Round 6: The 107th running of the Indianapolis 500. May 16 - 28.

[CarfanLUFC]

Originally Posted by CarfanLUFC

If Wilson even has a minor back injury I can't see him racing on Sunday...

Entry withdrawn....and Rahal is as the reserve....or the T is rolled out and Rahal replaces Wilson

well predicted Zimbo...

[broadrun96]

HPD must be much more willing to give up how the car drives with a new engine coming along and D&R isn't exactly front of the pack or full season runner at the front

[fieldodreams79]

I'm glad for Graham and it's fitting with the Wilson fam connectings.

And taking my sponsor / manufacturer hats off for a minute, it would be a bad look for a full time driver not to make the 500, imho. Sage or JR would've been interesting but they've also done nothing at The Speedway this month....

[broadrun96]

And United does actually use Graham and Indy in some of their advertising. Was surprised to see a few in print and digital ads, guess I'm just not expecting actual cars in ads other than in race and Nascar, and even Nascar stuff is limited now it seems.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by joeb

Based on that steering wheel, I guess there weren't a lot of in car adjustments for the drivers in those days either!

Front and rear anti-roll bars and brake bias are all I can recall.

[mstets]

It's unclear whether Rahal will start in Wilson's qualifying spot or 33rd. In the old days it would have been 33rd. I seem to recall someone else qualifying Mario's car at Indy and him starting last.



Will Rahal get championship points? Guessing he will. I haven't kept up with the rules but drivers used to be able to score points driving for several different teams.

[broadrun96]

It sounds like no one is really sure because the only rule I've seen says something very unclear about it but also lining up behind wrecked cars. Colton didn't lose his spot last year so not sure that's a current rule

Are driver points to the driver or the entry, and is the entry the car and driver or just the car? I think it's the driver as Sato and Armstrong are both listed with points in the Indy table without car number. So I guess he could earn points for Indy but they were both nominated in the car to start the season and maybe you only get to earn season points in the "car you're listed in"

[NaBUru38]

Replaced drivers go to the back of the grid.

[fieldodreams79]

And everyone moves up one spot from behind so Marco, Callum and Christian move up a row.

Graham and Katherine have been granted shake down runs for tomorrow before Friday's final session:
https://racer.com/2023/05/24/legge-a...-runs-at-indy/

[v8supes]

Im excited. You can make a case for literally any one of about 20 drivers to win the race.

[fieldodreams79]

Both Tom Sneva (1980) and Scott Goodyear (1992) made up 31 spots, which is the most, to finish 2nd, but the lowest starting position winner are 28th, Ray Harroun (1911) and Louis Meyer (1936). The first portion came from the Wiki records page, but the second portion is harder to come by.

https://www.indianapolismotorspeedwa...ace-milestones

Was curious about post WWII stats too and found this...

https://athlonsports.com/girls/13-am...-you-need-know

Only twice since 1936 has a winner come from 20th or worst — Johnny Rutherford started 25th in 1974 and Al Unser began the race 20th in 1987. The best starting position to never win a race is 18th.

But that was from 2014 so I dug a little further, this is still true but I also found some interesting things.

Winner / Grid Position:
2012 Dario - 16
2013 Kanaan - 12
2014 RHR - 19
2015 JPM - 15
2016 Rossi - 11
2017 Taku - 4
2018 Power - 3
2019 Simon - Pole
2020 Taku - 3
2021 Helio - 8
2022 Marcus - 5

Pre 2012, the cycle seems to go be to top 10 qualifiers, but I'm done digging. Someone should really list starting position on this page...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ting_positions

This page is slightly off too it seems, as Wheldon started 16th in 2005.
http://mistupid.com/sports/indy500.htm

Lot's of top 5 starters in there....

[broadrun96]

RHR got himself some stickers today

https://racer.com/2023/05/24/hunter-...-for-indy-500/

Root Insurance joins the team

[joeb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Both Tom Sneva (1980) and Scott Goodyear (1992) made up 31 spots, which is the most, to finish 2nd, but the lowest starting position winner are 28th, Ray Harroun (1911) and Louis Meyer (1936). The first portion came from the Wiki records page, but the second portion is harder to come by.

https://www.indianapolismotorspeedwa...ace-milestones

Was curious about post WWII stats too and found this...

https://athlonsports.com/girls/13-am...-you-need-know



But that was from 2014 so I dug a little further, this is still true but I also found some interesting things.

Winner / Grid Position:
2012 Dario - 16
2013 Kanaan - 12
2014 RHR - 19
2015 JPM - 15
2016 Rossi - 11
2017 Taku - 4
2018 Power - 3
2019 Simon - Pole
2020 Taku - 3
2021 Helio - 8
2022 Marcus - 5

Pre 2012, the cycle seems to go be to top 10 qualifiers, but I'm done digging. Someone should really list starting position on this page...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ting_positions

This page is slightly off too it seems, as Wheldon started 16th in 2005.
http://mistupid.com/sports/indy500.htm

Lot's of top 5 starters in there....

Thanks for putting this together! Looking back at last season Marcus' win really put him in contention for the championship, which makes me think that if Palou can win Indy he will be untouchable going forward.

[broadrun96]

At the double points idea was binned for the 500 and finale or he would be well out there with a win

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by joeb

Thanks for putting this together! Looking back at last season Marcus' win really put him in contention for the championship, which makes me think that if Palou can win Indy he will be untouchable going forward.

Marcus Ericsson got double points for winning Indy last year. If Alex Palou were to win, he would just get standard points.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Marcus Ericsson got double points for winning Indy last year. If Alex Palou were to win, he would just get standard points.

I guess I didn't realize they stopped double points, hence my earlier statement.

I'm good with regular points too, never liked the bonus points for Indy and final race.

[NaBUru38]

The Bet 'Em IndyContest is open, please place your bets!

[fieldodreams79]

Milk choices, for those who are interested (some poo has come out just making this list )

Whole Milk (28 drivers)
Marco Andretti
Agostin Canapino
Ed Carpenter
Conor Daly
Devlin DeFrancesco
Scott Dixon
R.C. Enerson
Marcus Ericsson
Santino Ferrucci
Jack Harvey
Colton Herta
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Callum Illott
Tony Kanaan
Kyle Kirkwood
Christian Lundgaard
David Malukas
Scott McLaughlin
Josef Newgarden
Pato O’Ward
Simon Pagenaud
Alex Palou
Will Power
Sting Ray Robb
Felix Rosenqvist
Alexander Rossi
Rinus VeeKay
Stefan Wilson*

2% milk (3 drivers)
Helio Castroneves
Benjamin Pedersen
Takuma Sato

Skim milk (2 drivers)
Romain Grosjean
Katherine Legge
*unable to race in 2023 Indianapolis 500

[peebee2]

Does Rahal have to take Stef's choice or can the team bring in back up milk?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Does Rahal have to take Stef's choice or can the team bring in back up milk?

The American Dairy Association Indiana (ADAI), which helps provide the milk for the drivers, polls each driver ahead of each race on which type they prefer. So if Rahal wins he will be given his choice.


This is quite an interesting article about milk and the Indy 500.


https://www.dairyherd.com/news/busin...ice-likely-win

[broadrun96]

So Romain and Kat are out then based on the article? Pick your winners from the 3 2%ers so going with Sato again to win

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

So Romain and Kat are out then based on the article? Pick your winners from the 3 2%ers so going with Sato again to win

Are they both vegan?

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

So Romain and Kat are out then based on the article? Pick your winners from the 3 2%ers so going with Sato again to win

And you can further narrow it down, IMHO, by top 20 drivers but just not 18th. No one has won from grid position 18. This year, that's RHR.

But that's the most whole milk choices I think I've ever seen....

[Hawkwood]

I read earlier that only just over half of the Indy 500s have been won by the driver that led the most laps - turns out it's 57 of the 106 races, so 53%.


Got curious about the races that have happened since I've been watching, since 2005, and only 4 of them have been won by the driver that led the most laps!
Dixon in 2008, Franchitti in 2010, Hunter-Reay in 2014, and Pagenaud in 2019.


Also, having fallen down the rabbit hole on Indy 500 records/stats, I love that Helio is on the top 10 list of oldest winners and the top 10 list of youngest winners.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

I read earlier that only just over half of the Indy 500s have been won by the driver that led the most laps - turns out it's 57 of the 106 races, so 53%.


Got curious about the races that have happened since I've been watching, since 2005, and only 4 of them have been won by the driver that led the most laps!
Dixon in 2008, Franchitti in 2010, Hunter-Reay in 2014, and Pagenaud in 2019.


Also, having fallen down the rabbit hole on Indy 500 records/stats, I love that Helio is on the top 10 list of oldest winners and the top 10 list of youngest winners.

He also holds the record for the longest span between first and last victories: 20 years – 2001 to 2021.