Round 14: ABC Supply 500 at Pocono, Long Pond, PA. August 19-20.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 14: ABC Supply 500 at Pocono, Long Pond, PA. August 19-20.

After a three week break, since Mid-Ohio, the season resumes this weekend at Pocono.

Pocono Raceway, or the Tricky Triangle as it has become known, was founded by Joe 'Doc' Mattioli, a Philadelphia dentist turned successful property businessman. At first Pocono Raceway comprised a three-quarter mile oval and a drag strip, which later doubled as the main straight for the full 2.5-mile 'tri-oval'. A 1.8-mile road course was added in 1969 and in early 1970 the work on the full sized oval was started.

The Pocono 500 was first held on July 3, 1971 and was won by Mark Donohue for Penske Racing, driving a McLaren M16-Offenhauser. The race was part of the USAC National Championship Trail and part of USAC's "Triple Crown", comprising the Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and California 500.

After the CART/USAC split, the race became a CART event from 1982 - 1989. However, it was dropped, mainly due to the increasingly rough track surface as well as poor safety features, like the lack of run off areas and catch fencing.

After a 23-year hiatus, the IZOD IndyCar series successfully revived the race in 2013, including the "Triple Crown". It adopted the 1971–80 USAC format, with the Indianapolis 500 in May, the Pocono IndyCar 400 in July. The MAVTV 500 in October at Fontana, replaced the original California 500 held at Ontario, as the venue longer existed. In 2014 the race returned to it's original distance of 500 miles and is the fastest 500 mile race in IndyCar history, with an average speed of 202.402 mph (325.734 km/h) and was the first 500-mile race to be completed in under 2 hours and 30 minutes. However, with the MAVTV 500 being dropped after the 2015 season, the "Triple Crown" is no longer contested.

Some trivia:
Triple Crown: Al Unser Sr., 1978.
The driver with the most wins, A.J. Foyt: 1973, 1975, 1979, 1980.
The team with the most wins, Team Penske: 1971, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2014, 2016.


In qualifying for last year's race, Mikhail Aleshin became the first Russian driver to take pole in an IndyCar race, as well as in a major open wheel series.

The race was postponed from its original date Sunday due to rain and was held on Monday. The start was waived off, as Aleshin appeared to go too early but the second attempt was clean, with Aleshin taking the lead. However, Newgarden passed him entering turn three and took the lead. As the field went through turn three, to complete the first lap, Sato lost control of his car and hit the perimeter wall, bringing out the first caution of the race.

The race restarted on lap 9, with Newgarden still leading but Aleshin overtook Newgarden on lap 11, keeping the lead through the first round of scheduled pitstops. Meanwhile, Hunter-Reay had moved up to second and on lap 49 passed Aleshin to take the lead. However, Aleshin took back the
lead on lap 54.

The second caution came on lap 64, during the second round of scheduled pitstops. Rossi's car was released from his pit box, into Kimball's path, launching Rossi's car into the air and coming down on the nose and part of the cockpit of Castroneves's car, which had just been released after his pit stop. Rossi and Castroneves were forced to retire. Kimball was able to continue but a lap down.

Racing resumed on lap 71, with Aleshin maintaining the lead but on lap 90, Hunter-Reay who was still second, passed Aleshin again, though Aleshin retook the lead after the third round of scheduled stops. By the end of lap 134, as the fourth round of scheduled stops came and went, Power who had slowly made his way through the field, after starting 8th, emerged fourth. Aleshin, Hunter-Reay and Newgarden remained in the top three places, until Aleshin's car developed a handling issue giving Hunter-Reay the lead once more. Aleshin continued to drop back and by lap 142 had lost places to both Newgarden and Power. Within a few laps, Power had passed Newgarden and after a quick stop during the fifth round of scheduled pitstops, took the lead.

Two laps later, Pagenaud drifted wide at turn one hitting the outside wall, bringing out the third caution. The race restarted on lap 163 and Hunter-Reay passed Power to take back the lead. However, going into turn two, Hunter-Reay suddenly lost power forcing him to pit. Though the car was restarted, he had fallen off the lead lap. This now gave Power the lead, ahead of Newgarden and Aleshin, who had rectified the car's handling issue and had moved up the field to third.

The fourth and final caution came on lap 176, as a rear-wing winglet fell off Kanaan's car on to the track at turn one, which prompted the final round of pit stops under yellow; Power kept the lead and Hunter-Reay got back onto the lead lap. The restart came on lap 180 and by lap 183, Hunter-Reay was now 9th and Aleshin had re-passed Newgarden. With less than 10 laps left, Aleshin closed on Power to less than half a second. However, Power pulled ahead to just over a second to win while Hunter-Reay managed to take the final step on the podium.


Track Layout:
The track has unique layout and its three turns, are each based on turns from 3 other tracks. Turn One, with 14 degree banking, is based on the now defunct Trenton Speedway. Turn Two, also known as "The Tunnel turn", is like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with 9 degree banking and Turn 3 has 6 degree banking, similar to The Milwaukee Mile.

Original 3/4 Mile oval, with the 1969 road course in grey.


Current track.




Length: 2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Turns: 3
Lap record: July 5th, 2014, Juan Pablo Montoya. 40.1929, 223.871 mph (360.285 km/h). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet, Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's winner:
Will Power,
Team Penske,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 200
Distance: 500 Miles (804.672 km)
Race Time: 2:46:29
Average Speed: 180.198 mph (290.000 km/h)

Cautions
4, laps 20

TV Coverage:
NBCSN, 2:00pm ET.