Tag: Indianapolis 500

Practice Update: O’Ward to the Front; Lundqvist Crash

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In a hectic first two and a half hours of practice, Pato O’Ward surged to the top of the pylon with a lap of 228.861 mph, knocking Josef newgarden from the point. Team Penske still shows strength with all three cars in the top 10. Alex Palou is currently third, just a tick ahead of Colton Herta, the two fastest Hondas.

The first wall contact of the season involved Linus Lundqvist hitting the wall at the exit of turn 2. He entered the turn very high and made contact with the right rear. The car slid down and stopped in the grass, Lundqvist was uninjured.

Notes

Kyle Larson received a new engine this morning.

As I drove in on 16th Street this morning, there was a long double more than a half mile long waiting to enter Gate 2. There are a lot of school field trips here today as well. Looks like fans are taking advantage of the best day we have seen this week.

Sounds as if we are entering a bit of a down time as far as track activity. Given the forecast and the lost time this week, I’m a bit surprised.

Current Standings

It’s a Beautiful Day at IMS

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Good morning from IMS. The weather is beautiful today for the first time this week and no rain interruptions are expected. Let’s enjoy today and not worry about tomorrow.

28 cars have been on track so far. Josef Newgarden just turned the fastest lap of 226.684 mph. Colton Herta had the early lead. Herta has been the fastest Honda in the limited practice time so far. The three Team Penske cars have been the class of the field.

Coming Up

Tomorrow morning Indycar and Shell will present an update on their sustainability efforts.

Sometime next week we might get the details of the Indycar Charter program. The new broadcast package may be close to an announcement as well.

It appears Indycar will not set a cutoff lap for throwing a red flag during the 500. I wish they would. I would like to see lap185 as the last lap that could be red flagged. Any later than that, we will see another manipulated finish where the leader gets a deserved victory taken away from him.

I’ll be back later today with an update and I will also have an end of day wrap up.

Day 4- A Better Day Ahead?

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From @Indycar_Wxman last night:

INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, May 15, 2024) – Information about 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice track activity Thursday, May 16 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

SCHEDULE (All times local):

10 a.m.-6 p.m.: Public gates open

10 a.m.-6 p.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice (All cars) Peacock and Indycar radio

TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $25. Children 15 and under are admitted free with a paying adult. The General Admission ticket will provide the opportunity to move between the IMS infield viewing mounds and first-come, first-served access to selected grandstands to view racing action from different vantage points.

PUBLIC GATES OPEN (10 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7S, Gate 7, Gate 10, Gate 10A.

PARKING: Free public parking is available in Turn 3 and Lot 7 (North 40). ADA accessible parking is available in the following lots: West Museum Lot, Flag Lot, Tower Terrace Lot and Lot 7 (North 40).

CASHLESS OPERATIONS: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a cashless facility. Please be prepared to complete your ticket, credentials, parking, concession and merchandise purchases with ease during your event via debit or credit card. 

Tap-to-pay phone payments will be accepted, as will credit and debit transactions. Cash-to-Card machines, which convert paper money onto a temporary debit card, will be located in Pagoda Plaza and outside Turn 1 by concessions stand 7. These funds can be spent inside the venue, outside the venue, online or anywhere in the world where Mastercard/Visa debit cards are accepted.

MUSEUM: The IMS Museum is closed for a major renovation, reopening in April 2025. To learn more, please visit imsmuseum.org/renovation.

On Track at Last! Mclaughlin Sets Fast Time

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After 12 hours of lost practice time the green flag for Indianapolis 500 practice waved a few minutes after 3 pm. The session had several interruptions for track inspections and moisture.

It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. It finally felt like May. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for the best weather day of the week. Friday looks iffy at the moment.

From earlier

Think This Weather is Bad? Look at 1956

All 34 cars were on track in a very busy afternoon. I enjoyed getting a look at all the liveries. If you blue and orange combinations or the color pink, you will enjoy this year’s grid.

There were several yellow flags, the longest the last one for what started as sprinkles three hours after the green flag waved.

Scott McLaughlin had the fastest lap of 229.49 mph3. His Penske teammates, Will Power and Josef Newgarden are second and fourth. Colton Herta finished third.

Tomorrow’s practice begins at 10 am Eastern and runs until 6 pm.

Results

Think This Weather is Bad? Look at 1956

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As we enter the 28th hour of a rain delay, things seem grim. But in 1956, there was so much rain that some thought the race itself was in danger of being postponed.

The final weekend of qualifying was plagued by rain. Sunday saw intermittent showers which left a dozen cars waiting for their chance to make the race. USAC officials extended qualifying an hour, but rain cancelled that plan. A one hour qualifying period was scheduled for Monday, but again rain interfered.

The rain was non stop in the days leading up to the race. An Indianapolis radio station broadcast a false report that the race would be postponed. Tony Hulman issued a strongly worded statement that the race would go off at its scheduled time.

The Speedway had not postponed a race since 1915, and Hulman was not going to allow that to happen if at all possible.

The track in 1956 did not have the sophisticated drainage system that is in place today. Standing water went all the way to the edge of the apron. One newspaper report said that if a driver spun down there, he would drown.

The race became known as “Cagle’s Miracle.” Clarence Cagle and his crew worked for 48 hours straight pumping water out of the flooded access tunnels, off of the track, and out of the infield.

Clarence Cagle

The race, won by Pat Flaherty, was slowed by a then record 11 caution periods consuming more than an hour of race time. The infield crowd was smaller than usual, prompting some complaints from vendors.

So this week’s delays are not so bad when you take a look at what occurred 68 years ago.

Let’s Try This Again

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Another Day of weather watching.

Today at IMS

 
Information about 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge practice track activity Wednesday, May 15 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
SCHEDULE (All times local):
10 a.m.-6 p.m.: Public gates open
10 a.m.-6 p.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice (All cars)
TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $25. Children 15 and under are admitted free with a paying adult. The General Admission ticket will provide the opportunity to move between the IMS infield viewing mounds and first-come, first-served access to selected grandstands to view racing action from different vantage points.
PUBLIC GATES OPEN (10 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7S, Gate 7, Gate 10, Gate 10A.
PARKING: Free public parking is available in Turn 3 and Lot 7 (North 40). ADA accessible parking is available in the following lots: the West Museum Lot, the Flag Lot, Tower Terrace and the Lot 7 (North 40).
CASHLESS OPERATIONS: Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a cashless facility. Please be prepared to complete your ticket, credentials, parking, concession and merchandise purchases with ease during your event via debit or credit card.Tap-to-pay phone payments will be accepted, as will credit and debit transactions. Cash-to-Card machines, which convert paper money onto a temporary debit card, will be located in Pagoda Plaza and outside Turn 1 by concessions stand 7. These funds can be spent inside the venue, outside the venue, online or anywhere in the world where Mastercard/Visa debit cards are accepted.
MUSEUM: The IMS Museum is closed for a major renovation, reopening in April 2025. To learn more, please visit imsmuseum.org/renovation.

Day 1 Wrap-up: 24 Minutes of Fun

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The good news: cars were on track today turning practice laps in preparation for the Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti, and Takuma Sato were the top three.

29 cars ran laps. One driver who did not get out was Alex Palou.

The bad news: After 24 minutes rain began to fall, lightly at first, then more heavily and steadily. Track activity was cancelled around 2 pm.

In an attempt to make up some of today’s lost time, practice tomorrow will start at 10 am instead of noon. There will not be a break as was planned for today.

Bronze badge holders who were not at IMS early lost out on their opportunity to spend some time in the pits. IMS will not reschedule this experience this year.

There was a bit of news today.

The hybrid system will make its debut at Mid-Ohio July 5-7. This date was long assumed to be the target. I appreciate the series waiting until I return from Le Mans to have its premiere. I guess I asked nicely.

I heard that there are fewer than 10,000 grandstand seats unsold for the race. No word on how close General Admission is to being declared full.

Here are the results from today’s abbreviated practice:

108th Indianapolis 500- The Merch Issue

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The IMS gift shops have a lot of nice new apparel items this year. I haven’t been thrilled with the clothing lines I have seen the past few years, but 2024 has brought a fresh new look and many attractive designs.

If I’m in the market for racing wear, I frist look for things with a retro or vintage design. The A. J. Foyt shirt pictured above would be the first I would add to my collection of 1,237 racing related shirts. Just kidding- it’s more like 1,100. Not really.

Still, I like several items in the gift shop. Here are a few:

I ama sucker for maroon when oit comes to racing.
What the stylish media people should wear.

If the speedway wanted to go really retro, I would love a sweater like the ones drivers wore in the early days of the race with the car manufacturers name on it, like these.

I would love a Lozier shirt or sweater.

I believe this before the 1913 500. A Case or National shirt would be cool. I’m not sure marmon had team sweaters.

The gift shop has many onter very nice items in stock this year. Spend wisely. If anyone wishes to gift their favorite blogger the Foyt shirt in an XL, let me know,