Round 6: The 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. May 18-30, 2021.

[Hawkwood]

Well, that was an unusual 500, only 2 cautions, but what an ending.


As much as I love seeing new winners, it's fantastic to see Helio get number 4, and remind the kids that the old boys still have it!

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by WyldStallion

Did exactly that.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Fastest 500 ever and both the cautions were pit related.

Fantastic. Just over 190mph.

Next fastest seems to be Kanaan’s win in 2013 with a poultry 187mph.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Fastest 500 ever and both the cautions were pit related.

.

That is quite impressive that nobody exactly had an issue on track, okay maybe Rahals could be considered on track, But really he was still in the pit exit.

And how did that take less time to clean up with debris all over the place than the first caution did just for some clerical issues?

[broadrun96]

I think there were a lot of emergency pit callers who didn't do what they should and I think multiple speeding penalties. But yes, far too long because of rules violations over cleanup

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

I think there were a lot of emergency pit callers who didn't do what they should and I think multiple speeding penalties. But yes, far too long because of rules violations over cleanup

They did mention that during the broadcast, but it makes me wonder then if they were trying to be lenient and allow people to serve penalties while still under yellow instead of going back to green and then telling people what their penalties were.

[tux]

Just 4 accidents over the 2 weeks. Seems freakishly low. Good though, impressive.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Dear NBC,

I don't need to see ex NASCAR people on the screen while they talk. Please cut out the side box screen for JJ and LeFart.

Sincerely,

Justletme Watchtherace

You're lucky.

Here is Australia we get the dodgy world feed that avoids showing any talking heads whether pit reporters or old 7 time. They cut away to some other irrelevant camera shot.

We have the commentators talking about one thing and the world feed showing something else.

We haven't had a decent Indy 500 telecast since 1995.

[S griffin]

Well done to Helio on getting his 4th win, shows at 46 he's still got it. Nice to the Spiderman celebration return too

[leothedrummer]

Great race, the Indy 500 always delivers. A must watch event for any race fan.

I do wish it could be run without the archaic American safety car / yellow flag rules. 12 laps behind the safety car for an incident that had nothing to do with the racetrack (and IMO didn't come close to needing a safety car for) that ended up having contenders taken out of the race for literally no reason other than an inane quirk of the rules that has no reason to be there.

Right, with that rant aside, onto the good! How's that for a feelgood story! The 4th win for Castroneves and for a part time team (the first part timer to win since Wheldon in 2011 and then Castroneves again in 2001, if my count is right) - what an achievement - as well as 7 different teams in the top 10 with a great mix of drivers. The racing seemed to strike a healthy balance in terms of how easy it was to pass. It was possible for drivers to rise through the field on pace, but they needed good cars and had to earn those positions on real pace. The way it should be. And no crashes! (Almost no crashes....sorry Graham...)

Great event, can't wait for next year. But as for now, roll on Detroit!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race Result:

That one goes into the record books, not just for Hélio Castromeves's historic fourth win but also for the fastest Indy 500 in the history of the race, with a time of 2:37:19.3846 and an average speed of 190.690 mph (306.885 km/h). The previous fastest race was 2013. Plus there were the fewest number of caution perods, 2. The first caution period, for Stefan Wilson's pitroad incident seemed unnecessarily long, 12 laps.

A bit processional to start with, as drivers kept fuel usage low. However, the race started to come alive after the second round of scheduled pitstops

That was bad luck for both Daly and Rahal, when Rahal's left rear tyre came off, after his stop on Lap 119, hitting Daly's car and damaging the nose. Daly was looking very good, having lead the most laps of the race, 40.

At one point it looked like Chevrolet had overcome their qualifying woes could go on to win but in the end Honda prevailed.

Dixon's first pitstop mishap has cost him the lead of the championship and he is now on 212 points, with Pato O'ward one point behind. Alex Palou now leads with 248 after finishing in second place, as the series goes to Belle Isle for the double-header starting on June 12.

[joeb]

I was just rewatching the final pass by Helio, it was amazing how much weaving Palou was doing. He dove so low that he almost hit the wall before swerving back up. Yet through all that movement Helio kept enough momentum to squeeze past on the outside. Brilliant stuff!

[Anyopenroad]

An aside for UK viewers who watched the coverage on Sky: Lando Norris is impressive isn't he? Very engaging, seems like a really nice guy, intelligent observations and really relaxed in the studio. He was asked if he'd rather win Le Mans or Indy and said both, but Le Mans first, referring to how much he enjoyed his drive at Daytona a couple of years ago.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

An aside for UK viewers who watched the coverage on Sky: Lando Norris is impressive isn't he? Very engaging, seems like a really nice guy, intelligent observations and really relaxed in the studio. He was asked if he'd rather win Le Mans or Indy and said both, but Le Mans first, referring to how much he enjoyed his drive at Daytona a couple of years ago.

He is a very nice young man, but his lack of knowledge on Indycar was very clear.

We were left with ‘Indycar expert’ Tom Gaymor’s endless snakes & ladders explanations.

[NaBUru38]

Spider-Hélio, Spider-Hélio
Wins four Indys, on pink or dayglo


Climbs the fence, drinks the milk
Kiss the wife, shows the ring


Look out! Here comes the Spider-Hélio!

[NaBUru38]

I'm so happy for Hélio. It's impressive to see the whole grid congratulating him.


Palou and O'Ward were great too. They will have more opportunities.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

An aside for UK viewers who watched the coverage on Sky: Lando Norris is impressive isn't he? Very engaging, seems like a really nice guy, intelligent observations and really relaxed in the studio. He was asked if he'd rather win Le Mans or Indy and said both, but Le Mans first, referring to how much he enjoyed his drive at Daytona a couple of years ago.

While he comes across well in interviews and seems friendly and personable, his lack of Indy knowledge was quite jarring, as he gave generic answer after generic answer.
There were times when we were listening to Lando and that other guy talking, but we could see pictures of Danica Patrick and the US TV host taling, and I would much rather have been hearing them instead.


Sky's coverage would've benefitted massively from having someone like Dario Franchitti alongside Lando - one giving the knowledge and the other appealing to F1 fans that Sky are trying to court.

[crmalcolm]

One of the issues with using the US commentary on the UK feed would be filling commercial time. There were many occasions when the US broadcast went to a commercial break and the UK commentators had to still cover proceedings.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

One of the issues with using the US commentary on the UK feed would be filling commercial time. There were many occasions when the US broadcast went to a commercial break and the UK commentators had to still cover proceedings.

Yes, but we have had somebody who knows more about the subject.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I've never really cared for NBC's commentary team and have found Sky lacking, so for the last few years, I've gone for IndyCar Radio Network. It's old school, the commentary team are very knowledgeable and for the 500 they have the benefit of Donald Davidson, an Englishman originally from Salisbury, who is the historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

https://www.indycar.com/Radio

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

While he comes across well in interviews and seems friendly and personable, his lack of Indy knowledge was quite jarring, as he gave generic answer after generic answer.
There were times when we were listening to Lando and that other guy talking, but we could see pictures of Danica Patrick and the US TV host taling, and I would much rather have been hearing them instead.


Sky's coverage would've benefitted massively from having someone like Dario Franchitti alongside Lando - one giving the knowledge and the other appealing to F1 fans that Sky are trying to court.

Lando's knowledge may be on par with yours, Dario was a bit busy on the Ganassi pit perch during the race!

[broadrun96]

Mike Shank just got a lot of free beer.



https://racer.com/2021/05/31/pruett-...ry-beth-shank/

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Lando's knowledge may be on par with yours, Dario was a bit busy on the Ganassi pit perch during the race!

Not sure how you've equated Dario being unavailable with Lando having the same Indy knowledge level as me?
There seems to be no correlation between those two things.

As I said in my post: "Sky's coverage would've benefitted massively from having someone like Dario Franchitti alongside Lando" - as Dario was unavailable, then someone like Dario would've been a benefit to Sky's coverage.

[broadrun96]

Those are 2 different statements, see the comma between them, that's how you know they're different.

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

While he comes across well in interviews and seems friendly and personable, his lack of Indy knowledge was quite jarring, as he gave generic answer after generic answer.
There were times when we were listening to Lando and that other guy talking, but we could see pictures of Danica Patrick and the US TV host taling, and I would much rather have been hearing them instead.


Sky's coverage would've benefitted massively from having someone like Dario Franchitti alongside Lando - one giving the knowledge and the other appealing to F1 fans that Sky are trying to court.

You didn't miss anything, she made the usual generic statements about saving fuel and staying out of trouble. Dario would have been better but he's occupied during the race.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Those are 2 different statements, see the comma between them, that's how you know they're different.

They were said as one sentence. That's how they can be understood together.