On Sunday at midday local time, the ninety-ninth running of the famed Indianapolis 500-mile race on the 2.5-mile superspeedway built on the grounds of an old brickyard, will take the green flag, with eleven rows of three drivers – the traditional thirty-three entries – setting off into the daunting first turn, out of which grandstands seem to rise to the heavens, the opening salvo of a 200-lap race for the right to have their likeness etched on the Borg Warner Trophy.
Regardless of the diminished importance of the IndyCar Series, of which the Indianapolis 500 is the centrepiece, the fact remains that the eyes of the racing world turn to the circuit on the corner of 16th and Georgetown in the aptly-named Speedway, Indiana, to witness what is still the biggest single-day sporting event in the world, with somewhere around 400,000 race fans packing grandstands and infield viewing areas around the track.
This race, held the day before the Memorial Day public holiday, is as American as Babe Ruth or Bruce Springsteen. It’s tradition – folks who don’t watch IndyCar Series racing all year tune in for the 500, as they and their parents and their parents’ parents have done for nearly a century of races, spread over more than a hundred years when you take into account six years (1917-18 and 1942-45) where the race wasn't run due to American participation in two world wars.
When you win Indianapolis, you become a racing legend. Two hundred laps at average speeds of more than two hundred miles an hour, what used to be a test of endurance and a proving ground for radical technology is now a five hundred mile sprint, with some of the world’s best drivers duelling at high speeds in their Chevrolet- and Honda-powered Dallara chassis for the chance to be spoken about in the same breath as racing legends like A.J. Foyt, Graham Hill, Mario Andretti, Al Unser and Rick Mears. It’s an exclusive club, those who have conquered the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, but one where the membership is a lifetime one. Win at Indy, and be a part of the annals of motorsport history.
2015 promises to be another epic. New Zealander Scott Dixon captured pole last weekend, placing his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet fractionally ahead of Australia’s Will Power, the defending IndyCar Series champion who drives for 15-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Roger Penske. Two weeks ago, Power won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the infield road course. He’s already won an IndyCar Series championship. The only thing remaining on his IndyCar Bucket List is a victory in the 500. It may well come this weekend.
Throughout the modern era of IndyCar competition, the battle for wins and championships has so often been a Penske vs. Ganassi affair, a battle of racing heavyweights. Penske’s Helio Castroneves has three wins at Indy, and seeks to join a very exclusive group of drivers with four victories. His teammate Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya won as a rookie in 2000, leading more than three quarters of the race. Their other teammates, Power and Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, have both won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and are seeking greater glory at the speedway in 2015. Pagenaud starts from third.
Dixon, known as the Ice Man, is as good as they come, and speaheads a powerful Ganassi squad. 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tonky Kanaan, starts fourth, next to Castroneves and Justin Wilson, the lanky Brit who leads the charge for Andretti Autosport. Marco Andretti starts in eighth, alongside Josef Newgarden, the rising American star who won at Barber Motorsports Park.
Five more Americans sit inside the top twenty – J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter, Charlie Kimball, 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal, whose father/team owner, Bobby, won the 500 back in the eighties. Two other home-grown stars, Sage Karam from twenty-third and Conor Daly from twenty-fifth aren’t without a shot, either, if things fall their way. Make no mistake: another American-born winner, particularly a second-generation racer like Rahal or Andretti, would mean huge exposure for IndyCar, something it often lacks.
Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais starts from seventh, and has shown speed all month during practice. He’s as solid a dark horse pick as you can get. Montoya qualified poorly in fifteenth, but the race is long enough, and JPM is good enough, to find the front. Watching him scythe through the pack will be very interesting. You can never and should never count out a Penske car at Indy.
This year, there are two Australians, starting at opposite ends of the field. Power could well have the lead by the back straight on the first lap, but youngster James Davison will start from the rear of the field after his Dale Coyne Racing machine was qualified by another driver last weekend whilst Davison raced sports cars in Europe. Surviving the opening laps is imperative for a guy who’s shown good practice speed.
In picking a winner, it’s hard to look past the front row. Power seems on a mission this month, Dixon has won at Indy before, and Pagenaud is a star. All three are capable. I’m putting Kanaan, Castoneves and – despite a lowly starting spot – Montoya in the same category. They know how to win at Indy, and want to do so again. Marco Andretti seems to grow in confidence at Indy, and has come close before. A win would break the fabled Andretti Curse at Indy. It would be monumental.
Seeing Josef Newgarden win would probably be the best story of the month, outside of Indianapolis-born Ed Carpenter taking the checkers first. Everyone loves those guys. Keep an eye on Wilson, too. He’s driving a part-time entry for Andretti, but has qualified well. If Power or Davison can’t win, I’d love to see Graham Rahal get there. He’s been the best Honda runner most of the year, racing far better than he qualifies, and, after a few years in the wilderness, Graham has his confidence back.
Whatever eventuates, the ninety-ninth edition of the Indianapolis 500 promises to be an epic race.
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