute, 35-second victory over Shaw.


    ---1939: One of the coolest cars in Speedway history, a Maserati, starts a string of unparalleled successes. Shaw leads 51 laps in what would one year later become the only car to win consecutive 500s.


    ---1940: Amid concern that the intensifying war in Europe will lead to the race's cancelation, Shaw takes his third victory in four years, this one under caution for rain.


    ---1941: Following a morning explosion and fire in the garage area, Shaw looks to be on his way to winning a record fourth 500 and an unprecedented third in a row—until a wheel collapses and sends him into a turn-one spin. He suffers a back injury. Mauri Rose drives his Wetteroth to victory lane, but his co-driver, Floyd Davis, doesn't join him. They have a rift that continues for years.


    ---1942-1945: The race is not held during World War II. All automobile racing is banned in the United States during the war due to rationing.


    ---1946: The race resumes for the first time in five years, after World War II. Fifty-six entries mark the dawn of the new era of the Speedway, an overgrown property rescued by Terre Haute, Ind., businessman Tony Hulman. Cliff Bergere wins the pole in the same Wetteroth machine (this one powered by an Offenhauser) that Floyd Roberts drove to the win in 1938. George Robson wins the race in the No. 16 of Thorne Engineering, an Adams-Sparks machine.


    ---1947: A protest over the Speedway’s perceived low-paying purse comes from a new racers’ group, the American Society of Professional Auto Racing. This leads to a delay finalizing a starting lineup, and only 30 cars start the race. Mauri Rose’s second Indy win is a story in itself: His Lou Moore teammate, rookie Bill Holland, misunderstands the on-track situation, and he slows down in the Blue Crown Spark Plug Special—a Deidt-Offy—and waves Rose by on lap 193 because he mistakenly thinks Rose is a lap down.


    ---1948: The supercharged Novi engine’s safety comes into question, and popular driver Ralph Hepburn dies in a crash while using one in time trials. Duke Nalon steps into another of the Kurtis chassis and becomes known as the man who tamed the Novi. Nalon qualifies faster than pole winner Rex Mays but starts 11th as a second-day qualifier. He gives the Novi its best finish (third), but it could have been better. His crew failed to fuel his car fully during his one planned stop on lap 102, causing him to pit again. Teammates Rose and Holland finish 1-2 again.


    ---1949: Nalon edges Mays for the pole, giving the Novi its first and only 1-2 start, but the two drivers can’t hold the spots. Nalon’s blazingly fast car suffers rear axle failure, slams the outside wall and bursts into a trail of fire. Mays retires 25 laps later with engine failure. Holland finally bags his first win, followed home by rookie Johnnie Parsons in the first televised 500.

    ---1950: The 1949 finishing order is reversed, with Parsons winning in a Kurtis-Offy and Holland second in a Deidt-Offy. Thus, Holland’s initial four-year run includes three second-place finishes and a win. At the track that month is actor Clark Gable, shooting To Please a Lady. This is also the first year the FIA includes the 500 as part of the World Championship of Drivers, a practice that continued through 1960.


    ---1951: Lee Wallard wins in the Belanger Motors Kurtis-Offy and becomes the first driver to complete the 500 miles in less than four hours. One of the Speed-way’s unique photos is taken when the 33 starters line up by rows in the grandstands for the first time during the annual drivers’ meeting. Only eight cars finish the race, despite only one crash.


    ---1952: The “roadster” era begins with Bill Vukovich’s description of the low-sitting car fielded by Howard Keck’s team. Ferrari enters the 500 with Alberto Ascari driving a V12-powered car. His race ends when the right rear wire wheel collapses on lap 41. Vukovich is poised to win until a steering-arm failure on the Kurtis-Kraft 500A hands the win to Troy Ruttman in J. C. Agajanian’s Kuzma-Offy.


    ---1953: Vukovich continues his domination. After leading 150 laps but not winning in 1952, he owns this race, leading all but five laps from the pole in the Fuel Injection Special. Also this year, the Indiana-polis Motor Speedway Radio Network begins operating.


    ---1954: Vukovich struggles in qualifying but leads the final 51 laps for his second-straight win, although Jimmy Bryan gives him a fight. This was the first race powered almost solely by a single engine manufacturer. One Novi-powered car is entered but fails to qualify, meaning that every machine in the race has an Offenhauser engine.


    ---1955: All eyes are on Vukovich as he attempts to become the first driver to win three straight 500s (no one has since), but the story does not end happily. Vukovich, apparently on his way to victory after Jack McGrath has a magneto failure, gets tangled up in an accident. His car tumbles over the backstretch wall and bursts into flames, killing him at the age of 36.


    ---1956: For one of the few times in 500 history, the story is as much about what the winner looked like after the race in victory lane. Red-headed Pat Flaherty wore a helmet bearing a green shamrock, a white sleeveless T-shirt and light blue slacks. He is the last winner not to wear a fire-retardant uniform, as he also gives car builder A. J. Watson his first win with a car of his own design.


    ---1957: In addition to a new scoring tower, a separate pit lane is new, meaning the front straightaway looks different. The practice of driving cars from the garage area to the track also ends (cars are now pushed), and workers remove the bridge over the backstretch. Sam Hanks pulls off one of Indy’s all-time upsets by leading 136 laps and winning. Hanks then announces his retirement in victory lane, the first driver to do so since Ray Harroun in 1911.


    ---1958: Five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio takes laps but makes no qualifying attempt. A huge crash on lap one mars the race when Ed Elisian spins in turn three after taking the lead from pole sitter Dick Rath-mann. A chain reaction involves 15 cars. Pat O’Connor dies when his car flips upside down. Jimmy Bryan goes on to win, the second consecutive victory for car owner George Salih.


    ---1959: O’Connor’s death inspires officials to mandate the installation of roll bars behind the drivers, but that doesn’t save Jerry Unser, who a year earlier escaped a big crash with only a separated shoulder after his car flew over the wall. Unser, who isn’t wearing a firesuit, suffers severe burns in this crash and dies of complications two weeks later. Firesuits become mandatory thereafter. Rodger Ward drives for the new Leader Cards team led by A. J. Watson, beating Jim Rathmann to the win in a preview of their classic 1960 duel.


    ---1960: The arrival of record-setting rookie Jim Hurtubise and the collapse of a homemade scaffolding in turn three that kills two people are just two things the event becomes remembered for. There’s also the first presentation of the winner’s wreath, given to Jim Rathmann after he outlasts Ward in a terrific battle. The 29 lead changes remain a race record.


    ---1961: The return of mid-engine cars includes a green machine, a Cooper-Climax T-54 driven by Jack Brabham. It finishes ninth as A. J. Foyt, driving a Floyd Trevis copy of a Watson roadster, wins. Intriguing rookie Parnelli Jones struggles. Popular veteran Tony Bettenhausen is killed in a crash during practice.


    ---1962: The first complete paving of the track gives the Speedway a new look and feel—bricks remain only at the start/ finish line—plus speed. Jones becomes the first driver to eclipse 150 mph in qualifying, driving a Watson-Offenhauser affectionately known as “Calhoun.” Brake failure knocks him out of the lead; he finishes seventh. Ward wins for the second time.


    ---1963: After misfortunes spoil a pair of strong 500s, Jones reaches victory lane in a car entered by J. C. Agajanian. Indy rookie and Grand Prix star Jim Clark finishes second in a Lotus-Ford. Foyt and Ward finish third and fourth.


    ---1964: Eddie Sachs and rookie Dave McDonald die in a fiery first-lap crash in turn four that causes a two-hour delay. Foyt claims his second of four wins in the Sheraton-Thompson Special, a Watson-Offy, but many will remember this year as the start of the tire war between Firestone and Good-year.


    ---1965: The use of methanol and a strong rookie class highlight an Indy 500 race won by Jim Clark and his Lotus 38. Among the rookies, Mario Andretti finishes third, Gordon Johncock finishes fifth, and Al Unser comes in ninth. Seventeen Fords are part of the 33-car field, and they include the top four finishers.


    ---1966: Foyt, Dan Gurney and Speedway rookie Cale Yarborough are among the 11 drivers knocked out of the race in a first-lap crash. Andretti wins the pole in record-setting fashion (165.899 mph), but a broken valve ends his day after 27 laps. Lloyd Ruby also suffers a late failure, allowing a pair of European rookies, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, to settle the outcome. Hill wins in a Lola-Ford.


    ---1967: Some call this the greatest Indy 500 field ever. Jones leads 171 laps and is in command when a $6 transmission bearing in his revolutionary turbine engine fails. That hands the lead to Foyt, who was almost a lap down to Jones. Foyt then navigates a four-car crash off the final corner for his third win in seven years.


    ---1968: Bobby Unser’s car, an Eagle-Offy, is known not just for giving Unser his first 500 win (also the family’s first) but also for being similar to the car that actor Paul Newman used to film Winning at Indy later that year. Before the track even opened in May, Clark tested and then predicted a win for the wedge-shaped Lotus 56, but he lost his life at Hockenheim in Germany before the 500. Joe Leonard is the best of the Lotus finishers, in 12th.


    ---1969: Andretti finally delivers a win to team owner Andy Granatelli, who tried valiantly but un-successfully with Novi and turbine engines. Jigger Sirois stakes a place in history, too, as the first driver to qualify on pole day but not complete his four-lap run. Soon after, rain arrives and washes out the session, which means that Sirois would have been on the pole had he accepted his time. That rule gets changed: From now on, everyone is guaranteed a chance to take a run at pole position in the event qualifying is rained out or otherwise delayed.


    ---1970: Driving the Johnny Lightning 500 Special, a P.J. Colt-Ford of the Vel Miletich/Parnelli Jones team, Al Unser dominates. He leads 191 laps in becoming the first brother of a winner also to win the 500, following Bobby in 1968. The win comes a year after Al broke his ankle riding a motorcycle in the track’s infield.


    ---1971: Small nose wings are among the differences in the P. J. Colt that George Bignotti builds for Al Unser. Mark Donohue sets McLaren’s pace, 6 mph faster than all others in practice, but teammate Peter Revson takes Donohue’s car-setup information and swipes the pole. Unser doesn’t lead as many laps as the year before (103), but he wins the race 22.48 seconds ahead of Revson.


    ---1972: Donohue was expected to win last year, but he leads this race after teammate Gary Betten-hausen, who led 138 laps, suffers ignition failure and Jerry Grant is penalized for stopping in his teammate’s pit box and receiving fuel. Donohue wins in a Sunoco McLaren to give Roger Penske his first 500 victory.


    ---1973: The worst Indy 500: Art Pollard dies in practice, an 11-car accident at the start of the race injures about a dozen spectators, Swede Savage dies six weeks after an in-race crash, and crew member Armando Teran is struck and killed by a rescue vehicle driving the wrong way on pit road. Three days of rain push the race’s completion from Monday to Wednesday, with only a small crowd attending. Gordon Johncock wins in an Eagle-Offy despite completing only 133 laps. Only 10 cars are still running at the finish.


    ---1974: An energy crisis is in full swing, and the Speedway reduces several practice days and eliminates two qualifying days. The race is held on a Sunday for the first time. Johnny Ruther-ford comes from 25th in the field in a McLaren-Offy to win, the lowest-starting winner since Louis Meyer in 1933. A. J. Foyt’s Coyote-Foyt wins the pole and leads 70 of the first 142 laps before retiring with an “oil fitting” issue. He finishes 15th.


    ---1975: Wally Dallenbach Jr.’s voice is heard on Indy’s TV broadcasts in 1975, and his father nearly wins the race this year. He holds a commanding lead on lap 162 when his car suffers a burned piston, ending his run. He led 96 laps. Rutherford inherits the lead, but Bobby Unser takes it during the pit-stop exchange. That place swap proves critical, because rain first causes a caution period and ultimately an early end to the race on lap 174, with Unser’s Eagle-Offy in the lead. Unser thus wins for the second time. The race will also be remembered for Tom Sneva’s fiery crash in turn two after contact with Eldon Rasmussen. Sneva suffers only minor burns.


    ---1976: Rutherford wins in a McLaren-Offy, his second 500 victory in three years, but inclement weather dominates the event. Drivers run only 102 laps before heavy rain arrives, making this the shortest of all such “500s.” Rutherford—”Lone Star J.R.”—is the first winner to walk, rather than drive, to victory lane. Sports-car racer Janet Guthrie debuts at the Speedway in a car owned by Rolla Vollstedt, but she fails to qualify. Six of the top 10 finishers are former race winners, with Foyt second and Johncock third.


    ---1977: This year sees the death of Sid Collins, the first “Voice of the 500.” The track is paved fully for the first time, and Mario Andretti becomes the first driver to reach 200 mph in practice. Sneva is the first to reach that speed in qualifying (making it official), and Guthrie is the first woman to start the race. Foyt wins his fourth 500 in a Coyote-Foyt and invites track owner Tony Hulman to ride with him on the ceremonial lap. Hulman dies on Oct. 27.


    ---1978: Before May begins, a plane crash kills several USAC representatives set to officiate the 500. Al Unser, who starts fifth in his Lola-Cosworth, strikes a tire during the final pit stop, but he has enough of a lead to hold off Sneva. This is Unser’s third 500 win and one of only three victories during the season, but the others occur at Pocono and Ontario to earn him the “Triple Crown.”


    ---1979: People often forget that Rick Mears tried unsuccessfully to qualify for the 500 in 1977. The next year, he shared rookie-of-the-year honors with USAC sprint-car standout Larry Rice. On his third try, Mears wins the pole and the race in a Penske-Cosworth, beating four-time winner Foyt by 45 seconds. A Chaparral known as the “Yellow Submarine” is the first true ground-effect car entered. Al Unser starts third but finishes 22nd as transmission issues stop him after 104 laps.


    ---1980: Rutherford dominates, driving the Yellow Submarine that had its share of problems last year. He beats Andretti for the pole by more than 1 mph; Rutherford’s four-lap average is 192.256 mph. Tim Rich-mond is the much-talked-about rookie, a pole con-tender until he crashes in practice and a potential top finisher until he runs out of fuel on the last lap. Rutherford, who wins his third and final 500, picks up Richmond on the cool-down lap and gives him a memorable ride back to pit road, with Richmond sitting on the car’s sidepod.


    ---1981: This isn’t one of Indy’s finer years, with Danny Ongais’s gruesome crash, Mears’s pit-road fire and a controversial finish. The finish is set up during a caution period on lap 144. After pitting, Bobby Unser passes 11 cars before blending back in line. Andretti passes some, too, though not as many. Unser wins the race in a Penske-Cosworth, but officials will rule the next morning that he did so illegally. They’ll hand Andretti the win, but more than four months later, an arbitration committee will rule that Unser’s actions had no effect on the outcome and reinstate him as the winner.


    ---1982: Kevin Cogan will never live down the race start. Apparently, a broken half-shaft causes his Penske-Cosworth to veer suddenly to the right before the green flag. He collects Foyt, who also started on the front row. Cogan’s car then ricochets into Andretti’s path. Both Foyt and Andretti vent their frustrations on the young driver during TV interviews. But much of that is forgotten when Johncock and Mears stage a dramatic late-race duel. In a Wildcat-Cosworth, Johncock wins by 0.16 second, the closest Indy finish ever—until 2006.


    ---1983: Teo Fabi, Al Unser Jr. and Tom Sneva will remember this race. Fabi becomes the first rookie pole winner since Walt Faulkner in 1950, with a track-record speed of 207.395 mph. He doesn’t have much of a race, however; on lap 48, he tries to leave his pit box with the fuel hose still attached. Late in the race, Unser tries to help his father win a fourth 500 by blocking Sneva’s March-Cosworth. It doesn’t work: Sneva passes both Unsers with 10 laps to go and cruises to an 11-second victory.


    ---1984: Emerson Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti debut at the Speedway. Fittipaldi’s race lasts only 37 laps; Andretti finishes fifth. Roberto Guerrero (second) and Al Holbert (fourth) are the top-finishing rookies. Journalist-turned-driver Patrick Bedard has a memorable and nasty crash. Rick Mears starts third and wins in a March-Cosworth, the only time he conquers Indy without also capturing the pole. He finishes two laps ahead of the field.


    ---1985: Any spin these days conjures up memories of Danny Sullivan’s freakish move right in Mario Andretti’s path. Sullivan passes the legendary driver, still in his prime, on lap 120, only to lose the back end of the March-Cosworth in turn one. Miraculously, Sullivan emerges from the tire smoke in one piece. Not only does he not hit the wall, but Andretti manages to avoid him. Under the ensuing caution period, Sullivan pits for new tires and renews his pursuit of Andretti. He catches him on lap 140 in the same spot and goes on to establish the “spin and win” firmly in Speedway lore.


    ---1986: Two days of rain and the first live TV broadcast of the race in 37 years push the 500 to the following weekend. Action on the track includes Dennis Firestone’s Carburetion Day crash against the pit-entrance attenuator. The crash also collects Roberto Moreno, who slides into the cars of George Snider and Josele Garza, which are parked on pit road. Sneva crashes in turn two on the pace lap. Kevin Cogan is on his way to the win until Arie Luyendyk’s turn-four contact sets up a two-lap shootout that Bobby Rahal wins. Rahal’s victory serves as a tribute to terminally ill car owner Jim Trueman, who dies two weeks later.


    ---1987: Al Unser is a last-minute substitution for the injured Danny Ongais, and the March that Unser drives for Roger Penske isn’t scheduled to participate, either. The car gets a Cosworth engine because there are no more of the preferred Chevrolets available. Mario Andretti is cruising toward his second Indy win until his car loses power. Guerrero is next in line to lead, but he stalls on pit road with a clutch problem that began when Guerrero hit a loose tire early in the race, killing a spectator. Unser leads the final 18 laps for his fourth and final Indy win.


    ---1988: Mears uses a Penske PC-17 chassis to win his fourth pole, tying the record held by Rex Mays and A. J. Foyt. Mears wins the race, too, with Fittipaldi the only other driver on the lead lap. The win is Mears’s third of four. The race includes the first third-generation driver (Billy Vukovich) and the first German-powered car (Porsche) in the 500 since 1923.


    ---1989: As part of a deal with Philip Morris USA and Marlboro cigarettes, Patrick Racing gets a new Penske chassis, the PC-18, for Fittipaldi. He takes advantage of it, leading eight times for 158 laps, the last of which comes when tire contact between Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. sends the latter’s car spinning to the wall. Unser looks angry as he stands in turn three waiting for Fittipaldi, but he gives a thumbs-up as the Brazilian passes by.


    ---1990: With Tony George, the 30-year-old grandson of Tony Hulman, now president, Indy is about to change. Crashes rule early practice as mandatory diffusers in the underwings of older cars make them difficult to drive. Jim Crawford’s flight through the exit of turn two won’t be forgotten soon, after the car floats through the air like a butterfly. Fittipaldi leads the first 92 laps, but his blistered tires allow Luyendyk to take command on lap 168. Luyendyk completes the 500 miles in 2 hours, 41 minutes, 18.404 seconds, the fastest full-distance winner in event history. Fittipaldi finishes third.


    ---1991: Foyt’s return from career-threatening injuries suffered at Road America and the arrival of Willy T. Ribbs—the 500’s first black driver—are among the top stories. Some of the others: Mears suffers his first-ever Speedway crash, during practice, and Mark Dismore sustains serious injuries when he slams into the wall at pit entrance. Mears, not injured seriously in his own crash, bounces back to win a record sixth pole and his fourth race, the latter featuring a late lead swap with Michael Andretti in turn one.


    ---1992: The month is painful for almost everyone except Al Unser Jr., who finally wins his first 500. Rookie Jovy Marcelo is killed in practice, and three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet suffers serious leg injuries. On the cold race morning, pole sitter Guerrero spins into the infield wall on the parade lap. Mario Andretti, Jimmy Vasser and Jeff Andretti are injured in race crashes. Michael Andretti is on his way to winning until his car fails on lap 193. That sets up Unser’s shootout with Scott Goodyear, which finishes by a whisker (0.0043 second).


    ---1993: With Foyt and Mears retired, F1 champion Nigel Mansell is the star of the show, even though Fittipaldi wins the race. Mansell has Michael Andretti’s seat, as Andretti is competing in F1. With limited oval experience, Mansell is poised to win until he scrubs the wall during a restart on lap 185.


    ---1994: Team Penske partners with Mercedes-Benz and race-engine builder Ilmor to exploit a little-known loophole in the rule book that allows 209-cubic-inch, non-production pushrod engines to run more turbo boost than the widely used overhead-cam designs. The PC-23s driven by Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. dominate the race. Fittipaldi is on course to win after leading 145 of the first 185 laps, but he hits the turn-four apron rumble strips while trying to lap his teammate and crashes. Unser wins.


    ---1995: From Firestone’s return to Penske’s failure to qualify, the buildup to the 500 has many story lines. The start of the race sees Stan Fox’s career end with a horrific crash in turn one; Fox isn’t the same after his head injury. Officials penalize second-year driver Jacques Villeneuve on lap 36 for passing the pace car on what he thinks is a wave-around, but he gets the win after the same officials black-flag leader Goodyear for jumping the final restart.


    ---1996: George creates the Indy Racing League, and its infamous 25/8 rule allows only eight non-IRL competitors to earn a starting spot, highlighting the CART-versus-IRL war. CART stages its own race in Michigan the same day—a race that begins with a multicar crash before the green flag. Indy’s race has no such start drama, but it features 17 rookies and a big crash at the end that injures fourth-place-finishing Alessandro Zampedri. Buddy Lazier wins, despite nursing his back, which he broke earlier in the IRL season.


    ---1997: Luyendyk and Goodyear give Treadway Racing a 1-2 finish and the team’s only Indy win. Motorcycle ace Jeff Ward finishes third, as a rookie for a new team owned by open-wheel veteran Eddie Cheever. Rain postpones the race twice, leaving a small crowd for the Tuesday finale.


    ---1998: Tony Stewart, starting a transition to NASCAR, has one of his last chances to win the 500. A failed engine knocks the reigning Indy Racing League champion out after only 22 laps. Long-time sprint-car standout Jack Hewitt makes his 500 debut by qualifying 22nd; he finishes 12th. Eddie Cheever forms Team Cheever and enters two cars (for himself and rookie Robby Unser). Cheever wins the race, and Unser, son of Bobby Unser and nephew of Al Unser Sr., finishes fifth.


    ---1999: The Speedway’s Formula One road course is under construction, and the 500 has a familiar feel, with track-record holder Arie Luyendyk winning the pole and

    A. J. Foyt’s team winning the race with driver Kenny Bräck. Luyendyk’s bid to win a third 500 ends with a crash in turn two. Bräck takes the lead with two laps to go when Robby Gordon runs out of fuel trying to give Team Menard its first Indy win.


    ---2000: A writer sums up Juan Pablo Montoya’s first 500: “He came; he saw; he sighed; he won.” Montoya makes it look easy by immediately getting up to speed in a Chip Ganassi car, dominating practice and leading 167 race laps. Greg Ray spoils a sweep of Montoya’s month by winning the pole.


    ---2001: Rookies don’t typically win the 500, but Helio Castroneves makes it two straight for Indy newcomers. The Brazilian with three years of CART experience arrives with only one IRL race under his belt, but that’s enough for Team Penske’s much-publicized return to the 500. Castroneves holds off teammate Gil de Ferran, reigning CART champion, and former open-wheel champs Michael Andretti (third), Jimmy Vasser (fourth) and Tony Stewart (sixth). The surprise of the race: Pole sitter Scott Sharp crashes in turn one on lap one.


    ---2002: Questions likely will always exist over who won this race. Castroneves leads Paul Tracy down the backstretch as Buddy Lazier and rookie Laurent Redon crash in turn two. Seconds later, Tracy sweeps around Castroneves into turn three, but when did the no-passing caution light come on? Tracy and Team Green say they were ahead; Castroneves and Team Penske fight to keep their win. IMS boss Tony George takes six weeks to review, then announces that the initial ruling stands. Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan make their Indy debuts.


    ---2003: A. J. Foyt’s grandson, Anthony, debuts in the 500. On lap 170, Castroneves, trying to win his third consecutive 500, misjudges a turn-two pass of Foyt, who is several laps behind, and loses momentum. Castroneves’s teammate, de Ferran, capitalizes and takes the lead, going on to score his first and only 500 win.


    ---2004: Honda’s two-year run as the superior engine begins with Buddy Rice on the pole in a Rahal Letterman car. Dan Wheldon and Franchitti of Andretti Green give the manufacturer a sweep of the front row, and Honda claims the top seven starting spots. Hondas lead all but 12 laps as Rice takes his first victory, and Bobby Rahal wins his first 500 as an owner. A powerful storm stops the race with 20 laps to go.


    ---2005: Rookie Danica Patrick snags the fourth starting spot and nearly delivers the race win when she passes Wheldon for the lead on a lap-190 restart. The crowd roars, but Wheldon regains the lead five laps later. He gets his first win as Patrick drifts back to fourth, still a remarkable result given her involvement in a five-car incident in turn four on lap 155.


    ---2006: Sam Hornish Jr. uses his pole-winning car’s speed at just the right moment to win in his father’s favorite event. His pass of rookie Marco Andretti just before the line creates the closest finish in 500 history (0.063 second) and makes up for his failure to pass the third-gen driver on lap 199. Hornish’s charge through the pack in the final laps is overshadowed by Michael Andretti taking the lead on lap 194, only to have his son pass him on lap 198.


    ---2007: Franchitti makes the ultimate connection to Scottish hero Jim Clark by winning the race. He holds off Scott Dixon, Castroneves and Hornish as rain nears. Kanaan is poised to win, but a backstretch crash involving Marco Andretti and others provides the delay Franchitti needs as rain ends the race early.


    ---2008: Ganassi never got close to winning the Indy 500 as a driver, but he shared the 1989 win with team co-owner Pat Patrick, and this year, he starts his own run of successes. Dixon leads 115 laps from the pole to capture his first 500, a 1.7-second win over Panther Racing’s Vitor Meira. Wheldon leads 30 laps in Ganassi’s other car but finishes 12th. Coming home fifth is Ed Carpenter, stepson of IMS CEO Tony George. That makes him the highest-finishing member of the Hulman-George family in Indy 500 history.


    ---2009: A first-turn accident involving Marco Andretti and his nemesis, Mario Moraes, gets the race started, but the day belongs to IndyCar’s biggest teams. Penske and Ganassi cars lead all of the laps among four drivers, with Ganassi’s Dixon leading the most (73). But Castroneves takes the lead on lap 142 and never relinquishes it,

    finishing 1.98 seconds ahead of Panther’s Wheldon. This race is also remembered for the pit-road troubles of most of the contenders. Castroneves has no such problems, which is why he receives his third BorgWarner Trophy.


    ---2010: A new qualifying format brings the fastest nine drivers into a 90-minute shootout, and drama follows. Three surprise drivers make the cut: Carpenter, Graham Rahal and Hideki Mutoh. But when the gun sounds to end the day at 6 p.m., Castroneves is on the pole for the fourth time. He doesn’t hold the race lead for long, however, as Franchitti jumps to the front on lap one and dominates until fuel becomes an issue. Several cars run out of fuel on lap 199, including Ryan Hunter-Reay in turn three. Charging ahead with plenty of fuel is Mike Conway, who runs over Hunter-Reay’s left rear tire and catapults into
    the fence. Conway suffers multiple injuries as debris ends the race under caution, with Franchitti winning for the second time.
     
  23. ProCoach

    ProCoach F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Sep 15, 2004
    5,464
    VIR Raceway
    Full Name:
    Peter Krause
    That's cool. Thanks for posting!
     
  24. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 28, 2003
    75,396
    Texas!
    Can someone give a non-believer, like me, a Reader's Digest version of what just happened with Ryan Hunter Reay? I think it is mega-cool that Ryan got a better ride, but still waters must run deep.

    Dale
     
  25. SMS

    SMS F1 Veteran

    Jan 7, 2004
    6,772
    Indy
    Full Name:
    Bill S.
    Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay is back in the Indianapolis 500 at the expense of Bruno Junqueira.

    Hunter-Reay will drive the No. 41 car of A.J. Foyt Racing, which will get the entrant points earned. Hunter-Reay will get the driver points.


    The car will carry sponsorship decals of both the Andretti and Foyt teams.


    Per race rules, driver changes move the car to the back of the grid, No. 33 overall. Junqueira qualified 19th.


    Junqueira is the odd man out for the second time in three years. In 2009, Conquest Racing pulled him for its primary driver, Alex Tagliani, who sits on the pole for this race.


    Foyt said the opportunity was attractive to him because he's "fielding the car out of my own pocket."


    Foyt's full-season car, driven by Vitor Meira, has ABC Supply as a primary sponsor. ABC Supply is assisting with Junqueira's car, Foyt said.


    Hunter-Reay was bumped by his teammate, Marco Andretti, in the final minutes of qualifying. Fellow IndyCar regular Mike Conway did not have the speed to earn a starting spot, but owner Michael Andretti said he will not get a deal like Hunter-Reay's even though he's fifth in the IndyCar standings through four races.


    Michael Andretti said he was appreciative of Foyt's cooperation in making the deal.


    Said Foyt: "This is going back to the way racing used to be, where if people were in a lot of trouble you tried to help each other out."
     

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