[Open Thread] Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 11:54 AM EDT

First, the starting lineup:

IndyCar Series
92nd Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sunday, May 25, 2008
STARTING LINEUP

SP	CAR	YR	DRIVER	CAR NAME	C/E/T	TIME	SPEED
Row 1
1	9	5	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	D/H/F	2:39.0348	226.366
2	10	5W	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	D/H/F	2:39.2143	226.110
3	6	2	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	D/H/F	2:39.2358	226.080
Row 2
4	3	7W	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	D/H/F	2:39.4806	225.733
5	7	3	Danica Patrick	Motorola	D/H/F	2:39.8601	225.197
6	11	6	Tony Kanaan	Team 7-Eleven	D/H/F	2:40.1463	224.794
Row 3
7	26	2	Marco Andretti	Team Indiana Jones presented by Blockbuster	D/H/F	2:40.4155	224.417
8	4	5	Vitor Meira	Delphi National Guard	D/H/F	2:40.4663	224.346
9	27	R	Hideki Mutoh	Formula Dream	D/H/F	2:40.7952	223.887
Row 4
10	20	4	Ed Carpenter	Menards/Vision Racing	D/H/F	2:40.8324	223.835
11	12	6	Tomas Scheckter	Symantec Luczo Dragon Racing	D/H/F	2:41.0767	223.496
12	99	1	Townsend Bell	Dreyer & Reinbold William Rast Racing	D/H/F	2:41.7693	222.539
Row 5
13	06	R	Graham Rahal	Hole in the Wall Camps	D/H/F	2:41.7753	222.531
14	14	3	Darren Manning	ABC Supply Co./AJ Foyt Racing	D/H/F	2:41.8486	222.430
15	18	4	Bruno Junqueira	Z-Line Designs	D/H/F	2:41.9214	222.330
Row 6
16	02	R	Justin Wilson	McDonald's Racing Team	D/H/F	2:41.9676	222.267
17	15	4W	Buddy Rice	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	D/H/F	2:42.0885	222.101
18	22	7	Davey Hamilton	Hewlett-Packard/KR Vision Racing	D/H/F	2:42.1498	222.017
Row 7
19	16	R	Alex Lloyd	Rahal Letterman with Chip Ganassi	D/H/F	2:42.3171	221.788
20	17	R	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol	D/H/F	2:42.4701	221.579
21	24	8	John Andretti	Roth Racing	D/H/F	2:42.4913	221.550
Row 8
22	67	6	Sarah Fisher	Sarah Fisher Racing	D/H/F	2:42.7146	221.246
23	8	R	Will Power	Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia	D/H/F	2:42.7956	221.136
24	41	3	Jeff Simmons	ABC Supply/Foyt Racing	D/H/F	2:42.8204	221.103
Row 9
25	5	R	Oriol Servia	Angie's List Special	D/H/F	2:43.0682	220.767
26	33	R	E.J. Viso	PDVSA HVM Racing	D/H/F	2:43.3720	220.356
27	23	1	Milka Duno	CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	D/H/F	2:43.4095	220.305
Row 10
28	19	R	Mario Moraes	Sonny's Bar-B-Q	D/H/F	2:43.8482	219.716
29	36	R	Enrique Bernoldi	Sangari Conquest Racing	D/H/F	2:44.0676	219.422
30	34	R	Jaime Camara	Sangari	D/H/F	2:44.1248	219.345
Row 11
31	2	4	A.J. Foyt IV	Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing	D/H/F	2:44.2458	219.184
32	91	15W	Buddy Lazier	Hemelgarn Johnson	D/H/F	2:44.3720	219.015
33	25	3	Marty Roth	Roth Racing	D/H/F	2:44.4096	218.965

2008 33-Car Field Average: 222.302 mph
2007 33-Car Field Average: 222.505 mph (Difference: -0.203 mph)
Legend: R=Indianapolis 500 Rookie (11). W=Past Indianapolis 500 Winner (4).
Chassis Legend: D=Dallara.
Engine Legend: H=Honda.
Tire Legend: F=Firestone.

Setting aside the personal side of this race for me, a semi-logical look a things states the Target boys (Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon) are clear favorites. They've had the fastest cars throughout the month in both qualifying and practice, and they both have the skill set needed to persevere for the race's duration. Certainly there are several others more than capable of winning, but the calm Kiwi and the brash Brit have the target on them in more way than one.

The other names (besides The Name) to look for are the usual suspects in open wheel oval racing: Helio Castroneves, Tony Kaanan, Marco Andretti. Don't discount Vitor Meira finally notching his first IRL win at the Grand Kahuna of them all. As to The Name, yes Danica has a solid shot at winning. That said, if I see one more interview with her parents, who have made a cottage industry out of being good examples of prime examples of obnoxious overbearing sidelines parents... ah well. Enough of sounding like Pope John Daly I, the least important individual with the most grotesquely over-inflated self of importance in all of sports, let along racing, blogging. Besides, if I'm going to discuss the broadcast and broadcasters as being important -- which they're not; their job when done well is being informative and staying out of the race's way -- I'd rather focus on the all-important debate: who's cuter: Brienne Pedigo or Shannon Spake? And are there equivalents thereof among the male reporters?

Comments will be in the Comments section.

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Comments

Green Flag

That was one ragged start. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and there was no mess as a result.

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:14 PM EDT 0 recs

Lap 4

While Wheldon flexes his muscle, Tomas Scheckter is picking ‘em up and laying ‘em down.

And are they actually talking about fuel mileage? Yeesch

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:15 PM EDT 0 recs

Lap 8

And again we ask why IRL has the wherewithal to run side-by-side during commercials while NASCAR can’t figure this out to save their lives. Ah well.

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:18 PM EDT 0 recs

Lap 24

And we’re back, with Wheldon and Dixon leading the show.

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:37 PM EDT 0 recs

Lap 36

Well, that sucks for Graham Rahal. Rookie oval mistake.

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:45 PM EDT 0 recs

Lap 37

Danica Patrick’s pit stop was bad, but air guns do break. A.J. Foyt IV’s stop was far worse. How did the fuel cap come off or open like that?

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:51 PM EDT 0 recs

I correct myself... fuel flap came open, not cap

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

Lap 49

And now Dixon’s back in the lead. This far, this race has been their private playground.

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 2:01 PM EDT 0 recs

Lap 82

Sorry about being away for a while (browser crash—been happening a lot with Firefox lately; don’t know why). Meanwhile, that was quite the pounding Jaime Camara took. Glad he’s okay.

by Diecast Dude on May 25, 2008 2:41 PM EDT 0 recs