Race set for today
Picking Indy 500 favorite not an easy task INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Tell Helio Castroneves he’s one of the favorites in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 and he just shrugs his shoulders and grins.
“Yeah, me and 10 other guys,” says the two-time Indy winner.
It seems the 91st edition of the Memorial Day weekend classic is just about anybody’s race.
The front of the 33-car field reads like an all-star roster – pole-winner Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti in the first of 11 rows of three, followed by Scott Dixon, defending race winner Sam Hornish Jr. and 2005 winner Dan Wheldon in row two. Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick and 2006 runner-up Marco Andretti make up row three.
Add Michael Andretti, Marco’s father and last year’s third-place finisher, in the middle of row four, and that’s a strong list of possible winners.
Five – Kanaan, Franchitti, Patrick and the two Andrettis – drive for Andretti Green Racing.
“When we showed up at this race last year, we weren’t fast enough,” Franchitti said. “We wound up with four cars in the top seven of the race, but that was through perseverance, good strategy and making the right decisions. This year, I feel that we’ve got five cars that are fast enough.”
But there are other teams whose drivers have been just as fast or faster this month.
Team Penske, which fields cars for Castroneves and Hornish, has won a record 14 Indy 500s, including four of the last six, while Target Chip Ganassi, with Wheldon and Dixon as its drivers, won the 500 in 2000 with Juan Pablo Montoya. Wheldon got his Indy win with Andretti Green before moving to Ganassi’s team last year.
From Castroneves to Michael Andretti, their four-lap, 10-mile qualifying efforts were separated by just more than 2 seconds.
Asked to handicap the race, Hornish said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if anybody in the top 11 won this race.
“But the competition for the win is probably going to come from Tony Kanaan. Obviously, I feel that Wheldon, Helio and myself are three guys who have won before and know what it takes to do that.
“Scott and Dario have been very fast here, not only this month, but in past years and have made mistakes that have taken them out of contention in the past. But I had done the same thing until last year, so sometimes it’s just a matter of getting it right.”
Kanaan has raced here five times and never started worse than fifth. Since crashing out while leading near the midway point in 2002, his rookie year, the Brazilian has always finished in the top eight, with a second-place run in 2004.
“He seems to be fast, patient, consistent and knows how to make it to the end of the race,” Hornish said. “But he hasn’t had that little bit of Indy luck that you need to get to victory lane.
“It’s not always about how good you are.”
No one knows that better than Michael Andretti, who has come agonizingly close to joining his father, Mario, as an Indy winner. Michael, who came out of retirement last year at 44 to race against his then-19-year-old son, led with four laps to go before being passed first by Marco and then by eventual winner Hornish.
“I’ve never been able to get to that 500th mile without a problem,” Michael said. “Maybe there’s a scenario there, yet. I was thinking it was there last year. It almost worked out. But, that’s the only reason I’m back this year. I think I can win this race.”
Knowing his car owner’s history here, Kanaan says he can’t complain that he hasn’t won yet at Indy.
“Yes, I’ve been close a lot of times. … But that doesn’t mean anything. It’s got to be your day, and Sunday could be my day.”
Wheldon, who has won two of the four IndyCar Series events this year, came into the month as the likely favorite. But, after he and teammate Dixon were the fastest early, they faded back into the pack.
That could be a good thing.
“If you’re not driving as fast as the guys in front, you’re not using as much fuel,” the Englishman said. “And sometimes, it can come down to fuel strategy.”
It definitely could come down to fuel mileage this year after the IRL switched to all-ethanol fuel, which burns hotter, makes less horsepower and produces better mileage.
Honda regained some of the lost horsepower by changing from 3.0 to 3.5-liter engines, and the IRL cut the fuel cell from 30 to 22 gallons. Another factor that could change strategies is Honda’s decision to limit the in-cockpit fuel adjustments.
“To save fuel this year, they’re going to have to take their right foot off the pedal, and drivers hate to do that,” said IRL president Brian Barnhart. “But it should make things even more interesting.”
So, too, could Tomas Scheckter and Scott Sharp, starting 10th and 12th. Scheckter, son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, finished fourth in 2003 and is always fast. Sharp, now with Rahal Letterman Racing, finished seventh and ninth the past two years.
Sunday’s race also will include three women for the first time.
Patrick, who created a whirlwind of publicity by leading laps and finishing fourth – both firsts for a woman – in 2005, is part of the Andretti Green Racing juggernaut and has an outside shot at a win.
Sarah Fisher, the fastest female qualifier at Indy in 2002, is back for her sixth race and will start 21st. Milka Duno, a 35-year-old rookie from Venezuela and the least experienced driver in the lineup by far, will start the second race of her IndyCar career from 29th, the middle of the 10th row.
“I am so excited about this, but I know the most important thing is to not get so excited I make a mistake,” Duno said. “I will try to learn and stay out of trouble.”
The field also includes three other former champions and a third Andretti.
Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indy winner, will start 16th; Buddy Lazier, the 1996 winner, will start 22nd; and two-time winner Al Unser Jr., (1992 and 1994) will start 25th.
“I can never put aside what has happened in my life, good or bad, but I’m back at Indy, ready to race,” said Unser Jr., best known in recent years for alcohol-related problems. “I probably won’t win, but we’re capable of having a good day.”
John Andretti, a member of another of Indy’s most famous families, will start 24th in his seventh 500 but first since 1994.
Andretti, who finished fifth at Indy in 1991, has been racing in NASCAR in recent years. He felt a little strange getting back in an IndyCar after such a long absence.
“The cars are real different inside,” Andretti said. “There’s different knobs and levers and stuff. But once I got back on the track, it all fell back in place.”
The drivers up front are hoping everything falls into place for them Sunday.
“The real race usually starts after the last pit stops,” Hornish said. “And things can get real flip-flopped, like we saw last year in the last 10 laps. You have to think about yellows that come out, who has pitted, who is saving fuel and who is willing to gamble.
“Nobody knows what is going to happen, but the most important thing is to be there at the end.”