Ladies and Gentlemen start your engines! Today is race day and it was packed full of action with a ton of excitement to boot. A couple days ago I wrote about the traditions that surround this great racing event, to which my brother decided to respond with his own article. Well Matt, I said it would be exciting and I was correct! Now before I dive any deeper into discussing the race today, if you did not see the race yet and are looking to watch the race later there will be a lot of information that could ruin your watching of the race.

Now that I have made it known that I will be talking about the results, I want to start by saying congratulations to Alexander Rossi for winning his first ever Indy 500! I started watching Alexander when he was driving in GP2 and was excited to see him last year in Formula One, while I think it’s awesome that he won today I hope he makes his way back to F1 next year. Let’s take a look at a few things that happened today that helped to make the 100th running of the Indy 500 memorable.

James Hinchcliffe Pole

Going into today there was a huge buzz about James Hinchcliffe and his pole position for today’s race. I’d say it was important for multiple reasons, one because it takes a lot to put yourself in that position and two because just about a year ago he should have died. Now don’t take that as too callous for me to say but he survived an accident during qualifying for Indy last year that could very well have killed him. James had collided with the wall going just about 200 mph which resulted in a piece of his car’s suspension entering the cockpit. The piece cut through his leg and pierced his abdomen resulting in an emergency surgery to save his life. Thankfully James survived his accident and had found himself in a great position to start the race. Throughout the entire race, Hinchcliffe was typically near the front of the pack and even led the race for a decent number of laps.

Caution, Caution and More Caution

Today was certainly full of disappointment for some drivers and a lot of cautions for the rest of the field. For defending Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, today was quite a disappointment when he failed to complete the race due to hitting the wall after a malfunction with his steering column. Montoya was putting on a furious pace to make progress into the front of the field when he lost control headed out of the second corner after which he damaged his vehicle irreparably. Those of you who know my opinions of Montoya know that I am quite critical of his attitude, he was quite a diva back in Formula One and never really did anything that made me like him. However after the accident today, I did gain some new respect for the man as he did not trash his team or blame the car but instead apologize to his support staff for not finishing the race. Along with Montoya, Sage Karam, Conor Daly and Takuma Sato saw their days ended due to contact or collisions. The other drivers that were unable to finish the race due to issues were: Ed Carpenter (Mechanical), Buddy Lazier (Mechanical) and Stefan Wilson (Electrical). Stefan Wilson was racing in his first Indy 500 and is the younger brother of Justin Wilson, a driver who tragically was lost last year after an accident at Pocono. During the pre-race ABC did quite well honoring Justin and seeing Stefan not finish was heartbreaking for me today.

Late Race Excitement

Headed into the final 36 laps there was a yellow caution flag for some debris on the track. Now during a caution there are specific rules in regards to utilizing the pit lane for maintenance purposes but limits the usage of refueling and tire changes. Typical team strategy involves pitting, also known as boxing, at the end of the caution. What was quite exciting was that upon the last lap of caution, nearly the entire field boxed. The few who hadn’t were on different refueling strategies that would have had them in closer to the end of the race. Once the green flag was waved to restart the race the excitement truly took off! Now I often look at IndyCar as similar to NASCAR. It is very entertaining but lasts just long enough that there is a lull near the middle of the races that allow you to focus on multiple things. That’s not a bad thing, I just have typically been more entertained by the excitement levels that you get when watching Formula One. This race however had a sort of magnetism for me, keeping me drawn to watch and my focus solely on the front runners. As the last ten laps began, there was a furious duel between Tony Kanaan, Carlos Munoz and Josef Newgarden. I was ever hopeful to see my favorite driver in IndyCar come closer to the front of the race. Five laps, at five laps I was texting Matt getting super excited for what was going to be a heart stopping end. Alexander Rossi was making a hard push for the end of the race, but he was running low on gas. Two laps, I was shouting at my television and praying that he would make it across the finish line. One lap, I was awkwardly standing in my living room and excited that it was about to end with a Rossi winner. Half a lap, he was slowing up and securing his first victory. Across the line, Alexander Rossi has won his first Indy 500!!

2016 Indy 500 Champion: Alexander Rossi!

By now you’ve probably guessed that I really wanted Rossi to win today, why wouldn’t I? He has been a driver that I have wanted to succeed since watching him in GP2. Last year when he was driving for the Manor-Marussia team in F1 I was watching with a hope that he could live up to the hype he had around him and help fill the seat left behind by Jules Bianchi. Jules had been involved in an accident in Japan in 2014 and last July passed away from his injuries, making him the first driver to die in F1 from injuries since Ayrton Senna in 1994. Alexander was the only American on the Formula One grid last year and did well considering he was driving for a team that has only secured points in one race, thanks to Jules. Rossi made his jump to IndyCar this year after he lost out on a seat to Rio Haryanto due to lack of backers to fund a seat with Manor. Well Alexander you’re better off this year with Andretti Racing than you would have been with Manor! While I have stated numerous times that I hope this year will be a layover in IndyCar between seats for Rossi in F1, if he decided to stay with Andretti Racing next year I would not be disappointed. That being said I hope some of the bosses in F1 were watching today, because he certainly is still deserving of a drive. Celebrate today Alex, you deserve it after a fantastic win that resulted in needing to be towed around the track for your victory lap.

I know that today has been packed with racing action and that for some of us, the day isn’t over as there is a NASCAR race this afternoon. I was up early this morning with the Monaco Grand Prix, my brother has written up a great article about the race, and then I spent a few hours enthralled with the greatest American race. I am truly happy with the outcome and want to personally thank each and every driver for putting up such a great show today. I want to also thank you for taking your time to check this post out!