2003 INDIANAPOLIS 500 SCHEDULE

[PettyBenson]

2003 INDIANAPOLIS 500 SCHEDULE
(All times local(central) ~ Subject to change)

Sun., May 4 Indianapolis Star Opening Day - $5 admission; 12 and under free
- Gates open 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- Driver Autograph Session, 11 a.m. - Noon
- IndyCar Series practice, 1 - 6 p.m.

Mon., May 5 - Fri., May 9 Practice - $5 admission; 5 and under free
- May 5 - May 8 - Gates open 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- May 9 - Gates open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sat., May 10 Pole Day - $10 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 8 - 10 a.m.
- MBNA Pole Qualifying, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sun., May 11 Second-day qualifying/Marsh Mother's Day - $10 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 10 - 11:15 a.m.
- Marsh Mother's Day Brunch, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. (Tickets available at Marsh or the gate.)
- Qualifications, Noon - 6 p.m.

Mon., May 12 - Tues., May 13 No Track Activity

Wed., May 14 - Thurs., May 15 Practice - $5 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Practice practice, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Fri., May 16 Practice/Freedom 100 Qualifying - $5 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- Infiniti Pro Series practice, 9 - 10 a.m.; 5:30 - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.; 1:15 - 5:20 p.m.
- Infiniti Pro Series qualifications, 11:45 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Sat., May 17 Practice/Freedom 100 Race - $5 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.; 3:15 - 6 p.m.
- Infiniti Pro Series Freedom 100 Race, 2 p.m.

Sun., May 18 Bump Day/Armed Forces Day - $10 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 10 - 11:15 a.m.
- Qualifications, Noon - 6 p.m.

Mon., May 19 - Tues., May 20 No Track Activity

Wed., May 21 500 Festival Community Day - $5 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- Public track lap, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- Garages open, 2 - 6 p.m.
- Garage tours/driver autographs, 3 - 6 p.m.

Thurs., May 22 Carb Day - $10 admission; 5 and under free
- Gates open 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- IndyCar Series practice, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
- Indy 500 Pit Stop Competition, 1:30 p.m.
- Concert, 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Fri., May 23 No Track Activity

Sat., May 24 No Track Activity
- Gates open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Driver Autograph Session, 9 a.m.
- Public drivers meeting, 11 a.m. (Tower Terrace)

Sun., May 25 87th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race - Reserved seats available; General admission $20; 5 and under free
- Gates open 5 a.m. - 6 p.m.
- 11 a.m. - Start of 87th Indianapolis 500

 

[PettyBenson]

Notice the first time that i can recall that any other division ran at IMS in May along with the Indy Cars.

The first IRL IPS(Infinity Pro Series) Freedom 100 will be held on Saturday the 17th.

 

[BebiF1]

Geez, for all the practice that those guys get, you would think that everyone would be really fast. And always on race day you get several guys that just cannot keep pace at all. they have some 20 hours of practice and testing, i wont tolerate anyone complaining that their car is less than perfect this year.

 

[PettyBenson]

The problem there is that there are teams like Penske, and AGR that have lots of money to trow in the cars and the for every strong team there is 2 teams just struggling to hold out for one more race. Thats why there is a big diffrence in speed between the front guys and gal and the back markers. If the backmarkers had the money that the tops teams had then they speeds would be much closer.

Most of the small teams will not risk running alot of practice laps because they might only have 1 car, and Indy is known for taking a bite out of some cars during the month. I know the Dryer& Reinbold team ( Sarah Fisher and Robbie Buhl) only has 3 cars total and Sarah wrecked one of them at Japan. It will be able to be repaired before Indy but if they both wreck a car before the race they will be in trouble.

I think the IRL should have let the 1999-2002 cars to be ran for the first half of this season untill after Indy. That way there will be plenty of cars. Right now with every team needing to buy new cars there is alot of demand but not alot of cars.