Pre-Race: 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500

I would bet Hinch is safe with that speed, Alonso a little more iffy.

It is definite that everyone only gets a single run?
 
Zak Brown possibly trying to buy McLaren's way into the Indy 500 is seemingly the only way this could be more embarrassing for that brand, but obviously they do have a ton of major sponsors on that car that now don't have a spot in the field. Juncos would be the obvious choice - last spot in the field, no sponsors as of now, crash damage from Friday, have only been able to run COTA this season to date. Would help stabilize them for the foreseeable future...but it's also the Indy 500. :idunno:
 
Simply epic.

As far as Fernando, no one is too good to miss the show. No one. Here's a guy who is two time Formula One driver champion, on a winning roll as Lemans and Rolex champion, leader of the world endurance championship, and rookie of the year his only time at the speedway. Like, on that kind of streak, what can go wrong? Of course, we have seen this sort of time before with Al jr and Emmo, and others. There is always someone missing the show that really shouldn't have. This time it just bit Alonso. He will be back with a new respect for the place and eventually win it.

Sorry to see Pato miss out, but he's probably gone to Europe anyway. He's not staying in Indycar if he has an F1 opportunity.

Glad to see Kyle Kaiser make it. Maybe McLaren can buy some space on that car for it's sponsors. The team can sure use the money.

Maybe we saw Sage Karem turn the corner today on the way to earning his way back in the series full time. That was a serious gut check.

Generally I like the guy who has a quiet but solid month, and this guy usually qualifies third. Off the radar of most people's predictions but still fast. Like Luyendyk on 90, no one saw him coming, and then it was too late to stop hi,. I think this year that guy could be Pigot, who is due to win a race anyway. Spencer has had a smooth race in the GP and no drama on the oval. He's just quick and smooth, which is usually what you need on race day.

That, and any of the Carpenter cars has a really good shot. We know how good Ed Jones is and now he's finally in a front line car. I think of the three, though, Ed has the experience to win it.
 
Alanso impressed me when he ran the 500 and I was pulling for him for this 500. But he didn't qualify which totally surprised me. I think they said the spread from the pole to 33rd was 1.8 seconds. There is no room for mistakes. Alanzo's situation reminds me when Bobby Rahal failed to qualify with big sponsor Miller; they had to buy a ride (which was a crappy deal for one driver who made the field).

I found the 4-lap qualifying interesting in that someone could bust a hot first lap and the following laps fall off. The winners had consistent laps.
 
Thoughts from being there:

-McLaren had 2 haulers there for 1 car. They had 5 extra large golf carts. Merchandise trailer. They set the car too low during early practice and he was skidding around the track. I don't think this DNQ matches Penske in '95, but it's up there. It's higher than Rahal in '93.
-What an effort from Kaiser and his Juncos team. They didn't run at all Saturday or in the Sunday morning practice. They lost their sponsor a week prior.
-Hinchcliffe did the job. I'd have felt terrible for him if he missed it. Karam as well who could do one fast lap Saturday, just not string 4 of them together.
-Pagenaud hit the setup for Penske, Power and Newgarden did not.
-Ed Carpenter Racing 2-3-4.
-Honda better find some speed.
 
I am still bummed Alonso missed the race.
But it is fantastic to see a small team like Juncos recover from a wreck and make the race by beating a global motorsports giant in the last row shootout.
It's stories like this that make me a motorsports fan.

Doc Austin said:
This could be the best 500 in years.
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As I said several of times, I cannot recall watching a bad 500.:D
2012 aired on German TV for whatever reason and it was the first ever oval race I watched and it also was this race that really got me into US racing. The action was fantastic all day and I was jumping in the living room rooting for Sato in the closing laps.

However, I didn't watch another race until 2016, because I didn't know about the existence of illegal live streams before the race (and they were the only way to watch the race)
I absolutely loved how they celebrated the 100th running of the race in the pre-race and Rossi's fuel milage win was great drama.

2017 was the greatest race I can remember with Sato finally getting his win by passing Castroneves in the closing laps and Alonso's great run as a Rookie.
And even two years after it, I'm still glad Dixon got out of his car uninjured.

Last year was great too bzut lacked an exciting finish. Guess my expectations were too high.:rolleyes:

For this Sunday I invited some friends to grill and watch the race together:)
I hope I'll be able to see an Indianapolis 500 in person at some point in the next decade. Would be awesome:bounce:
 
Get That 88 Up There !! said:
Leave Thursday for Indy. Plan is going to Carb day Friday and then on Friday night going to the Carb night classic at IRP. Not sure what the plan is for Saturday, may be playing golf, and then on Sunday obviously the 500.
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Little 500 or Hoosier Hundred, Indy Eleven USL team is fairly popular if you want to take a racing break.
 
Get That 88 Up There !! said:
Leave Thursday for Indy. Plan is going to Carb day Friday and then on Friday night going to the Carb night classic at IRP. Not sure what the plan is for Saturday, may be playing golf, and then on Sunday obviously the 500.
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Enjoy the race! There are some Saturday night races within an hours drive from Indy. Lincoln Park Speedway (dirt, local show) in Greencastle, Anderson Speedway (asphalt, sprintcars) has the Little 500. Or enjoy the "circus" on Georgetown Rd. the night before.
 
FLRacingFan said:
This is hilarious lol. Sounds like a club racing operation.


McLaren's Failed Indy 500 Effort Was A Comedy Of Errors
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What a ridiculous series of bad judgement, bad attitude, and bad management. Zak Brown claims it wasn't arrogance, wasn't underestimating the task. but it was exactly that from beginning to end, IMO. Now Brown wants to blame it all on Bob Fernley, but I'm not buying that. Brown hired him, and put him in charge, and blindly assumed everything was peachy. (Fernley was an unemployed executive formerly with Force India, who had managed a small Indy team over 30 years ago!)
 
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