Alex's Josef Update #6 Indy 500

The 'Indy 300' went really well for Josef as he started 8th and ran in the top ten for most of the first 300 miles....
Then things turned ugly.

First Josef came sputtering down pit lane and ran out of gas, and apparently when you run out of gas in an Indycar it's really hard to restart it.   So he sat in the pits for about 10 laps.

He was then in 29th place until a yellow came out on lap 167 for a spin by Dixon and Josef was rear-ended by rookie Martin Plowman as he slowed in Turn 4.   OUCH. 
He was done for the day....and finished 30th.
(and since the '500' was worth double points he dropped to 14th in the Indycar standings).
 
(Don't worry Martin, Alex forgives you since Josef was already way behind....it's not like he was leading like when a certain future Indy 500 winner ran into him)

 

But as upset as Alex was about Josef's finish in the 500 she did have a very nice memory from the weekend to keep her in good spirits.

 

JOSEF HELD ALEX!!!!

  

Oh wait, in case you don't already know about Alex's obsession for Josef, go to our post 'Josef Newgarden and Alex'. (But please be quick, Alex is going to get upset if we don't tell you about Josef picking her up soon)

 

 

Okay then, so Alex saw (and talked to) Josef thru the fence at his pits right before he went out for carb day practice, but she was a little disappointed she couldn't get a hug.   We had to break it to her that she probably wouldn't because he's "kinda busy all weekend" with a little race thing.

 

So you can imagine her excitement when, while waiting for her dad to come down the elevator by the media center, she saw Josef coming down the steps. 

 

He immediately scooped her up and gave her a hug and Alex didn't want us to say this, but Josef said that she had gotten quite a bit heavier.... uh oh, maybe next time Alex will just have to settle for a ground hug.

 

 

THANKS JOSEF FOR MAKING OUR LITTLE SISTER'S INDY 500 WEEKEND SPECIAL!!!

and

We know that first Indycar win is coming really soon!

 

 



'500' Week at IMS Carb day

There are lots of neat events on Carb Day
(Carb is short for Carburetion and even though they haven't used carburetors in the '500' since 1963 the name has stuck)
 

The last practice for the Indy 500:

(the whole reason for carb day is the teams/drivers get one more hour to perfect their cars for race day.)

We sat in the Gasoline Alley seats at the South end of the front stretch and it was great watching the cars come down the front straightaway. All the teams took full advantage of the session and seeing everyone coming off pit lane at once with their engines roaring is so exciting.

Alex, of course, spent her time watching for only one car, Josef Newgarden's, and she loved watching his pit stops (which was easy since we were sitting just above his pitbox...no coincidence there).

The Indy Lights race:

(Our second favorite part of carb day.  Seeing the up and coming Indycar drivers racing 40 laps on the IMS track. It has previously been won by guys like Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden)

This year's race was fantastic with plenty of passing and a close finish for the second year in a row!

One of the most exciting Indy Lights race we've ever seen. The top three drivers were swapping back and forth most of the race and winner Gabby Chaves and Matthew Brabham crossed the line almost side by side winning by only .005 seconds!!!

 

 

 

The Pit Stop Challenge:
(IMS plays really loud music and drivers & crews compete two by two against one another until only one team is left.)
We were really excited when rookie Sage Karam got in the finals, and even though Scott Dixon won, we still think he did really good.  (Alex was not really interested in it that much because Josef was not competing)

 

PLUS
There was a
vintage car display
Stadium Super Truck Races
and
2 Music Concerts including Sammy Hagar

Oh, and one more thing...
This was the cool FREE pin that Firestone
gives out on special days at IMS.

Free Carb Day Pin 2014

 

 

 

Drivers in carts

Do Indycar drivers race Indycars or golf carts?

 Ryan Hunter-Reay
(well, the back of him anyway, we'll get a better one)

 Helio Castroneves
(on Will Power's cart!....is this allowed?)

 

 

Helio, on a bike this time.
And still smiling!

 Tony Kanaan defending 500 champion
(love his shoes)

James Hinchcliffe
(glad he recovered from the hit in the GP)

Simon Pagenaud
(congrats on the Indy GP win)

 Rick Mears - 4 time 500 winner!!!
(got his autograph!)

 Ryan Hunter-Reay
(we told you we would get a better one)

 Dario Franchitti - 3 time 500 winner
(miss him on the track but great to still see him at the track!)

 Jack Hawksworth rookie
(awesome helmet)

 

Carlos Huertas a

(another rookie)

 

 

 

 

 

Past Winners in the 500

We did a young drivers post,
and now we are doing a post
on the older more experienced 
drivers and past winners 

 They include...

Helio Castroneves: 3 time winner
'01, '02, '09

 

Tony Kanaan: 1 time winner
'13

 

Scott Dixon: 1 time winner
'08

   

Juan Pablo Montoya: 1 time winner
'00

 

 

Buddy Lazier: 1 time winner
'96

Jacques Villeneuve: 1 time winner
'95


The record number of past winners in the field for the 500 was 10 in 1992 with a combined total of 20 wins. There were also 3 future winners in the race. (Al Unser, Jr., Buddy Lazier & Eddie Cheever)
The neatest part was that all three 4 time winners were in the 500 that year.



The former winners in that race were:

A. J. Foyt (4 wins)

Al Unser, Sr. (4)

Rick Mears (4)

Gordon Johncock (2)

Mario Andretti (1)

Tom Sneva (1)

Danny Sullivan (1)

Bobby Rahal (1)

Emerson Fittipaldi (1)

Arie Luyendyk (1)

Will we see a four time winner this year?

Or maybe another 2 time champ. 

We can't wait!

Alex's 'Josef' view of the Indy GP weekend

 

There are two distinct aspects to this Josef post.

 

          The Sad Part

Josef finished 17th on race day, which basically ruined Alex's day.
But she was still happy when he drove by every lap. 

 

 (you're probably expecting some pictures, but Alex wants no reminder of that day.
She barely let us put it in the post)

 

   and

 

The Super Happy, Ecstatic Part

 

 

- ON FRIDAY

- Alex got to see and talk to Josef in his pits (basically because we stood by his pit until he got out of the car and noticed her and came over.)           

- Alex got to talk with Josef's mom and dad before qualifying                                                  

- Alex got to go into Josef's shop and met some super nice ladies who work there.

- Alex got to get a Josef shirt (her first 'official' Josef shirt that wasn't homemade).

 

 

- ON SATURDAY

- Alex got to see Josef & he waved at her in a tweet up

- Alex got Josef's chef's hat that he wore while cooking with Joe Namath in St. Pete because Jarod won it for her at the tweet up.

- We met Josef's web designer who took a picture of her in her 'Josef dress' and posted it to Josef's website. (She was kinda a little excited about that.) Thank you, Rob!

 

 

- ON SUNDAY

- Alex got to see Josef

- Alex got to talk to Josef

- Sadly, she also had to say goodbye to Josef (but only for a week and a half so it was all good.)

 

Josef driving his car in the pits

  

You'll notice some other drivers in the background,
they do not matter to Alex & she was upset that we didn't crop them out

  

Alex wants to sit in this section for the 500
(we're not)

 



Looking for Josef
(wrong way, Josef comes from behind you this is the GP not the 500)

 

Josef's garage.

We admit that we took these pictures just to rub it in to Alex that
we can get in the garage area and she can't....she's too young.



And now Alex is really happy because she gets to go back to Indy to see Josef again (race...what race?)

But she's really super happy because

JOSEF qualified 8th for the Indianapolis 500!!!!

  



Sage Karam Indy 500 Rookie

Sage Karam is a rookie in the Indy 500.
He won the Indy Lights championship in 2013.

He will start 31st in his first Indycar race.

Pretty neat watching them work on the car on the opening day of 500 practice.

It's really cool that we have two local guys,

Sage and Marco Andretti,

running in the Indy 500 because it means there are more Indycar articles in our newspaper!



 

On track Indy 500 Opening Day Practice.



In the pits getting ready to complete his Rookie Orientation Program.

 

Thanks Sage for getting a picture with us!


GOOD LUCK in the INDY 500 SAGE!!!
We'll be there rooting for you.

 

Alex's Josef Update #5 GP of Indy

The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was not the best of races for Josef Newgarden. 
so (his #1 fan) Alex was not too happy

& although she did watch the whole race looking for his car each lap, we admit she did get to playing fish school with her goldfish cracker snack as he was stuck back in 17th or so.

 

So To Recap:
After 2 races qualifying in the Firestone Fast Six, Josef Newgarden did not move on from Round 1 qualifying and started the Grand Prix of Indy from the 15th position. 
He moved up to 12th as the race immediately went yellow  but ran into trouble when he made contact with another car on the first restart.  Boo. 

He ended the race in 17th and dropped from 10th to 13th in the Indycar points standings.

 

 

 

Josef's car on Sunday, a bit prior to going out for Opening Day Indy 500 practice.

 

The Happy part, for Alex ,was that she got to see Josef on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (but that's a whole other post that we'll do later because Alex insists)

 

 

 

More importantly Josef has started a video blog series about the days leading up to the Indy 500.

He answers questions and talks about practice and giveaways (like a Mario bobble head) and ... well it really doesn't matter, Alex is just thrilled she gets to see more Josef everyday on the computer.

 

This is Alex's favorite of his vlogs, Day 2, because he mentions us (The 321 Indycar Kids) and answers one of our questions!

 

 

Click here to see his other video blogs

 (Translation from Alex: Click here to see lots more Josef! and Josef! Yeah!)

 

 

 

Catch Josef in qualifying on

Saturday & Sunday (May 17th & 18th) on ABC.

 

 Can't wait to see him in his 3rd Indianapolis 500! 

Sunday May 25th!

 

 

 

GO JOSEF...GO JOSEF...GO JOSEF

 

 

 

Youth Movement in the Indy 500

 
Making a 10 hour drive back home from Indianapolis, we had a lot of time to look through the GP of Indy and Indy 500 programs and got to noticing that there are a lot of young drivers trying to make the 500 this year.  Which is pretty cool.

 

 

There are young 'veterans'



Sebastian Saavedra
Age 23
3 '500' starts  Best Finish: 23rd (2010)
 

Josef Newgarden
Age 23
2 '500' starts  Best Finish: 25th (2012)
 

Carlos Munoz: 2nd year (22)
Age 22
1 '500' start  Best Finish: 2nd (2013)


And some Rookies

Jack Hawksworth
Age 23
2012 Star Mazda Champion
 

Carlos Huertas
Age 23 
2nd highest rookie in points (18th)

Sage Karam
Age 19
2013 Indy Lights Champ


Looking forward to seeing them all running
in the 98th Indianapolis 500!!!