It lived up to the hype. The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 was once again the greatest spectacle in racing with plenty of drama and the eventual race winner very much in doubt right until the final lap when rookie Alexander Rossi coasted across the yard of bricks at the start/finish line to become the first rookie since 2001 to capture the Borg-Warner trophy.
Canadians were hopeful for Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe, who started on pole position and traded the lead in the early going with 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay. Changing weather conditions and strategy worked against Hinchcliffe who did manage a seventh-place finish and moved up to fifth in the overall championship standings. The Schmidt-Peterson team is definitely building some momentum.
One by one the top contenders of the day seemed to fall victim to some sort of incident that took them out of contention. Andretti Autosport teammates Townsend Bell and Hunter-Reay made contact in pit lane eliminating both from possible victory.
Penske drivers were equally frustrated. Helio Castroneves, seeking to become the fourth driver to capture four wins at the Indy 500, incurred body damage when contacted by another driver and his chance at the win fell away. Last year’s winner Juan Pablo Montoya crashed, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power were penalized for pit violations early and never really got back on track.
The final caution period of six on the day set up what turned into a lengthy green flag run to the finish of the 200 lap event. It appeared no one could stretch their fuel mileage far enough to complete the race. Team co-owner and race strategist Bryan Herta asked his rookie driver Rossi to make an almost impossible fuel mileage run that turned into a remarkable victory.
Before this season, the former F1 driver had never driven an IndyCar, nor raced on an oval. He learned his craft well during the month of May at Indianapolis and was just a little better than his Andretti Autosport teammate Carlos Munoz on fuel mileage.
Leading his first laps ever in an IndyCar race, Rossi came out of Turn 4 on the final circuit and was out of fuel. He had just enough momentum to coast across the famed brickyard at the finish line. Rossi was towed into victory lane to sip from the traditional jug of milk. This was the second time in four Indy 500s that Munoz finished as runner-up. Visibly upset after, he’s vowed that one day he’ll win this race.
The other Canadian driver in the field, Alex Tagliani, also had a strong outing. After starting dead last, Tagliani worked his way forward and led laps late in the race. However, the pit windows didn’t fall in line for Tagliani who wound up 17th but could easily have finished much higher.
Following a lot of build up and hype the 100th Indy 500 was an exciting and memorable event. Now IndyCar must use this as a springboard to continue the building process back to more significant attendance, television ratings and sponsorship dollars.
A thrilling run to the finish in the largest one-day sporting event in the world is certainly a great platform to launch that effort. Over 350,000 people on site and millions more on TV will all agree that this is the kind of race that can generate greater series interest.