just got back from the indy 500 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 05-28-2006, 09:24 PM

all week i have been thinking that this might be my last, after doing the pilgrimage since 1962 attending the race or first day of qualifications almost every year.

but ,as last year when danica came within a whisker of winning it, they managed to put on a compelling show.

it was very very hot. lots of sunburned bosoms shining. but i didnt look...i didnt look.... the hell i didnt...(to sort of paraphrase the duke).

on the way down i picked sam hornish to win. what is not to pick him? driving for penske, the premier oval track open wheel racer, sitting on the pole? fastest all month, no doubt receiving flawless penske pit work and planning.

but as usual the penske cars lingered in the top ten for most of the day. castroneves finally crashed due to an apparent part failure, my guess was his car was never right all day and whatever was dragging him down finally caused his crash. dan weldon at mid race appeared ready to lap the field, pulling out a huge lead. the race amazingly stayed green for about 70 laps in the middle. the andretti team kept several fellows in the top ten. kanaan, marco andretti and michael andretti, and dario franchetti. (ok that is four).

several dark horses showed promise, vitor miero, al unser jr. but didnt do it.

danica lingered around the eighth position most of the day and even led for a while til she had to pit (out of sequence).

and sam hornish got a penalty late in the race for taking off with the fuel hose attached. so, he started on the tail of the lead lap with five to go. about eighth or so. but with lots of lapped cars in between. i said he will finish in the top five still.

so on the restart michael andretti was first with his son marco second! i would have loved it if he had finished there, but his son marco (age ninteen) passed him almost immediately. hornish in a few laps passed michael too and took after marco. it looked as if marco would hold him off but coming off the fourth turn on the last lap hornish got a run and beat marco to the checker by one car length.

hornish, i bet, has won a dozen races with a dramatic last second pass. i doubt many would argue his supremecy on the big fast oval tracks.

wow! guess i will have to go one more time.

tom w

davestlouis · #2 05-28-2006, 11:49 PM

Did I read that every car in the field had a Honda engine this year? Seems a little unpatriotic, if nothing else.

1991 560 SEC · #3 05-29-2006, 05:28 AM

Wae there in 1990 when a Chevy won. Top row behind the pits, looking over Gasoline Ally!!!

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeerat

t walgamuth · #4 05-29-2006, 07:36 AM

yep... all hondas, unfortunately.

hard not to look back on the sixties seventies and eighties with fondness. novis, fords, dhebbys, offies, even an occasional buick, amc, porsche and of course the revolutionary turbine cars.

i remember a guy named roger rager who qualified for the big show with a chebby short block that came out of an old school bus.

tom w

Pete Geither · #5 05-29-2006, 08:00 AM

A lot of the field looked REALLY slow and were there for one reason only,,,, to fill the field. If it had been a NASCAR race I'll bet most of them would have been black flagged for not doing the minimum speed.

t walgamuth · #6 05-29-2006, 08:17 AM

that is for sure.

i used to think tony george was ok. now i wonder. indy car racing is a shell of its former self. nascar has eaten all the lunch. i wish i knew how to get the open wheel racers back to a strong position.

unfortunately, foyt's present racing efforts remind me of ali's last years of boxing.

a great champion past his best years but still craving the applause.

and some money.

tom w

pastmaster · #7 05-29-2006, 02:43 PM

Tom.

The story about the Andretti's, has to be the best thing out of the race this year. 19 yr old Marco, almost wins his first Indy 500, and Pop, Michael, almost wins his maybe last Indy. They came in 2nd and 3rd! Marco came within a car-length, to Sam Hornish, who won in a dramatic finish line lunge.

Roger Penske, wins another one!

t walgamuth · #8 05-29-2006, 08:59 PM

no free ones, but a lot looked like they might free themselves at any sudden maneuver. cleavage about to the naval.

yes... the andrettis were the best story. the crowd loved it.

some folks near me said "michael will let marco by and block for him" or vica versa. i said "they will only let the other ahead if they are clearly faster".

and today in the paper they asked mike, and he said that that was the family rule. race hard, but if one has a faster car let them by when it is proven.

but my observations of the andrettis is that they never would let ANYBODY by unless they clearly had a faster car. if they have a car to win they will go for it. especially at indy.

tom w

Maroon 300D · #9 05-29-2006, 11:37 PM

That was a great race. Very exciting at the end, although I was hoping Marco would do it at that point. It looked like Danica's car was never quite as fast as the 5 or 6 in front of her, and then of course she was screwed by the late caution flag. She might have finished as high as third, I thought.

Yeah, much of the field was slow. It seemed like it wasn't long before only about half the cars were on the lead lap!

The whole thing makes me want to get cable again so I can watch the F1 races.

t walgamuth · #10 05-29-2006, 11:44 PM

yeah, you got it about the way i saw it too. when you pit under green near the end of the race and everyone else pits under yellow, you are done for. she drove a nice smart race and would have been higher if not for that. quite a bit.

but really nobody could touch hornish when he was trying.

castroneves never was in it for some reason. i suspected that he might have had some fatal flaw that was keeping his car down that eventually led to his demise.

tom w

cscmc1 · #11 05-30-2006, 09:22 AM

Just a few weeks 'til F-1, boys... just a few weeks!

mzsmbs · #12 05-30-2006, 12:18 PM

lol. that's funny. the field wasn't that slow at all. wheldon just put the damn hammer down. that was some superb driving. he would have won easily if not for the flat.. oh my, how fast we dismiss old champs.

:

as soon as hornish passed micheal i knew he was going to win this thing. there was no doubt in my mind. one of the winningiest IRL drivers ever vs. a rookie? lol.. not a chance marco. maybe next time.. i love the andrettis though. and yeah, hornish has won quite a few races in this exact same manner as he won this big one.. he almost choked the lap before when he wasn't able to complete the pass in 3rd turn but he came back on super strong.. it was one of the most exciting races, for sure..

mzsmbs · #13 05-30-2006, 12:22 PM

t walgamuth · #14 05-30-2006, 08:28 PM

that is one strange picture.

yeah, like i said i picked sam from the beginning, but at the end i was rooting for michael and marco. (anybody but penske) i was pretty sure marco had more legs than michael and sam too but i wasnt sure sam could catch him.

i was sitting right above the finish line, but was a little confused and when i looked down and saw sam pass i thougt first there was another lap but then i saw the checkered flag.

tom w

mzsmbs · #15 05-31-2006, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

that is one strange picture.

thus the laughing smilie after it. normally the winners are either pictured with the wreath or spilling the milk down each cheek (well, then there was Emmo and "no, no, i want my juice" lol) but the one wreath pic i found was on ims' site and not linkable and this was the only one with the milk. hornish kind of pulled the old euro move with the milk, he shook it some and then doused himself with it. lol