Wednesday, June 08, 2016

100th Indianapolis 500



At the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 a sellout crowd of 350,000 people watched phenomenal passing and lead changes all afternoon.  Crazy pit road action took out two of the early frontrunners, Ryan Hunter Reay and Townsend Bell, who happened to be teammates.  The fans were treated to an insane finish where Alexander Rossi coasted around Turn 4 and slowed coming to the yard of bricks.  Hard charging Carlos Munoz and Josef Newgarden barreled around Turn four and had to wonder how Rossi had managed to save enough fuel to beat them to the finish.

 
 TOP 10

1. Alexander Rossi:  First rookie to win the 500 since Helio in 200.  First American rookie since Louis Meyer in 1928.
2. Carlos Munoz: His second runner-up  finish at Indy.
3. Josef Newgarden:  His best finish at Indianapolis in 5 attempts.
4. Tony Kanaan:  Said his car was better this year than it was when he won it in 2013.
5. Charlie Kimball:  Consistency at IMS is key.  Finished 3rd last year.
6. J.R Hildebrand: Has that knack for Indy, he seems to have a shot at winning each year he drives the 500.
7. James Hinchcliffe: Pole sitter had a disappointing finish after leading 27 laps.
8. Scott Dixon:  Not much of a factor all month.  Hopes to get his second 500 at the 101st Running.
9. Sebastien Bourdais: His second Top-Ten in six tries at the 500.
10.  Will Power: His 5th Top Ten in 9 attempts at the Brickyard.  He led 8 Laps/
 
Different Teams: 6 (Andretti, Penske, RLL, ECR, Schmidt, Ganassi)
 
Different Countries: 7 (USA, Colombia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, France, Australia)

7 Chevys,  3 Hondas
(but the top 2 were Hondas)


OTHER
46 Laps were run under yellow.
The race lasted 3 hours and 2 seconds
Average Speed was 166.634 mph
There were 54 lead changes among 13 drivers.
The fastest lap of the race was 225.288, by Alexander Rossi



OUR THOUGHTS

It was great seeing rookie, Stefan Wilson in the field, and super seeing all the fans wearing Justin Wilson t-shirts over the weekend.

Great run by Ryan Hunter Reay and Townsend Bell before their pit road incident.

Fantastic job of charging through the field by Sage Karam before his crash while running in fourth.

Juan Montoya became the first defending winner to finish last the following year since Johnny Rutherford in 1977.

Nice run for Pippa Mann.  An 18th place finish was her highest in five attempts at the 500.

Alex Tagliani moved up the most positions in the race, sixteen.  He also led 11 laps and had the fastest lead lap of the race at 222.729.
 

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