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.

 

100th Indianapolis 500 Josef Newgarden update

Josef Newgarden was very close to winning the 100th running of the Indy 500.  It was so exciting!

 He started 2nd and finished 3rd

 and he led 14 laps!!!
Unfortunately he was a little short on fuel and had to stop for gas in the final few laps.

And now he is 4th in Indycar season points!!!

His fasted lap was on lap 169

His lowest position was 9th

2nd is Josef's best start at the Indianapolis 500

and 3rd is his best finish! 

Josef Newgarden started in the middle of the front row, next to my second favorite driver Hinch!!!

 

Josef in his #21 Preferred Freezer Car on the front straightaway.
 

 

This was Josef's garage.

 

 

 

 

Next up the Dual in Detroit!

Josef has only 2 Top 10's in 7 races in Detroit, but he ran well there last year and is always strong on street courses. 

So I'm expected a win...or two! 

Good Luck Josef.

post by Alexandra, age 8

                      

Our thoughts and experiences: Indy 500, 100th running

The Indy 500 was amazing!!!
 

We would have loved to see a shootout between Josef Newgarden and Carlos Munoz, but it came down to really amazing fuel strategy by Alexander Rossi.  It may not have been the side by side for the win finish that we were expecting, but we got plenty of excitement during the race!

In the opening ceremonies, 'Back Home Again in Indiana' was sung by Josh Kaufman.  He sounded really good but we're still getting used to not having Jim Nabors sing it like he had for so many years.

The bald eagle that was released during a song was a really neat touch,  it was really beautiful.  We got to see it up close when it was being taken through the crowd earlier in the morning and it had a little mask over it's eyes so that it didn't get upset around all the people.

We parked in the Speedway Trails parking a few blocks from the track.  It was the first time in years that we didn't park inside the track, because although we had a pass we didn't want to wait in the extra long line of traffic to get inside this year.  It was good because instead of getting up at 4:00 we actually slept in till 4:45 and were able to easily get to the track from downtown by 6:15.

We got our 100th anniversary milk that was being handed out by the Indiana Dairy Association and kept it in our coolers till after the race when we drank it while Alexander Rossi was drinking his milk in Victory Circle. 

It was 81 degrees, so we were hot, but luckily there were some dark clouds that gave us a break once in a while and thanks to our 100 SPF suntan lotion we didn't even burn a bit.  The same could not be said for many of the people sitting around us.  :)

The one-hundredth running definitely had, as Mario Andretti said, more pizzazz.  The stands were packed with people no matter where you looked and the grounds were teeming with fans whenever we ventured down from our seats.   You could feel the extra excitement in the air during every moment of the race.

The Program was $25 for the 100th running, but was by far my favorite one that I've ever read.  (and we have a lot, some dating back to the 60's).   It had all the drivers and all the Indy 500 winners dating back to 1911, plus tons of different facts and articles.  It's really cool, and really thick, so I am still trying to finish reading through it.

The pre-race activities were especially fun this year, too.  The video about the history and progression of the most famous words in motorsport was really neat, and all the old cars and driver legends that they had on the track.  We were in our seat from 8:30 until after Alexander made his victory lap and kissed the bricks because there was constantly something going on to watch!

The day after the race we went back to the Speedway to renew our tickets for next year!

Why we like Indycar

There's lots to love about Indycar racing!

We wanted to share just a few of the things that really stand out to us!

1.  The accessible and friendly drivers and teams

One of our most favorite things about Indycar is the friendly and accessible drivers. Whenever we go to races and happen to see a driver, they are always smiling and interacting with the fans.  The team members are just as friendly.  We even got to do an interview with Krystin Wiggs, the PR for Schmidt Peterson, at Baltimore 2013.

2.  The fan friendly activities at the track. 

We go to the Indy 500, the GP of Indy, and the Pocono 500 every year, and we always are greeted with fun activities to do at the track.  At every race, there is the Indycar Fan Zone.  In the Fan Zone, you can get meet drivers, enter contests for Indycar prizes, buy Indycar merchandise for a friend, and take your kids into the kids zone. Each track also has it's own special mark on the fans.  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a Kids Club Kids Zone, where kids can drive in simulators, bounce in bounce houses, and run obstacle courses. 

3.  The open garages for fans to go in.

Most tracks have open garages for the fans to go in with passes.  You can meet drivers, see the cars, and see team members.  When we were at Indy, we saw A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Sam Schmidt and almost all the current drivers.  We also saw the Indy GP race winning car without its paint job!

4. The really cool videos.

There are so many Indycar videos for us to not only watch and see the drivers personalities, but also get to watch them during the offseason.  Here's one of our favorites.

 

   

Our Legends Day at the Indy 500 through Pictures

 

 

Legends Day at the Indy 500 is held the day before the Indianapolis 500.  There are lots of former drivers, winners and old race cars all around the track and a memorabilia show that runs during the day.  The 33 starting drivers sign autographs for an hour in the morning, and later in the day former drivers and winners have an autograph session and the fans line up all throughout the pagoda plaza.

The public drivers meeting is our favorite part, when the starting drivers sit on bleachers facing the fans and the previous year's winner is presented their Baby Borg.  All the drivers are presented their starting drivers rings and the race 'rules' are discussed.

Then the drivers board buses and head downtown for the 500 Festival Parade! 

 



Helio Castroneves car.



 

Hinch always smiling and laughing while signing autographs

Ryan Hunter-Reay signing autographs

The annual public drivers meeting.  Juan Montoya and Roger Penske being presented with their Baby Borgs as the 2015 winning driver and team owner

Our family shot that we get every year by the fountain

Hinchcliffe's pole winning car being pulled out of the garages