2006 Indy 500 Preview
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by user Thecrookedcap
Memorial Day is coming up and for me that means two things: half the state of New Jersey is at the Shore, and 1100 miles of racing on Sunday. The lead-off is the grande dame of American racing, the Indianapolis 500. Although she's taken some hits ever since the open-wheel split in 1996, there a lot of fun in the whole pageantry of the race.
This year's 500 looks to be a tale of two racing teams who have dominated the practices in May, not unlike last year. While Andretti Green and Rahal Letterman where last year's strongest teams (their drivers ran 5 of the top 6 spots in the race), the advantage they had last year has vanished, and the Penske and Ganassi teams are the ones to beat. That's because this year every team is driving the same engine, Honda, where Penske and Ganassi teams were racing in Toyotas last year.
The Favorites
- Sam Hornish, Jr.: Two-time IRL champ, zero-time finisher of all 200 laps of the race. Sam's been running the best so far in nearly every practice and won the pole.
- Helio Castroneves: Current series points leader, 2nd fastest qualifier, and Hornish's Penske teammate. If Helio has any advantage over Hornish, it's that he's under no pressure to finally win the 500 having already done so twice. And NASCAR fans take note: should he win, Helio's fence climb is not copying Tony Stewart, rather the other way around.
- Dan Wheldon: Defending champ of both the IRL and Indy 500. Wheldon can win from practically any qualifying position: he started last year's 500 in 18th. Too bad for everyone else he's in 3rd. He is in one of the two Ganassi cars, along with 4th fastest qualifier Scott Dixon.
- Scott Dixon: Probably the most underrated driver in the series, he's a former IRL season champion on a top team. Wheldon will get the headlines, but don't be surprise if New Zealander Dixon finishes better his English teammate.
The Darkhorses
- Tony Kanaan: It's weird to call an AGR car a darkhorse, but Kanaan is one of only two AGR drivers in the top 10, and the team overall has been struggling, especially the usually dependable Dario Franchitti who is indispensable for helping find optimal set-ups for the team. Kanaan is probably the only driver racing for Andretti Green who has a shot at winning unless something turns around for everyone else; Dario and Bryan Herta have struggled, Marco Andretti is nowhere near close to winning a race, and papa Michael is just chasing a pipe dream.
- Vitor Meira: You may not know that in all the hoopla around Danica Patrick last year that she wasn't the top finisher from her own team. Vitor Meira was, finishing in the runner-up spot. Now he's racing a different team, Panther, and is from the only single car team in the top 10 qualifiers.
The Stories
- The Andrettis: For the first time since 1994, there are two Andrettis in the race. Michael is making another run at Indy, while his 19-year old son Marco is in his debut race. Marco has looked out of his league so far this season, but had an impressive qualifying run, starting 9th and ahead of all but one of his teammates.
- Return of the Champion: In addition to Michael, one other driver is coming out of retirement for this race. Al Unser Jr., two-time Indy 500 champ, will be starting on the outside of row 9 in 27th.
- Thiago Medeiros: Last man in the field, starting 33rd. But if you spent any time watch Bump Day on Sunday he was the central driver in figuring out who would be the last driver in. A sentimental favorite, albeit with no shot whatsoever.
- Danica Patrick: I almost got through a whole article on the IRL without her, but since ABC will be covering her like a hawk (albeit a smaller hawk than last year, when she had a possible winning car) she deserves a mention here. Struggled so far this month, but when it came down to business she delivered, posting her best four laps of May in her qualifying run. She'll start on the inside of row 4 in 10th position.
Date
Thu 05/25/06, 8:10 am EST
