Indy 500 (1 Viewer)

[JamesED]

Last year, the thread didn't take off until late in the race. Anyone up for some pre-race speculation to start this years thread off?

I should be at the race on Sunday, and it's been a few years since I've gone. I'm a wee bit ancy. I'll start with a safe guess, Helio.

 

[DougR]

I'm going with Dan Wheldon to Win !!

 

[Blu]

As old and with as much tradition that the Indy 500 had and as messed up as the racing leagues are now, I have to wonder if the 500 will ever return to the glory days it once enjoyed.

There are few people who are familiar with the drivers now and the Indy has suffered from many internal conflicts.

Will Indy racing continue to plummet while NASCAR rises?

 

[Brad Porter]

I'm rooting for Sam Hornish, Jr., Scott Dixon, and Tony Kanaan to do well enough to keep Castroneves and Wheldon from running away with the points race.

Out of those guys I may be rooting more for Kanaan than the others because he always seems to compete well at Indy yet has never gotten the win.

And I'll probably be rooting for the old men Andretti, Cheever, and Unser, Jr.

Brad

 

[Brad Porter]

It was a really good race, but I felt like they held that last caution about four laps too long. There have been several instances in past races where being out of cycle with the other cars with respect to fueling has been the key to victory. Hornish didn't plan to be in that position (the way that Michael Andretti did), but he took advantage of his situation after getting the penalty. Too bad for Al, Jr. that a piece of debris took him out of a race that he was performing fairly well in.

And please ABC or Tony Hulman or whoever keeps booking them... let's get rid of the shitty bands performing their shitty songs. There was absolutely zero noticeable crowd reaction for that Staind performance. I want the All-American Marching Band, Florence Henderson, Jim Nabors, and nobody else until they die. Got it?

And I wasn't sure if it was Rusty Wallace or that Marty Reid guy, but mistakenly calling the race the Daytona 500 during the last lap should just about guarantee that you never work in that announcing booth again. Bring back Paul Page and Bobby Unser if that's the kind of announcers you're going to have.

Brad

 

[JamesED]

Wow, one great race. I was sitting up high in the SW Vista, so I had a really good look of the first two corners and a decent amount coming in and out of those corners.

The crowd kept cheering everytime Hornish took the lead. When the Andrettis took those spots, everybody was on their feet cheering. I just cannot believe Sam covered so much ground in the last two laps to slide past Marco.

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

that was insane (still not as close as the unser jr goodyear finish in 92.)

I agree with you Brad, bring back Paul Page There was never any cheerleading that these new announcers do for Patrick. Now, I have nothing against her, and think she's a great addition to the sport (and is one of the first female drivers easy on the eyes), but last year and some of this year, you could hear in the announcers voices that they wanted her to win.

I've been to 3 500's the first year was 95 (when scott goodyear went past the pace car with 11 laps to go and refused to take the rolling pit stop.) also had to make a nice long 10 mile walk to and from the track ( i was maybe 10 at the time) and my dad and my self walked past our seats, so it was another 2 and a half miles to walk.

 

[Jeff_CusBlues]

I've been to many 500s. This one was awesome. I posted a bit about the race here

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...2&postcount=15

Perhaps I should have posted here. It was definately a great finish. I actually think the IRL has gained some ground in the last few years. The racing has been very exciting while NASCAR racing has gotten worse in my opinion. I am still a big NASCAR fan, but you rarely see the great racing you once did. Just my opinion though. I still attend many races and have a great time. As far as the last caution in the Indy 500 is concerned, I though it was very "timely". lol It bunched everyone up and made for a great finish. Hornish must have been running lean until that last lap. He caught up and then passed Andretti so easily that he must have turned up his gas/air mixture.

 

[dany]

Until Indy and whatever the other is gets back to one,they will never get to the level of Nascar. If you watch the races you'll see half full stands,there is a reason for that. Its been that way since the split.
If the kid wasnt a rookie,he blocks him and wins,to bad for him but it was a pretty good indy as i havent missed one in a loooooooooooong time.

 

[Paul McElligott]

IndyCar's Tony George and ChampCar's Kevin Kalhoven are in talks to reunify the two series. They appear to be serious about it this time.

Rumors have it that the back up plan is for ChampCar to keep May clear of any races, meaning that all ChampCar drivers could participate in the 500, meaning that you could have as many as forty drivers vying for the 33 spots (actually bumping on Bump Day if you can believe it). You might actually see names like Vasser, Bordais and Tracy competing against Castro-Neves, Kannan and Franchiti again.

 

[JamesED]

My father sent me a link of the photos from the back of his plane. His P51 was in the flyover at 11:30. There is also a great shot of the track from the practice run the day before. I'd thought I'd share them.

Race Day and Practice Flight

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Awesome shots, James. Still hard to put into perspective just how big that track is.

Bruce

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Awesome P-51 shots - of the track and of the planes !

So... can someone explain how Hornish got that burst of acceleration ? Does drafting have that much effect ? I'm no motorhead, but did Marco just not "floor it" ?

 

[Jay H]

Great shots of the P-51s, that must of been fun!

Jay

 

[Peter Kim]

My thoughts, too Kirk. Unless Marco was holding back his mix because of fuel concerns. Even Mario wondered what kind of 'button' Sam pressed to rocket past Marco.


Good ol' CART.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

Sam's car has been bad fast all month. Marco wasn't out front until strategy and luck put him ahead of Team Gnassi and Penske. With Sam getting a draft all the way down the back straight, through t3-4 and down the front, he had no where to go but fast.

It was tough to pull that one off, but on the back stretch I was thinking that he'll catch him on the front. It was just a matter of how aggressive Marco was, but he did the safe thing.

Very exciting race. My DVR cut out after four hours of recording. >8( I only got up to lap 175 on the HDD.