The 91st Indianapolis 500 thread.......

[mlittle]

Delphi Safety personnel are at the wreckage of the #26......Marco's helmet is off, his steering wheel unhooked.....he's out of the car, on his feet and waves to the crowd; he appears to be okay and gets into the Clarian ambulance but he appeared to be limping a bit

Drivers involved in the crash............
Ma. Andretti, Rice, Wheldon and both Penske cars

The rain is getting closer........it's raining, it's raining......it is raining hard in the north chute; barring anything odd, it appears Dario Franchitti may have won the 91st Indianapolis 500!

Awaiting word from race control...........the flagstarter is waving the checkers and the race is over, rainshortened....................FRANCHITTI WINS!!

Last time a Scotsman won the Indy 500 was Jim Clark back in 1965....and the celebrations have begun in the Canadian Club pits......

[mlittle]

Top-10 from a rain-shortened Indianapolis 500.................

1st} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/Argent D/H
2nd} Scott Dixon, #9 Target D/H
3rd} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske D/H
4th} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske D/H
5th} Ryan Briscoe, #12 Symantec 360 D/H
6th} Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila D/H
7th} Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost D/H
8th} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola D/H
9th} Davey Hamilton, #02 HP Computers D/H
10th} Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi D/H

[rah]

So Briscoe beat Patrick?

But to more important news, shame about Milka. But not exactly unexpected.

[mlittle]

So Briscoe beat Patrick?

But to more important news, shame about Milka. But not exactly unexpected.

Briscoe finished 5th, Patrick finished 8th.......yeah, Briscoe finished higher than Patrick.

But Danica drove a better race than Briscoe!!


As for Milka.........she just ran out of talent, rah.

[mlittle]

By the numbers..............................

1............In winning the 91st Indianapolis 500, Dario Franchitti became the first driver to win the 5oo and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the same year

2............Franchitti joins fellow Scotsman Jim Clark as the only ones from Scotland to win the 500(Clark did so in 1965)

3............The number of times the #27 has visited Victory Lane at the Brickyard(the other drivers to win with #27 were Mauri Rose in 1947 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1995)

5............Counting this year's 500, the number of women who have made at least one start in the Indy 500(Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. james, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick and Milka Duno)

11...........The number of entries retired due to accidents during the race

19...........Average finish of the three women competing in this year's 500(Danica Patrick finished 8th, Sarah Fisher finished 18th and Milka Duno finished 31st)

66...........Dario Franchitti becomes the 66th person to win the Indianapolis 500-mile race

166.........Number of laps run today(race was rain-shortened; second time in the past 4 years that the race failed to go the full 500 miles)

223.420 mph.......Fastest speed recorded during the race(Kanaan, lap 18)

[Julian Mayo]

Thanks for the race call, Mfer....well done.
Well, at least my 3 picks were in the top ten.....gotta say well done to part -time driver,Briscoe.

[mlittle]

Thanks for the race call, Mfer....well done.
Well, at least my 3 picks were in the top ten.....gotta say well done to part -time driver,Briscoe.

Thanks, Julian.

[mlittle]

Thoughts on the 500.........

~~The Andretti Curse continues..........(Note.....I'll have a commentary on this early this week....) Once again, lady luck seemingly deserted the Andretti name at Indy; first John Andretti conks the wall about 1/3 of the way in; then little' ole Marco Andretti goes for a scary ride at race's end(by all accounts, he is unhurt......though I suspect he had a Depends moment during the accident.... ) and Michael Andretti went 0-16 in, if the post-race XM radio interview was correct, what was likely his final visit to the Brickyard.

~~Great drives of the day.........this year's 500 list of drives of the day goes to.........1--Andretti-Green Racing; all 5 of their drivers were at the front during the race, and if history is any clue, expect Franchitti's regular teammates(Marco, Danica and Tony) to visit victory lane at the Brickyard sometime in their respective careers, 2--Team Penske/Penske satellite; all three Penske drivers(Hornish, Castroneves, Briscoe) drove great if very interesting races today, but Briscoe gets the nod over the works Penske drivers......the least the Captain should do is get the Aussie a part-time IndyCar ride for the remainder of the year

~~Disappointment of the day......prior to the first rain delay, Sam Hornish, Jr. pulled IMHO one of the most blatant blocks during the race; on lap 82, Hornish pulled right in front of Scheckter who was attempting to make a legit pass down the frontstretch. Although race control missed the call(where were you, Darth Vader a/k/a Brian Barnhart) at least Silent Sam didn't get away with it; he cut the right-rear and had to pit. Scheckter, from what I hear, was livid and p----- at Hornish, giving him....well, the international sign of "good will".

~~Disapppointment of the day II.....I have a question for Andretti-Green Racing officials....on the last major round of stops; why the h--- did you guys pit Kanaan and let Franchitti stay out? What were you thinking?

~~Random thought of the day......although Franchitti is originally from Scotland, his adopted home is the Nashville, Tenn. area........I'm betting most, if not all of Central Tennessee is probably as drunk as skunks right now...

[mlittle]

[mlittle]

Sometimes no words need to be said with a picture.........