INDYCAR – 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…

Once Upon A Track: The Original Texas Speedway

Next up is Race #2 on the 2023 Indycar schedule – Texas Motor Speedway. The 36th series race in their 27 year relationship, Texas remains as the only other super-speedway race on the schedule outside of the Indianapolis 500.

Super-speedway races are loosely defined as a larger (1.5 miles or over), higher-speed oval that requires the use of the lower drag and downforce chassis settings, most easily recognized by the wisp of a rear wing, compared to the more common, higher-downforce road/street/short oval wings compared below (graphics from Indycar.com spotters guide):

I think it’s fair to say that Indycar’s relationship with Texas Motor Speedway has been a somewhat tempestuous 27 years and often issues with race formats, safety, and promotion have all-too-easily been spilled into the media. Serious matters should be handled professionally behind the scenes, instead of playing ‘one entity against the other’ publicly, which only sours the fans on both, serving neither’s interests.

Despite the often public wrangling regarding events at Texas Motor Speedway, the series has kept at least one event there each year since the track’s opening for top-level racing in 1997, the longest tenure following Indy for any series venue.

Approximately 200 miles southeast of TMS, and 24 years prior, the state of Texas hosted Indycar racing (through the USAC sanction) at another facility known as Texas World Speedway outside College Station, Texas. Opened in 1969, TWS held 10 USAC Gold Crown/Championship (aka Indy-) Car races from 1973 through 1979.

The track’s original ownership group constructed TWS in 1969, but was in trouble financially as soon as late-1971. While assorted groups worked to keep the facility functional after a complete shutdown in 1974-75, the condition of the racing surface and facility had deteriorated enough by the end of the 1970s that the high-speeds of Indycars were at best, a very questionable proposition. Also at this time, the influence of USAC had waned greatly against the dominance of the upstart Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) sanction. TWS was eliminated from the USAC/Champ Car schedule and never taken up by CART whose direction involved scheduling more diverse tracks than ovals.

In its time though, Texas World Speedway was a mighty speedway beast and was one of eight American super-speedways at the time joining Indy, Daytona, Talladega, Pocono, Fontana, Ontario, and Michigan. Built closely to the specifics of already popular Michigan International Speedway (MIS), the two-mile, D-shaped oval had bankings in the turns of a higher degree than MIS, making it a hotspot for high-speeds.

As early as the October 1973 race, Mario Andretti, in his qualifying run, set the fastest TWS track time of 33.620 sec = 214.158mph – a speed not even seen officially at Indianapolis until twelve years later when Scott Brayton set a one-lap qualifying speed record of 214.199 at Indy during his four-lap qualifying run. During a one-off private Indycar testing session in 1993, Mario’s time would be surpassed, but the newer times weren’t considered official.

TWS start 1973 (c) Elias555 (via Flickr album)

(April 1973 TWS Race – Green flag; (c) Elias555 (via public Flickr album)

Texas World Speedway developed a road course configuration and hosted some sports car racing and club racing through the 1990s-2000s, but was officially shut down and reached its end as a race course in late 2017. Real estate developers purchased the land and ground broken on a new planned residential development in spring of 2018.

As I have started a historical Google Earth folder of former Indycar tracks from 1947 on, you can follow a Google Earth link here to see remnants of the speedway from the image dated 4/1/2022. Speedway turns 1 and 2 are totally gone, nearly all of the road course, and sections of the remaining track are missing. All of the stands and nearly all of the track’s buildings are demolished.

Time marches on, but the short-lived yet impressive records of the Indycar races at Texas World Speedway can be found here at ChampCarStats.com.

In future, I plan to do more recaps of former Indycar tracks, especially ones that no longer exist. Let me know which you’d like to see in the comments below!

Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself

Yes, THAT Jay-Z song is slapping away in my cranium while I write this, but regardless, I don’t know if you remember me or not. I used blog about Indycar related stuff on occasion. Also, remember blogs? All the rage circa 2006.

I also used to be rather active and having fun on Twitter until “Space Karen” (aptly named by a friend) began doing his level best to ‘improve’ Twitter by buying it, taking it private, firing most everyone who had anything to do with its technical success to date, creating unwanted policies, and generally trying to solve problems that didn’t exist. That’s one way to be self-important I guess, but it definitely soured me on the format, I didn’t feel the need to participate so actively there anymore. I digress.

“and you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’ “

This blog originated in 2008 as a personal writing exercise and choosing a subject of interest, I thought, would aid in my desire to continue to exercise my writing muscles. It did and it didn’t, but what it and my twitter interactions gave me was the feeling of connection to people with a similar interest in Indycar.

I always liked that, but I also felt a bit of pressure to consistently produce something notable which also drained the fun from it. I also had become overloaded with everyday life things which meant that any unneeded stresses were to be reduced or eliminated, this included.

The time in space is agreeable now to return and perhaps espouse some truths, half-truths, and pure conjecture again, all under the banner of ‘opinion’ writing.

Take that for what it is, but I will always approach this exercise first from a fan’s perspective, and never would I flatter to deceive that I am in any way a journalist. There are several very talented, hardworking (and underpaid) individuals already doing that job and far too many in the blogosphere who deign to project themselves as ‘journalists’ who are actually not.

I am not that, nor ever aim to be, despite having several friends who are or are former journalists. I’m here for the fan-to-fun quotient and just maybe it also gives other fans something to enjoy that they haven’t yet seen. I can tell you right now that I’m much more enjoyable in-person than here, and the many I’ve known on twitter who I’ve met I believe would largely agree. I enjoy talking with Indycar fans from the virtual world. I also have a penchant for song lyrics and movie quotes so don’t be surprised if that theme continues here from years past.

“This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, This ain’t no fooling around”

Let’s also reintroduce Indycar back into the fore of our autosport consciousness after the (what seems interminable) off-season. No amount of practice/pre-season provides the energy of a real, race calendar, points-paying event. It only takes watching a qualifying session to see how much more about-the-business the teams and drivers are, and that adds to the anticipation.

So must I also now plug what a value the Peacock streaming service is in providing the ability to see the event practice and qualifying live, and later on-demand as your schedule allows.

This season’s curtain opened fully against the relatively new, and fully finished backdrop of the sport’s true first full-season following the pandemic and the Penske Entertainment purchase. 2022 was a more fuller step back into life in the post-Covid era.

Especially at the Indy 500, where things were declared ‘fully open’ again, the palpable sense of total ease wasn’t fully evident. Fair enough. We live in a different world and hopefully with a more mature and greater care for our fellow humans and ourselves as one, rather than the ‘me’ and the ‘everyone else’.

Not totally without connection, I believe the Indycar community is experiencing a greater need to be ‘one’, largely because F1 is rattling its sabers (rather effectively) once again within the shores of the US. What that ‘oneness’ is to be is always the sticking point.

Some believe the status quo is, while not perfect, still pretty great with only moderate tweaks needed. Others yearn for a time when more openness in design and evolution and pushing envelopes of performance, while more costly and less competitive overall, is still the hallmark of true greatness that endeared itself to many more people than today’s version. Still others are just learning what the sport is about and get to know rather quickly the disparate sides of fandom that believe they have the best idea of what the future needs to be. A topic for another time, perhaps.

“here’s your ticket, pack bags, time for jumping overboard…”

Race one, turn one wrecks are maybe the worst possible way to begin the new season for the viewers as well as the teams. We made it to turn three this time, but to me, it didn’t feel unexpected and not necessarily down to complete ineptitude of some young driver taking out a veteran. It was hard, committed racing less than one mile into the new season, but as we Indycar fans have come to expect, the championship will be a well-fought and very close battle all season long. We know what’s at stake every race and so do the teams.

Each position from qualifying through the checkered flag comes from hard work, craft, guile, (yes money too), and a bit of luck. Every race is significant and results that fail to meet expectations instantly begin to accumulate in the form of pressure on the remainder of the schedule, and intrigue for attentive fans. What more could we really ask for from sport?

As any grizzled, aging veteran fan knows, there is a vast history of how Indycar has been run and what it produced over the decades. I still have to remind myself that ultimately only what matters is the here and now. The rest is history, gone forever, no matter if one year ago or 100.

Can the sport learn from the successes and mistakes in its history? Absolutely. I also feel that Indycar perhaps could easily paraphrase the new-to-town basketball coach Norman Dale in the movie ‘Hoosiers’, while the locals chant for a revered player not on the team; “I would hope you would support us for who we are, not who we are not… This is your sport.”

Indycar still feels like home to me. Plenty others have the energy to analyze and opine about the minutiae of this sport. As for me, I’m just glad it’s still here and I look forward to some convivial Indycar interactions with you all again.

“Home – is where I want to be
But I guess I’m already there.
I come home – she lifted up her wings.
I guess that this must be the place…”

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.

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.

One More Year

Bleary-eyed, in the ever-earlier darkness of morning, after dutifully shutting off my phone alarm clock, I gathered myself for another day in the COVID-19 era, and scanned my personal email.

Surprisingly (and one email that really shouldn’t have), I saw my annual fees to WordPress.com were automatically paid. While there have been numerous opportunities to project my opinions outwardly here, it’s more generally been an anemic year for my blog as numerous things in my three-dimensional world conspire to retain my interest instead of my Indycar and racing musings to my tens of fans. Maximize the value of my annual expense, I did not.

In actuality, that number is likely to be in the single-digits by now. Pretty dismal showing after 10 years and 350 days of blogging.

Slacking on Indycar posting isn’t a new condition for this writer, but it has been amplified with the hodge-podge season of 2020 Indycar racing in combination with viral disease or other uncertainties. I certainly don’t envy being in either position of racing sanction or facility or team owner, for whom so often we armchair critics assail. At any rate, we all press on in hope of better times and safer futures around the corner.

As for the 2020 Indycar season, it could very well go down as one of the most underrated seasons in history. It’s perhaps forgivable to consider it a mere throwaway of a season, with the lack of fans in attendance, constantly-jumbled schedule, massive uncertainties of the crown jewel Indy 500, and general lack of any sort of rhythm and general purpose. Trying to maintain a balanced view toward things, we must resist to temptation to toss aside this season as wasted. 2020 will without doubt be notable for several reasons in the annals of Indycar history, with positives to be taken along with the glaring downside, but on balance I see it as a net positive.

What follows in this and three subsequent posts will be a summary review of the 2020 Indycar season.

January

Penske Corporation completes the acquisition of the Hulman-George family businesses including IMS and Indycar which had been run by the Hulman-George family since Anton Hulman’s purchase of the Speedway in November 1945.
John Andretti passes away from long cancer battle and is honored with a ceremonial lap around IMS in his funeral procession.
The successful Road To Indy ladder is set to celebrate it’s 10th season.

February

A spate of exciting new driver, new sponsor, and new venue announcements grows the anticipation for the 2020 season and the first of the Penske era.
The aeroscreen becomes the focus of new testing for all teams in preparation for the new season. Increased cockpit temperatures are noted to be the primary focus for improvement prior to the season start.

March

All momentum for the 2020 Indycar season slows dramatically as COVID-19 expands its reach, creating uncertainty for gatherings of people. Spring sporting events are a major concern for spread of the deadly virus, cancelling or postponing famed events such as the NCAA basketball tournament and The Masters.
On the eve of the St. Pete race, March 13th, the Indycar series and the Road To Indy ladder series officially cancels all races through April due to virus concerns. The planned 2020 schedule begins to unravel and uncertainty in the Indycar community spreads rapidly, including the Indy 500.
Indycar, in an attempt to provide fans, teams, sponsors, and a TV audience with some form of Indycar presence, shows welcome ingenuity by quickly establishing a mini-series of several Virtual Simulation races via iRacing, featuring actual Indycar and other top-flight drivers including fan-favorite and recovering-from-severe-spinal-injury Robert Wickens racing online. Sage Karam wins the inaugural event, run at the virtual Watkins Glen, the venue chosen through fan voting.
It becomes clear that the risk and effects of dealing with the COVID-19 era won’t be ending anytime soon. More ingenuity will be required to not lose this season.

April

More virtual racing and real-life schedule gymnastics dominate the calendar. A revised series schedule is released featuring double-headers at Iowa and Laguna-Seca, and a brand new event – The Harvest GP at IMS.
Indycar and its partners impress with their quick responses and fortitude in not abandoning the season altogether.
Virtual racing continues at Barber, Michigan, Motegi, Circuit of the Americas, and lastly at IMS kicking off the most unusual Month of May.

Coming in the next post, a very strange and surreal Month of May.

How A Mid-January Dinner recalls my first Indy 500

*Lake-effect Winter Satellite Image (c) Wikipedia Commons*

January and February in northern Indiana is sometimes referred to as “character-building” season.

Given the proximity to the Great Lakes, and Lake Michigan in particular, this time of year seems hopelessly lost in a cold, hazy-grey arctic embrace that recalls a seven-year-old’s unwanted holiday hug from an over-perfumed, slightly-frightening aunt that hasn’t seen you since you “were thiiiis tall”. You’re going to get that embrace regardless and to feign appreciation for the once-a-year relationship is to have nearly given up hope on better circumstances altogether.

So it goes with Indycar (or any other warm-seasoned activity) appreciation and winter in northern Indiana.

A generation ago, the phrase “he’s a real character” was a slightly derisory description, if not an outright warning, to others for someone who has a penchant for shenanigans. This is not the type of “character” that gets built during this season, however there may be a corollary with the term “cabin-fever” that I’ll not probe today.

During “character-building” season, with the exterior temps chilling our bodies, we often look to warm ourselves from the inside and a heaping bowl of chili amid the depths of a January evening is a rather suitable dinner. I did just that last night. My wife assembled the chili and cornbread which is now a staple food of our winters. Lower on bean count, higher on diced tomatoes, onions, and beef (sorry vegetarian/vegan/keto friends), it is a treasured little family mix that never fails to satisfy. When I saw the spent box of Jiffy cornbread mix on the counter, I was briefly whisked away to warmer days and my first Indy 500 in 1979.

The #46 Sherman Armstong entry for the 1979 Indianapolis 500 Mile Sweepstakes was a used Wildcat-Offy slated for 5-year veteran of Atlantics and Super-Vees, Howard “Howdy” Holmes. Howdy was a fairly accomplished young driver of the American open-wheel ladder whose liveries most often carried the family business brand – Jiffy Mixes of the Chelsea Milling Company, in Chelsea, Michigan. Although I’ve yet to confirm the fact, I’m fairly certain that Mr. Holmes has also shared the magic of chili and cornbread together in his locale of Michigan which would also be subject to lake-effect winters.

Just like Howdy, my first Indy 500 was in 1979 and the sensations of that day are still palpable to me as I’ve written about previously in this blog. Also easy for me to recollect was my pure and naïve disbelief in my father’s assertion that this car (the #46) was sponsored by a baking mixes company.

He assured me in his factual knowledge, and I was equally inclined to not believe him for all of racing is to be filled only with the stuff of rugged relation – automotive parts, petroleum companies, cigarettes, and beer. Even Janet Guthrie had a Texaco car. Surely my father was incorrect and a baking mixes company couldn’t adorn the front of one of the fastest 33 cars in the greatest race in the world. To whom could they possibly be advertising – these ne’er-do-wells populating the interior of the racetrack?

Certainly not.

Of course at some point, I had to take my father’s serious and insistent word and I found myself looking for that car all day long. It was also part of two-car stable entered by Sherm Armstrong so the liveries were fairly easily tracked – the #44 of Tom Bigelow and the #46 of Howdy Holmes were primarily black with larger white numbers and a smaller yellow and orange trim stripe. The broad nose of Howdy’s Wildcat was easy spot at a distance and so I was able to follow him all day.

Howdy’s career at Indy is notable. His performance in 1979 – 13th starting position (only rookie to qualify), and 7th place finish only bettered by the likes of Mears, Foyt, Mosley, Ongais, Bobby Unser, and Johncock, garnered him the Rookie of the Year honors. His performance allowed him to follow up a month later at Pocono for another 500-miler, starting and finishing a very notable 7th.

For 1980, he was brought on full-time for the team and was slated to help develop their new Orbiter ‘ground-effects’ type chassis. A detailed first-person article exists of that rather fascinating story here.

*Howdy Holmes, Armstrong Orbiter Chassis, (c) unknown*

Success came in waves for Howdy as he moved from team to team. He left the Armstrong Mould (AMI) racing team after 1980 and did not participate in Indycar racing altogether in 1981. For 1982, Howdy joined up with the brand new Doug Shierson Racing Team as the original driver of the now-famous #30 Domino’s Pizza livery through 1983.

Howdy had a very respectable and rather consistently-performing career in Indycars including a career best finish of 2nd at Phoenix and barely a month later, started middle of the front row at Indy in 1984 for Mayer Racing, back with the Jiffy Mix livery/sponsorship in a current March-Cosworth. He moved to Forsythe Racing with the Jiffy Mix brand in a 1985 Lola-Cosworth.

Passing on the 1986 and 1987 seasons, Howdy returned for one more season with Jiffy Mixes and Morales Racing in 1988, again racing a current March-Cosworth, finishing his career with the 26th and final career Top 10, finishing 8th at Tamiami Park.

*1988 – Howdy Holmes March Cosworth, (c) IMS archives*

According to ChampCarStats.com, Howdy’s career in the top-flight of open-wheel racing in America is rather notable for his considerable ability to finish higher than he started and on the variety of tracks presented by CART in the mid-1980s. Of his 82 career Indycar starts, he only lost places from his starting position 1 in 4 races. The record shows that most often, those drops were less than 5 positions. He finished in the top-10 in 26 of 82 starts.

After his retirement from racing, he returned to Chelsea Milling Company, authored a book on motorsports technology, formed a motorsports marketing and advertising firm, and eventually replaced his father as President and CEO of Cheslea Milling, where he still works today.

So, if you ever find yourself in the depth of winter, heading into the supermarket eyeing up the corn muffin mixes to match up with your chili or a cupcake mix for your next Indycar watch party, don’t forget about the endearing Indycar driver Howdy Holmes, and his family’s Jiffy mix.

Much Ado About Liveries

What is it about liveries that adds to the enjoyment of auto racing?

If you’re anything like me, when an off-season wanes and a new season approaches, I appreciate any and all visual coverage of pre-season activity. New images are the desperately-needed salve from the abrasively long off-season. While the sounds from video clips are often familiar and quite welcome, one thing changes more frequently than any other piece in our autosport appreciation – the livery.

During the recent IMSA Roar Before the 24, dutifully placed in the first week of the new calendar year, North American racing fans get their first glimpses of new sports car liveries in action. Often this time of year will include new pronouncements of sponsors and drivers and promotional plans for the upcoming season. Sports cars provide a generally larger substrate for design and history shows us how memorable and popular those can be.

When I say “Silk Cut Jaguar” or “Audi R10 TDi” or “Gulf Oil Porsche 917” or “Mazda 787”, immediately images of a famous and often race-winning livery pop into my head. It’s those things, shared with others around the globe that makes more communal and intimate the experience of autosport enjoyment. The more famous the event/circumstance, the more recalled the livery. Winning, or sometimes merely striving valiantly in incredible situations, often is the momentous situation that places an indelible visual representation of that moment and machine and humans in our brains.

In the second week of 2020, my focus shifts toward Indycar at Sebring for spring testing sessions. 2020 brings a fairly radical new look owing to the advent of aeroscreens. This welcome safety feature also becomes the moment in history that notably alters what we consider a modern Indycar. I imagine a time, even just month from now when a IR15 Dallara without the aeroscreen will seem oddly spartan and exposed.

Regardless, the new era of Indycar is upon us in several ways and as information trickles out of testing, including new entries, sponsors, and liveries, my appetite for the upcoming Indycar season only becomes more ravenous following the off-season hibernation we experience. How will the new aeroscreens add to the livery design? The blank canvas has a new shape.

(c) 2020 Ed Carpenter Racing (via Twitter)

While we often celebrate a renown livery on modern vehicles in tribute, so much that one sanction even takes to throwback livery races, I still feel the classics of tomorrow come from today. In 2019 I noted how well the liveries were done in Indycar from top to bottom of the field, and the artists of today are doing a great job on a difficult substrate, creating some legendary liveries I imagine we’ll regale in 2030.

Often, it’s the events that transpire that influence favor on our recollection of the liveries which will live far beyond their racing life. Even as recently as 2016, the modern and (expected to be) one-off NAPA livery for Alexander Rossi became so memorable from his Indy 500 win, and subsequent exposure, that it now sits among the most recognized, staple sponsors of the modern Indycar era.

As we await more official liveries and note changes to existing ones provided by the aeroscreens, what are some of the newer IMSA or Indycar liveries of 2019 and 2020 that most quickly come to the top of your mind? Like NAPA, which do you see as ‘instant classics’?

Let me know what pops into your mind’s eye first…