Photo: Indystar

Indianapolis Motor Speedway will have another mass vaccination clinic in April. The on e in early March lasted four days and administered more than 16,000 doses of the COVID vaccine. In April the speedway will have clinics on 16 days and hopes to vaccinate 96,000 people. Clinic hours are 9 am -7 pm. Clinic dates are April 1-3, 13-18, and 24-30.

Indiana residents age 16 and up become eligible on March 31. The current eligible age range is 40 years and over. Registration for the speedway clinics is open, but those under 40 cannot register until March 31.

April will be busy at IMS. An open test for Indianapolis 500 entrants is scheduled for April 8 and 9. No word yet if spectators will be permitted.

500 Car Count: Bumping Returns

The car count for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 will be more than 33 cars, assuring the return of bumping. Cars currently confirmed:

Chevrolet

Team Penske (4)-Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott McLaughlin

A. J. Foyt Racing (3)- Sebastien Bourdais, Dalton Kellett, Charlie Kimball

Carlin Racing (1)- Max Chilton

Arrow McLaren SP (3)- Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Juan Pablo Montoya

Ed Carpenter Racing (3) – Ed Carpenter, Rinus VeeKay, Conor Daly

Paretta Autosport (1)- Simona De Silvestro

Honda

Andretti Autosport (5)-Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Marco Andretti

Chip Ganassi Racing(4)- Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Alex Palou, Tony Kanaan

Dale Coyne Racing (2)- Ed Jones, Pietro Fittipaldi, 1 TBD, possibly James Davison

Meyer Shank Racing (2)- Jack Harvey, Helio Castroneves

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (2)- Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal

Other possible entries- Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, Top Gun Racing, additional cars cars from Foyt, Raha, and possibly Andretti.

I anticipate 35-36 cars. In 2019 there was drama as two cars had to go home. What there wasn’t was the fastest 33 starting the race. I of course have a fix for that which I will discuss closer to qualifying day.