It is often said in life that one man’s loss is another man’s game, and as we have seen over the last hundred years this analogy can very much be applied to Indy, with the crowning moment of one driver’s career often coming at the expense of a less fortune competitor, and for many modern fans of the sport there is no stronger an example of this then Sam Hornish Jr., Marco Andretti and the 2006 Indy 500.

By 2006 there had been very little that Sam Hornish had achieved during his Indycar career. The Ohio native had first entered the sport back in the year 2000, and quickly moved to establish himself as one of the first true home-grown stars of the still burgeoning series. After making his debut driving for the upstart PDM outfit, Hornish made the move to Panther Racing to drive the No. 4 Dallara IR01-Oldsmobile Aurora L47 V8 for the 2001 season. During the next three seasons Hornish went on to become a dominant force in the sport, picking up 11 wins over the next three seasons on his way to picking up two successive series championships. A move to Penske racing followed in 2004, where Hornish continued his fine form with a further three victories on his way to a third place finish in the standings back in 2005.

Despite his level of success in the series however, Hornish found himself as something of a tainted figure when it came to Indianapolis, with the Ohio native facing the unenviable record of having failed to finish in each of his seven previous attempts at the Brickyard, but backed by the Brickyard nuance of Roger Penske, and his reputation as one of the top oval racers in the series, Hornish entered the 2006 running of the race determined to put an end to his poor record in the Hoosier state.

Much like Danica Patrick had done 12 years previously however, Hornish and the rest of the 500 field found themselves upstaged by a young upstart rookie going into the month of May. At just 19 years old, Marco Andretti entered Indianapolis as one of the youngest drivers ever to compete in the race, having enjoyed an encouraging start to his racing career that had seen him claim a Barber National Championship as well as three wins from six races in the Indy Lights Championship in 2005, and in the process encouraging father Michael to hand the newcomer a drive for his team for the 2006 Indycar season. Although Marco had endured a somewhat difficult start to his Indycar career, having failed to score a top ten finish in his first three races, his junior formula success combined with his famous last name made the Nazareth native a centre of attention when it came to the 500, and with grandfather Mario watching from the pit wall, and his father competing alongside him, the 19-year-old was more prepared than ever in his bid to finally break his family’s curse at the Brickyard.

For the majority of the race however, the day had belonged to reigning 500 champion Dan Wheldon. The Ganassi driver had taken the lead from pole-sitter Hornish on the first lap of the race, and proceeded to stamp his authority on the event during the race’s early stages, building up a 19-second lead over the next nearest competitor, and after 65 laps had lapping twenty-five of the other cars in the race, including all five of the other former 500 winners, leaving only eight cars on the lead lap. By the 75% distance mark Wheldon continued to make the running at the front of the field, whilst both Marco Andretti and Sam Hornish beginning to fade as they struggled to keep to the pace of the Ganassi driver up front.

On lap 149, Al Unser, Jr. precipitated a caution period after spinning down the back-stretch and crashing in turn 3., forcing the remaining lead lap cars into the pits for what was anticipated to be the penultimate time in the race. During the stops, Sam Hornish, Jr. started to pull out of his pits with the hose still attached, ripping the hose from its fuel housing and forcing to lose valuable time as the crew attempted to remove the damaged system. Still under caution on lap 155, the field was preparing to go back to green when Jeff Simmons wrecked in the north chute, causing the caution to be prolonged. Running at the tail end of the lead lap, Hornish (along with Michael Andretti) used the extended caution period to return to the pits on lap 160, gambling that enough further caution periods would be thrown to allow them to make it to the end of the race without the need of another pit stop.

While Michael Andretti and Hornish struggled at the tail end of the lead lap. The leading pack of Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and an emerging Marco Andretti began to enter the pits for their final round of pit-stops, as Marco entered the pits on lap 190 Felipe Giaffone crashed in turn two, bringing out the yellow. Marco Andretti (legally) slipped by the pace car exiting the pits, avoiding losing a lap in the process and lining up in third place behind his father and new race leader Tony Kanaan. After Kanaan was forced into the pits to make his final stop the two Andretti’s lined up first and second on the restart, with Sam Hornish running behind the duo in third place.

When the race restarted with four laps to go, Marco pulled outside of his father down the front-stretch, and passing the elder Andretti for the lead going into turn one. Marco began to pull away from his father, as he began to take a more defensive approach to his driving, taking up a blocking role in a bid to protect his son’s lead. Down the back stretch, Michael tried but failed to hold off the charging Hornish, as the Penske driver moved to second place and in pursuit of the 19-year-old leader. With two laps to go, Marco led Hornish by a half second, with Michael still in third. Down the back stretch, Hornish tried to squeeze past Marco as they approached turn three. He was pinched down, and ran out of race track, and had to back off. Hornish lost his momentum, and Marco pulled out to a 1-second lead at the start/finish line with one lap to go. On the final lap, Marco held his lead down the back stretch. In turn three, however, Hornish began to reel him in, and as the two cars exited turn four, Hornish executed a slingshot pass in the final 400 feet of the race, beating out Marco to the finish line in what was the second closest finish in 500 history, causing hysterical scenes in the team Penske pit and leaving a bemused and sullen Mario to rue yet another missed opportunity for his family at the 500.

Afterwards, Hornish commented on his last-second pass, “I figured I came all this way, I ought to give myself one more shot at it. I kind of looked at it as, I was going to drive over him if I had to. For Marco to come as a rookie and drive like that he should be proud no matter what.” Third-place finisher Michael Andretti meanwhile had high praise for his son: “I felt so bad for Marco, but I’m so proud. He drove a hell of a race. I drove with him a hell of a lot in that race. He drove like a champion. He drove like he’s been out there 10 years.” But Marco wanted more: “I do not want to wait until next year. I have to take advantage of everything because second’s nothing,”

For both Marco and Hornish, the race would be something of a turning point. Hornish would use his 500 victory to propel him to a third Indycar championship later that year, by which point the Ohio native had begun to turn his attention to other ventures, and after another strong campaign in which he finished fifth in the standings agreed a deal to drive for Penske’s NASCAR sprint cup team for the 2008 season. Although he had been a power-house of the series during his time in Indycar, Hornish struggled with the heavier stock car machinery, and after three seasons in which he recorded a best points finish of 28th was dropped by the outfit following the 2010 season. Marco meanwhile continues to remain an ever-present threat when it comes to the 500, with four podium finishes over a ten year period and with hopes that one day lady luck will be on his side to finally give his family that long overdue second 500 triumph.

For today’s video we have the closing stages of what has been described by Rusty Wallace as the most exciting Daytona 500 ever 😉