Round 5: The 98th Indianapolis 500, 23 - 25 May, 2014

**bjohnsonsmith** · 10 May 2014, 21:46 (Ref:3404711)

Round 5: The 98th Indianapolis 500, 23 - 25 May, 2014

With P1 for the 500 starting tomorrow, it's time to start the 500 thread.

Sunday the 25th will see the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500. The Speedway was built in 1909, however the very first motorsport event to take place there was a motorcycle race, held on August 14, 1909, on the 2.5 mile oval track, consisting of a gravel-and-tar. Since the very first 500, May 30, 1911, the event has always been held on Memorial Day.

Some interesting facts:

The most victories by any driver is 4 and this is held jointly by:
A.J. Foyt - 1961, 1964, 1967, 1977.
Al Unser - 1970, 1971, 1978, 1987.
Rick Mears - 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991.

The team with the most victories is Penske, with 15:
1972 1979 1981 1984 1985
1987 1988 1991 1993 1994
2001 2002 2003 2006 2009

The driver/owner with the most vitories is, A.J. Foyt - 1964, 1967, 1977.

Out of the current crop of drivers, the driver with the most victories is Hélio Castroneves - 2001, 2002, 2009.

Track layout:

Length: 2.5 mi / 4.0 km
Turns: 4
Lap record: May 10, 1996. Arie Luyendyk, Reynard 96i-Cosworth, 00:37.616 seconds, 239.260 mph (385.052 kmh)

Last year's winner:
Tony Kanaan,
KV Racing Technology,
Dallara/Chevrolet.

Laps: 200
Distance: 500 Miles (805 km Km)
Race Time: 2:40:03.4181
Average Speed: 187.433 mph, fastest ever race.

TV Coverage:
ABC are televising the race, with the Green flag at 12:00pm ET.

NaBUru38 · 11 May 2014, 00:35 (Ref:3404749)

More statistics from the Indianapolis 500:

Active drivers with most top 5s:

Helio Castroneves - 6
Tony Kanaan - 6
Buddy Lazier - 5
Scott Dixon - 5
Marco Andretti - 4
Ryan Briscoe - 2

Active drivers with most top 10s:

Helio Castroneves - 11
Scott Dixon - 8
Tony Kanaan - 7
Buddy Lazier - 6
Marco Andretti - 5
Ed Carpenter - 3
Ryan Briscoe - 3
Justin Wilson - 3
Townsend Bell - 3

Hélio Castroneves is the only active drive with multiple pole positions (4).

Active drivers with most laps led:

Scott Dixon - 347
Tony Kanaan - 255
Helio Castroneves - 232
Juan Pablo Montoya - 167
Marco Andretti - 121
Ed Carpenter - 43
Takuma Sato - 31
Ryan Briscoe - 31

**bjohnsonsmith** · 11 May 2014, 00:37 (Ref:3404750)

Excellent stuff!

Teretonga · 11 May 2014, 09:13 (Ref:3404836)

Um BJ...
Don't want to embarrass you but....

Laps: 250
Distance: 500 Miles (253.375 Km)

250 laps?

The track is 2.5 miles so its 200 laps...
and 500 miles is 800 km is it not? A mile is 1.609 km, so more not less.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 11 May 2014, 11:56 (Ref:3404902)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Um BJ...
Don't want to embarrass you but....

Laps: 250
Distance: 500 Miles (253.375 Km)

250 laps?

The track is 2.5 miles so its 200 laps...
and 500 miles is 800 km is it not? A mile is 1.609 km, so more not less.

Oops!

Formulahistory · 11 May 2014, 14:14 (Ref:3404955)

If there would be points like in F1 for the Indy-500 we had this all-time-top-20-guys:

Al Unser 244
AJ Foyt 221
Rick Mears 181
Wilbur Shaw 147
Gordon Johncock 143
Hélio Castroneves 135
Louis Meyer 135
Bobby Unser 133
Mauri Rose 129,5
Ted Horn 126
Mario Andretti 122
Al Unser jr. 121
Rodger Ward 117
Dan Wheldon 113
Scott Dixon 101
Tony Kanaan 99
Johnny Rutherford 99
Tom Sneva 99
Bobby Rahal 97
Jim Rathmann 97

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 May 2014, 00:54 (Ref:3405194)

P1 practice news.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2014/05/...e-for-Indy-500

Teretonga · 12 May 2014, 06:25 (Ref:3405219)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Oops!

It did occur to me that you may have been agitating for, or promoting, a name change for the Indy 500....
250 laps would be 625 miles or approximately 1000km.....

So we could have called it the Indy 1000... but would it be twice as good?

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 May 2014, 12:39 (Ref:3405346)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teretonga

It did occur to me that you may have been agitating for, or promoting, a name change for the Indy 500....
250 laps would be 625 miles or approximately 1000km.....

So we could have called it the Indy 1000... but would it be twice as good?

Haha no, though the Indy 1000 Ks might make an intersting addition to the WEC.

NaBUru38 · 12 May 2014, 16:19 (Ref:3405469)

The Penske drivers have been lapping at 222-223 mph in tow on Sunday.

Marco Andretti has clocked just shy of 221 mph today.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 13 May 2014, 15:33 (Ref:3405890)

RH-R tops second practice.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113929

JHamilton · 15 May 2014, 00:10 (Ref:3406432)

When do they turn the boost up?

NaBUru38 · 15 May 2014, 00:35 (Ref:3406436)

Friday?

**bjohnsonsmith** · 15 May 2014, 17:47 (Ref:3406713)

Pagenaud fastest though rain 'stops play' at Indy.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113961

Burp · 16 May 2014, 07:49 (Ref:3406862)

Qualifying explained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvGZ2UkHmkE

**bjohnsonsmith** · 16 May 2014, 16:05 (Ref:3406971)

Hinch is cleared to race. That's got to be good news.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113971

**bjohnsonsmith** · 16 May 2014, 16:06 (Ref:3406973)

Castroneves tops Thursday practice.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113973

**bjohnsonsmith** · 17 May 2014, 01:34 (Ref:3407109)

Ed Carpenter hits 230.522 mph on Fast Friday.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113985

Jacste07 · 25 May 2014, 17:20 (Ref:3410431)

When the indy cars come off of turn 2 or 4, how come they just don't stay on the high side while on the straight away? I notice that they come off on the high side, come down the track towards the middle of the straight away and then go back on the high side when they go into turn 1 and 3.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 25 May 2014, 17:23 (Ref:3410432)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacste07

When the indy cars come off of turn 2 or 4, how come they just don't stay on the high side while on the straight away? I notice that they come off on the high side, come down the track towards the middle of the straight away and then go back on the high side when they go into turn 1 and 3.

That must be the preferred racing line.

Jacste07 · 25 May 2014, 17:31 (Ref:3410438)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

That must be the preferred racing line.

Wouldn't it be quicker to just stay on the high line when coming off turn 2 and 4 instead of cutting down a little and going back up? Does the speed of the indy car coming off of the turn make it impossible to stay on the high side when coming off of those turns?

**bjohnsonsmith** · 25 May 2014, 17:41 (Ref:3410444)

I was just about to post that but the ABC commentary team beat me to it, no caution periods.

, and Helio just took the lead from RH-R.

fasteric · 26 May 2014, 15:28 (Ref:3410908)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacste07

When the indy cars come off of turn 2 or 4, how come they just don't stay on the high side while on the straight away? I notice that they come off on the high side, come down the track towards the middle of the straight away and then go back on the high side when they go into turn 1 and 3.

Indy Cars run with tire stagger (difference in tire diameter between the left side and right side ) and carry a left side weight bias so they naturally move to the left on the straights. Drivers don't want to scrub off speed so they don't counter steer till the next corner comes up
Great win for RHR and Andretti Autosport and a great race for all the fans.

FordCosworthPanoz · 25 May 2014, 19:28 (Ref:3410508)

Congrats RHR.

Burp · 17 May 2014, 13:06 (Ref:3407249)

any way to watch qualifying?

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