The 98th running of the Indianapolis 500, the centrepiece in the season-long Verizon IndyCar Series, is poised to be one of the more historically important races in recent history.
We peruse the entry list and seem to say every year that the field of thirty-three is the deepest it’s been since the fractious American open wheel war between CART and the Indy Racing League that started in 1996, but a glance over this year’s driver line-up, and you’d be hard pressed to name a year – at least since the last unified Indianapolis 500 before The Split, in 1995 – where there have been more drivers in with a shot to win.
Starting from the top, and hometown native Ed Carpenter, driving for his own team, will lead the celebrated field of thirty-three to the green flag on Sunday afternoon (early Monday morning, Australian time) after a ballsy last qualifying run that harkened back to the days when Foyt, Unser, Andretti and Mears ruled the Speedway.
Carpenter figures to be strong. He always is on ovals, and has been fast throughout practice session all month. His second-straight Indy 500 pole displaced Andretti Autosport’s James Hinchcliffe from top spot, but we’ve seen enough from the entire Andretti stable to suggest that they’ll be right amongst the top runners come Sunday. Marco Andretti, 2013 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Carlos Munoz and NASCAR star Kurt Busch, aiming to do the Indy 500/Coke 600 double, have all qualified strongly.
The Andretti Legacy, since Mario won in 1964, has been one of disappointment and ‘so close, yet so far’. Michael and John Andretti never won, and even Marco, has experienced disaster at the Speedway. He had the race won in 2006, until he was passed by Sam Hornish Jr. almost in sight of the finish line. It was yet another chapter in the Andretti saga at Indy, and this year looks to be the family’s best chance of returning to Victory Lane. It would be an immensely popular win. More importantly, the Andretti Curse would finally be laid to rest. There’s a definite feel that this might be the year.
Australia’s Will Power starts from third, a valuable front row start into that trick first turn of the 500, and is there a better place than at the world’s most famous oval race for the Queenslander to finally put to bed the suggestion that he won’t ever become a recognised oval racer? An Brickyard victory would forever alter people’s perception of Power. He’s been fast at Indy before, but hasn’t ever quite been able to get the win.
If nothing else, Power has two very experienced team-mates to lean on in Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya. Fan favourite Castroneves has won three times for Roger Penske’s powerhouse outfit, and Montoya, before he was a Formula One and NASCAR competitor, won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 for Chip Ganassi, and famously quipped afterward that IRL cars were easy enough that his grandmother could drive one – the team had come over from the rival CART series and dominated the IRL field.
Fast forward to 2014, and Montoya has had a few IndyCar races to shake off the rust of years racing in tin-tops, and he has a history of being very good at Indianapolis, no matter what sort of car he’s driving. That Team Penske has won fifteen times in the Month of May bodes well for Power, Montoya and Castroneves.
Despite a poor qualifying effort, do not count out the Chip Ganassi Racing squad, led by the Target cars of New Zealand’s Scott Dixon and reigning Indianapolis 500 champion, Tony Kanaan. It is a strange thing indeed to see those red cars so far down the order, but these guys are too talented to remain there for long. Watching Dixon and TK come through the pack will be one of the stories of the race, particularly on the restarts, where both are dynamite.
Australia’s Ryan Briscoe is the third of four Ganassi cars (young American Charlie Kimball completes the line-up) and starts way back in thirtieth, on the same row as the third Australian in the 500, rookie James Davison (twenty-eighth), whose appearances on track in the third KV Raving entry have been few and far between. Indy is a tough place to be fast at even for the veterans, and tougher for a rookie with limited track time. A finish would be a positive result for the young Australian.
Simon Pagenaud, the Frenchman who won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis two weekends ago is another man to watch for. His Sam Schmidt operation is really hitting their straps this year, and Pagenaud is right amongst the championship hunt. He’s shown speed on ovals in the past and it’s only a matter of time before he cracks it for a big oval victory after two road course wins last season. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see the Frenchman win.
Pagenaud’s team-mate for Indy is Jacques Villeneuve, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner who is lining up for his first run at the Speedway since his triumph, the last winner before the CART/IRL split. So many years of out an IndyCar – or any open-wheel car, for that matter – is going to work against Villeneuve and I don’t expect him to be a factor.
Pole-sitter Carpenter’s team-mate JR Hildebrand was one corner and the front straight at Indy away from a win in 2011, but he whacked the wall in Turn Four, gifting an improbable win to Dan Wheldon. Before that, Hildebrand was fast and smooth, and, given Carpenter’s speed and his own ninth place qualifying effort, the rising American figures to play a part in Sunday’s proceedings.
Ultimately, though, this is a hard race to pick, especially given the way crazy things tend to happen at the Speedway. That said, I’d be very surprised if, with twenty laps to run, there aren’t Penske, Ganassi and Andretti cars fighting for the lead. As for who wins? I’d love to say Will Power, but I have a nagging feeling that this year might herald the end of the Andretti Curse.
Yes, Marco Andretti may well do what his father couldn’t do, and drive into Victory Lane – and racing immortality – at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Join The Roar for live coverage of the 98th Indianapolis 500 on Monday morning from 1.30am AEST.
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