An Inside Look at This Year's Indianapolis 500

Road Tips has a friend in Indianapolis, Steve Somermeyer, who has worked the Indianapolis 500 in some capacity for nearly 40 years - in fact, I believe this could be Steve's 40th anniversary this year.  He started out working in the pits - unheard of for a rookie worker (most people who work the Indy 500 for the first few years start out directing traffic or parking cars), but Steve knew someone, who knew someone, who knew someone who got him in the pits for his first race. Over the years, Steve worked his way up to be the head of safety for pits and garage area.  This year, they kicked him upstairs, so to speak, to become the Coordinator for the Pagoda Command Center.  

A few years ago, I was out in Indianapolis and Steve took me on a behind the scenes tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Click here to see that post.  Each year, he always sends out a pre-race memo that takes an in-depth look at the upcoming race. It's always informative for those who are into the Indy 500.  I thought I'd share it again this year. 

By the way - this could be the hottest Indianapolis 500 on record this year.  The warmest temperature for the race before this was 92 degrees in 1937.  It's hit 90 degrees on race day five times in the history of the race.  Temperatures today are forecast to hit the mid-90's, coming close to the all-time record high temperature in May for Indianapolis of 96 degrees.  Although it would be fun to be there again this year, I think being able to watch it in air conditioning will be fine with me. 

    With a new chassis named after last year's winner, the late Dan Weldon, and three different engine suppliers, this year's race should be exciting and unpredictable. However, many of the usual suspects are the favorites to win the 500 mile race.

     Dallara DW12: The first new chassis in years means that all of the learning's/data from previous years is of little value. This chassis was designed to accommodate different engines and aero kits (front and rear wings, sidepod fairings, etc.) and to be much safer. The drivers sit higher off the ground to allow some padding to minimize the back injuries that have happened in the past. The rear wheel is shielded from most wheel-to-wheel contact by the new body particularly in the rear. Ironically Dan Weldon was the original test driver for this new design and it very well could have prevented the airborne Las Vegas crashes, one of which claimed his life.

     With a lot of caution exercised by the drivers, there were only five wall-bangers during practice and qualifying with no serious injuries to any of the drivers. All of the drivers got out of their wrecked cars and were immediately cleared to return to driving. A couple of the cars' rear ends became slightly airborne after bouncing off the wall at an angle. Dalara determined that the lower rear wing support was too rigid so they're making modifications to all of them and they'll be ready to use during Carb Day practice. That's fast response to a issue. These cars to seem to be safer than the previous model - We'll know a lot more once this race is completed.

    Firestone tires: Obviously with a new car, there are new demands on the tire supplier, Firestone. It seems that while the tires seem durable, the 'grip' seems to change quickly. During qualifying runs, the speed declined with each lap. This is something to pay attention to during the race. The cars with the newer tires (more recent pit stops) will be much quicker through the turns. In the same vein, teams will change tires at every opportunity (until they run short of sets of tires).

    Honda versus Chevrolet versus Lotus: So far Chevy has won every pole and race so far this season and 9 of the top ten qualifiers for this 500 including the first 2 rows. Despite some controversy, Honda did get approval to get a redesigned turbocharger cover which was expected to improve it's performance although it wasn't evident during qualifying. The Honda teams seem to be able to turning laps equivalent to the Chevy powered teams in race trim so the race could be very competitive.    

    We'll get some indication during the 1 hour practice tomorrow on Carb Day but teams are really dialing in their cars with very little data since this is only the 5th race of the year and the first oval. Testing and practice laps have been very limited due to mileage limits on the engines and a limited amount of spare parts for the new chassis and engines.

    Lotus seems to be hopelessly behind the other two engine builders. They committed to the program several months later than Chevy and Honda and it seems that their resources are more limited than the others in that the numbers of engines available have been very small. Several teams have broken their contracts with Lotus when Honda and Chevy reluctantly agreed to supply several more engines to additional teams. Lotus is left with only 2 drivers - Simona De Silverstro and Jean Alesi - and they are starting next-to-last and last in the field. They'll probably need a year to become competitive (they hope).

    Pole by 9 inches: Penske's Ryan Briscoe won Penske Racing's record 17th 500 Pole by a very narrow margin over the new Go Daddy driver, James Hinchcliffe. The margin for the 4 lap - 10 mile qualification run was 0.0023 seconds or equivalent to 9.113 inches after 10 miles. As Briscoe quipped in the press conference "James should have ducked his head while going down the straightaways." btw, Winning the pole was worth $100,000.

    Drafting: The new car's aerodynamics create a much more significant draft or as the drivers call it - a tow. It starts to affect the trailing car much further away than the previous chassis - perhaps as much as several hundred yards. As the car behind pulls within 20-25 yards it is rapidly sucked up to within a couple of yards. Drivers have to be prepared for this surge or they risk running into the leading car. This strong drafting effect should lead to lots to passes throughout the field.

    Hot Weather: With perhaps record high temperatures (94 or so) expected Sunday, it won't only stress the fans - stay hydrated! - but also the drivers, their teams, and the relatively unproven engines. The sun will also heat the track surface making it slicker as the day wears on.

    Rookies: There is an above average number of rookies in the field this year with 8 drivers making their first 500 start. Two are veteran F1 winners - Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello - will make their first oval starts in IndyCar here - and one gal - Katherine Legge - who had a number of starts in the CART series. In addition to these rookies, 4 drivers are starting that didn't start in last year's race. So over a 1/3 of the field weren't in the race last year. There is some concern about how these drivers will handle the pressure of the start and can they maintain their concentration throughout the entire race? Quite a few of the late-race incidents usually include rookies because they aren't used to maintaining their concentration for that long a period of time.

    Single file restarts: In a change from previous years, restarts after a yellow flag will be in single file as opposed to the 2-wide restarts in the past. Drivers can attempt to pass another car as soon as the green light goes on. This should also facilitate more passing, certainly safer, on the restarts.

    Lotus and the Black Flag: IndyCar has a competition rule that says that cars must turn lap times within 105% of the leading pace. If the leaders are turning laps in the 218-220 mph range, it means that the slowest cars should be running in the 208-210 mph to comply with the rule. That's probably right at the top end of the speeds that the 2 Lotus cars are capable of racing at. Also the leaders will probably start lapping the end-makers in about 12-15 laps at which time Race Control will be observing how the speed differential is handled. Safety is the top concern but also one wants to give the teams a chance to show off their sponsors.

    Who's going to win: When assessing the favored drivers, one has to start with Roger Penske's team of Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe. They've won every pole and every race so far this year with Will Power winning the 3 races prior to May and all three are starting in the first 2 rows. To say that they're on a roll is an understatement so why should they stop winning now? If Helio wins he would become the 4th 4-time winner joining A.J., Al Unser, and Rick Mears in that exclusive club. A Penske win would extend the team's record total of 15 to 15 500 victories. Team Penske is the benchmark for quick, efficient pit stops and his team also wins the Carb Day pit stop contest almost every year.

    The next most impressive team here in Indianapolis this May has been Andretti Motorsports with the almost pole winner James Hinchcliffe leading the charge. Teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay will start on the outside of the first row with Marco Andretti next on the inside of row 2. So Andretti also has 3 cars in the first 2 rows. Hinchcliffe has been impressive in almost every practice session as has Marco. Hinchcliffe replaced Danica Patrick in the Go Daddy car so he's filling big media shoes - so far folks have been impressed with both his driving prowess and humor outside the car. Marco is a very fast racer but to date has tended to take some reckless chances - he's certainly a fast enough driver to win but does he have enough patience to win over 500 mile? The other Andretti driver - Ana Beatriz - doesn't seem to be in the same class as these three.

    KV Racing leads with Tony Kanaan who has finished second 3 times here at Indy and has led the race in 7 of his 10 starts. Starting in the middle of row 3, popular Tony may be the best driver among the current active ones to have not won here yet. Starting next to Tony is E. J. Viso with new teammate F1's Rubens Barrichello qualifying next on the inside of the 4th row. Rubens won a F1 race here at Indy on the road course along with 3 seconds but this will be his first oval race ever so it would be a real surprise if he even contends. A side note: he easily has the most Twitter followers among the drivers with over 1.6 million.

    A feel-good story is rookie Josef Newgarden driving for Sarah Fisher Racing. He had several daily fast times during practice this May and qualified on the inside of row 3 just inside of Tony Kanaan. This is the only Honda powered car in the top ten qualifiers. Sarah was one of the most popular drivers, has started her own team, and is building a new headquarters building on the Main Street of Speedway.    

    Who haven't I mentioned?? Target Chip Ganassi Racing is usually mentioned in the same breath as Penske.

    Last year's winner and season champion Dario Franchitti and former winner and teammate Scott Dixon. They qualified a disappointing 15th for Scott and 16th for Dario. Even their 'second' team of Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball qualified faster than they did in spots 12 and 14 respectively. The whole Target Chip Ganassi Racing team has struggled getting their drivers comfortable with the new car and Honda engines. If they solve the cars' balance by race day, they'll be challenging for the lead. If not, they'll try to compete through different pit and fuel strategies. They certainly have the resources to run up front so it's a bit of a surprise that they haven't been more successful to date.

    OK, my pick is Penske's Will Power - he's really on a roll and has arguably been the quickest driver over the last couple of years. Accidents and some bad luck has prevented him from winning a season championship. My next picks would be Andretti's James Hinchcliffe, KV's Tony Kanaan, and Will's teammate, Helio Castroneves.

    Racing luck always seems to play a pivotal role in the winning drive so the winner's circle could see any of the drivers that I mentioned above. It really should be an exciting and unpredictable race with questions about the durability of the engines and the small database/experience with the new chassis.

    

Let's go Racing!!

Steve