Power wins his 1st Indy 500
INDIANAPOLIS – This was the win Will Power’s been waiting for. After more than 30 IndyCar victories, more than 40 poles and an IndyCar championship, there was only one thing Power had yet to accomplish in his phenomenal IndyCar career. He changed that Sunday. Power won the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500, giving his boss, Roger Penske, his 17th 500 victory.
Power took the lead with five laps remaining when race leaders Stefan Wilson and Jack Harvey were forced to pit because of low fuel.
“I just can’t believe it,” an elated Power said after climbing out of his car. “I got to thank Roger Penske, Verizon, and my
parents for allowing me to get to this point. I can’t describe it. I feel like collapsing. I want to cry. I couldn’t stop screaming.
“I always wondered if I was going to win it, and thoughts went through my mind, in my career. I’ve had so many wins, and so many poles, but everybody always talked about the 500. I just couldn’t imagine winning a race in front of a crowd like this. It’s just amazing. What an event. I love it.”
Ahead of the Sunday’s “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” all involved promised a race of attrition, and that’s exactly what the hundreds of thousands of fans at IMS saw. Seven crashes peppered the race, including those collecting popular drivers Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan and last year’s winner Takuma Sato.
Of the 33 cars that started the race, only 24 finished on the lead lap. The 102nd running of the Indy 500 was about survival of the fittest, and on Sunday with temperatures in the 90s, Power was the fittest.
See you in the winner’s circle: For Power, the win was a perfect exclamation mark on a nearly perfect month of May. Power dominated the week of practice ahead of the IndyCar Grand Prix, won the pole and won the race. Then, after showing off a rocket ship of a race car during Indy 500 practice, he put his car on the front row before winning Sunday’s race.
Though there is technically no podium at the Indy 500, Ed Carpenter joined Power in the top three. The pole-sitter and last remaining team owner/driver finished runner-up, easily the best 500 performance of his career.
Rounding out the top three was Scott Dixon. The Ice Man returned to Indy after a horrific crash in last year’s race that would have kept less courageous men from coming back. But come back he did, and he picked his fourth top-3 finish of his Indy career.
You must remember this: Love Danica Patrick or not, it was a shame her trailblazing racing career came to an end in a Lap 68 crash into the Turn 2 wall. Not only did she possess a car capable of something special, but she was fast all month.
Though she joked returning to IndyCar after six years away wasn’t like riding a bike at all, she made it look it pretty easy after earning a spot on Row 3 during qualifying. Unfortunately for Patrick and her fans, there looked like little she could do as her car wobbled, then spun into the Turn 2 wall.
While it was appropriate for Patrick’s career to come to an end at the place where her star was born, the 30th-place finish was not befitting of her long history of success at IMS. Sunday was just the second time in eight tries Patrick did not finish in the top 10.
Given her polarizing status within the world of motor sports, her last line during her post-race news conference seemed appropriate: “Thank you for everything. I’ll miss you . ... Most of the time. Maybe you’ll miss me.”
Drive another day: Let’s hope Chip Ganassi Racing sophomore Ed Jones is OK after being taken to IU Methodist Health following a Lap 58 crash in Turn 2. IndyCar reported that before he was transported to the hospital, he was complaining of a headache and neck pain.
Jones like Patrick and later Castroneves, lost control of his car before slamming into the track SAFER barrier.
Quote of the day: He didn’t wait long to start petitioning for another shot at No. 4. Just a few minutes after crashing on Lap 146, Helio Castroneves walked back through pit lane — where the crowd showered him with a raucous ovation — and sent a message through the TV broadcast to his boss and team owner: “Please, Roger (Penske). I want to come back.”
The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner turned sports car driver returned to Penske’s IndyCar stable for the month of May. He finished sixth at the IndyCar Grand Prix before finishing 27th Sunday. Despite his time away from the series and the crash Sunday, Castroneves proved all month that he still has the speed it takes to win at Indy. Now it’s up to Penske to see if he gets another crack at No. 4.