The Doomworld Official 107th Indianapolis 500 Thread

[leejacksonaudio]

Welcome to the official Doomworld thread for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500! The Greatest Spectacle In Racing gets under way at 12:45 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 28th, 2023. We're starting up this thread about a week prior to the event, just after the conclusion of Day 1 of Qualifying.

 

Thirty-four drivers have entered for this year's race. They are:

 

Marco Andretti
Agustin Canapino (rookie)
Ed Carpenter
Helio Castroneves
Conor Daly
Devlin DeFrancesco
Scott Dixon
RC Enerson (rookie)
Marcus Ericsson
Santino Ferrucci
Romain Grosjean
Jack Harvey
Colton Herta
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Callum Ilott
Tony Kanaan
Kyle Kirkwood
Katherine Legge
Christian Lundgaard
David Malukas
Scott McLaughlin
Josef Newgarden
Pato O’Ward
Simon Pagenaud
Alex Palou
Benjamin Pedersen (rookie)
Will Power
Graham Rahal
Sting Ray Robb (rookie)
Felix Rosenqvist
Alexander Rossi
Takuma Sato
Rinus VeeKay
Stefan Wilson
 

After the first day of qualifying, McLaren driver Felix Rosenqvist leads the field with an average 4-lap speed of 233.947 miles per hour. Four drivers will be forced to participate in "Last Chance" qualifying Sunday afternoon to set positions 31 through 33, with the slowest of the four drivers being bumped from the field. Those drivers are:

 

Christian Lundgaard
Jack Harvey
Sting Ray Robb
Graham Rahal

 

Twelve drivers will participate in "Fast Twelve" qualifying on Sunday to set positions 7 through 12, and then the "Firestone Fast Six" qualifying will set positions 1 through 6. These drivers are, with their Day 1 position and speed:

 

1. Felix Rosenqvist: 233.947
2. Alexander Rossi: 233.528
3. Alex Palou: 233.398
4. Rinus VeeKay: 233.395
5. Scott Dixon: 233.375
6. Tony Kanaan: 233.347
7. Takuma Sato: 233.322
8. Pato O'Ward: 233.252
9. Santino Ferrucci: 233.147
10. Marcus Ericsson: 233.030
11. Benjamin Pedersen: 232.739
12. Will Power: 232.719
 

The remaining drivers have been set in positions 13 through 30.

 

Sunday qualifying gets under way at 2:00 p.m. EDT after 2 hours of practice laps. Everything can be viewed on the Peacock streaming service beginning at 11:30 a.m. EDT. The NBC network will be broadcasting "Last Chance" and "Firestone Fast Six" qualifying from 4:00 p.m. EDT until 5:45 p.m. EDT.

 

We'll have results and commentary in this thread on Sunday during qualifying and practice, off and on. Viewer participation is more than welcome! Please, jump into the fray and add your own two cents on the action and the coverage. We'll base our own two cents on Peacock's coverage.

 

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the action!

[DJVCardMaster]

I prefer to watch his big brother F1, so I don't know, but let's go Canapino because Argentina I guess

[leejacksonaudio]

49 minutes ago, DJVCardMaster said:

I prefer to watch his big brother F1, so I don't know, but let's go Canapino because Argentina I guess

That's quite all right. Canapino is making a HUGE jump this year. Fifteen championships (?) driving touring cars in Argentina, then all of a sudden uprooted with his girlfriend and their two dogs, doesn't speak a word of English, and moved to the United States to learn a totally foreign racing discipline and language. Not only is he conversing in English now, he's slamming an IndyCar around arguably the greatest track of them all at 231.320 miles per hour and placing his car on the outside of Row 9 for next week's race! He deserves massive mad props for what he's been able to pull off in such a short period of time.

 

Cheer your heart out for Canapino. He's earned it.

[leejacksonaudio]

BTW, here are positions 13 through 30, with car number in parentheses, engine manufacturer, team name, and speed:

 

Row 5
13. (33) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, Carpenter, 232.689
14. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, Penske, 232.677
15. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, Andretti, 232.662

 

Row 6
16. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, Carpenter, 232.433
17. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, Penske, 232.402
18. (23) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold, 232.133

 

Row 7
19. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, Andretti, 231.997
20. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, Meyer Shank, 231.954
21. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, Andretti, 231.951

 

Row 8
22. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, Meyer Shank, 231.878
23. (18) David Malukas, Honda, Coyne, 231.769
24. (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, Andretti, 231.682

 

Row 9
25. (24) Stefan Wilson, Chevrolet, Dreyer & Reinbold, 231.648
26. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, Andretti, 231.353
27. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger, 231.320

 

Row 10
28. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, Juncos Hollinger, 231.182
29. (50) R.C. Enerson, Chevrolet, Abel, 231.129
30. (44) Katherine Legge, Honda, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 231.070

[DJVCardMaster]

16 minutes ago, leejacksonaudio said:

That's quite all right. Canapino is making a HUGE jump this year. Fifteen championships (?) driving touring cars in Argentina, then all of a sudden uprooted with his girlfriend and their two dogs, doesn't speak a word of English, and moved to the United States to learn a totally foreign racing discipline and language. Not only is he conversing in English now, he's slamming an IndyCar around arguably the greatest track of them all at 231.320 miles per hour and placing his car on the outside of Row 9 for next week's race! He deserves massive mad props for what he's been able to pull off in such a short period of time.

 

Cheer your heart out for Canapino. He's earned it.

Yes I've heard he is doing great, hopefully we start coming back at the road, since Reutemann we don't have a significant driver at any category. Now we have Lopez at Le Mans and Colapinto in F3. 

[Redneckerz]

I am ofcourse gunning for Rinus Veekay because he is Dutch. And he naturally performs pretty well on Indy 500.

 

What also impresses me is the longevity of some of the drivers there, especially Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan. Doing this in cars that go faster than Formula 1 is pretty impressive considering F1 drivers usually tap out at their late thirties, similarily to tennis players.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Redneckerz

[leejacksonaudio]

35 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

I am ofcourse gunning for Rinus Veekay because he is Dutch.

You might want to consider cheering on Benjamin Pedersen, too. I believe he's Dutch by birth. He drives for A.J. Foyt's team, and he and teammate Santino Ferrucci burned the hell out of the track yesterday. They'll both be in the Fast 12 qualifying today.

[Redneckerz]

1 hour ago, leejacksonaudio said:

You might want to consider cheering on Benjamin Pedersen, too. I believe he's Dutch by birth. He drives for A.J. Foyt's team, and he and teammate Santino Ferrucci burned the hell out of the track yesterday. They'll both be in the Fast 12 qualifying today.

Danish-American. Now, Danish can sound a lot like Dutch since some words are essentially the same, but no Dutch afaik :P

[leejacksonaudio]

1 hour ago, Redneckerz said:

Danish-American. Now, Danish can sound a lot like Dutch since some words are essentially the same, but no Dutch afaik :P

Ah, sorry, my mistake. Mea culpa.

 

Anyway, practice for the Fast 12 and Last Chance qualifying gets under way in a few minutes' time. Let 'er roll!

[leejacksonaudio]

Fast 12 practice is under way. Four Hondas, eight Chevys. Four Ganassis, four McLarens, two Foyts, one Penske, one Carpenter. One hour.

[leejacksonaudio]

Rinus Veekay is being towed back to the pits after sparks and smoke came out of his engine.

[leejacksonaudio]

Tony Kanaan is not participating in the practice session.

Edited May 21, 2023 by leejacksonaudio

[leejacksonaudio]

Practice for Last Chance qualifying is under way. Three Rahal Letterman Lanigans. One Dale Coyne with RWR. One hour.

[leejacksonaudio]

Katherine Legge and Stefan Wilson have just been involved in the first crash of the month. It would appear that Legge rear-ended Wilson going into turn 1 at full speed. Legge got out of her car and is apparently okay, but Wilson is being taken to the hospital on a stretcher for evaluation. This was during Monday practice after pole day.

 

I'm sorry I wasn't able to report further on Sunday, but I injured myself. That made typing most difficult.

[leejacksonaudio]

A statement has been released about the condition of driver Stefan Wilson:

 

 

Nothing has been said with regard to Wilson's replacement in the field.

[leejacksonaudio]

Katherine Legge has posted the following with regards to the crash on Facebook:

 

Quote

Well what can I say. 
I’ll start with sorry.
Sorry to Stef, the team, my crew and to my awesome partners and supporters. 
Today sucked, the cars in front of me checked up and I was too close to Stef to see just how much. I’m down to 220 in 4th and on the brakes going into 1… I couldn’t slow down fast enough. This should give you perspective on how slow they actually were… Not excuses just an explanation.
Onwards and upwards. Focused on the race.

IndyCar is expected to make a statement on Stefan Wilson's replacement driver at 10:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

[Daytime Waitress]

15 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

Katherine Legge and Stefan Wilson have just been involved in the first crash of the month. It would appear that Legge rear-ended Wilson going into turn 1 at full speed. Legge got out of her car and is apparently okay, but Wilson is being taken to the hospital on a stretcher for evaluation. This was during Monday practice after pole day.

 

I'm sorry I wasn't able to report further on Sunday, but I injured myself. That made typing most difficult.

 

Burying the lead there, Lee - you doing okay?

 

And yeah, it's shitty to see such a small miscalculation cost a driver an opportunity to race, especially when the knives aren't out. Without much more news, I suppose at least it's good to hear that he's getting looked after?

 

[leejacksonaudio]

2 hours ago, Daytime Waitress said:

Burying the lead there, Lee - you doing okay?

Trying to. I think my torn rotator cuff got a little more torn when I put pressure on my right arm. I'm doing a little better at the moment.

[leejacksonaudio]

Graham Rahal, who was bumped during Last Chance qualifying and is a Honda driver, will replace Stefan Wilson in the Dreyer & Reinbold Chevy for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500. More on the story here: https://www.indycar.com/news/2023/05/05-23-rahal-drrcusick

[TheShep]

I live in this city btw. Not going this year though.

[leejacksonaudio]

From RACER.COM:

 

Quote

Graham Rahal and Katherine Legge will be given 15 minutes to shake down their cars on Thursday following the accident triggered by Legge on Monday. Both drivers will be limited to making trips out of pit lane, running down the backstraight, and pitting immediately without completing full laps.

 

The purpose of the session is to give Rahal, who was asked to drive in place of the injured Stefan Wilson, a chance to get the freshly-built No. 24 Chevy — a replacement after the primary chassis was destroyed when Legge hit Wilson’s car from behind — up to temperature and up to some semblance of speed to allow his Cusick Motorsports/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing crew an opportunity to inspect the car and ensure everything is tight and ready for Friday’s final two-hour practice session.

https://racer.com/2023/05/24/legge-and-rahal-granted-thursday-shakedown-runs-at-indy/

[leejacksonaudio]

Update on the condition of driver Stefan Wilson:

 

[leejacksonaudio]

Carb Day is under way! Takuma Sato has top speed at 227.855 mph with 1:18 left in the session.

[leejacksonaudio]

HERE IT IS! It's Race Day!!! Fortunately, no headline-grabbing incidents leading up to the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

 

Stefan Wilson was seen standing in the pit area, posing with Graham Rahal for photos. A positive note after his crash and surgery earlier this week.

 

I will try and make a few comments as the race goes on, but don't count on it. Watch the race for yourself. ^_^

[leejacksonaudio]

We're under our third red flag with 2 laps remaining. Crash, crash, crash. Eventually we'll get this thing done.

[leejacksonaudio]

And at last, Josef Newgarden wins his first Indianapolis 500 race, with Marcus Ericsson in second and Santino Ferrucci in third. Newgarden's win was the 19th for team owner Roger Penske.

[openroadracer]

What a smashfest this turned into at the end. "Cautions breed cautions", as they always say.

[Redneckerz]

Thankfully nobody got hurt by that loose tyre. I was surprised this is still a thing at Indy, in F1 the cars are built such that tyres don't eject themselves but stay attached.

[openroadracer]

22 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

Thankfully nobody got hurt by that loose tyre. I was surprised this is still a thing at Indy, in F1 the cars are built such that tyres don't eject themselves but stay attached.

It was probably the nature of that collision that severed the tether that would have otherwise held that wheel.

[leejacksonaudio]

Indy 500 Race Report with Ferrucci, Hunter-Reay, Ruzewski, Castroneves, and RACER's Marshall Pruett