Round 6: The 103rd Indianapolis 500, 14th-26th May.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 6: The 103rd Indianapolis 500, 14th-26th May.

With the Rookie Orientation Program, practice session starting tomorrow, it's time to start the thread for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the world's oldest tracks that is still in use. In 1905 Indiana businessman Carl G. Fisher, envisioned building a circuit after watching some of the world's earliest car races in France. He felt Europe had the upper hand in car design and thought one reason was the lack of permanent testing facilities for American car manufacturers. After another visit to Europe and seeing the banked oval at Brooklands, England, he decided to build his own track.

Fisher convinced local businessmen James A. Allison, Arthur Newby and Frank W. Wheeler to join him in purchasing Pressley Farm, five miles outside of Indianapolis and totalling 328 acres for about $72,000. On March 20, 1909, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway company was incorporated and construction began that month.

The track surface consisted of packed soil covered by two inches of gravel, two inches of limestone covered with a solution of tar and oil, or taroid, one–two inches of crushed stone chips, also drenched with taroid and topped with crushed stones.

The first motorsport event was a series of motorcycle races planned over two days, under the sanction of the Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM), starting on August 14, 1909. Concerns about the track surface stopped the event part way through day one. Five days later 15 teams arrived for the first car event, held over three days. This was not without incident.

On day one Wilfred Bourque suffered a rear-axle failure, resulting in his car flipping end over end on the main straight, before crashing into a fence post, killing him and his mechanic Harry Halcomb. On day three the right front tire blew on Charlie Merz's car, knocking down five fence posts and dozens of spectators, killing two as well as his mechanic Claude Kellum. Ten laps later, after another accident, the race was cancelled.

The AAA, American Automobile Association, announced it would boycott further events unless the surface was changed. A concrete surface was considered but the track owners decided to pave the entire facility with bricks, after tests proved their durability. Five Indiana manufacturers supplied 3.2 million, 10-pound bricks. Each was hand laid on a 2 inch bed of sand, then levelled and the gaps filled with mortar. A concrete wall 33 inches tall was also constructed in front of the main grandstand and around all four corners to protect spectators. The final brick was made of gold and laid in a special ceremony by Governor Thomas R. Marshall.

In December 1909, the track reopened for testing, with speeds of up to 112 mph being reported. Racing returned the next year, with a series of short races held over the three main holiday weekends: Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. The following year, 1911, racing was just confined to Memorial Day and the very first 500 mile race was held on May 30. It was won by a former racer and Marmon engineer Ray Harroun, who came out of retirement for just one race, driving the legendary Marmon-Wasp. Since then, the event has always been held on the Sunday before Memorial Day and the race has been held every year since 1911, except for 1917-18 and 1942-45, due to World Wars I and II.

Recent History
After the 100th running of Indianapolis 500 and the anticipation that goes with such an historic event, one might have expected the 101st running to be a little down beat. However, in April, 2017 two time F1 World Driver's Champion, Fernando Alonso: 2005, 2006, decided not to compete at the jewel in the crown of the F1 calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix but instead compete in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday the 28th of May, the same day as the Monaco Grand Prix.

At the end of 2014 McLaren's F1 engine deal with Mercedes ended. McLaren decided to renew their historic links with Honda, with whom they had a very successful partnership in the late '80s and early '90s, with drivers Alain Prost and the late Ayrton Senna. Alonso who raced with McLaren in 2007, was lured back from Ferrari, after a somewhat frustrating five years, having been runner up three times in the F1 world Driver's Championship.

The Honda engine was problematic from the start and With little improvement during the Formula 1 2016 season, McLaren and Alonso agreed on a joint venture to race in the 2017 Indy 500. This would mean not taking part in the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, as both races clash and the likelihood of a decent finish was remote.

McLaren's entry was in partnership with Andretti Autsoport, one of the top Honda IndyCar teams, winning the 500 with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014 and partnering with Bryan Herta, to clinch Alexander Rossi's rookie win, in the 100th running of the race, in 2016. Alonso qualified 5th but an engine issue, similar to the one that forced team mate Ryan Hunter-Reay to retire, meant Alonso also retired finishing 27th.

This year Alonso is back, having announced in August last year he would leave F1 at the end of the 2018 season. As in 2017, Alonso's overall aim is to win motorsport's triple crown: the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix. This has only been achieved by one other driver, the late Graham Hill. So far, Alonso has won the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006-7 and Le Mans last year. Unlike 2017, McLaren will be powered by Chevrolet and not Honda.


There have been some changes to qualifying this year, with a modification of the current two-day format that's been used from 2014 to 2018.

Saturday:

Qualifying will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 5:50 p.m.
All cars entered will be guaranteed at least one attempt.
Additional attempts are allowed, time/weather permitting.
Positions 1–9 will advance to the Fast Nine Shootout.
Positions 10–30 will be locked-in, and will not re-qualify.
Positions 31 and lower will be entered into the Last Row Shootout.

Sunday:

At 12:15 p.m. the Last Row Shootout will be held. Entries that finished 31st and lower on Saturday will have one attempt to qualify. Times from Saturday will be erased. Starting positions 31–33 will be filled. All other cars from 34th and lower will fail to qualify.

At 1:15 p.m., the Fast Nine Shootout will determine starting positions 1–9, including the pole position. Times from Saturday will be erased, and cars will have one attempt to re-qualify. Championship points (9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) will be awarded based on the results of the Fast Nine Shootout.

After qualifying is concluded, a 2-hour, 45-minute practice session will be held. Furthermore, the Monday post-qualifying practice session will be trimmed from 3.5 hours down to 2 hours.

Some 500 Trivia:

1911: Ray Harroun was the first winner of the 500, driving a Marmon-Wasp.
Race Time: 6:42:08.039.
Average speed: 74.59 mph (120.04 km/h).

1913: Jules Goux, from France was the first non American to win and the first rookie winner, excluding the innaugural race.

1922: Jimmy Murphy was the first driver to win the race from pole position.

1939-40: Wilbur Shaw was the first driver to win back to back races.

1947: Mauri Rose and Bill Holland, scored the first team 1, 2 for entrant Lou Moore

1952: Art Cross won the first Rookie of the Year Award.

1961: Sir Jack Brabham was the first driver to race a rear engined car, a Cooper-Coventry Climax

1965: Jim Clark was the first driver to win in a rear engined car, in the Lotus 38-Ford.

1966: Graham Hill won The 50th Indy 500, in a Lola T90-Ford, the first rookie winner since 1927.

1967: Parnelli Jones raced the first gas turbine powered car, the Granatelli STP-Paxton Turbocar.

1977: Janet Guthrie was the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500.

1989: Emerson Fittipaldi was the first South American driver to win.

1992: Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds in the 500's closest finnish.

1992: Lyn St. James won the first Female Rookie of the Year Award.

1996: Arie Luyendyk sets a new 1 lap track record of 37.895 seconds, 237.498 mph (382.216 kmh) and a new 4-lap track record of 2:31.908, 236.986 mph (381.392 kmh). He also recorded an unofficial 1 lap of 00:37.616 seconds, 239.260 mph (385.052 kmh). Will Arie Luyendyk's 20 year old lap records be finally broken this year? I doubt it.

2005: Danica Patrick became the first female driver to lead the Indy 500.

2009: Danica Patrick finished 3rd, the highest position for a female driver.

2013: was the fastest race, with a time of 2:40:03.4181 and average Speed of 187.433 mph (301.644 kmh).

2017: Takumo Sato was the first Japanese driver to win.

2018. Will Power was the first Australian driver to win.

The most wins by any driver is 4, held jointly by:
A.J. Foyt: 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977.
Al Unser Sr.: 1970, 1971, 1978, 1987.
Rick Mears: 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991.

The team with the most wins: Penske, 16.
1972, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988,
1991, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006,
2009, 2015, 2017

The driver/team owner with the most wins: A.J. Foyt.
1964, 1967, 1977.

Current driver with the most wins: Hélio Castroneves.
2001, 2002, 2009.

This year Seven former 500 winners will be taking part.
Helio Castroneves. 2001, 2002, 2009
Scott Dixon. 2008
Tony Kanaan. 2013
Ryan Hunter-Reay. 2014
Alexander Rossi. 2016
Takuma Sato. 2017
Will Power. 2018

There are 36 entries for this year's race.

This year will be the first time since 1965, that ABC will not be broadcasting the race, with IndyCar having negotiated a new, long term contract with NBC to televise the race.

Track layout:



Length: 2.5 Miles (4.0 Km)
Turns: 4

1 lap record:
Arie Luyendyk, May 10, 1996. 00:37.895 seconds, 237.498 mph (382.216 kmh).
Reynard 94i-Ford Cosworth XB,
Indy Racing League.

4 lap record:
Arie Luyendyk, May 12, 1996. 2:31.908, 236.986 mph (381.392 kmh),
Reynard 94i-Ford Cosworth XB,
Indy Racing League.


Last year's race:
The race began with Pole sitter Ed Carpenter pulling ahead of the field, with third place Will Power, jumping into second place ahead of Simon Pagenaud. However Pagenaud got second place, 4 laps later at Turn 1. The field began to spread out; the new aero kit and high heat removed much of the slingshot drafting that defined the last several 500s, thus allowing Carpenter to pull out a two second advantage by the time the first round of pit stops came at around lap 30, with Carpenter maintaining his lead. However Kanaan, who also made an excellent start, moving up to sixth place and Josef Newgarden were now up to second and third respectively, after slightly earlier stops, giving them the advantage of fresher tires for a few laps. Pagenaud, Hélio Castroneves and Power rounded up the top six after the first stops were done.

The first full-course yellow came at Lap 47, when the previous year's winner Takuma Sato, came up on backmarker James Davison. Davison, had been running significantly slower than the rest of the field for several laps and attempted to remain on the high line through Turn 3, to keep out of the way but with the speed differential, Sato was unable to avoid Davison's car and collided with Davison's left-rear wheel. Davison's car spun around and continued sliding until it ran into the Turn 4 wall, while Sato was able to bring his car to rest in the grass, on the inside of Turn 4. During the caution, most of the field pitted with Carpenter, Kanaan, and Power emerging first from pit lane. Zachary Claman DeMelo, inherited the lead as he had elected not to pit during the caution.

Racing resumed on Lap 56, with Carpenter and Kanaan passing DeMelo almost as soon as the green flag waved. However, the green flag period was short lived, as on lap 58, Ed Jones lost control of his car in Turn 2, spun around and hit the outside wall. Jones got out from under the car unassisted but was later transported to hospital after complaining of head and neck pain.

During the caution period, the running order was Carpenter, Kanaan, Newgarden, Pagenaud, DeMelo, Power but as racing resumed on Lap 64, Kanaan got the jump on Carpenter taking the lead into Turn 1. The next lap, the lead switched back, as Carpenter made his way around Kanaan into turn one to resume first place. Once again, the green flag period was again short, for on lap 68, Danica Patrick lost control of her car in Turn 2 in similar fashion to Jones, spinning and hitting the outside wall, before sliding back across the track and then hitting the inside wall. Patrick's final 500 resulted in a lowly 30th place finish. Few drivers chose to pit during the caution, with Newgarden, DeMelo, Robert Wickens the major takers.

The next restart was on Lap 73, with Kanaan again passing Carpenter for the lead heading into Turn 1, while Power moved into third place after passing Pagenaud. The running order remained unchanged until the next round of pit stops at roughly Lap 90. During the round, Power jumped both Kanaan and Carpenter, moving into the lead. On lap 99, Kanaan's chances of picking up a second Indy victory were dashed when he picked up a puncture, forcing him back to the pit lane and putting him one lap down.

At halfway, Power held a commanding 4.7 second lead ahead of Carpenter but the gap would close back down to just over a second when Stefan Wilson managed to un-lap himself on lap 121. By lap 127, the cycle pit stops came again, with Power maintaining his place ahead of Carpenter. On lap 138, the fourth caution period came, when Sébastien Bourdais lost control of his car coming off Turn 3, while running close behind Alexander Rossi. Bourdais attempted to save his car in the north short-chute but spun around completely and hitting the wall at Turn 4. With the field bunched up again and drivers off-sequence pitting during the yellow, the running order was, Power, Carpenter, Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Castroneves.

The race resumed on Lap 145, with Power quickly pulling away. Green flag racing lasted less than a lap, as coming out Turn 4, Castroneves spun and slid across the track, hitting the inside wall before sliding to a halt on the pit lane. This caution period actually simplified pit stop strategy for most drivers and teams, as it ensured only one more stop would be necessary during the race.

Racing resumed on lap 154 with Power once again opening up the lead. Further back, Rossi, who started the race from the back row, made his way into the lead group with a daring outside pass through Turns 1 and 2, to move him into third place ahead of Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay.

Yellow flew just as quickly as the previous run, as Sage Karam lost control of his car at the exit of Turn 4, making contact with the outside wall, ripping the right-rear tire off his car. During the caution the front-runners stayed out, while a few drivers, including Oriol ServiÃ*, Stefan Wilson, Jack Harvey, and Scott Dixon pitted, hoping to get another caution in the remaining laps, which would move thpem to the front of the field.

Racing resumed again on lap 162, with Power once again opening his lead over Carpenter. The running order for the front runners remained largely the same, when pit stops between Lap 170 and 175, with Power maintaining his advantage over Carpenter. However, six of the off-sequence cars were ahead of him, with ServiÃ* leading, followed by Wilson, Harvey and Dixon. By lap 185, Power had managed to move back into fourth place but on Lap 188, the yellow that the off-sequence drivers needed, finally came out when Tony Kanaan lost control of his car coming off Turn 2 and hit the outside wall.

The track went green on Lap 194 and race leader ServiÃ* was immediately passed by both Wilson and Harvey; both drivers were marginal on fuel and were gambling on a late caution to conserve enough fuel for victory. Power meanwhile moved into third on the next lap and began setting his sights on Wilson and Harvey. Power was suddenly promoted to first with only four laps left, when both Wilson and Harvey dived into pit lane for fuel. The next lap, ServiÃ* pitted from second. This left Power with more than a 2 second advantage over Carpenter, and he was able to cruise to victory, securing his first victory and becoming the first Australian to take victory in the 500. It was also Roger Penske's 17th Indy 500 victory as a car owner.

For his victory, Power took away $2.52 million.

Rookie of the year honors went to Robert Wickens, who led two laps en route to a ninth place finish

Pole:
Ed Carpeneter,
Ed Carpeneter Racing.
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.
Combined lap time, 2:35.0630. Average Speed, 229.618 mph (369.534 km/h)

Winner:
Will Power,
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Laps: 200
Distance: 500 Miles (805 km)
Race Time: 2:59:42.6365
Average Speed: 166.935 mph (268.656 km/h).

Caution periods: 10
Caution laps: 50

Race broadcast: NBC, May 26th, 11:00am ET.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Juncos loses two main sponsors.

https://racer.com/2019/05/13/juncos-...-500-sponsors/

[Nick Woodbury]

Thanks for the post/thread! Full of good information.

IndyCar twitter published a cool video today of Fernando doing an NBC interview while being surrounded by autograph seeking fred-nando fans.

Here is what he had to say: https://twitter.com/i/status/1128357610359533568

[mstets]

Herta, Helio, and Carpenter all going over 228 in their first 8 laps!

Hinchcliffe has been busy, turning laps in the 5, 7, 60, and 77 cars.

[mstets]

Penskes turning up the wick with 80 minutes left as Power and Pagenaud both turn laps at 229.7 mph.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nick Woodbury

Thanks for the post/thread! Full of good information.

IndyCar twitter published a cool video today of Fernando doing an NBC interview while being surrounded by autograph seeking fred-nando fans.

Here is what he had to say: https://twitter.com/i/status/1128357610359533568

You are welcome.

[Nick Woodbury]

From what I hear, Alonso has crashed.



*EDIT* A twitter user posted a low quality video of the incident here. Alonso struck the walls a total of three times.

https://twitter.com/rtshark/status/1...7WdVtxIVivpixE

[bjohnsonsmith]

Power and Penske dominated and Alonso had electrical issues.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/143402

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Nick Woodbury

From what I hear, Alonso has crashed.



*EDIT* A twitter user posted a low quality video of the incident here. Alonso struck the walls a total of three times.

https://twitter.com/rtshark/status/1...7WdVtxIVivpixE

Did he crash at all last time? Gotta get that out of his system

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by joeb

Did he crash at all last time? Gotta get that out of his system

He had quite a bit more downforce last time too.

[Nick Woodbury]

Oof! Now Rosenqvist bites the wall. That was an almost instantaneous spin!

Video - https://twitter.com/i/status/1128771276393394176

[ApexTurtle]

That looks dreaful, almost a carbon copy of what happened to like 3 guys last year. I hope it won't be a repeat, that was the wrost Indy 500 I've watched in my life.

[bjohnsonsmith]

[joeb]

Originally Posted by ApexTurtle

That looks dreaful, almost a carbon copy of what happened to like 3 guys last year. I hope it won't be a repeat, that was the wrost Indy 500 I've watched in my life.

Looked like he put a wheel off the track to me.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by joeb

Looked like he put a wheel off the track to me.

He was definitely very low. The video I saw wasn't very clear. Perhaps a combination of a bad line and bad air from the the car in front.



Alonso's looked more like a classic understeer situation. Rahal had a couple of near contacts that looked to be similar.

[mstets]

Interesting that no one bettered Power's speed from Tuesday. I'm guessing it was warmer today, so that may have been the limiting factor.


Nice to see Kimball with the 8th fastest lap today. Carlin could use a good result. Charlie has two top five and 4 top ten finishes in eight Indy 5000 starts.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by joeb

Looked like he put a wheel off the track to me.

Yeah, that's a trimmed out car and got a wheel in the grass. ALWAYS going to end poorly. Given the other cars around him and how they moved not everyone is trimming them out fully yet. But there's always someone wanting to cut the wings fully.

[Formulahistory]

I would really love to have Pippa Mann qualified for the race. But it seems very much unlikely.

[broadrun96]

Looks like Kaiser and Juncos are doing everything they can to drum up a sponsor, 5th fastest no-tow lap yesterday according to MP this morning

[rwintle]

I'm liking Alonso a lot more now that he's out of F1 and seems to be enjoying himself. He was great at Indy last time too, seemed relaxed and enjoying his interviews. I'd like to see him do well.

[bjohnsonsmith]

O'Ward has heavy crash but is uninjured.

https://racer.com/2019/05/16/oward-u...ractice-crash/

[fieldodreams79]

Mid May usually means a bunch of junked up race cars in the state of Indiana.

[broadrun96]

We're up to at least 5 now, and a couple teams may have to scrounge up some spares, or wait until Ganassi isn't looking. We know they aren't taking The Captain's stuff, Penske has some immaculate black and silver handmade locks holding his stuff closed, probably with at least 3 guys to polish the locks.

[mstets]

Kyle Kaiser has made contact in turn four. The car spun mid corner and hit the wall with the left side, very nearly turning over after the contact. Kaiser is OK.

[mstets]

Dixon, Newgarden, Rossi, Rahal, and Carpenter have all turned no-tow laps at 229+ this morning.