Oilpressure

Depending on the time you read this, Mrs. Oilpressure and I will either be on our way to Indianapolis, or already there. For the past few years, I have taken vacation time to spend the entire week of Indianapolis 500 practice at IMS. We would drive back from the Grand Prix weekend on Sunday, I would work on Monday, then drive back up on Tuesday by myself. Susan would take a cheap flight up on Friday.

Last year, she flew up on Thursday night to be at the track all day for Fast Friday. Her cheap flight took her from Nashville to Indianapolis by going through Austin, Texas. She made it there fine, but severe storms rolled through that lasted all night. What was supposed to be a 7:00 pm arrival on Thursday night, turned into a 2:45 am arrival on Friday. She could’ve driven a roundtrip and back up again, in the time it took for her to fly to Indianapolis from Nashville.

For some reason, Mrs. Oilpressure doesn’t get the same thrill out of spending Tuesday through Sunday at the track that I do. One of her side gigs is creating decorative cake toppers at a specialty bakery in Nashville. With graduations and weddings, May is a very busy time of year for them and she could not break away for an entire week – or so she would have me believe. I think she just didn’t want to spend all day, every day at the track with me for almost a week.

This year, the day job is creeping into my practice week. There was a quarterly board meeting on Wednesday, where I was required to make a presentation. Yes I am retiring at the end of the year, but there was still no getting out of that one. This works out to be a nice compromise. We save money on two nights in a hotel, and I won’t be buying an airline ticket. She can put up with me for four days at the track, and get a feel for what a normal practice day is like.

IndyCar Weatherman (@Indycar_Wxman on Twitter) tried to do us a favor and brought some occassional rain for the last couple of days, so that we really wouldn’t miss much. Surprisingly, they were able to get in quite a bit of running over the last two days. The rest of this week looks slightly bette, but there’s a chance of severe storms both days – with a stronger chance on Friday. We’ll see.

I think almost every practice day last year was affected by rain. You expect to lose some track time to weather, but they barely got any running in at all until Thursday last year, and even part of that day was spent dodging raindrops. Fast Friday was the first practice day last year with no rain delays, and both days of qualifying went uninterrupted. Of course, we all remember the deluge that fell on The Speedway on Race Day. It had been 17 years since a race was affected by rain. Hopefully, it’s be another 17 before it happens again.

Alex Palou has turned the fastest lap of the month so far, with a speed of 227.546 mph. Yes, I know it’s been a two-day month to this point, but old habits and phrases die hard. Will Power, the quickest on Tuesday is still the second-quick overall with a speed of 227.026 mph. Positions 3-5 over the past two days are Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin. Conor Daly is the first driver to break up the Penske-Ganassi juggernaut. He piloted his JHR Chevy to a speed on Wednesday of 224.931 mph. David Malukas, Helio Castroneves, Marcus Armstrong and FOX’s Jack Harvey round out the combined practice speeds over the past two days.

Some of those cars raising eyebrows with some of their slower speeds start with Santino Ferrucci, whose car was diabolical on Wednesday. His speed of 221.048 mph is the 34th slowest time. It’s odd, considering his teammate (Malukas) has been in the Top-Ten the last two days. Rinus VeeKay is another driver most thought would be higher than 31st, with a top speed of only 222.324 mph.

Marcus Ericsson is the fastest of the four Andretti cars,, His top speed of 224.169 on Tuesday is good for 13th quickest of the two practice days. Marco Andretti is 15th, while Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood are 16th and 21st for the month. What does all of this mean? Not a thing. Yet. If these trends don’t change by the end of Thursday, some of these drivers might be concerned heading into Fast Friday.

I love the week of practice. The earlier days (Tuesday through Thursday) are the best. Very few people are here and it is so easy to get around in the stands, the garages, everywhere. Like the Open Test, it’s a very laid back vibe. Unlike the Open Test, the drivers are not laid back. Instead, they are very tense. Those that are fast are trying to be quicker, so they can have a shot at the pole. Those that are not fast are getting desperate. No one wants to be in that one car that goes home.

Even if you don’t go home, you don’t want to be starting near the back either. Not only do you have more ground to cover, but you are also more likely to get caught up in some less-experienced driver’s mistake. Just ask Marcus Ericsson. Last year, he crashed in Turn Four in practice on Thursday and was behind for the rest of the month. He qualified poorly (32nd), and consequently got caught up in Tom Blomqvist’s spin on the opening lap. Had he not crashed in practice, he could’ve been more up to speed on Friday. Had he been more up to speed, he would not have struggled in qualifying on Saturday and end up on the last row. Had he not been on the last row, he would not have been caught up in a rookie’s mistake. It’s funny how one single event can have such a domino effect on a driver’s entire Month of May.

With so much time each day (gates open 10:00 to 6:00 each day), you can do and go whatever and whenever you want. Want to watch the start of practice at Noon from EE Penthouse overlooking Turn One? Have at it. Want to wander the garage area from 2:00 until 3:30 or so? Go for it. Those bleachers on top of the Pit Row Terrace Suites look attractive to you for the late afternoon? They are wide open. Except for the garage area, where you have to have a bronze badge – the general admission ticket will let you have pretty much free roam of the place (except for The Pagoda or other obvious places like that), assuming the stand you want to sit in is open that day.

It’s also fun to just go explore. It’s days like these that you can go find all sorts of nooks and crannies in the facility founded in 1909. Race Weekend is too intense to do such things. Even qualifying days offer less of a chance to go exploring. But practice days during the week? That’s the time I love to just take the place in.

We will be posting throughout the day for the next few days that we are here. It may just be a morning post with an end of day wrap-up; or if something significant happens during the day, I may have a midday post. This will be the first time I’ve had Susan to take photos during practice with a real camera; so hopefully she can get lost of good ones.

Please check back periodically throughout the next four days for any updates. The Month of May is finally in full-swing.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 15, 2025 at 4:05 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.