Oilpressure

Good morning from a sunny, but very chilly Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The temperature was 53° when we got up this morning. Like an idiot, I forgot to pack any form of jacket or sweatshirt. All I brought were short-sleeve polos. When I was not in the sun yesterday, I froze due to the wind. It doesn’t seem quite as windy this morning, but it is much cooler today. I believe the high today is supposed to get up to 74°, which sounds nice – but can be cool in the shade and wind. Next week, I’ll be sure and bring some cool weather clothes. That all but assures we will have temps in the 90s.

I’m sure the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team had a much better night’s sleep, after locking in all four of their cars. They actually have one car in today’s Fast Twelve (Takuma Sato), but the other three cars are safely in. One question everyone had going into this week was if Christian Lundgaard had a poor qualifying history due to his former Rahal team, or was it him? Lungaard is in today’s Fast Twelve also.

In all honesty, I’m more intrigued with who goes home today, than who will win the pole. I’ve pretty much conceded the pole to Alex Palou. He got my attention Friday with his 232+ no-tow speed. The four that will fight it out for the final gthree spots includes a rookie (Jacob Abel), a veteran going for his twentieth start (Marco Andretti), a young driver who had a hard crash yesterday morning and will drive a backup today (Marcus Armstrong) and a fast veteran who has started on the front-row three times (Rinus VeeKay). It’s a shame that one has to go. If I’m going to guess who it is, it will probably be Abel, simply due to his inexperience. I would really have that for his owner, Dale Coyne, who had one of his cars miss the race last year. But they limit it to thirty-three, and I certainly don’t believe they should ever change that. This can be a cruel place sometimes, and that’s why we love it so much.

I’ll admit that I’m getting used to this qualifying format. The best thing is that it fills the lull we used to get in the mid-afternoon, as one set of drivers is trying to squeeze into the Fast twelve, while another set is trying to stay out of the last row. Then there are those solidly in the field and probably have no shot at the Fast Twelve, but they want to see if they can advance from the ninth row to the sixth row. It makes for a very entertaining afternoon at the track.

While today will offer a lot of entertainment and drama, I can’t say I’m a fan of the late start time – more importantly the finish time, which is roughly 7:00 pm EDT. It will make for a late-night ride home, and a sleepy day at work tomorrow. I’m sure FOX had a say-so in this. It may increase ratings, but it makes it hard for the out-of-town crowd to enjoy the festivities.

By 7:00 pm this evening, the field for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 will be set and we can all speculate and debate who we think will win. Unless something strange happens today, I’m pretty sure I’m going with Alex Palou to win the race next Sunday. But I also have a dark horse in mind. I will hold my predictions until Friday.

On a personal note, I’d like to take this time to wish Susan a very Happy Wedding Anniversary. It was 13 years ago today – May 18, 2012, that Susan said “I do” in one of the Pit Row Terrace Suites at IMS on Fast Friday. It’s been a blast ever since.

Susan will finish up her article that I prevented her from finishing up yesterday. It will hit sometime early afternoon. Then I will return this evening with a very brief post-qualifying wrap-up. I will also have my Random Thoughts on the weekend on Monday.

Don’t forget…your answers to the Trivia Contest are due Tuesday May 20 at 6:00 pm EDT. Please check back later.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 18, 2025 at 9:35 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.