I watch the Indianapolis 500 with a bit of trepidation the last few years. Not so much that there will be a tragic crash. It’s more like a fear that this traditional festival once again be a pale image of its former self.
I have long been a fan of this race. But since The Split that kept the best open wheeled drivers in the U.S. out of the Indy field, it has seemed in some ways a second rate event best suited to a Saturday Night Bull Ring.
Be that as it may, it’s May and the truncated former month long activities again will be fit into two weeks.
Practice has been underway for a week and qualifications start this weekend. The fastest 33 cars this Saturday and Sunday and next Sunday will start the race on the 25th.
Five former winners are entered, including Helio Castroneves, a CART driver who has dominated the IRL field to win the past two years. They also include Arie Luyendyk and Al Unser, Jr. who could not longer make it in CART and Buddy Lazier and Kenny Brack, who never could.
Ironically, most attention will be given to Michael Andretti, who has led more laps than any other driver who never won the 500. This will be Andretti’s last race as a driver.
He will retire after this year’s Indy and devote all his energies as a team owner of the Andretti-Green team in the IRL.
Robbie Gordon will attempt an 1100 racing mile day once again. He will drive one of Andretti-Green’s cars at Indianapolis, then jet to Charlotte for NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600.
Another interesting story from this year’s 500 is the presence of A.J. Foyt IV. He is the grandson of four time 500 winner A.J. Foyt, Jr. AJF IV won the series championship last year in the Infiniti Pro Series. That’s a developmental league run by the IRL. So he apparently has talent.
He will drive for Foyt Enterprises.
He also has youth. Foyt will celebrate his 19th birthday on the 25th and be the youngest known driver in the history of the race. A.J. Jr. was the oldest driver to compete in the race. He was 7 when he drove in his last 500 in 2001.
The Indy 500 is underway … the race that had a 50 year history when Bill France, Jr. was a pup. Maybe it will be a good one this year.