Indy fans know Juan Pablo Montoya won this year's spectacle. It was his second victory at the Brickyard, the first coming way back in 2000. To his credit, the native Colombian hung around the lead throughout the 500 miles, drove a steady race, and made a bold move towards the end to ultimately go in front and take the checkered flag. He earned it fair and square and well done indeed.
2nd. Will Power. An interesting name if one runs the first and last names together. Yet it surely beats Slim Pickens or Steppin Fetchit. Wasn't there an old TV detective show called Sledge Hammer? Helluva name for a cop. That probably wouldn't go over so well these days, but I digress.
3rd. Charlie Kimball.
4th. Scott Dixon.
5th. Graham Rahal.
Engines in order of finish.
1st. Chevy.
2nd. Chevy.
3rd. Chevy.
4th. Chevy.
5th. Honda.
Note to Honda executives. The bow tie folks just kicked your butts at the highest level of racing with the whole world watching. Put that in your sushi teriyaki and smoke it.
The race itself featured pretty much what we have come to expect at Indy over the years. Lots of brilliant high-speed driving, minor gaffes here and there, and the usual variety of crashes. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, much less killed. When overgrown GoKarts are zipping around at over 220 MPH in close proximity, one never knows what might happen. Much credit should go to the engineers that design the modern day Indy cars for how much impact they can absorb while keeping the driver relatively safe. The cars can fly apart in a million pieces but the driver will walk away. It truly is amazing technology.
Per the norm, the Indy 500 took about three hours from start to finish, and most eyes are now rightfully on Montoya for having won it. Nobody remembers or cares about the pre-race pomp, and few will recall the actual start of the race. It's like any other sporting contest. What happens at the beginning might be interesting at the time, but it's quickly forgotten. Who remembers or cares what the score was after the first inning, first quarter, first period, or the leader at a golf tournament after the first round on a Thursday? The only thing that matters is who won at the end.
But something very interesting happened at Indy this year and it involved Conor Daly. He had qualified for the race, no small feat, but never actually got to run a "hot" lap once they dropped the green flag.
Trying to race at the Indy 500 is a very expensive venture. Building a car, hiring and paying a qualified crew, housing/feeding them, and paying all the necessary fees can add up in a hurry. An entry fee. Necessary wind tunnel testing fees. Thirty or so sets of tires at about $2500 a pop. Good grief, leasing (yes, they have to lease them) a Chevy or Honda motor can cost a quarter million. Throw in spare parts, etc., add it all up, and even if done on the cheap for one race, the tab is roughly a million dollars just to give it a shot.
But Conor Daly and his backers did and they made it into the starting grid of 33 cars. That's the good news.
The bad news is, during only the pace laps leading up to the race, Daly's racing machine caught on fire for no apparent reason. He was out before the race even began.
Yours truly knoweth not who ponied up all those mega-bucks to enable Daly and his car to start at Indy, but if I'm the guy that shelled out that dough, I am not a happy camper. I just coughed up a million bucks only to see my car go up in flames before the green flag dropped?
However, upon further review, as they say, all that smoke coming from Daly's car was emanating from the engine compartment. And yep, he was driving a Honda. $250,000 to lease an engine for a week and it appeared to blow up before the race even started.
Note to Conor and backers if they try this again next year. Get a Chevy motor. The top 4 finishers all had them, as did 9 out of the top 11.
Besides, Daly is FROM Indiana, not Tokyo. So if he wants to be an All-American boy at "the greatest spectacle in racing", then he might want to consider running an American nameplate engine, especially when they proved to be so dominant.
Hello?
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