|
May 28, 2007
by Ron Felix
For the fans, for the track workers, for the PR people, for the car owners, for the media and for the competitors -- the 27th day of May, 2007 -- started early. Earlier for some than others but still early.
Everyone had worked toward this day, the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500, the Greatest Spectacle in Auto Racing and now it was here.
Forget all the trashing that it took to get to this point. Forget the long expensive trips to the tracks -- what with the price of gasoline and rising hotel bills. Forget the year-long buildup for the race, the day was here. Forget the long road to recovery from an injury six years ago that nearly cost Davey Hamilton his career and possibly his life. Hamilton made his first start in the Indy 500 since the accident.
When Mary Hulman George gave the command for the "Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines", nothing else mattered in that moment of time, except the race. The race.
John Andretti was making his first start in the event in thirteen years, and for the first time ever, there were three women in the race, Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno from Venezuela.
Also there are two rookies this year, Duno of course and Phil Giebler. Duno crashed on lap 65, Giebler crashed on lap 107 and John Andretti found the wall and SAFER barrier on lap 99, all cars destroyed.
When the rains came 113 laps into a 200 lap race and the red flag was displayed, there had been eleven lead changes among six different drivers. Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti and Sam Hornish Jr. all swapped the lead. Kanaan was leading when the red flag came out with Andretti in second and Danica Patrick was sitting in the third spot.
The track was eventually dried and the second half of the race was underway.
It was understood when the race was restarted that there was more rain on the way and different strategies were playing out. Some drivers were forced to pit for fuel because of a closing fuel window and other drivers had just stopped.
On lap 150 a crash by Marty Roth put Dario Franchitti into the lead on the restart. Franchitti's teammate Marco Andretti then touched wheels with Dan Wheldon on lap 160, sending Andretti into a roll-over.
Franchitti's strategy of staying out when others were pitting, really is what sealed the fate of the Scottish driver. With rain expected within seconds -- and almost everyone at the track knew it was coming, it was surprising to see anyone pit, but they did and Franchitti was the victor because of it.
It was the first win for Franchitti at the famed speedway, the best finish he had before today was 6th in 2005. Franchitti was the 66th name to be added to the Borg-Warner trophy winner's list.
"I can hardly believe it," said a stunned Franchitti. "Who would have thought it? To be a member of this club is fantastic, it could have been any one of the five of us today. (referring to his teammates).
Franchitti became the first Scotsman to win the Indianapolis 500 since Jimmy Clark won the event in 1965.
The rain ended the race under a red flag -- when the skies opened up on lap 166. Scott Dixon finished second and pole sitter Helio Castroneves was third. Rounding out the top ten were Sam Hornish Jr. in fourth followed by Ryan Briscoe, Scott Sharp, Tomas Scheckter, Danica Patrick, Davey Hamilton and Vitor Meira.
There were nine cautions for a total of 51 laps and two red flags.
|
Long Day At Indianapolis Motor Speedway