Guesses for Pole, Front Row and Fast Nine

INDIANAPOLIS – Saturday is the first day of qualifying for the 98^th Indianapolis 500, but it’s not Pole Day.

Confused? You’re not alone.

The short explanation, using the NCAA Tournament as a comparison: Think of Saturday’s time trials as earning a bid into the tournament, then Sunday’s qualifying to determine the seeds.

In the latest attempt to increase interest in qualifying for the race – more cars would solve that issue – Saturday’s session will establish the 33 drivers for the race (maybe), but not the order. Bonus money and extra points (33 points for the top spot on Saturday, 32 for second and so forth) are additional incentive for the teams and drivers.

The top 30 cars from Saturday are locked in to the field. Bumping is theoretically possible, but at the moment only 33 car-and-driver combinations exist. 

The top nine qualifiers from Saturday advance to Sunday’s shootout, which will be televised on ABC starting at 1 p.m. EDT.

So the second day of qualifying becomes Pole Day.  Also on Sunday, the rest of the drivers in the provisional field will have to complete at least one more qualifying run to determine their starting spot.

All times from Saturday will be erased, and cars will run in reverse order based on their speeds from Saturday.  Similar to the bonus points on Saturday, the pole winner on Sunday will get nine points, second eight points and so forth.

With the procedures out of the way, here are my predictions:

Pole: Helio Castroneves. He’s been fast all month, er, week. Tied for second all-time with most poles (four) in Indianapolis 500 history, so he knows how to get the job done under pressure.  Besides, the Pennzoil car just looks right pacing the field at Indianapolis.

Second: Ed Carpenter. Carpenter is definitely the people’s choice, at least among the citizens of Indianapolis, who cheered mightily when their fellow resident and Butler grad scored an upset to take last year’s pole. He’s the only driver over 230 mph in practice this week.

Third: Juan Pablo Montoya. About the only thing Montoya didn’t do in his last and only Indy appearance in2000 was win the pole – he was edged out by Greg Ray, then the reigning IRL champion. He comes across as nonchalant, but maybe that’s because he makes it look so easy.

Fourth: Scott Dixon. Dixon has won the pole only once (2008), and the Ganassi team has missed the setup on qualifying the past couple of years. Still, he has seven starts in the top six in 11 previous starts.

Fifth: Marco Andretti. Hard to believe that this third-generation driver is seeking his ninth start. Best start was last year when he made the outside of the front row, matching his father’s best qualifying effort at Indianapolis.

Sixth: Will Power. Points leader has no poles at Indy, but since he joined Penske in 2009 he’s never started worse than ninth.

Seventh: Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but has been lackluster in two previous appearances on the oval (started 23^rd and 21^st). One of the better Honda runners this week.

Eighth: Tony Kanaan. Never started worse than sixth in his first eight starts, including the pole in 2005. Has had a quiet week, but capable of rising up this weekend.

Ninth: J.R. Hildebrand. My surprise pick for the Fast Nine this year, he joined Carpenter’s operation for the month and has been impressive.

Photo credit: Chris Jones/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Carpenter Cracks 230 mph in Practice

INDIANAPOLIS – Fast Friday indeed. Both in terms of speed and track time.

Persistent rains limited practice to about 20 minutes on so-called Fast Friday, the final practice day before two days of qualifying for the 98^th Indianapolis 500.

Under watery skies just after 3 p.m. EDT, Ed Carpenter, last year’s pole-sitter, stamped himself as the favorite to do it again by becoming the first driver this week to crack the 230 mph barrier. The 10-year veteran ran a lap at 230.522 mph in his Fuzzy’s Vodka Dallara/Chevrolet.

“When it comes to trying to predict to what the pole is going to be, I think a lot of it is going to come down to what the weather is,” said Carpenter, who admitted to getting a tow from Sebastien Bourdais on his fast lap. “If it warms up and the air gets thinner, I think 230s are realistic, and maybe up to 232 or 233 if the weather is right.”

Turbocharger boost was increased for Friday’s session, which translates to more horsepower and therefore more speed.

Six other drivers were over 229 mph, led by four-time pole winner Helio Castroneves (229.843 mph).

Also above 229 were Marco Andretti (229.419 mph), who started on the outside of the first row last year; J.R. Hildebrand, Carpenter’s teammate (229.384 mph); Josef Newgarden (229.276 mph), driving for Sarah Fisher; Juan Pablo Montoya (229.205 mph), back at Indy for the first time since 2000; and Scott Dixon (229.062 mph), 2008 pole winner.

“The car seems to be great,” Castroneves said. “We’ve been able to work well trying to develop not only a good car for racing, but also for qualifying.”

The lack of track time Friday has Andretti flummoxed regarding his possibilities for Saturday.

“Normally you have a good feeling whether you’re in trouble or you’re going to have a shot,” Andretti said.  “I have no idea if I’m going to be on pole or 15^th tomorrow.”

The qualifying format has been revised for this year’s race in an effort to drive more interest. Saturday’s opening day of qualifying creates a provisional grid, with the top nine qualifiers participating in the Fast Nine Shootout to determine the pole and the first three rows. The remaining order of the 33-car grid will be determined Sunday as well.

An explainer infographic can be found here.

Rick Mears, the record-holder for most Indianapolis 500 poles with six, thinks the new format should be given a chance.

“As far as changing the thing, this sport is really about change,” he said. “In a race car, you’re changing every lap, every corner. It’s about adapting.”

Practice resumes at 8 a.m. EDT on Saturday, with qualifying scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT.

Photo credit: Jim Haines/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Odds and ends from Team Penske Press Conference

Roger Penske on the dominant performance of the Mercedes-Benz engine in 1994, which was outlawed soon after that year’s Indianapolis 500: “If you do too well, typical, you get slapped.”

That year, Al Unser Jr. won the pole and the race; he and Emerson Fittipaldi combined to lead 193 of the 200 laps.

Rick Mears on possibly climbing a fence after his fourth 500 victory in 1991: “No, not at all. They didn’t have fences back then.”

Mears on the old qualifying format when drivers had three attempts per car, and on Pole Day likely had just one opportunity: “I enjoyed that only, having one shot at it. I felt it really put the pressure on. You had to get four laps, every corner. If you blew one corner, you blew the whole deal. I enjoyed that pressure.”

Juan Pablo Montoya on changes to the car to accommodate the increased turbocharger boost: “I don’t know. I know we’re doing gears. But I don’t know. I just drive it.”

Photo credit: Chris Owens/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Byrd’s Racing To Fly Again

Jonathan Byrd’s Racing, a team with some notable heritage at the Indianapolis 500, will return for next year’s Indianapolis 500 with open-wheel star Bryan Clauson.

Clauson, who made his lone Indianapolis 500 appearance in 2012, is a two-time national sprint car and midget champion.

“The Byrd family has a tremendous history not only at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but also among the short-track community as well,” Clauson said.

Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria is one of the more notable eateries in central Indiana and traces its involvement in Indy cars back to 1985. Arie Luyendyk set the one-lap and four-lap qualifying records of 237.498 mph and 236.986 mph, respectively, in 1996 in a Reynard/Ford Cosworth.

Past Byrd drivers include Rich Vogler, Stan Fox, Gordon Johncock, Buddy Lazier, Scott Brayton, John Andretti, Davy Jones, Mike Groff and Jaques Lazier. 

Photo credit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Pennzoil Colors Agree With Castroneves

And we’re off and running. Please check back for more news and analysis over the next couple of days while I’m trackside.

I was able to grab Helio Castroneves after this morning’s formal press conference for a couple of comments about any added pressure driving the Pennzoil car for Team Penske. Rick Mears scored two wins and three poles in this livery in the 1980s.

“Pressure is good because it makes you better,” said the three-time race winner and four-time pole winner. “I don’t feel pressure. It’s an honor to wear those colors and want to represent well what the champions did. So far, there’s a good vibe and I really like it.”

Castroneves enters today’s Fast Friday practice session (weather does not look overly promising at this point) with the fastest lap of the week at 227.166 mph.

Photo credit: Jim Haines/Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Time for the Trek to the Track

I don’t know the first time I went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The first house I lived in was on Fuller Drive, which is off 30^th Street across from the Coke field. From there I could easily hear the race cars. I remember taking my cars – an assortment of Tootsie toys, Hot Wheels and Matchbox, almost none of which looked like an Indy car - and playing with them on the back porch while the real racers roared around the track.

(“The track,” by the way, is how people in Indianapolis refer to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.)

So I’m guessing that a gentle suggestion and/or incessant whining led my parents to take me to see where all the noise was coming from and what the fuss is all about.

My best guess would be when I was 3 and maybe we wandered down to Turn 1- inside the old main gate – to watch tire testing in the spring.

Certainly I was there in 1972 as Bobby Unser’s gleaming Olsonite Eagle made quite an impression on me.

From that point, I was hooked. I would hurry home to hear the track reports from Lou Palmer on WIBC. I pored over the articles in the Indianapolis News and Indianapolis Star. (When I moved out of state, I got the monthly subscription to The Star.) I watched “Trackside 6.” I listened to “The Talk of Gasoline Alley” (still do, actually).

I’ve been going ever since. No matter where I lived – West Lafayette, Indiana; Logansport, Indiana; Springfield, Missouri; Portage, Indiana; or Canton, Michigan – I made it a point to make the trek back to 16^th and Georgetown for practice or qualifying, if not the actual race.

Later, I brought my children. In an example of the lugnut not falling far from the tire, they immediately scampered down the hill in the infield to get next to the fence to watch the cars accelerate down the backstretch out of Turn 2.

Saturday, my son and I will leave for Indianapolis to be trackside for the first day of practice for this year’s Indianapolis 500.

On the way down, I will treat him to another edition of my oft-told tales of the Unsers, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva, Gordon Johncock, Mike Mosley, Peter Revson, Mark Donohue and the other drivers of my youth.

As well as Eagles, McLarens, Coyotes, Dragons and Parnellis. Offenhausers and Coyote V-8s. Sponsors like Gulf, Sunoco, STP, Sugaripe Prune, Cobre, Bryant, Gilmore and Thermo-King.

When cars were still called “specials.” Or had clever names. The Norton Spirit. The American Kids Racer. The Pepsi Challenger. The Texaco Star.

I hope someday he does the same with his son, telling him about Will Power, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon.

It’s May. Finally.

Indianapolis 500 Memorabilia of the Day: A Textbook

The cover of this book immediately grabbed my attention. Number 0? Based on the helmet, this has to be Swede Savage getting ready for a practice run in 1973. Did the “4” fall off somewhere? (Also, I love the Wheel Horse tractor behind the pit wall.)

The cover isn’t the only intriguing thing about this book, however. This is a textbook, or at least was intended to be – there are no school district markings inside, only a stamp from the Oconee County Library in South Carolina.

The book is filled with photos from the 1972, 1973 and 1974 events, including some pretty rare ones. Besides the STP “0” Eagle, there also are a few shots of Graham McRae practicing in the No. 60 STP Lola in 1973. A shot of Peter Revson in a Formula One car snuck in as well.

From an academic standpoint, this book is designed to build vocabulary and reading ability. A list of 20 follow-up activities is suggested in the back.

All and all an interesting bit of Indianapolis 500 memorabilia.