By Bob Pagels
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis 500 is an American icon. Has been for over 100 years. It remains the world’s largest single-day sporting event, with current attendance estimates in the neighborhood of 250,000 spectators and participants. The 200-lap saga will be broadcast in 157 countries this year. To put that into perspective, this year’s Super Bowl between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers was broadcast in over 180 countries.
Not bad for a sport that supposedly has slipped out of the national sports consciousness over the years.
It is no secret the relevance of the Indianapolis 500 may have suffered some setbacks over the last 15 years or so, but, in fact, the on-track entertainment value of the IZOD IndyCar Series this season (and last) is arguably the most competitive and unpredictable in all of motorsports. This is quite an achievement for IndyCar, which has been seeking to regain the prestige and prominence of their glory years of the 1980s and early 1990s.
There are several reasons why you should tune in to (or DVR ) the 97th running of this Memorial Day classic on ABC this Sunday. For one, there is a surprise pole position winner — a one car team with the only owner-driver in IndyCar no less. Ed Carpenter, an Indiana native son and graduate of Butler University, stormed to the pole with a four-lap average speed of nearly 229 MPH! Carpenter’s Chevrolet (sponsored by Fuzzy’s Vodka, a company owned by two-time major-winning golfer Fuzzy Zoeller) beat the well-funded superteams of Penske, Andretti, and Ganassi to earn the pole in an upset that brings to mind the proverbial David vs. Goliath contest. Americans love an underdog, and racing is no exception.
Also of interest to those reading through the 2013 starting line-up are the names of four female IndyCar drivers. That’s right, four women will take the green flag this year and none of them are named Danica! NASCAR fans now have that one-woman marketing machine all to themselves, much to the delight of many IndyCar fans.
Two of the women staring this year’s 500 — Katherine Legge and Simona De Silvestro — have won multiple professional races in their careers, which places them both ahead of Miss Patrick’s lone win in the record books.
England’s Legge squeezed her way into the field after putting together a last-minute race program along with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in less than one week. Surviving the drama that is Bump Day last Sunday, she starts in the 11th and last row in the 33rd starting position.
Simona “Swiss Miss” De Silvestro has moved up to a stronger team this year, KV Racing, and will take the green flag from the outside of the eighth row. With her best shot at victory in her fourth Indy start, Simona is in fact the “anti-Danica,” earning her reputation within IndyCar by a combination of grit, ability, sheer bravery in difficult circumstances, and one of the most genuinely likable personalities in the paddock. She has earned her place within IndyCar while avoiding the promotional strategy of laddie mag photo shoots and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editions taken by her better-known predecessor.
The other two women to start this year’s Indy 500 happen to be teammates at Dale Coyne Racing: Ana Beatriz from Brazil and the popular Pippa Mann from England. Both start from the 10th row, with Ana starting besides Pippa (29th and 30th, respectively).
Beyond the feel good story of Ed Carpenter’s pole position, the two most successful IndyCar teams of the last 10 years find themselves inexplicably locked out of the front row. Chip Ganassi’s two cars are mired back in the 16th and 17th positions. His two drivers, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, have won four of the last six Indy 500 races, so you can never count them out. But their qualifying set-up was off the pace, so we’ll have to see how they move up through the field during this year’s race, when qualifying set-ups matter less than a car engineered to be comfortable in race traffic.
Roger Penske’s three pilots have fared much better in qualifying than their Ganassi counterparts, staring in the second and third rows. Known also as “The Captain,” Penske has won a record 15 times at The Brickyard. You can never underestimate the teamwork, strategy, and skill of the Penske organization when it comes to leading at the checkered flag. They haven’t tasted victory in an IndyCar, though, since August of last year. No doubt these three drivers and their teams are shooting for the glory of another Indy victory.
Two drivers in this year’s field are seeking their fourth drink of the winner’s milk in Victory Circle: Penske’s Helio Castroneves and Ganassi’s Dario Franchitti. This exclusive club has only three members, all open-wheel racing legends: A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Sr., and the “Rocket” Rick Mears. There are also four past winners in the race and only four rookies this year, although one of the “rookies” is an experienced winner in open wheel racing who never started at Indy before (Allmendinger). ‘Dinger is working his way back into the good graces of Roger Penske after violating NASCAR’s substance abuse policy last year which resulted in his suspension from stock cars.
The last two Indy 500s have seen last-lap crashes at the front of the pack determine the winner. While leading in 2011, JR Hildebrand crashed on Turn 4 of the last lap, handing the victory to the late Dan Wheldon. Last year saw Takuma Sato fail to execute a pass for the lead on Turn 1 of the last lap that took him out and sealed the third Indy victory for Dario Franchitti. Takuma’s mantra while on the track is “no attack, no chance.” He displayed that attitude in his gutsy move for the lead last year that resulted in his famous crash. In one of the strangest match-ups in IndyCar history, Sato is driving for the hard-headed Texan, A.J. Foyt and A.J. Foyt Enterprises. “Taku” won his first IndyCar race earlier this year at the Long Beach Grand Prix, and is leading the point standings going into the Indy 500. No doubt he will be on the attack when the green flag drops.
So, who will see their name engraved on the Borg-Warner trophy this year? Will Indy see its first four-time winner since 1991? Will the small team of Ed Carpenter surprise the establishment, like Dan Wheldon’s victory accomplished in 2011? Will a woman win Indy for the first time in history? Will a Honda team, locked out of the first 10 starting positions, overtake the Chevrolets for victory? There is only one sure way to find out.
I’ll see you from Turn Three of this year’s Indianapolis International Sweepstakes. Here’s hoping for a safe race, and, oh yeah, Go Simona!
