Dixon's The One

After a chaotic May filled with mysterious and horrifying crashes, last-minute rules changes and uncooperative weather, look for calm and cool Scott Dixon to collect his second Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

Known as the “Iceman,” the 2008 Indy champion has the talent, demeanor and car to add a second Borg-Warner Trophy to his impressive list of accomplishments and restore sanity to a sometimes disturbing month.

Coincidentally, Dixon won the pole in 2008, then proceeded to lead the most laps on his way to a convincing victory.

“If we could replicate 2008, that would be fantastic,” Dixon said after his pole-winning run.”That's the goal. It's very hard to pull that off. You know, unfortunately there's 32 other very good competitors out there and a lot of stacked teams, a lot of teams that this week we've been running with in traffic and they're very, very good.”

The transplanted native of New Zealand now living in Indianapolisanticipates a tougher race than in 2008, when he led 115 laps.

“I think the tow and the draft this year is bigger than any other year, so it's not going to be one of those years. When I won in 2008 you could break the tow after three seconds and drive away if you had good speed, and that's not going to be the case this time.”

Dixon, who’s driven for Target Chip Ganassi for his entire career at Indianapolis, figures he’ll have to push his Dallara-Chevrolet all day.

“It's going to be flat‑out. We need to try and stay near the front and give ourselves a good shot come the last 10 laps,” he said.

Here’s a look at the rest of the field:

Other favorites:

Will Power: Reigning national champion focused on first Indianapolis 500 victory. Has not had the magic touch at IMS, though, with a best finish of fifth in 2009.

Simon Pagenaud: Earned call-up to Team Penske in offseason after impressive results with underfunded Sam Schmidt operation.

Tony Kanaan: Dixon’s teammate on Ganassi team rewarded the faithful with popular victory in 2013 in 12^th attempt. Displayed big-track prowess with win in 2014 season finale at Fontana.

Helio Castroneves: Disappointing qualifying run for perennial pole contender. Three-time 500 winner (2001, ’02, ’09) is always a contender on race day.

Juan Pablo Montoya: 2000 winner has had a quiet month and seemingly has tailed off after impressive win in season-opener at St. Petersburg. Won at Pocono last year, another big, flat track.

Ryan Hunter-Reay: Defending champion thrilled the crowd with hard, clean duel with Castroneves last year.

Would be an upset, but could happen:

Justin Wilson: Surprisingly good qualifying effort (he’ll start sixth with fastest Honda) in one-off effort. Proven winner who deserves a full-season ride.

Sebastian Bourdais: Four-time CART/Champ Car series champion also had a surprisingly strong qualifying effort. Speedway has not been kind, with his best finish of seventh coming last year.

Marco Andretti: Lackluster at most venues, third-generation driver shines at Indianapolis with a second, three thirds and a fourth in nine previous starts.

Josef Newgarden: Part of the new face of IndyCar and now a proven winner after victory at Barber this year. Still learning his way around Indy, with previous finishes of 25^th, 28^th and 30^th.

Ed Carpenter: Was going for an unprecedented third straight pole before crash during practice before qualifying. Butler grad would be a popular champion.

Graham Rahal: No sponsor has had more fun this month than Steak n Shake (build one in Canton, Michigan, please) and no driver has higher hopes than the son of the 1986 champ.

Takuma Sato: Another driver who’s been under the radar this month. Has had some good results, including a win at Long Beach, while driving for legendary A.J. Foyt. Crashed in Turn 1 trying to wrest victory from Dario Franchitti in closing stages of 2012 500.

Would be an even bigger upset, but could happen

J.R. Hildebrand: Almost winner in 2011 before crashing in Turn 4 on last lap. Part of the Carpenter/Fisher stable, has had a steady month.

Carlos Munoz: Second and fourth in two previous starts, Colombian is known for taking a brave line around the Brickyard.

Oriol Servia: Veteran always does a solid job, with a fourth and a sixth among his 500 finishes. Could land in the top 10.

Charlie Kimball: Fifth-year veteran drives for one of the Ganassi satellite teams. His best Indy finish is eighth in 2012.

Alex Tagliani: Former pole winner draws on heritage of two legends: the No. 48 of Dan Gurney while driving for A.J. Foyt

Sage Karam: Impressive debut last year (advanced from 31^st to ninth) earned consideration for Rookie of the Year. Had some stumbles with Ganassi team this season, but appears to have righted the ship.

Townsend Bell: Color scheme and number (24, decked out to resemble Jeff Gordon’s number) make this one of the most distinctive cars in the field. This will be his ninth start.

Jack Hawksworth: Running full season for A.J. Foyt after rookie year with Bryan Herta. Another promising young driver.

Highly unlikely

Tristan Vautier: Last-minute replacement for Carlos Huertas, who was ruled out because of an inner-ear problem. Promising young driver.

Simona de Silvestro: Returns to Indianapolis as part of Andretti team after one-year absence. Former Rookie of the Year a fan favorite.

James Jakes: Back after one-year absence, he finished 15^th and 20^th in two other starts.

James Davison: Starts in the back after taking over car originally qualified by Vautier. Finished 16th in debut last year.

Conor Daly: Painted Petty blue and sponsored by a bacon company, this may be the most thoroughly American car in the field.

Pippa Mann: Determined Brit looks to improve upon Indy career average finish of 25^th.

Gabby Chaves: Fastest rookie in first season with Bryan Herta’s team. Last year’s Indy Lights champion, won the Freedom 100 at IMS.

Sebastian Saavedra: Another Ganassi satellite driver, had his best Indy finish of 15^th last year.

Stefano Coletti: Promising rookie for KV Racing Technology.

Bryan Clauson: Throwback driver in this year’s field with considerable experience and success in USAC. Sponsor, Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria, a fan favorite.

Ryan Briscoe: Former pole winner (2012) in tough spot replacing the injured James Hinchcliffe.

Photo credits: Scott Dixon and Will Power by Shawn Gritzmacher, Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Graham Rahal by Walter Kuhn, Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Some Quick Thoughts – and Long Ramblings – on my First Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis

The seats

Our seats – in Stand E – would be incredible for the Indianapolis 500. For the Grand Prix they are … OK. First, there was no passing in this section - with the exception of a backmarker giving way to a faster car. Second, from this spot it’s really hard to tell the running order. A new, large video board was installed across from our spot, but I couldn’t read the positions. Same deal with the new and improved pylon – too far away for me to read. Of course, all of this didn’t matter much anyway given how Will Power dominated the race.

The crowd

What crowd? Here are shots just before the race to our left and to our right. Plenty of room to move around – bring a friend or two next time. Heck, bring a busload or two. The upper penthouses seemed full, which is good from a revenue standpoint. How many people were in the infield is hard to gauge, but obviously no one’s in Turn 1 or Turn 4 (oval configuration) anymore.

The Indianapolis Star estimated the crowd at 40,000, which seems generous, quite frankly. Let’s say there are 220,000 permanent seats at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That means about every 1 in 5 seats would be filled if you put the folks from the infield into the stands. This seems unlikely.

A smaller audience does have its benefits, though. First, parking (and leaving) was a snap. We parked at Main Gate, a gravel lot south of the track. I was concerned about the goofy roundabout that replaced the whole 16^th Street/Crawfordsville Road/Georgetown Road confluence, but with no traffic, no problem. Getting out was easy, though I have to wonder exactly what the police were doing other than using their vehicles to block westbound 16^th Street – no traffic direction to speak of.

Inside the track, it was easy to get to the restroom, get food and generally get around. Plus the crowd was well-behaved and attentive. It reminded me a lot of the races I went to at Gateway many years ago.

The museum

One of the places we wandered to, of course, was the museum. The featured display is a collection of Dan Gurney’s Eagles, which are some of my favorites – especially Bobby Unser’s pole-winning Olsonite Eagle from 1972.

Much to my delight, also included is the Pepsi Challenger of Mike Mosley from 1981. This car was loud (stock-block Chevrolet engine) and fast (started on the middle of the front row).

A first

I’ve been going to the track for more than 40 years, but Saturday brought a new experience - some Lance Armstrong wannabe actually brought his bike into the stands. At first, he was going to take it up to the penthouse. (Yes, really.) The yellow shirt for our section politely, yet firmly, informed him he couldn’t do that. So he went down a few rows and sat down. With his bike. Mr. Yellow Shirt again asked him to leave, which he did. Now, it’s great to ride a bike over to the track and all, but bringing it in the stands seems like all kinds of dumb. Besides, it’s not as if there aren’t plenty of steel structures to chain a bike to.

The food

Here’s a surprise/disappointment: During breakfast hours, the concession stands were serving breakfast food. No corn dogs. Which, by the way, I could not find ANYWHERE. (Memo to Doug Boles: It’s bad enough you can’t get sno-cones anymore. Please don’t let corn dogs go away. Thank you.)

If you’re at a race track, it’s perfectly OK to have a corn dog at 8 a.m. Instead, a big pretzel had to suffice.

Later, I had a tenderloin, but made the mistake of (again) getting one of the $9 fancy ones that has bacon, jalapenos, onions and something else that doesn’t belong on a tenderloin.

Look, a tenderloin is a tenderloin – you’re not going to be able to put lipstick on that pig, so to speak. Just pound it down to 1/8^th of an inch, bread it, deep fry it, serve it on a bun that’s too small even for a White Castle’s and we’ll be just fine. Why is this so difficult? If you’re having trouble with this concept, please contact Mr. Happy Burger of Logansport, Indiana, and let him take over this part of the operation. The tenderloins there are world class.

The voice

Here I am with Paul Page, for many years the Voice of the 500 – first on radio, then on TV. Now he leads the radio broadcasts of the Verizon IndyCar Series. I remember when Page was on WIBC as well as his various Indianapolis 500 shows on Channel 13 – “33 on the Line,” “The Roar is Over,” and so forth. Good to see him.

The race

First-lap kerfuffles take the excitement out of the crowd, er, fans. This is two years in a row that the drivers were unable to get through the first turn, let alone the first lap.

Please stop crashing into each other. And, sorry, Juan Pablo Montoya, don’t blame the track configuration. You are professional race car drivers. This is why I paid $62 for a ticket and $5 for a bottle of Coke – to see professional race car drivers drive, uh, professionally.

Power’s day looked supremely easy – the only bobble I noted was when he cut through the grass a bit coming out of the turn and heading down the straightaway. Scott Dixon showed why he is, in my opinion, the best driver in the series by fighting back to finish 10^th after getting punted by Helio Castroneves on the first lap.

Maybe Castroneves was just in the spirit of the race – the Colts’ punter, Pat McAfee, drove the pace car for this event. (Really? The punter for the Colts was the best you could do?)

The verdict

I’m willing to give this race another try. In fact, I have no choice. As Sean points out, we have to go next year because Will Power will be on the ticket. I might scoot a little more northward to get a better view of the cars and scoring information, but overall I like E stand and hope the event picks up momentum.

The Conundrum That is Marco Andretti

A fair chunk of Sunday afternoon was spent assembling a kitchen island for my wife. Of course, I would’ve rather have been at the track on a beautiful and busy opening day.

But with Mother’s Day and a trip to the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis coming up, a bit of domestic engineering was in order.

Fortunately, I was able to watch and listen to the feed from the track, which is much appreciated by us Indianapolis ex-patriates. While wrenching on this kitchen island, pretending it were an Offy, I noted the progress of Marco Andretti up the speed charts.

The third-generation driver wound up third-fastest, behind Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves. Each had a lap above 226 mph; Ed Carpenter took the pole last year with an average above 231 mph. The entire list of Sunday’s practice speeds is here.

Of course, we’re talking about practice and specifically aero kit testing, so drawing any conclusions is a risky proposition.

Still, it reinforces the notion that Andretti, often lackluster at other venues, gets around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pretty well.

Here’s the data of his entire IndyCar career, according to racing-reference.info:

• Average start: 11.1
• Average finish: 11.7
• Wins: Two in 155 races over nine-plus years
• Poles: Four
• Laps led: 930

Andretti's Indianapolis 500 stats:

• Average start: 9.8
• Average finish: 11.3
• Wins: Zero (thanks to Sam Hornish Jr.)
• Poles: Zero
• Laps led: 141

Not much difference on the surface, right?

A closer look, though, shows seven top-10 starts in nine races and six top-10 finishes, including five in the top four.

I’m not sure how much of a lift an Andretti win in the Indianapolis 500 would give to the event, the sport and the series, but it would be fun to find out. 

Photo credit: Walter Kuhn/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Remembering the Indianapolis News 500 Record Books

Long before you could carry the entire world in your hand in the form of your phone, the Indianapolis News produced a pocked-sized history of the Indianapolis 500.

Each volume was packed with text-heavy information – driver head shots along with a few other photos accounted for the art in the book.

Each race had a box score that included car name and number, qualifying speed, starting position, finishing position, laps completed and race speed or reason out, along with highlights and key moments in the summary.

Performance histories of all Indianapolis 500 drivers were included, along with other tidbits like birthplaces of all 500 champions (did you know that 1932 winner Fred Frame was from Exeter, New Hampshire?), rookies of the year, qualifying records and a lot of stuff that hardcore Indianapolis 500 fans ate up.

The books also had accounts of the other 500-mile races at Ontario, Pocono and Michigan.

It was a tremendous resource for ending – or starting – arguments.

Generally speaking, the cover subject was the previous year’s winner. Drawings were the norm up until 1990, when photos were used. The 1993 book had a nice photo of Al Unser Jr. nipping Scott Goodyear at the checkered flag – you had to turn that one sideways.

I’m not sure how long these were produced. The oldest I’ve seen on eBay is from 1966, with the “newest” from 2003. The Indianapolis News, the afternoon paper, closed in 1999, but the morning paper, the Indianapolis Star, continued the book for at least a few more years.

All this data is available on your phone now, of course, but it sure was fun to whip one of these books out during a lull and ask the person sitting next to you if he knew how many times the one-lap qualifying record was broken and reset in 1972.

The answer, by the way, is five, accomplished by Bill Vukovich, Joe Leonard, Mario Andretti, Gary Bettenhausen and Bobby Unser. Found on page 144 of the 2002 book.

Gordon a Strange Choice to Pace 500

So, Jeff Gordon will drive the pace car for this year’s Indianapolis 500.

Nothing against Jeff Gordon, but, really?

I guess Helio Castroneves will drive the pace car for this year’s Brickyard 400 then.

To have a current NASCAR driver pace the field for the Indianapolis 500 seems bizarre.

And a bit insulting. With the 100^th Indianapolis 500 coming next year, this is the time to remember the unparalleled heritage of the event and its drivers.

If it’s necessary to have a current NASCAR driver with Indiana connections drive the pace car for the 500, then Tony Stewart would have made more sense. Unlike Gordon, the Columbus native at least DROVE in the Indianapolis 500 – five times.

My suggestion for this year’s pace car driver is Danny Sullivan in honor of the 30^th anniversary of his spin and win.

For old times’ sake, Sullivan could loop the pace car in Turn 1 in front of Mario Andretti ’s two-seater.

Several pace-car “rookies” with deep connections to the Indianapolis 500 were available, such as Arie Luyendyk. Race-day duties keep Rick Mears and Roger Penske occupied, though it seems that could be figured out. After all, A.J. Foyt led the field in 2011 and made it back to his pit box.

The list goes on: Mario Andretti. Bobby Rahal. Michael Andretti. Al Unser Jr. Any of them – and many more – would’ve made more sense.

Next year, I hope all the retired Indianapolis 500 champions are part of the parade lap, with Foyt, Mears and Al Unser Sr. in one car leading the field to the green flag.

Based on this year’s selection, it’ll probably be Richard Petty.

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Newgarden Reinvigorates IndyCar Season

An IndyCar season that seemed destined to be littered with shredded pieces and broken promises pulled itself out of the marbles just in time as the month of May looms.

Josef Newgarden’s thrilling victory at Barber – his first – gives the series a much-needed boost as it ramps up for its marquee event, the Indianapolis 500.

A few things about Newgarden and his win:

• He’s American, not German or Austrian as a casual observer might have guessed. Moreover, the fourth-year driver hails from NASCAR country, specifically Hendersonville, Tennessee.  Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star ran a nice piece about how Newgarden and his dad logged thousands of miles driving to New Castle, Indiana, to the karting track of former Indy driver Mark Dismore to begin learning his craft.
• Newgarden may be the first driver from the Volunteer State to ever win an IndyCar race. I sent an email to the IndyCar Series asking if this were the case, but did not get a response. Certainly no driver with a birthplace in Tennessee – or Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia, for that matter – has won the Indianapolis 500.
• Given how many drivers with Indiana connections who gravitated to NASCAR because they weren’t interested in Indy cars (Ryan Newman, South Bend), didn’t get a chance (Jeff Gordon, Pittsboro after leaving California) or sought greener pastures (Tony Stewart, Columbus), it’s nice to see the tables turned a bit.
•  Newgarden drives for the newly formed CFH Racing team, an easy-to-root-for outfit. The “C” is Ed Carpenter, and the “F” is Sarah Fisher. After a rough start, Carpenter, stepson of Tony George, is a solid competitor on ovals with three victories. He’ll be aiming for an unprecedented third straight Indianapolis 500 pole this year. Fisher was one of the most popular drivers and now, despite many challenges, fields a solid and winning team.

Anyway, it’s nice to watch (and talk and write about) good racing.

That momentum needs to continue with the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 9 and the Indianapolis 500 on May 24. These two races, plus the doubleheader at Detroit the weekend after the 500, are the last ones on network television this year (ABC).

With the rest of the races on NBC Sports Network, that means May is the last, best opportunity to grab the attention of casual viewers.

Photo credit: Joe Skibinski/Verizon IndyCar Series

First Indy Trip Memorable for Future Wife

Some 25 years ago, back in 1990, I took my then-girlfriend on her first trip to the world’s greatest race course.

We had been going out for a few months, and things were going well.

It was time for the next big step in our relationship.

It was time to meet … the track.

She was from Valparaiso, went to Purdue and at one time lived in Plainfield, but in all those years had never ventured to 16^th and Georgetown.

This I found both incredible and ridiculous and, most of all, something that needed to be fixed immediately.

So we went on the second day of practice, a Sunday. The weather was beautiful – sunny, temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s. A gentle breeze now and then.

We sat in the tower terrace and enjoyed watching the cars race down the straightaway and dart in and out of the pits.

“Joining” us was a group of enthusiastic and, uh, interesting spectators.

They were a few rows down from us. One fellow – despite the warm temperatures – wore a battered brown leather jacket.

Without a shirt underneath.

He didn’t smell too good – reeked would be an apt description.

Every time the No. 19 Budweiser car of Raul Boesel would roar past, he would leap up and yell, “Budweiser.”

And take a drink. More like a gulp, actually. Certainly not a sip.

I’m sure my girlfriend wondered what she had gotten herself into.

Why does he come to this place, year after year?

We thought about moving, but as we all know, people-watching is one of the things you do at the track.

So we stayed. Watched the cars (and people), had a corn dog. Maybe even a sno-cone.

We were married a couple of years later and are still together today.

But she leaves going to the track to me and our son.

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway/scanned out of the 1990 Hungness 500 Yearbook

Indianapolis 500 and “Track Burgers”

Graham Rahal will be sponsored by Steak ‘n Shake at this year’s Indianapolis 500. My Indy cohort, Bill LaDow, has the release on his site, speedwaysightings.

Rahal is no stranger to burger-sponsored cars as he wheeled a McDonald’s ride in 2009.

Here’s a look at some other “track burgers” over the years:

Graham Rahal, 2009/Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Pancho Carter, 1990/Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hardee's also sponsored Scott Brayton and Tony Bettenhausen over the years.

Chip Mead, 1981/Scanned out of my 1981 Carl Hungness 500 yearbook. Chip Mead did not qualify. I always wondered if he just walked over to the White Castle at the corner of 16^th Street/Crawfordsville/Georgetown and asked them if they wanted to sponsor his car. Also, my 1981 CART media guide lists his last name as "Mead"; small goof in the caption. 

Cliff Hucul, 1978/Scanned out of my 1978 Carl Hungness 500 yearbook

Newspaper Indicates Jim Nabors Was Scheduled All Along To Sing “Back Home Again in Indiana”

As we all know, last May was the final performance of Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again In Indiana” at the Indianapolis 500.

One of the oft-told stories – including by Nabors himself – is that Tony Hulman made a last-minute request for Nabors to sing the beloved tune.

The short version is that because Peter DePaolo, the 1925 winner, sang so poorly before the 1971 race Hulman was compelled to find a professional singer the next year.

Legend has it this mysterious performer didn’t show, putting Hulman in a bind.

So he asked if Nabors wanted to sing. Supposedly, Nabors thought he meant “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Nope. “Back Home Again in Indiana.”

Which Nabors knew – somewhat.

He performed it – beautifully – basically off the cuff, with no rehearsal, with the Purdue band.

Nabors operated that way –no rehearsals – for the next 40-plus years as he became a beloved fixture on race day.

Great story, right?

Except it doesn’t appear to be true.

Earlier this year, I bought a copy of the Saturday, May 27, 1972 edition of the Indianapolis Star on eBay. You know, the edition that came out the morning of race day.

On the front page, it lists the order of events.

Which includes:

10:50 a.m. “Back Home Again in Indiana” by Jim Nabors (see for yourself)

So it appears Nabors did know he was singing that day.

Or maybe Hulman told the paper, but forgot to tell Nabors.

Shazam! Golly!

Jim Nabors photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway