Mark Glover’s AutoGlo
car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento
I’ve maintained for a long time that the 1960 Indianapolis 500 was the
greatest of all-time, thanks to a spine-tingling duel between Rodger Ward and
eventual winner Jim Rathmann. They
battled wheel to wheel in those ponderous front-engine roadsters, swapping the
lead more than a dozen times over the last half of the race.
That was the greatest … until last Sunday.
The 97th running of the Indy 500 topped them all,
and I have a pretty fair perspective, having traveled to the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway for the world-famous race since 1961.
Simply put, you can’t ignore 68 lead changes, relentless dicing among
cars during prolonged green-flag periods and a new race record of nearly 190
miles per hour.
And the cherry on top: immensely popular Tony Kanaan holding
on for the win, a result that created shrieks of joy the Indy faithful.
Prior to last Sunday’s race, there was considerable talk
that the Indy 500 “needed” a win by an American driver to help the 500 regain
its once-undisputed status as the king of all motor racing events. Hogwash.
Just before the last restart on Sunday, the public address
announcer at IMS asked how many in the crowd wanted to see leader Ryan
Hunter-Reay, an American, win the race.
There was a subdued cheer. And
then the PA man asked how many in the crowd were pulling for the second-place driver
from Brazil ,
Kanaan.
I thought the grandstands were going to collapse under the
weight of the roar from tens of thousands of throats.
And whatever else you might say about the IndyCar series
having too many road courses or a too-timid attitude on other high-speed ovals,
these current-generation cars work at their very best at the crown-jewel event
of the series, the Indianapolis
500. On the mostly flat, 2.5-mile Indy
oval, the lead car punches a very big hole in the air, creating a draft hallway
for the trailing car or cars.
It’s virtually impossible to hold the lead for more than two
laps. Eddie Cheever, the 1998 Indy 500
winner and one of the ABC-TV commentators in the booth during the 500 telecast,
said it best: You can’t run away and hide in these cars. Does it make for more passing and perpetually
exciting racing? You bet.
And how could you not feel good for Kanaan? He was the poster boy for bad karma at Indy until
his magnificent start-to-finish drive on Sunday. He started 12th and was running at
the front within a few laps. He mixed it
up at the front all day, slicing and dicing amid a buzzing group of risk-taking
leaders. Loved it.
Naturally, there were some who wailed when Kanaan clinched
the race due to late wall contact by three-time Indy 500 winner Dario
Franchitti. Some critics called for a
green-white-checkered flag arrangement, a la NASCAR, the better to “guarantee”
an exciting finish for the fans.
Don’t count me among that group. And here’s why:
Through 97 races and 102 years, the standard at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been how drivers cope with the circumstances of
going 500 miles, and no more. You want
to be counted in the pantheon of driving greats – Wilbur Shaw, A.J. Foyt, Bill
Vukovich, Al Unser and Rick Mears among them – then you should be held to that
standard, and that standard alone. You
have 500 miles to make your mark, no matter what.
Indy is all about tradition, and it seems to me that if you
know going in that everyone is operating under the same rules to reach racing’s
zenith – just like all those drivers of years past – there’s no reason to
complain when the 500th mile is crossed.
Crashes happen. Rain falls. Soul-crushing bad luck occurs. Every driver deals with it. No second chances at Indy when the 200th
lap is done? I’m good with it.
Sure, NASCAR does create super-close finishes by running
one, two or three “extra” periods at the end of a race. But I can recall numerous times when those
extra periods bring forth a very lucky or undeserving winner, maybe one who
managed to crawl through a 10-car wreck at the finish. Drama?
Yes. Racing in its purist
form? No.
Going back to 1960, Rathmann won that Indy 500 when Ward had
to back off with just a few laps remaining, the result of a badly worn tire
that was likely to blow. Back then, a
150 mph blowout and blast into the walls of IMS were likely to end your ability
to walk. Or end your life.
Rathmann won going away at the end, going exactly 500
miles. It was a sweet win and his only
Indy 500 triumph. Last Sunday, it was
sweet for Tony Kanaan. And 500 miles for
the ages.
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