Oilpressure

Now that I’ve had a day or so to reflect on Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, it’s sinking in on what a good race Simon Pagenaud drove. From the moment Matt Damon and Christian Bale both waved the green flags, Pagenaud got a good jump on the rest of the front row and hardly ever looked back after the first corner.

If you had asked me just after the race how many laps Pagenaud led, I would have guessed about 160 – because it really seemed like he led for most of the race. I was surprised to learn that he “only” led 116 laps, because he really dominated the day. I’m sure I’m wrong, but I’m not sure I can remember a dominating performance like this since Juan Montoya won in 2000.

I will admit that in the closing laps, I was pulling for Alexander Rossi to pull off the victory. I had sold my brother’s tickets to a family I knew in Nashville that had never been to the race before. In trying to keep up their interest in the early stages, I had told them that usually when a driver dominates the way Pagenaud had to that point – they usually don’t win. I had to look like I knew what I was talking about, so I needed Rossi to win. Instead they learned the truth, that I had no idea what I was talking about.

Seriously though, I thought it would make the better story if Rossi were to win. He had dominated at Long Beach, but struggled mightily in the IndyCar Grand Prix. I also feel like some people put an asterisk by Rossi’s name because he won the 100th Running in 2016 as a rookie in a somewhat flukish fashion. Although Rossi has gone on to win more races since then, I felt like a second Indianapolis 500 victory in four years would help validate the first one. Based on the crowd reaction whenever Rossi took the lead from Pagenaud, I was not alone.

Plus, I’m not big on spreading the wealth around. I like having a few multiple winners, rather than several single winners. AJ Foyt, Bobby Unser, Al Unser and Johnny Rutherford won the majority of the races from 1967 through 1980. Rick Mears won four races from 1979 through 1991. It’s the multiple champions that you remember and like him or not – I think Alexander Rossi will eventually be a two or three-time winner of this race.

Although Pagenaud and Rossi obviously had outstanding days, the same cannot be said for all of their teammates. Pagenaud’s Team Penske teammate, Josef Newgarden, led twenty-one laps in one stint, but I never really felt like he was going to win. He eventually finished fourth, which seemed about right for the car he had. He was probably smart enough to know that and settled for a good points day. Will Power may have had a car good enough to win, but he ran over his air hose and was given a drive-through penalty on Lap Seventy-Nine. He did well to finish fifth.

Helio Castroneves had a day to forget for the second year in a row. On his first pit stop, he ran into the back of James Davison on pit lane, damaging his front wing. The crew struggled to get the original wing off of the car. I know this because we were sitting directly across from Helio’s pit. When they finally got the nose changed, Castroneves had lost a lot of time. It got worse because he was immediately back on pit lane serving a drive-through penalty. He never recovered from the setback and finished eighteenth.

Conor Daly was in the Top-Ten, finishing tenth. Quite honestly, I’m not sure how that happened because he was consistently running fifth or sixth for most of the latter stages of the race, and sometimes as high as fourth. Still, I think the popular driver silenced some of his critics with a strong month. Perhaps this can help him in his quest for a fulltime ride next year.

Ryan Hunter-Reay finished eighth, two spots ahead of Daly. But had I not seen that in print after the race, I never would have known it. Hunter-Reay was invisible to me throughout the day. Maybe I was simply overlooking him, but he never seemed to be a factor.

Zach Veach was caught up in the Bourdais-Rahal incident on Lap 178, but I think he was having a forgettable afternoon regardless.

But nothing can compare to the nightmarish day that Marco Andretti had. By the time the first yellow came out on Lap Six, Marco had already dropped from his starting position of tenth to twenty-second. He pitted during the caution with severe oversteer. He must have pitted more than ten times. His pit was just in front of Helio’s, so we had a clear view of it. It seemed that every time I looked up the orange day-glo tribute car for his grandfather was in the pits. Marco was the last car running and finished twenty-sixth – five laps down.

TV Coverage: I am typing this Monday morning in our hotel room and have not seen much of the broadcast, except what we caught Sunday night after we got in – which wasn’t much. What I saw was good. I’ve seen a few comments about too many commercials and missing the cars being pushed off. As long as they show side-by-side, I don’t have an issue with that many commercials. NBC should be able to make money on the broadcast. They sure spent a lot promoting it.

They’re efforts apparently worked because they reversed the ratings skid that ABC had let happen under their watch. The overnight ratings were a 3.9, up 15% over the 3.4 overnights last year with ABC. It was the highest overnight ratings for the “500” broadcast in three years.

As little of the broadcast as I’ve seen, I did see the part where they went to a commercial before the cars went off. I will agree with that criticism. That is another part of the excitement as the day builds to that green flag. Hopefully they will hear about it and include that in their coverage next year.

ECR Woes: Ed Carpenter Racing had a day that can only be described as disappointing. Having two spots on the front row and another in fourth, many were picking the race winner to come from this team. Ed Carpenter started second and finished sixth. Spencer Pigot started third and finished fourteenth, while Ed Jones started fourth and wound up thirteenth. I’m not sure there were any blunders or mistakes; but in this case, I don’t think the box scores lied or told a different story.

I saw Ed Carpenter in the garage area after the race and to say he looked dejected would be putting it mildly.

Vastly Overlooked: Some of the feel good stories from qualifying had disappointing days. Kyle Kaiser crashed on Lap Seventy-Three, ending the David vs Goliath talk of the previous week after Kaiser ousted Fernando Alonso from the starting lineup. He finished thirty-first. Sage Karam started in the back and languished back there all day, finishing nineteenth and one lap down.

Ben Handley had a forgettable day as well, after shocking everyone by comfortably making the field, he came back to earth. He struggled mightily throughout his time on track and finally retired with mechanical issues on Lap Fifty-Four, finishing thirty-second.

But one story that has not gotten any play whatsoever is that James Hinchcliffe started in the middle of the last row and finished eleventh. After missing last year and flirting with missing this year’s race, Hinch kept his nose clean and steadily moved up throughout the day.

Big Day for Pippa: Major credit has to go out to Pippa Mann and her Clauson Marshall Racing team. I was included in the many people that gave this team no shot to make the race, when this team was announced. It sounded like a recipe for disaster to have a USAC team come in with no IndyCar experience whatsoever and put their fate in a driver that failed to make the race last year.

The team turned heads when they were locked into the filed on Saturday, while one of the most powerful racing teams in the world was sent packing. They did more than turn heads on Sunday, they won respect. Pippa Mann drove to her career-best Indianapolis 500 finish of sixteenth and was on the lead lap at the end – only 12.9 seconds behind the winner. In the process, she finished almost two seconds ahead of five-time series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner, Scott Dixon – who was also on the lead lap.

Juncos Racing may have been the feel-good story of qualifying, but Pippa Mann and Clauson Marshall Racing earned that title for the race. Great job and congratulations go to that entire team, along with Pippa Mann who did an excellent job of driving the car.

The Streak Continues:  No, I’m not talking about Roger Penske winning his eighteenth Indianapolis 500 or his winning two in a row. I’m talking about my streak of picking drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 and seeing them crash during the race. Once again my pick for this year, Sébastien Bourdais, crashed on Lap 178. Had I not picked him, I feel certain he would have finished in the Top-Five. My apologies to Bourdais and the entire Dale Coyne team.

Two Extremes:  Since Colton Herta won at COTA as an eighteen year-old in only his third IndyCar race, he has had one of the worst four-race stretches I can remember a race winner having. After that win in late March, Herta has had finishes of last, last, next to last and last. The only thing that could make that stat any crazier would be for him to sweep this weekend’s double-header at Belle Isle. But finishing dead-last in the Indianapolis 500, a double-points paying race, is like adding yet another last-place finish to his season. His luck has to turn around…doesn’t it?

Tradition Rules: Traditions that had gone away or had been threatened to go away were all present on Sunday. For the second year in a row, the Memorial Day homage that had been so popular when recited by the late Jim Philippi returned to the pre-race ceremonies. On Sunday, it was recited word for word by Bob Jenkins (although the volume on the PA was kind of low for it).

For the past two years, Tony George had eschewed the tradition of including the word “Gentlemen” in his command to start engines, by giving the NASCARish and gender-neutral “Drivers, Start Your Engines”. We were given hope that this would change two weeks ago when he gave the command “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines” at the IndyCar Grand Prix. Sure enough, tradition returned Sunday when George stepped to the microphone and confidently said “Lady and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines”.

I was also glad that IMS President Doug Boles did away with the small controversy of releasing balloons just before the start, by siding with tradition. With the lack of wind on Sunday, it was the best balloon release I’ve seen in years. The colorful balloons went straight up into the Indiana sky. In my limited viewing of the TV coverage, I saw they even had a camera inside the balloon tent capturing their release from ground-level, giving viewers a unique perspective.

Drink the Milk: In my grumpy old man state, it has become an annual event for me to complain about the winning drivers dumping milk all over their heads or slinging it across the crowd, as Will Power did last year. Until Helio Castroneves started doing it in 2001, no driver would have ever thought about dousing themselves with milk.

After Helio did it two years in a row, Gil de Ferran refrained and sipped his milk to savor the moment. I can’t remember what Buddy Rice did in his makeshift Victory Lane under the Pagoda during the approaching tornado. But few drivers have resisted the urge to douse themselves since.

Pagenaud’s may have been the worst. I’m not sure he actually drank any. Instead, he just poured the entire bottle all over his face. I’m not sure this is what the Dairy Association had in mind.

If a driver wants to really be different, they should just drink it and share it with those closest to them.

Keep Him:  For the third year in a row, Jim Cornelison belted out a stirring version of (Back Home Again in) Indiana. After two lifeless versions after Jim Nabors retired following the 2014 race, Cornelison has proven to be a worthy successor to Nabors. He doesn’t try to imitate the Nabors version, because his own version is strong enough to stand alone. He seems to enjoy coming here, so I hope that Doug Boles will see to it that he becomes the new fixture and tradition for that iconic song.

Improvements: In years past, I complained about traffic flow through the tunnels or how long it took to open the gate on the outside of Turn One. Kudos to Speedway Management for making improvements to both. They now open up all of the tunnels for pedestrians under the main straightaway just north of the Pagoda an hour before the race, not allowing any vehicle traffic. What used to be a bottleneck getting to our seats in Stand A, now takes no time at all.

Last year, it took thirty minutes or more for officials to open the gate as angry fans were getting restless. This year, they started the process to open it almost as soon as the last car went into the pits when the race was over.

All in All: Although the race was lacking in excitement in the first half, it made up for it in the second half – especially the last twenty laps or so. The thunderstorms we were promised never materialized and another great Month of May culminated in an exciting finish.

For me personally, this has been one of my favorite Mays because of the time I spent at IMS for each day of practice. If you have been thinking about doing it, do it. I look back on that week as a very special time. It was so uncrowded and laid back, it was one of the most enjoyable times I’ve spent at IMS in the past fifty-four years.

Now begins the post-race depression that comes every year at this time. It’s worse than the day after Christmas. There has been such a buildup that now that it’s over, we wonder what we will do with ourselves. It helps that there are not one, but two races this weekend – although they will be at my least favorite track.

We are comforted that we still have races to go to. We are already booked for another trip to Road America next month, and Susan will be joining me for the first time at Pocono in August, as well as our usual trip to Gateway the next weekend. Whether or not we can work in any other races remains to be seen, but we will try and see if the budget (and vacation time) allows it.

Thanks to Susan for getting all of the good camera shots over the month, including all of these today listed below (and the balloons). She will have a post later this week and possibly even a mystery guest blogger. Check back for those throughout the week. Then I will be back Friday for the obligatory Belle Isle Preview.

And a huge Thank You to those of you that have followed our travels throughout the Month of May. It’s been a blast. Then again, it always is.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 28, 2019 at 4:02 am and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.