Indianapolis 500
All of the hype surrounding the
running of the 89th annual Indianapolis 500 centered on female driver Danica
Patrick. Janet Guthrie, Lynn St. James, and Sarah Fisher had all tried to win
the race before, but for the first time many thought that a woman might actually
get to sip the milk in victory lane.
The day before the event former IRL driver and
current NASCAR driver Robby Gordon struck up some controversy when he claimed
that Danica Patrick had an unfair advantage because she weighed nearly 100
pounds lighter then a lot of the male drivers in the event. The IRL didn’t seem
to mind these accusations, after all Patrick is the greatest thing to hit the
sport in over a decade.
The event started with pole sitter Tony Kanaan
leading the pack off 33 cars to the green flag to begin the event. Kanaan didn’t
keep the lead to long as Roger Penske’s driver Sam Hornish Jr., from Defiance
(what a great name of a town for a driver to be from), Ohio. For most of the
first 100 laps of the 200 lapper Hornish Jr., Kanaan, and Kanaan’s teammate
Dario Franchitti led the way in the Indy 500, while Danica Patrick stayed in
fourth place (exactly where she had qualified). On lap 78 of the event the
second caution came out when AJ Foyt IV, laps down, made contact with the #36
car of Bruno Junqueira, sending Junqueria’s car into the wall. Junqueria
suffered minor back pain in the incident and was sent to a local hospital for
further observation.
While under this very caution Danica
Patrick made a rookie mistake stalling the car in the pits. The mistake sent
Patrick from fourth position to sixteenth, last on the lead lap. Not to fear
though, in the previous year’s Indy500 a rookie by the name of Buddy Rice,
driving for Rahal/Letterman (Patrick’s team) had stalled his car on pit lane and
continued on to win the race. Another caution came out on lap 113 as the #70 car
of Richie Hearn and the #9 Chip Gannasi owned car of Scott Dixon made contact
and both went into the wall. As the caution came out Kanaan was in the lead of
the race.
After the restart Kanaan and Franchitti shared
the lead back in forth. On lap 147 Sam Hornish Jr., who had earlier led a race
high 77 laps, wrecked hard into the wall after making slight contact with Champ
car star Sebastian Bourdeis (who earlier this year won an IROC race at Texas
Motor Speedway). Following pit stops under the caution #26 Dan Wheldon came out
on top on the race. Wheldon, who had won 3 out of 4 races so far in the IRL
season, hadn’t even been talked about thus far in the race.
On lap 175 after not pitting during a caution
Danica Patrick took the lead of the Indy 500, it was the first time a woman had
ever led laps at Indy. Patrick held onto the lead for many laps, but she was low
on fuel and had to conserve the best she could. In the end she couldn’t conserve
fuel and still drive competitively enough to remain in the lead. On lap 193
Wheldon regained the lead of the Indianapolis 500. On lap 198 a caution came out
when Sebastian Bourdeis hit the wall, and that was the race. Dan Wheldon had won
the Indianapolis 500.
Coca
Cola 600 @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway
The Coca
Cola 600 is the longest race of the season. It is 400 laps, 600 miles of the
most grueling, intense racing of the year. As the end of the 600 miles nears
drivers are fatigued and engines are always iffy on whether they will make it to
the checkered flag. On this evening many drivers wouldn’t have to worry about
their engines expiring or drivers being fatigued as not many drivers would be
around to see the end of this race. A bad racing surface due to the recent
levigating process and idiotic moves by a few drivers would cost many cars to
end up on the wrecker and the remaining cars to look like a race at Bristol
Motor Speedway, rather than Charlotte. “Rocketman” Ryan Newman set on the pole
for the Coca Cola 600, as he smashed the former track record.
More
than five hours later after a NASCAR record 22 cautions, Bobby Labonte found
himself leading the race on a restart with just a few laps remaining and Jimmie Johnson #48, Lowe’s Chevrolet lurking a few cars behind. On the final lap
Johnson pulled right alongside of Labonte’s Chevrolet, but it didn’t appear that
he would have enough for Labonte.
Wrong! On
the last turn of the 600-miler Johnson edged his nose just ahead of Labonte’s to
win his record third consecutive Coca Cola 600. Johnson record breaking
performance on this night was marred by many cautions and some crazy incidents.
Just a few laps into the race last year’s Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch lost
control of his Jack Rousch owned Ford on the new slick surface heading hard into
the wall. Busch would repair his car and return to the race about 100 laps
later, but his night just got worse as he once again lost control of his Ford
and ended up hitting the wall even harder. He wasn’t the only one.
Elliott Sadler and Jamie McMurray both lost control of their cars on the slick track
surface and spun through the infield grass during the night. While leading the
race late Joe Nemechek was running away from the pack and looking forward to his
first race victory of the 2005 season when his car ended up sideways and backed
its way into the wall. The race also included idiotic moves by two drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers.
Around the
midpoint way of the race Dale Earnhardt Jr. was following behind his teammate
Michael Waltrip when he got into the back of Waltrip sending him spinning.
Former Cup champions Matt Kenseth and Terry Labonte were both involved in Jr.’s
idiotic mess. Labonte injured his foot in the accident and was taken to a local
hospital for x-rays; that turned up negative. Shortly after the stupid incident
between the DEI teammates, Hendrick driver Brian Vickers, who has led the most
laps during the race decided to add an idiotic moment of his own. Vickers, while
following Bill Elliott, attempted to bump draft the veteran racer and caused a
big wreck that included his teammate Jeff Gordon. The drivers on the Nextel Cup
circuit need to learn that bump drafting only belongs on the restrictor plates
tracks like Daytona and Talladega and has no business whatsoever at Lowe’s Motor
Speedway. The terrible track surface caused enough problems on its own during
this night, stupid moves by Earnhardt Jr. and Vickers just added to the fray.
Julian Spivey
Editor and Chief of
Sports Magazine