Indy 500 – Ground(ed) Effects

2023 Post-race and The Greatest 33 Update

There is a moment when renewing one’s Indy 500 tickets each year that is bitter and sweet, but seems to shade a bit more to the bitter side. Once again we catch our breath from a race that we love for the moments of breath it draws from us, only to return to a sense of normalcy and realize we’re over 350 days away from the next 500.

As tradition is a hallmark of the Indy 500, I return to the annual numbing coolness of bland columns and rows of race statistics to soothe a head that aches with restarting the 51-week cycle of anticipation all over again. First, let’s have a quick look back at my experience of this year’s classic.

The 2023 Race Weekend – Rather unexpectedly, and without a definite cause to my knowledge, there was a definite sensation that the attendance at IMS events during race weekend was notably higher than recent years and nearly paralleled 2016. Race day especially, and 2016 aside, there were more people at the track earlier than I’ve seen in a long time. When I really think about it, I may have to go back to the mid-1990s, but with so much of the event schedule changed since, it’s difficult to compare.

Welcome Race Fans! – Many of you likely already are aware of my race-day alter-ego and friends who join in the fun. As we are basically just average people, we strive to be approachable and are more than happy to take pictures with other race fans. Our primary desire, to extend goodwill and positive vibes on raceday, is especially enjoyable when we encounter people who reveal that this is their first race. This year we also encountered a greater number of race virgins than in years past and we welcome them and try to celebrate them just for being at IMS. Hopefully we added to their enjoyment of raceday. Also new to our seating section were two fans who’ve never been and while it’s comforting to see those make the pilgrimage each year, it’s also a positive sign to meet and interact with new fans who are often awed by all of it. It truly is a world-class, mega-sporting event.

We also met a good number of international fans again and we’re only happy to wish them well and hope they come back again. Our international list keeps growing and meeting fans from Wales, Denmark, and Sweden were new additions.

I’m willing to keep this silliness up as long as I have my crew with me, although we were diminished a bit as Mr. Bricks was out this year due to injury. He was missed by us and by fans alike who’ve seen us in years past. Hopefully he can make a full recovery for 2024.

The Greatest 33 – As a quick refresher, IMS put out this list for the 100th anniversary in 2011 and fans could vote on their Greatest 33 drivers of the Indy 500. Wanting to put more than a cursory and superficial effort in choosing, I created a select batch of statistics to help make my choices then and since have maintained this list every year via a spreadsheet with annual updates based on results. Active drivers after the Indy 500 are shown in green. When time permits, I’ll consider adding a category for Total Miles Completed and updating the list, but until then, here it is in all it’s row-and-column insouciance:

All active drivers gained another 10 points for another race start plus one point for any lap lead this year. Palou’s Pole position pushed him up the list and Newgarden’s win of course vaults him up the leaderboard, as most of the notable movement comes from mid-list. As it stands, Dixon remains the highest scoring single-winner on my Greatest 33.

The Last Row Party – Some may notice the last three faces in my Greatest 33. The list is essentially a top 30 plus the 3 best to never win it. In an homage to the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation Last Row Party, the 11th Row consisting of Michael Andretti, Ted Horn, and Rex Mays currently occupy it. Essentially this leaves Clark on the ’30th place bubble’ for winners of the 500. It also takes very little to see how the lone remaining active Andretti could join that row.

Very little changed at the top of the sheet this year, but it gets quite a bit more interesting with the gaggle of drivers hovering at the ‘cut-line’. As current non-winners go, if Marco races just once more and not win, he’ll supplant Rex Mays in the 33rd spot. If he wins, however, his minimum points haul of 301 to his current 544 would elevate him into 27th, trailing Takuma Sato and bumping everyone behind, including Jim Clark out of the top 30, and off my Greatest 33 list. Here’s the standings around the cut-line:

As you can see, there are several active drivers around Marco who stand to make a big jump as well should the racing gods favor them with the next 500 win. A first win for Carpenter, or second wins for Newgarden, Rossi, Pagenaud, Power, and Hunter-Reay would see them join my Greatest 33.

Winner, Winner – The checkers fell to the newest first-time winner – Josef Newgarden. The nature of my list shows that winning is a huge points premium so my Greatest 33 list contains all multiple winners of the Indy 500. Being a one-time winner doesn’t begin to meet the elite of the list without having many races, poles, and laps lead to distinguish them.

**Photo (c) 2023, Indycar.com, Joe Skibinski**

In total, 75 drivers have won the 500 – 55 are one-time winners and 20 are multiple time winners accounting for 54 (basically half) of the 107 races run. Top 5 finishes for Newgarden, Ericsson, Ferrucci, Palou, and Rossi all boosted their standings. .

Miscellany – One thing I miss most about the new scoring pylon versus the old one is the average race speed shown at the top of the stack. The Indy 500 qualifying field surpassed the previously quickest qualifying field of 2022. In addition, the weather was just gorgeous for raceday, so the conditions existed to have a race among the fastest as well. With an average speed of 168.193 and clocking in at 2:58:21.9611, it was the 10th fastest race of all time, including 27 laps of yellow and three red flag delays. Not coincidentally, the fastest race of all-time in 2021 had the fewest laps under yellow with 18, and no red-flags.

In Conclusion – The drivers in the Greatest 33 change very little, although several of the youthful and newest generation of Indycar drivers look set to march steadily up this legendary list. Can the established guard hold onto their dominance or will a new wave begin to make their presence known on an annual basis? Newgarden’s win as a bridge member between the younger and older generations perhaps suggests, as does the officially-official (seeming) retirement of TK, that the new wave is here to stay and will begin to put their mark on this great event.

Time is running out for the current greats, but unlike generations many years ago, they still have competitive equipment and will be contenders as long as they’re able and willing to try. This sets us up for great races in the years to come and, perhaps even more now, I can’t wait for the next 500. Which active driver would you like to see pop up into The Greatest 33?

New Numerology

As the excitement builds for my annual trek to Indy, I always spend some time watching old race videos, looking through past pictures and programs, and reviewing the small amount of race statistics I find interesting or keep.

Many of you are already familiar with the annual updates to my #Greatest33 tally, and some may also even recall my Indyfacts spreadsheet (which tracks some select hallmark statistics starting with 1988) noted in this post back in 2018. I guess it’s fairly clear that I like statistics and wasting portions of my life creating spreadsheets that generally serve no greater good except to perhaps help keep my mind nimble and away from more pressing chores.

This year I’ve put off reviewing the Greatest33 numbers until after the race, but I did dive into the most recent 35 races of my Indyfacts sheet a bit more than typical. In doing so, I think I feel totally, 100%, lead-pipe locked-in on a winner for this race. Or maybe two. And there’s also data pointing to a strong third candidate. You get the idea.

In summary, from the most recent 35 Indy 500s, the winner has most frequently come from the first starting position nine times. However, that also means that all of the other positions have won approximately 75% of the time (26 of 35). 19 of those 26 have come from outside the first row. Yet another interesting pair of statistics shows the average finishing position of the polesitter has been 6th and the average starting position of the winner has been 12th.

Rows of 3 – When considering the effect of starting row, the first row dominates the wins with 16 of 35. The following rows are; second row = 6, third row = 3, fourth row = 4, fifth row = 2, sixth row = 3, seventh row = 1, and none from eighth through eleventh rows. When we dive into individual starting positions, the numbers get a bit weirder.

Positionally Speaking – Instead of a nice steady downward tangent curve starting from the 9 wins from pole, to 0 wins at 20th, we get a vertical zig-zag as second, fourth, sixth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh all have just 1 win to their positions, while seventh, fourteenth, and eighteenth register no wins in 35.

This would mean Veekay (2nd), O’Ward (4th), Dixon (6th), Kanaan (9th), Ericsson (10th), and Pedersen (11th) have precious little chance despite their generally excellent starting positions and Rossi (7th), and McLaughlin (14th) should perhaps not bother to show up.

Starting positions 12 and 16 have perhaps over-achieved with two wins apiece. Does that make them more or less likely to repeat?

I’m sure you’re now as numbed to numbers as I am to writing about them. So what, after all of this calculating, regurgitating, and pontificating can I possibly find?

KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid. It’s been 6 races since the polesitter has won and prior to that, another 10, meaning position 1 has been underperforming in the last while. As an intangible consideration, I also feel that as exciting as the last few have been, we’re due for a bit of a boring race (see also; 2003, 1993,). In addition to the fact that this driver has been regularly in the mix for wins in the previous three races, I’m (most-predictably) predicting the winner of the 2023 Indianapolis 500 will be your polesitter, Alex Palou.

Picking a dark-horse is as subjective as defining what constitutes a ‘dark-horse’. The numbers, however, again push me toward a position. This one hasn’t won in the last 35, despite all others around it having won, and belying its rather fair starting spot – P14. This position also happens to jockey the horses of Chevrolet which hasn’t won in 4 races, so again, perhaps overdue. Starting 14th, my dark horse pick is Scott McLaughlin.

What does the universe tell you about the winner of this year’s race? Leave your guess in the comments below and let’s see who’s most attuned to the fates.

At any rate, have a great race weekend and I’ll be back next week to recap the guesses and see what has happened to the #Greatest33.

Special Guest Appearance By…

With its many maladies of unhealthy mental nature, one of the few things I’ve come to appreciate about social media is the opportunity it gives to also have a positive interaction with someone you might haven’t otherwise. Unless you managed to muster the ability to introduce yourself in-person, while sharing an appreciation for a common interest or event, the ability to share things we enjoy most with relative strangers used to fall on the off-chance of ‘right place, right time’. Speaking directly to another human was, at one time, the only way.

The era of social media has allowed for interactions with multitudes of others, for better and worse. Today’s post is a result of one of my positive social media and Indycar interactions, and I’ve invited that person as a special guest to post here.

Many would recall a former handle, @OpenWheelMom, from Twitter or a blog named ‘Open Wheel Mom’ from an time I’d call the “#Indy500OrBust” era of Indycar. If you know, you know, as the kids say.

A brief conversation recently has convinced Amy to return to writing and I’ve invited her to post here, so please allow me to reintroduce my special guest blogger, Amy Woedl, back to the Indycar blogosphere. As Sid Collins might have said, “Take it away, Amy!”

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has an undeniable, almost living presence of her own. One only needs to take a walk down the front stretch when the stands are empty, and the track is sleeping to feel the ever-present energy that gives goosebumps and chills. She is an entity like no other, and The Month of May, and the Indianapolis 500 ARE her heart and soul.

She gives, and she takes. She will be surprisingly generous to some, and utterly devastating to others all in the same moment. She chooses who basks in her glory, and who gets shut out in the chill of the Pagoda’s shadow.

It seemed that Graham Rahal was the first to be shut out into the chill by IMS this year after being bumped during qualifying. The absolute heartbreak as he cried and hugged his daughter made all of us feel for him, fan or not. He even went so far as to say: “I’m not meant to be in this race. I’m not a super religious person, but I’m a firm believer that everything in life happens for a reason, and the 2023 Indy 500 was not in my cards.” He knows the give and take of IMS, just as his father Bobby did, when he was bumped from the race 30 years earlier.

IMS was certainly not done with her taking after she’d had her first taste. The very first crash this month at the 2.5 mile oval track occurred on the Monday following qualifying, and it was devastating. Katherine Legge ran into the back of Stefan Wilson in T1, causing both cars to shoot upwards and violently crash into the wall. It was about 10 minutes before the safety crew could carefully remove Wilson from the wreckage. It was discovered that he had broken the T12 vertebrae his back, and would need surgery, thus ending the solid month he and his crew had worked so hard for.

After this; IMS must have decided it was time for some surprise giving in light of what had happened to Wilson.

After his bump from the starting grid, Rahal was given an unusual opportunity to step in and race in Wilson’s place. Why so unusual? Because Rahal is a Honda driver, and Wilson races for Chevrolet. Crossover is almost unheard of. Another twist in the fates, perhaps, as Wilson’s older brother Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal were former teammates. Justin was tragically killed in a 2015 accident in Pocono, and following his passing, Rahal organized a massive charity auction for Wilson’s wife and daughters.

Who knows what surprises and heartbreaks lie ahead this weekend at the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500. IMS is an unpredictable and wild place, and she has already chosen her winner out of the 11 rows of 3. Will your favored driver be her pick as well? Will they be the one to bask in glory, wear the wreath of 33 Orchids, and drink the milk- or will they be left in the chilly shadow of the Pagoda, hoping for another chance next year?

Thanks again Amy for dipping a toe back into the Indycar blogosphere and we hope there might be more to come in the future.

Amy, unfortunately, had a recent physical mishap which meant a much anticipated return to IMS and the Indy 500 this year will need to be put on hold, pending a prognosis for treatment of a back injury. After a brief discussion, she decided perhaps, while likely being laid up for an extended recovery period, she could return to writing, being virtually impossible to further injure oneself with that activity.

In addition to blogging Indycar, she also was an active and great ambassador for Indycar families in the real world, co-hosting IMS tweet-ups. She also maintains an active interest in F1 and IMSA which she shares with her 17-year-old son Gage. Amy aims to continue blogging and can even admit to foreseeing the possibility of a Tweet-up reunion someday, if the fates align.

Meanwhile, if you want to reconnect with Amy, or just wish her well on her recovery, she has provided a current Twitter – @amy_ranee_ Email – IndyCarAmy@gmail.com and TikTok – @IndyCarAmy.

Tomorrow, I will return for my Indy 500 and ‘Greatest33’ preview. Only a few more sleeps – the Indy 500 awaits…

2022 Greatest 33 & Post-race Update

Back again and it’s over a week dealing with the post-Indy 500 withdrawal that befalls us annually. Perhaps the feeling is also abetted by the renewal of my tickets for 2023, which reminds me that the next Indy 500 is 350-some-odd days away.

To ease my pain, I return to the numbing coolness of bland columns and rows of race statistics, including the annual update to my Greatest 33 and some other noted bits from this year’s race.

The Greatest 33 – As a refresher, IMS put out this list in 2011 and fans could vote on their Greatest 33 to race in the Indy 500. To help me choose my candidates, I used a select batch of statistics to make my choices then and since have maintained this list every year, updating following the 500. The selected stats are weighted based on my relative value in an overall score by driver. My categories are; Races Started (10 pts. each), Pole Positions (20 pts. each), Laps Lead (1 pt. each), Races Won (250 pts. each), and Top 5 finishes (40 pts. each). I have been considering for some years adding a category for Total Miles Completed and updating the entire list as well, more on that another time. At any rate, here it is in all it’s unabashed boringness:

In addition to all the active drivers gaining another 10 points for another race started, Scott Dixon moved up three positions via another pole and increased his laps lead total by 95 this year to surpass Ralph DePalma (612) and Al Unser (644) to become the all-time leader of laps lead of the Indy 500 (to date) with 665. I’m fairly certain he’d preferred a win with no pole and only one lap lead this year to this year’s result, but alas, it wasn’t to be once again for the Iceman whose disappointment in not winning this race in a month he dominated may also have set a new high. The utter pain on his face after the race was easily seen and we all could empathize. As it stands, Dixon remains the highest scoring single-winner on my Greatest 33.

Who’s Next? – Active drivers from this year’s race that are the closest to moving into the Greatest 33 would be Power (664), Pagenaud (629), Rossi (557), Marco (534), or Ed Carpenter (516). The current driver ‘on the bubble’ is Jim Clark with 738 points and a win by the aforementioned drivers (minimally adds 301 points if leading only 1 lap) would put them well ahead of Clark on points, moving into a place amid Montoya, Sato, Sneva, and Parnelli Jones somewhere in the 8th or 9th rows.

If you recall, my list is essentially a top 30 plus the 3 best to never win it, in an homage to the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation Last Row Party. Michael Andretti, Ted Horn, and Rex Mays currently occupy Row 11, placing Clark on the ’30th place bubble’.

Winner, Winner – The checkers fell to the newest first-time, and second native Swedish winner in Indy 500 history – Marcus Ericsson. My Greatest 33 list contains all multiple winners of the Indy 500 and being a one-time winner with relatively few races or laps lead means Marcus jumped from 127th to 81st now totaling 343 points (and one notch ahead of Graham Hill), but is still trailing the mid-pack of all Indy 500 winners in my list. Certainly a win is a huge bump up the list, but one-time winners in the Top 33 are few and distinguished.

Top 5 finishes for Ericsson, O’Ward, Kanaan, Rosenqvist, and Rossi all boosted their standings. Kanaan especially gained as he was able to distinguish himself sufficiently from Bill Vukovich and Rodger Ward placing squarely in 15th.

*Photo by Indycar/Joe Skibinski (c) 2022*

Not Bad For A Pay Driver – Marcus becomes the second native of Sweden to win the 500 (Kenny Brack in 1999 being the first). As noted above, his place among 1-time winners is fairly low trailing all others but Graham Hill, Floyd Davis (a co-driver credited with a win), and Gaston Chevrolet (the lowest ranked winner with 324 points).

Miscellany – “Ground Control to Major Correction, come in Correction!” Somehow, in the hoary, early days of this spreadsheet, I lost Joe Dawson. For the life of me I can’t comprehend why, but somewhere in 2013, the 1912 winner disappeared from my list. Mr. Dawson was not in my Greatest 33, however to be missing him entirely was certainly an error. He returns to the grid in 79th with his 362 points, placing him between Ralph Hepburn and Wally Dallenbach, and two spaces ahead of this year’s winner Ericsson.

Miscellany 2 – One thing I miss most about the new scoring pylon versus the old one is the average race speed shown at the top of the stack. The Indy 500 qualifying field was the fastest average in history so it stands to reason that the 2022 race would be among the fastest as well. It was the 7th fastest race of all time, but it also had 31 laps of yellow, the second most compared to the 13 fastest races run (all under 3 hours running time). Only 1991 had more laps of yellow (35). 1991 stands as the 5th fastest all-time, and just a blink under 1 minute faster than 2022. Not coincidentally, the fastest race of all-time in 2013 had the fewest laps under yellow.

Wither TK? – Fan-favored Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho, currently in 15th with 1192 points is a relatively scant 108 points away from moving up two places, passing fellow Brazilian Emo Fittipaldi, and former teammate/best bud Dario Franchitti who sit at 13th and 14th places with 1295 and 1299 respectively.

That move would align him right behind the great Mario Andretti (1396) for 13th overall. Another race and a Top 5 would seal a minimum of 50 points, not to mention what a win or leading 50 more laps would do. Although he’s on his second “Last Lap” of the Indycar scene, he did little the entire month to dissuade a smart owner from putting the popular driver in a highly-competitive second/third seat for Indy should the funding be there. Every driver stops racing at some point, and there’s much to be said for going out on a high, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve not seen the last of TK at Indy.

The drivers in the Greatest 33 change very little, although this generation of legendary Indycar drivers continue to march steadily up the list.

Dixon’s disappointing day should also be assuaged in the fact that he now owns a very impressive record at IMS – The Most Laps Lead of all-time. For now, it will always come with the caveat that he also hold only one win. If Dixon manages to grab that second win and maybe one more pole (tying Rick Mears for Most Pole Positions) before he’s done, the records will mean even more in combination with multiple wins, and cementing his place among the greatest of the Greatest 33 to race at Indy.

A Few Quick Thoughts

As a final entry before leaving for Indy a ‘dark-o-thirty’ AM, I’ve thought about a number of suitable subjects, but none stands out in particular. So, I’ll just briefly touch on a number of the scattered themes that were bouncing around before I hit the hay.

Off Years – I was thinking about how an all-time instant classic/historic race comes along that we celebrate for many years following, but what about that race that follows the next year? This will be my 35th race and I’ve seen several races for the ages, but I also recall feeling a bit of trepidation in the years following a classic. Tempering my expectations always isn’t as easy as it might seem to be, but in the years following a great all-time race, there is usually something memorable to happen.

Following the closest finish in history in 1992, the 1993 was actually quite good for as little as it gets talked about. Perhaps most only recall that being the year Emerson thrice eschewed the milk on national TV, only to swig a bottle of orange juice to promote his farms in Brazil.

1983 usually pales in comparison with one of the most memorable races the year prior, although the notable rookie and pole-sitting performance by Teo Fabi was quite the introduction to this year’s race. The late-race drama between Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., and Tom Sneva made for some great TV and also commentary, but Sneva, after all of high-speed exploits at Indy in the 7 years prior, finally got a deserved win. He is one of a handful of single-win drivers that could have easily won two or three with just a little bit of better fortune.

The Greatest 33 Redux – As my tens of loyal readers know, I maintain this subjective tally that was originated by the Speedway for the Centennial Anniversary Era. I typically do a preview of the race or at least how the list changes following every 500.

Essentially, you need to be more than just a single-win driver with a few races to make my list. Longevity, Poles, Laps Lead, and Top 5 finishes also play a part in my calculations. Drivers such Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti, and Graham Rahal all have a chance to notch their first win and come very close to bumping their way into my Greatest 33.

Second wins for Dixon, Kanaan, Power, Pagenaud, or Rossi would elevate them well into my Greatest 33.

Numerology of the ‘2’ – I had this theme bouncing in my head for years, but my inaction means I’ve come second to the good chaps at Beyond The Bricks Podcast – Jake Query and Mike Thomsen who covered this very subject recently.

It seems that race years that end in the number ‘2’, are extra-memorable for one reason or another. Last year we could consider the similarities of a year ending in ‘1’ and the crowning of a 4-time winner (1991 Mears, 2021 Castroneves). Will a finish for the ages be in store for us this year? Time will tell. Query and Thomsen of course do such a great job with the subject, that I cannot possibly add to it.

If you haven’t yet caught their show, I highly recommend binge-listening to their 2022 episodes heading into your Indy 500 weekend. That podcast, along with all of their other Month of May Indy 500 themes can be found here.

As always, I’ll be looking forward to another edition of that historic ‘speed classic’ in Indy, by being on the hallowed grounds of IMS again. I hope you will enjoy your Memorial Day racing weekend, wherever you may be. Peace!

A Reflection on Liveries

In my preparation for my trip to the 500, I always spend just a little time pouring over the intricacies of the starting field. How many previous winners? How many rookies? What are the countries of origin? Any bits of trivia I find interesting.

Some examples; Row 10 this year is the only row which features only one of the engine manufacturers (Chevy); Lundgaard is the first Danish driver to make the field; Row 5 is the only all-USA native field; etc.

In doing so however, I also look at colors and liveries in the spotters guide. Between qualifying weekend TV coverage and reviewing the guide, I noticed there are virtually no liveries that I would consider unattractive this year. All are notable and few replicate others so closely that they’re difficult to identify immediately.

The livery game in Indycar has stepped up in the last few years and I want to say that it is about as good as it ever has been and perhaps 2022 is the best of the 20s so far, but as is typical with everything else in sports, comparing eras separated by years and decades means that technology factors into the discussion.

I do think that as wild as the vehicle design was through the 1970s, the liveries of that decade were a reflection of that era in freedom of creativity. When one considers that nearly everything (if not everything) was hand-painted at that time, the work to produce a memorable and visually-capturing livery was truly an art.

Perhaps only rivalled by the 1973 field, one of my absolute favorite fields, subjectively judged by liveries, is 1970. Below is the hyperlinked year of the field for your perusal, of images from the Indycar.com site.

1970 – The dawn of a new decade and new era in racing meant creativity was in full flow. The #2 Johnny Lightning Special driven by Al Unser was the actual race-winner, but is also one of the most recognizable liveries of all-time now over 50 years on, but first appearing in 1970.

In 1970, Foyt’s Coyote Red team cars had become easily recognizable as did the Granatelli Team STP day-glo red, and the McLaren’s Papaya orange, but other non-works liveries that standout include: the #25 Cablevision car of Lloyd Ruby;

the #97 Wynn’s Spit Fire Special driven by Bruce Walkup;

The #22 and #23 Sprite soft drink liveries driven by Wally Dallenbach and Mel Kenyon;

And the #89 Nelson Iron Works Special driven by Jerry Grant.

The #89 I particularly enjoy as it evokes a feeling of walking into a groovy ’70s lounge with dark paneling, brown vinyl-covered cushy club chairs, shag carpeting, and swag lighting everywhere, including the restrooms.

Wait! I’ve been there. It’s called the High Life Lounge in Des Moines, Iowa. When I made the trek to see Indycars in Iowa in the summer of 2018, we made sure to hit this classic spot and so should you (if you’re over 21 years of age, that is).

I believe art generally reflects the times and even so when applied to the mechanical racecar. The variety of chassis as well as the creative liveries in the field of the 1970 Indy 500 really gives one a sense of the times.

I knew (/hoped?) this day would come, eventually…

*Images captured from screenshots of video footage (c) IMS* 1996, 2022

In 1997, I went from being optimistic that the speeds to challenge Luyendyk’s 1996 qualifying record would return in 8-10 years, to just hoping I’d be alive to see it. I was 30 years old then. Naïveté isn’t bounded by age, but rather experience apparently.

Flashback to 1997 and the all-new naturally-aspirated 4.0l v-8 engine and chassis formula of the IRL. The reduced engine costs and increased/deafening roar of the IRL indicated a new era where the perception was set that speed was no longer king. The 218 mph pole speed and 206 mph slowest qualifying speed in 1997 recalled speeds of a decade prior. Certainly a regression had happened which did nothing to assuage the concerns of the ticket-buying public, yours truly included.

Still, I had solid faith in the engineers and a very modest faith in the powers-that-be that solutions to ramping speeds back up would be forthcoming in a matter of years. By the time 10 years had passed though, we were hovering around the speeds of 16 years prior. Patience was wearing thin, even for this grizzled fan who had nearly seen it all by this point, but there was some progress on unification of open-wheel racing where better performance and a much better perception of the overall product was emphasized.

Flashforward another 15 years to yesterday, May 22, 2022.

A tumultuous set of weather parameters had rolled through the previous days, testing the limits of flexibility and skill of the teams and drivers during practice in preparation for qualifying. On Sunday however, a relative cool and calm settled over the speedway allowing the Fast 12 to really dial it in and let it go in their runs for the pole.

What resulted yesterday, in my view, was long-overdue, yet nothing short of magical to finally experience.

An ageless wonder, the kiwi-sensation, who even only at 41 years old, seems to have been around longer than nearly everyone at the speedway, save for Roger Penske, Tony Kanaan, and a few yellow-shirts. Scott “The Iceman” Dixon broke the speed record held by Scott Brayton from 1996 that had stood for over 26 years – a four-lap average of 234.046mph for the pole-winning speed. I felt as if the racing gods were again smiling down as they had 51 weeks prior when the fourth 4-time winner was crowned.

*screen clip of video footage (c) IMS 2022*

Of course the outright 4-lap qualifying record of 236.986mph (non-pole-winning speed held by Arie Luyendyk) still lay beyond us, but it truly seems so much closer than ever before. My appetite to see that record broken is truly whet. The potential for speed setbacks in the transition to new motors in 2024 looms, but I have to believe we’re not far away from 237.

I only hope to be there when it happens.

Life’s Too Short

“When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun, keep me in your heart for a while. There’s a train leaving nightly called, ‘when all is said and done’, keep me in your heart for a while.”
Warren Zevon

I was feeling a growing urge to post yesterday, while progressing through my day job, perhaps to counter some of the virulent takes about the Music City GP and remind people that it’s beyond time to remember that it is our duty to keep some semblance of fairmindedness with regard to most anything, and especially for a brand new event of our favorite sport, even as inauspicious as its debut may have seemed on the track. I’ll get back to that in a minute.

As my work day wound down, I scanned Twitter in anticipation of thinking of final thoughts for this post, and my countenance dropped.

The news of yesterday’s passing of longtime voice of the 500 (and so much more), Bob Jenkins was certainly unwelcome news, but in the moments following my reading of the news, it hit me harder than I might have anticipated.

Bob Jenkins, as has, and will be noted often in the coming days, was so well-regarded by so many associated with Indycar and the 500. His voice and visage were significant and instantly recognizable elements for racing fans in the U.S. who traversed the 1980s, ’90s, and beyond. More personally, what hit me was the realization that his passing also represents a significant connection to memories of my appreciation for this sport and of the hallowed grounds of Indy.

I can’t help but feel some dread in thinking about the growing frequency and volume of the people we’re losing who represent what many call the ‘Golden Age of Racing’ (I roughly place that as early-1960s to late-1980s), not only for Indycar, but for all the major racing series during that time. “Growing old sucks”, as my father used to say, “but it beats the alternative”. Alas.

There are many things to be said by people who knew him personally, and we’ll be reading them over the next several days. I never met the man, but his voice and face will forever remain some of the most key visceral memories of a time in my life and in a sport that I cherish. It means so much to me that he, as a fan first and later media-everpresent of the sport, got to witness the fourth 4-time winner at Indy this year. There are precious few races that are as significant as the one we just completed and it is fitting that he was able to appreciate that from the pagoda before he left us.

To me, it was always evident in his broadcasting style that he had to work to curtail the fanboy giddiness he must have had at being able to cover the sport he loved, such was his appreciation for Indycar and racing. It was perhaps the most endearing feature of his delivery as those of us here can certainly appreciate the depths of his enthusiasm and enjoyment.

In thinking about the race this past weekend and in thinking about Bob’s life around Indycar, I can’t imagine him saying much ill of the Music City Grand Prix and that’s not a ‘fanboy’ thing so much as it is a good thing.

Events come and go and certainly the on-track action may have been far from satisfying to some. Certainly it wasn’t easy for those in the stands who endured an extra 60 minutes of ‘not-racing’ in the midsummer Tennessee heat to maintain their initial enthusiasm, yet I felt the race overall was interesting, intriguing, and not short of drama, whether intentional or not.

To the new fans and Nashvillians who attended their first race last Sunday – you could be forgiven for not entirely knowing what to make of an Indycar race. You definitely saw the better and lesser of what Indycar is. Certainly changes will be made to help reduce the on-track mayhem, but from a fan of 4 decades of this sport, it seems precious little else needs fixing, so I say your enthusiasm was and will be well-placed for this event.

The Music City Grand Prix looks to be a winner in many ways and I hope it becomes a mainstay on the schedule for many years. The city’s enthusiasm and response to this event has scarcely been equaled. I look forward to being able to join you all next year and celebrate in a city I’ve grown to know and love.

And that brings me to my final thought: As an ever-aging, and longer-time fan of Indycar, I want to express my ongoing concern of the fair-mindedness of (most everyone these days, but also) people who frequent social media. I’m proposing (as much for myself as anyone who read this) a few strategies to amplify enjoyment and reduce the ‘Legions of the Miserable’ by combatting the drive that seems to be solely to reduce other’s enjoyment of something.

Let’s aim to reduce the ‘hawt-taeks’ and virulent punditry that is all too prevalent these days. I know I have to work at it, and I consider myself pretty even-handed in thought. Holding off on posting may seem antithetical to the very use of social media, however, that ‘cooling-off’ time allows for one to consider positives and negatives more even-handedly (plus one gets the benefit of avoiding looking like a total spaz in thought and action).
Likewise, let’s aim to practice finding more things we like than things we don’t. So many of us have a very specific presence just for Indycar, why clutter up the space with negativity or corn-flake-pissing.
Be aware that you are in a public space. My father used to say that “your personal rights end at the tip of your nose” and I agree with that sentiment. Believe what you want, but realize that anything beyond your nose is shared space, and is not ‘yours’ (a practice scarcely seen in social media). Nothing like a worldwide airborne pandemic to underscore that point in so many ways.

Yesterday, another fan of Indycar, with whom a social media beef in this era could easily result as he is a fan of Liverpool FC, and I, betrothed to Everton, might on that basis alone scarcely treat each other with dignity. However, against all popular trends, we easily agree that to be polarized to the point of 100% all-or-nothingness is not only futile, but destructive and unnecessary.

I will 100% agree that to be all-or-nothing on anything and everything related to opinion, is a guarantee of being 100% miserable, wrong, and disliked 100% of the time.

I never expect to be agreed with, nor agree with anyone all of the time. Trying to seek that approval is an utter waste of time. So too is creating polarization (often used to drive traffic on social media).

Treat each other with respect. Be a fan. Support what you like.

Critical thought is always important, but the very nature of it requires an even-handed, open-minded, and equitable nature and approach. Analyze fairly, vote with your energy and your wallet, and forget the rest. Enjoy what you like to the fullest, realizing nothing ever has been nor will be perfect. Be like Bob Jenkins and cling gleefully to what brings you joy.

Of course we’re saddened that the train to the another realm has taken Bob Jenkins. What we haven’t lost is all he meant to IMS, Indycar, and racing in general, so let’s go back out there (everywhere) with a better appreciation of his endearing example and make a daily habit of bringing out the positives in others and the things we love.

I know each 500 raceday, in my seat at IMS in May, I take a moment to recall those who aren’t with us anymore, and now I’ll have one more to think about.

Keep things in your heart that matter most and say farewell to things that don’t.

When all is said and done, life’s too damned short to be any other way.

Catching Up with the Greatest 33 – 2021 Edition

Now with the glory of the 2021 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race firmly in the rear-view mirror, I’ve carved time to revisit my Greatest 33 and review the largest shake-up in the standings since the inception of this 10-years-old bit of bench-racing started back in 2011.

To briefly review, IMS took great pains to create a special interactive website for the 2011 100th Anniversary race, for which fans could log in and vote for their “Greatest 33” to race at Indy from the 100 or so nominees provided. The site survived for a few years, but has since been taken down. I had participated in the original, but in need of some rudimentary starting point, my desire was to devise a method to the madness, trying to maintain some framework of relative fairness. I devised a set of objective criteria based on a few statistics that I deemed important for a driver to be in the conversation of the Greatest 33. At least I’d have some basis to sift and sort through the many drivers who’ve participated in this great race. With some consternation and trial-and-error, I settled on the weighted scoring method you see here. As you may have correctly guessed, ‘just for fun’ I saved and updated a spreadsheet every year following the results of each subsequent Indy 500. In the words of John Bender from The Breakfast Club, “…so, it’s sorta social, demented and sad, but social.” Prior posts of mine on this subject can be found by searching this blog’s tags for “Greatest 33”.

Without further ado, here is the top portion of that updated spreadsheet in all of its astoundingly dispassionate and boring rows and columns.

Helio Joins Racing Royalty – With his momentous and thrilling 4th victory, Helio Castroneves graduates to the uppermost eschelon of this list, joining the three other 4-time winners atop my Greatest 33. As noted back in the 2018 recap, a significant change at the top occurs if HE-LI-O got his 4th. He vaults above the other 3-time winners, Wilbur Shaw and Bobby Unser to 4th place overall, behind Rick Mears, AJ Foyt, and Al Unser. Dare we even contemplate the possibility of the first 5-time winner? That’s too much to even consider this close to Helio’s 4th win. Even another 4-time winner is difficult to imagine in my lifetime. As unlikely as it would appear that Rutherford or Franchitti would come out of retirement to attempt to join the 4-timers club, it’s seems nearly as unlikely that we’ll see another 4-time winner from the currently active 2-time (Montoya, Sato), or 1-time winners (Dixon, Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, Rossi, Power, and Pagenaud).

Errors Corrected – Only the most eagle-eyed/unicorn follower of my blog might notice this, but not only did Helio move up in the first three rows, but so too did Mauri Rose, from Row 4. In working this original batch of statistics, I recall originally being some what thrown off by the fact that Mauri Rose was shown by the official Indianapolismotorspeedway.com statistical drivers pages as being a two-time winner, (plus historically also one time as a co-driver with Floyd Davis in 1941). Until now I ignored/forgotten about it but with the confirmation of established 500 history buff/authority, Mike Thomsen (@thomsen419), I took the time this year to correct that error in my sheet, giving both pairs of winning drivers (Rose/Davis, Boyer/Corum) the full points accorded winners, and transferring Rose up the standings into the outside of the 3rd Row. Overall it did nothing to change the drivers named in the 33, just shuffled the order to be more accurate with the base statistics.

What about 2020? – In looking back to the foggy, labored, and generally abysmal year that was 2020, I realized I hadn’t posted about the results of the previous Indy 500, a second win for Takuma Sato. Sato-san’s second, moved him from below the cut line into the Greatest 33. All drivers with more than one win are included in my Greatest 33 currently. As with the second Montoya win in 2015, Sato moved into the Greatest 33 and in doing so, they each displaced a driver previously on my list. Montoya bumped Bobby Rahal and Sato bumped Jimmy Murphy, both one-time winners.

Intangibles, Part One – Readers of the past will recall that there are a few differences between my staid statistical listing and the graphical listing shown here. These are the subjective movements in rank that I assign based on a few variable details not accounted for in my spreadsheet. Also, for those not familiar with my particular listing, this is basically a Top 30 plus a ‘Last Row Club’ (as a nod to the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation’s ‘Last Row Party’) comprised of the best 3 to never win. I intend to maintain this format unless sufficiently cajoled otherwise. If you want a very limited edition souvenir, follow the IPCF link above and get yourself one of the most fun-spirited Indy 500 shirts available.

Intangibles, Part Two – With the weight of a 4th pole position and statistically now ranked 10th, Scott Dixon is located in 12th place behind Gordy and Mario as I feel their legend status still holds just the slightest bit more weight than Dixon. In terms of points, the three are separated by 1%, effectively now ‘three wide’ across the 4th row, I fully expect Dixon will fully overhaul them before his days are over at Indy. By the narrowest of margins, Tony Kanaan charts just one point ahead of Bill Vukovich. Much as the reasoning above though, I’ll hold the two-time legend of Vuky ahead of Kanaan, until TK ‘clears’ Vuky and ‘makes the pass’ into 16th place. As in years past, Arie Luyendyk holds one place higher than scored due to his current one- and four-lap qualifying records which are always notable and celebrated in the annals of the 500. I also expect these records will fall in the not-too-distant future and I will return him to his place between Al Unser Jr., and Dan Wheldon.

Outside Chances – Who is close to breaking into the Top 30+3? Second wins for Hunter-Reay, Power, Pagenaud, or Rossi would see them jump to the strata populated largely with two-timers in Rows 7, 8 or 9 and bump Jim Clark out. Marco is approximately 2-3 non-winning races of overtaking Rex Mays and bookending the 11th row with his father. A win for the evergreen Ed Carpenter, coupled with his long career, 3 poles, nearly 150 laps lead, and 3 top 5 finishes would bring him into the low 800-point range, surpassing Bill Holland/Billy Arnold/Jim Rathmann/Jim Clark.

Other Bits – Interestingly, perhaps, Mark Donohue ranks 66th on my list and he won with Car #66. Gil deFerran is 67th and won with car #68. Perhaps somewhere down the line a driver that wins in car #67 will settle in that 9-point gap between Donohue and deFerran, making the lore of Indy 500 numerology that much deeper for me.

For me, I enjoy the time and thought required to update and review this every year. It always seems to force me to re-evaluate drivers of the past as well as consider the currently active drivers place in the pantheon of Indy 500’s Greatest. I’d love to hear from anyone else that did this back in 2011 (or beyond) and their experience in selecting their Greatest 33.

This 500 Will Be Special

It was a little after 6pm Sunday afternoon, soon after qualifying had ended for the 105th Indianapolis 500, at home sitting in my favorite chair, reflecting on how much I enjoyed what had transpired over the previous six hours of my Sunday. I am never on-site for 500 qualifying, so this was a qualifying Sunday I had genuinely enjoyed more than I had in a very long time. Then a strange realization hit me.

My enjoyment illuminated something I hadn’t felt for a very long time, perhaps even before 1995. Gone was the weight of the past. Gone was my annual angst over ’33’ and how it ‘should be’. Gone was ‘the split’. Gone was the millstone of ‘sacred racing traditions’ that had hung around my neck for far too long. A growing feeling that, through all that had transpired over the recent months, and all we as a collective group of humans had endured, a guarded new hope and optimism began to emerge. It was as if the weather fell upon that lovely track last Sunday was to remind us that everything is again as it should be, just in the new way.

The track temperature waxed and waned, and the wind appeared just enough to be recognized. The conditions were a flirtatious reminder that, despite our western-worldly inclinations as humans that it is our destiny to grasp ‘control’ of the many things in our purview, sometimes it’s down to the subtly fickle and unknown origin of a generic Indiana Sunday in mid-May that surpasses the engineers and crew and drivers, to settle it’s final favor upon the field, just as it had at times in decades before.

I’ve not said much about it in the last few years, but to me Indycar, and especially the 500, has felt notably starched and a bit too manufactured to be rendered joyful. Even the greatest build-up in all of sports was metered-for-TV-ad-space, essentially draining all excitement of what was literally my favorite 30 minutes of the year. It sadly has been quite a long time since I’ve been surprised with chills up my neck watching Indycar either on-screen or in-person.

Mostly I recall only the in-person chills I’ve been fortunate enough to experience that only the crescendo of a hundred thousand cheering on the main straight can give. Notably when Michael and Rick traded unbelievable Turn 1 passes in 1991, or the amazing finish of the most otherwordly race in 1992, or Danica’s pass for the lead on Lap 190 in 2005 or Sam Hornish making a front-straight pass for the win in 2006. As I try to recall the most recent time, I think it may have been the last time Jim Nabors sang the first seven syllables of that glorious song, prior to the start of the engines in 2014, knowing it would be his last.

The day’s drama of the 2021 edition of last row qualifications was certainly tense and bittersweet but also gave way to the building tension of Fast 9 qualifying. As Tony Kanaan, Rinus VeeKay, then Ed Carpenter cracked the 232 miles-per-hour barrier with their first laps Sunday, the crowd noise through my TV was more than I’d heard in years and that magical feeling of chills long missing from my Indycar pleasure went up my neck once again. I can only imagine how great that must have felt in-person. With little left to write of the story of 2021 qualifying, the stage was set for the last two drivers and they also did not disappoint with two of the closest pole runs in history.

In spending much of my late-Sunday evening pouring over the field for this Sunday’s race, I can’t help but feel that this 500 will genuinely be special. For what reason, I cannot yet say. Let’s just say that it’s a feeling.

I find facets of this race intriguing already though:

The fastest average speed field in history.
One of the closest fields in speed in history.
Nine former winners.
A progressive team featuring a majority female ownership and crew.
15 nations of origin represented in the field of 33.
The presence of the ‘Second Golden Era’ legends alongside the stunning emergence of ‘Generation Next’.
A new ownership and revamped facility awaiting what will once again be the largest single-day spectator sporting event in the world.
Generations of fans who appreciate the past, relish the present, and excite at the promise of the future of Indycar.

Much of what constitutes the essence of this race reminds me greatly of the race 30 years ago. A celebrated front row and field full of the First Golden Era legends, the current stars, barrier-breakers, and youth. During that race we saw things never-before seen, racecars still deemed aesthetically ‘perfect’ by many to this day, a competition of machine and driver and crew on the grandest scale, culminating in the crowning of the newest royalty at Indy.

Maybe the alignment is too perfect to be true, but I have to wonder if we won’t again crown 4-time royalty this Sunday in a legendary race for the ages. Perhaps it’s all too much to hope.

Regardless, I know I’ll need to go and find out first-hand. I hope to see you there too and we can share the experience of it all unfolding before our eyes.