2012 Indy 500 Race Thread

[DanicaFan]

Race 5 of 16

Race - Indianapolis 500

Location - Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN

Date - Sunday, May 27th

Time & TV Schedule - Pre-Race Show - 11:00AM , Green Flag - Approx. 12:12PM - ABC

Course Type - 2.5 Mile Oval

Distance - 200 Laps / 500 Miles

Practice Sessions -

Saturday, May 12th -12:00 -6:00pm Eastern
Sunday, May 13th -12:00 - 6:00pm Eastern
Monday, May 14th - 12:00 -6:00pm Eastern
Tuesday, May 15th - 12:00 - 6:00pm Eastern
Wednesday, May 16th - 12:00 -6:00pm Eastern
Thursday, May 17th - 12:00 - 6:00pm Eastern
Friday, May 18th -Fast Friday - 12:00 - 6:00pm Eastern / Qualification Order Drawing - 6:15pm
Saturday, May 19th - Pole Day - 8:00-8:30am Group 1 & 8:30-9:00am Group 2 / 9:00am - 10:00am All Cars
Sunday, May 20th - 9:00am - 10:00am
Wednesday, May 23rd -Pit Stop Practice - 9:00am -12:00pm
Thursday, May 24th - Pit Stop Practice 12:15pm - 1:00pm & 2:30pm -5:00pm
Friday, May 25th - Miller Lite Carb Day - 11:00am-12:00pm / Pit Stop Competition - 1:30pm -3:30pm

Qualifications

Saturday, May 19th - Pole Day -

10:45am - Qualifying Line Begins
11:00am -4:00pm Segment 1 qualifying- positions 1-24
4:30pm -6:00pm - Segment 2 & 3 - Positions 1-9 (to determine pole)
6:15pm - Qualification Order Drawing for Bump Day

Sunday, May 20th - Bump Day

11:30am -Cars go in qualification line
12:00pm -6:00pm -Qualifying for positions 25-33 / 6:15pm - Race Day Pit Selection

Sunday, May 27th - Race Day

9:30am - 9:55am- Cars moved to pit lane
10:15am -10:40am - Grid
10:50am -11:00am - Engine Warm-up
11:33am - Driver Introductions
12:04 - Pace Laps
12:12 - Approximate Green Flag Start Time

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Length - 2.5 Miles
Front & Back Straightaways - 5/8 of a mile each
Short Chutes (Straights between turns) - 1/8 of a mile each
Turns 1-4 -1/4 of a mile each
Banking -9 degrees - 12 minutes on Turns - 0 degrees on straights



2011 Indy 500 Race Information

2011 Winner -Dan Wheldon
2011 Pole Sitter - Alex Tagliani - 227.472 mph
Length Of Race - 2 hours, 56 minutes, 11 seconds
Average Speed - 170.265 mph
Number Of Cautions - 7 for 40 laps
Lead Changes - 23

[DanicaFan]

Current Entry List..

[DanicaFan]

2012 Indy 500 Pace Car

[DanicaFan]

Just some music facts for this year's race..

Unfortunately Jim Nabors wont be at the track singing "Back Home Again In Indiana". He will be undergoing heart surgery later this month. They will play a recording of Jim singing the song. Jim will be filmed singing the song in Hawaii this month and this will be played on race day.

Martina McBride will be singing the national anthem.
Lynyrd Skynyrd will be playing a concert on Miller Lite Carb Day -Friday, May 25th

[DanicaFan]

Practice Session 1 Results..

[DanicaFan]

Practice Session 2 Results..

[DanicaFan]

Practice Session 3 Results..

[DanicaFan]

It's great to see Marco on top of the charts. Here are the results of Practice Session 4...

[HJJ]

It seems "no tow = no go".

[DanicaFan]

Originally Posted by HJJ

It seems "no tow = no go".

Yep, which isnt good.

[skells22]

1st oval of the season and this is also means a sad time again, no defending indy 500 winner this year. hopefully this one will go safe without too many issues and i think 1st real test for the DW12

[DanicaFan]

Originally Posted by skells22

1st oval of the season and this is also means a sad time again, no defending indy 500 winner this year. hopefully this one will go safe without too many issues and i think 1st real test for the DW12

Yes, Im concerned when we will have all 33 cars on the grid heading towards Turn 1 at the start.

[marcostraz]

In my opinion, the victory of all the young americans could be very special and positive for the series...all of them have a special history: Andretti and Rahal for their fathers, Hinchcliffe because his victory would be very hilarious (Danica...Danica...Danica...and now GoDaddy wins at the first shot without her), Hildebrand for the revenge, Newgarden because he's young and with a loved team owner (and I think that, for the future, Newgarden will be more "marketable" than Hldebrand...even if he is not a better driver than Hildebrand, in my opinion)...for the justice, the best choice for a victory would be Kanaan (I think all of IndyCar fans are waiting for his Indy 500 victory)...for the history, obviously, Helio...if I had to make another name, I made Justin Wilson for two reasons:

1) for his team...Dale Coyne is a small team, but historical...Coyne has always shown a great love for IndyCar, also in the most difficult years, and we spent all of his career (with few exceptions) in the last spots of the grid...it would be a great present for him and for his passion if he will go to win the biggest race in the World...a very nice underdog history;
2) for Justin...I think now it is too late for him a top team, but he was always fast with small team in the last few years...probably will never know if he would be with Ganassi or Penske, he wuld be improved in the ovals and became a title contender..it would be also for him a great present winning at Indy...

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Yes, Im concerned when we will have all 33 cars on the grid heading towards Turn 1 at the start.

Why? They've been doing that for decades without need for concern.

[Jonerz]

Who I would like to see win: (also effected by order of most likely to succeed)

1. Tony Kanaan, need I explain?
2. Will Power, to have a guy who "can only win on road and street courses" win the 500 would go a long way to making people realize that he is the best driver in the series right now, period. And that if you're a legitimately quick road course racer you are a legitimately quick oval racer. (It eould be his first real oval win after that shambles at the flat-out suicide "race" at Texas last year.) With questions over the handling of the cars I think the Will Powers of the world will have a better shot at the win than the guys who grew up going flat out on ovals (not driving). Wait... It will do nothing to change the minds of the old hat IRL guys, they don't want to see the value of road racing road racers and their tendencies to succeed in oval races. The IRL has been that way since 2002 for crying out loud!
3. Josef Newgarden, quite honestly I'm caught up in the kid's hype. Clearly he has some level of talent and I'd love to see an American succeed legitimately in IndyCar (not just keeping their foot flat to the floor at places like Kentucky.)
4. JR Hildebrand, I like Americans for obvious reasons.
5. Sebastian Bourdais, has an asterisk hanging over his head "four time Champ Car champion" never "four time series champion". SeaBass going to victory lane in a second or third tier car with Newman/Haas talent on the squad will be more dirt on the old-school IRL's grave and adds credence to the theory that he and Dario are the reining Kings of IndyCar.

Honorable mention to Bryan Clauson. Would be cool to see an American roundy-round agricultural racer take the crown and then transition to more modern racing and win a Mario Andretti road course title in a couple years. See, I'm not totally biased against oval racing, Milwaukee and Indy are two of my favorite race tracks!

Enjoy fast Friday and let's set a field for the 500 safely this weekend.

Chris

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by nickyf1

Why? They've been doing that for decades without need for concern.

'Guess you don't remember '66...oooppppsss...one third the field out...

take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZLpCa7Z7nA

[DanicaFan]

Qualifying Order..

[Hawkwood]

Briscoe gets pole!
Top 24 all sorted:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99721

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

a Mario Andretti road course title

What, pray tell, is that???

[MCWB]

Originally Posted by jimclark

What, pray tell, is that???

The Indycar road course championship.

[jimclark]

Egads!!! 'Shows my disinterest in IRL, ehhh?
'Was a time where I'd be chastising a "supposed" racing fan for not knowing such....

[The Original Instag8or]

So, on Bump Day, is there a chance for any bumping? Or is it the 33 that show up race?

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by The Original Instag8or

So, on Bump Day, is there a chance for any bumping? Or is it the 33 that show up race?

No offense intended, but if there is only 33 available to race (in a field of 33), how can there be any bumping???

'Just tryin' to unnerstand the rationale (?)...

[The Original Instag8or]

^ Seeing as this year's rather lackluster field and watered down format hasn't kept me glued to the TV, I was unsure of the final entry count. When I hit the "official entry list" it showed 64 cars, which if not for dupe entries as backup cars, would have been astronomical instead of comical.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Briscoe gets pole.