Hard to believe, but it's that time of year again for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" the Indianapolis 500.  The starting lineup for the race can be found here:

Here's the starting grid for the 108th Indy 500 | wthr.com

I still (perhaps naively) believe this is still one of the Top Races on the entire planet.  It's history, tradition and following set it apart and really remind me of the Kentucky Derby in that regard.  There have been many great races at the old track.  It's 2.5 miles around in 1 lap and really is a spectacle to go.  If you haven't been I'd recommend it at least once for the atmosphere alone.

Back to the race; I have to admit that I have not watched one IndyCar Race this year.  It's a combination of several things including being busy, being a Huge F1 fan now and just being drawn MUCH more to the F1 drivers as opposed to the IndyCar Drivers.  I mean the only guys I really know are veterans now (Helio Castroneves, Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti, Scott Dixon are the guys I know and respect.  The new guys are just that to me - new.  So, while I'll give them a chance for sure, am I likely to watch a lot more IndyCar races?  Probably not.

BUT, with all that said, I will ALWAYS LOVE the Indy 500.  Sunday will be my 17th trip to the old track and I'm really looking forward to it!

The atmosphere, the Americana vibe, the holiday weekend, the 300,000+ fans throwing beer cans in "the pit" before, during and after the race are just what it's all about!

The front row has significance and starts 3 Team Penske Drivers:

Scott McLaughlin (who earned his first ever pole position and beat the all-time Indy qualifying record with a 4-lap average of 234.220 mph!  REALLY impressive!)

Will Power - the veteran

Josef Newgarden - the 2023 Indy Race Winner.

These 3 are all Team Penske cars.  A lockout of the first row not seen since 1988, the year I graduated High School.  That 1988 Team Penske front row included the GREAT Rick Mears, Louisville's own Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Sr.  That's a big-time front row!

I like several drivers including the GREAT AJ Foyt Motors Santino Ferrucci and Pato O'Ward, but there are 2 more interesting stories this year.

One is Katherine Legge.  A female racing at Indy is always intriguing to me because it's hard enough to compete in this sport as a guy, who have been doing so for 107 years.  But add the stigma of being a lady racing in THIS race has to be incredible pressure on her.  I'm going to pull for her for sure.  She starts 31st and her best Indy finish is a respectable 12th place in 2012.  So, I'm hoping she gets 11th this year or shocks us all and gets in the Top 10.  That would be incredible.

But probably the BEST storyline for this race has to be Kyle Larson.  The full time NASCAR Cup Series racer for prestigious Hendrix Motorsports is the 2021 Series Champion and he's won many times in many other types of racing including Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.  While I am not a big NASCAR guy; I instantly become a fan of any driver attempting to do "The Double".  What's "The Double"?  Running the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day Weekend Sunday during the early afternoon and then IMMEDIATELY flying to Charlotte NC (getting a couple IV bags, and a nice meal) then driving the Coca Cola 600 in the evening.

Only 4 drivers have EVER attempted this feat before:

Tony Stewart in 2001, Robby Gordon (5 times), John Andretti (5 times), and Kurt Busch.

This website is fascinating to me as this is truly a unique feat:

Double Duty - Wikipedia

The most amazing information there to me is Tony Stewarts Itinerary back in 2001 when he completed all 1,100 miles of both races.  He remains the ONLY driver to have completed both races.  Here is what Tony Stewart logged:

In 2001, Tony Stewart's "Double Duty" effort had the following published itinerary:

• 9:25 a.m. EST (10:25 a.m. EDT): Stewart at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• 9:50 a.m. EST (10:50 a.m. EDT): Stewart changes into his fire suit. Driver Richie Hearn standing by to drive relief if necessary.
• 10:15 a.m. EST (11:15 a.m. EDT): Driver introductions at the Indy 500.
• 11:00 a.m. EST (12:00 p.m. EDT): Start of Indianapolis 500.
• 2:30 p.m. EST (3:30 p.m. EDT): Indianapolis 500 completed, Stewart finishes 6th.
• 2:35 p.m. EST (3:35 p.m. EDT): Stewart rides a golf cart from pit area to the infield care center.
• 2:45 p.m. EST (3:45 p.m. EDT): Stewart boards a helicopter to Signature/Combs Flight Center.
• 3:08 p.m. EST (4:08 p.m. EDT): Stewart leaves for Concord Regional Airport on a Citation Ten private jet. Stewart is administered two liters of IV fluids.
• 5:03 p.m. EDT: Plane lands at Concord Regional Airport.
• 5:10 p.m. EDT: Stewart changes clothes and boards helicopter to travel to Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• 5:20 p.m. EDT: The helicopter lands in the Charlotte Motor Speedway infield, in front of the start/finish line. Stewart waves to fans and climbs into his car. (The team had Mike McLaughlin ready if Stewart did not arrive in time.)
• 5:37 p.m. EDT: Starting command for Coca-Cola 600 given, Stewart's car is moved to 43rd (last) starting position as a penalty for missing the pre-race drivers' meeting.
• 5:45 p.m. EDT: Start of the Coca-Cola 600.
• 10:00 p.m. EDT: Coca-Cola 600 completed, Stewart finished 3rd.

Simply Remarkable!  I'm pulling for Kyle Larson, who qualified an incredible 5th place at Indy and will start in the middle of Row 2.  He is running for Arrow McLaren and has a real shot, I think.  On the way home I'll be listening to the Coca-Cola 600 pulling for Larson too!  

Weather looks good right now!  Going to be a GREAT race!

 

Just a great ESPN article about the Double:

What Larson can learn from past Indy 500-Coke 600 Doubles - ESPN

They bring in more history for when (pre-1974, when Indy was locked into being on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend) guys would run Indy and the Coca-Cola but on different days sometimes a week or so apart.  That is cool too, but certainly different that doing so on the same day.

Really pulling for Kyle Larson this Sunday to have good trips both races.

Also crazy interesting in the article was that the Indy 500 was part of the F1 series back in the 1960.  That's fascinating to me.  I'll have to look more into that. 

If you look at the Double Wikipedia page, there was also talk of guys doing Indy and the Grand Prix of Monaco in the same year.  That had to be back in the day too though as all 3 HUGE races (Indy 500, Coca-Cola 600 and the Grand Prix of Monaco) and all happening this Sunday.

On 5/21/2024 at 5:01 PM, Purple88 said:

Just a great ESPN article about the Double:

What Larson can learn from past Indy 500-Coke 600 Doubles - ESPN

They bring in more history for when (pre-1974, when Indy was locked into being on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend) guys would run Indy and the Coca-Cola but on different days sometimes a week or so apart.  That is cool too, but certainly different that doing so on the same day.

Really pulling for Kyle Larson this Sunday to have good trips both races.

Also crazy interesting in the article was that the Indy 500 was part of the F1 series back in the 1960.  That's fascinating to me.  I'll have to look more into that. 

If you look at the Double Wikipedia page, there was also talk of guys doing Indy and the Grand Prix of Monaco in the same year.  That had to be back in the day too though as all 3 HUGE races (Indy 500, Coca-Cola 600 and the Grand Prix of Monaco) and all happening this Sunday.

Why not do the "24 Hours of Le Mans" while you are at?

A line of storms about to roll through, probably delay the start an hour or so.

2 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

A line of storms about to roll through, probably delay the start an hour or so.

At least, maybe closer to four hours. 

Sitting in a car in our parking spot waiting out the rain. Could end about 2:30. Will take 80 minutes to dry track. Then maybe get to see them run. But a lot of maybes in there. 

9 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

Sitting in a car in our parking spot waiting out the rain. Could end about 2:30. Will take 80 minutes to dry track. Then maybe get to see them run. But a lot of maybes in there. 

Fingers crossed. 

On TV they just said the race is scheduled to start in about an hour and that Kyle Larson is running Indy and not NASCAR, wow!

3 cars taken out in turn 1, lap 1...I'd be heart broken if I was one of those drivers.

The last 15 laps were some fun racing to watch. Clean, hard driving finish.

12 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

The last 15 laps were some fun racing to watch. Clean, hard driving finish.

I agree and what a finish!!

What a great race!  And on a crazy weather day really was The Greatest Spectacle in Racing!

With a heavy rain delay right when the green flag was supposed to drop, it continued for 2 hours.  Then took another 2 hours to dry the track and appease NBC of all the pre-race festivities!  Really impressed with the parachute guys this year.  They dropped out of an airplane in STIFF wind and landed cleanly on about a 1/4-acre spot.  Impressive, as were the Blue Angels jets!  Really makes you feel in awe when they fly by.

And the race began 4 hours after its scheduled time.  Last year there wasn't a yellow flag until about lap 100.  This year there were 3 in the first 46 and 1 of those was turn 1 of lap 1.  I had a great spot to watch the wrecks as I sit just outside of Turn 1 and most of the wrecks were right in my lap.  Pretty cool!  There were a total of 8 yellow flags, which seemed a little high.  Early on Scott McLaughlin the pole sitter seemed to have everyone covered and pulled an incredible passing of 3 cars on the front stretch heading into Turn 1.  He had a great car.  But about mid race the pack that McLaughlin led, were offset by a pack of cars led by 2008 Winner Scott Dixon.  I still don't know how they pulled that off.  Regardless, by lap 130 the Dixon pack had overtaken the McLaughlin pack (he shuffled down to about 6-8th place and had trouble once he was in that pack moving back up.  

Anyway, after that Lap 130 yellow, it seemed all the drivers put in Jolt Cola and were just racing like it was 10 laps to go instead of 70.  A LOT of overtaking and chances were taken at this point in the race.  It was fun to watch.  And with about 20 laps to go the Arrow McLaren cars of Rossi and Pato O'Ward were leading the 500 and basically taking turns at the front of the front of the pack.  That stayed for about 8 to 10 laps, but Rossi had to pit and then Dixon passed O'Ward to start the drive to the finish.

With about 10 to go, there were some of the best racing at Indy I can remember, cars really going for it, BUT more importantly they were really clean racing, which is a great spectacle to watch.  Joseph Newgarden and Pato O'Ward began dueling with about 5 laps to 3 laps to go and passed each other a couple times.  And with 3 to go O'Ward settled in behind Newgarden and waited until the White Flag signaling 1 to go before he made his move and passed Newgarden on the front straight to take the lead with just less than a lap to go!  Newgarden didn't panic and inched closer through Turns 1 and 2 and on the back stretch so bobbing and weaving transpired, but in the end O'Ward took and blocked the low side of the track into Turn 3 and Newgarden chose to go to the high side and clearly had the momentum to slingshot around and passed O'Ward in Turn 3.  They continued to battle to the line from there, but Newgarden likely had just a bit better car and prevailed for his first Back-to-Back Indy 500 title since Helio Castroneves won back-to-back in 2001 and 2002.  I believe it's only been done 4 times in the 108 years they raced, so that is super impressive from Newgarden.

Even thought I was pulling for O'Ward (because he had not won Indy before), I appreciate Newgarden's humble interview praising O'Ward and calling him a Clean Driver.  

This race was incredible really with a record of 16 different leaders and 87 lead changes during the race.  Really fun to watch.  10 cars did not finish the race.

I was hoping my man Santino Ferrucci was going to bring it home.  He ran a respectable 8th place, so good effort from the AJ Foyt driver.

The other guy I wanted to do well, really did do well and that was the NASCAR guy Kyle Larson.  Larson started an amazing 5th place and shuffled back at the start; got his feet under him and was really charging to the front when a disappointing speeding in pit lane penalty shuffled him to the back and he made up a few places but would have really liked to have seen what he could have done near the front late in the race.  And because of the weather delay, he didn't get to fully attempt the Double, so that was disappointing, but certainly not his fault.

GREAT race!  Those Tecate's were really nice after the race!!!!

I was sharing time with my two young grandsons watching the race.  I was explaining a lot of what was going on to them.  When Newgarden was being interviewed in Victory Lane, I encouraged them to chant "Drink the Milk"!

On 5/26/2024 at 5:32 PM, Jumper_Dad said:

3 cars taken out in turn 1, lap 1...I'd be heart broken if I was one of those drivers.

The only time I went to the 500, the polesitter crashed during warmups and never got in the race. 

7 hours ago, mcpapa said:

The only time I went to the 500, the polesitter crashed during warmups and never got in the race. 

Those Chariots were hard to control I bet!

 

 

Sidenote: I actually remember that and had attended practice a few days before the race...92 I think.