Here I am back again - just in time for the 93rd "Indy 500"

May 26, 2009

Taj Mahal "Diving Duck Blues" 1967 (click to listen))

Note: It's time to own up. I completed the following offering early morning Sunday May 24, 2009, about ten hours before the start of the 93rd "Indianapolis 500." I grew tired and decided it was time to sleep and when I woke up, I wanted to watch the telecast of the Grand Prix of Monaco, on Speed TV.

I am having a wonderful time watching Formula One this season and am a very enthusiastic supporter of Brawn GP and Jenson Button. Button appears to be on a historic mission in 2009, with five victories in six races so far -- and it's my favorite F1 time since Nigel Mansell's World Championship season in 1992.

I did not get this initial offering on the new, upgraded version of Bob Jennings' World O' Racing posted until now -- three days late.

Ryan Briscoe did not win the "500" as I predicted. Helio Castroneves came through to put a story book ending to his legal turmoil earlier in the year, for his third win in the "Indy 500," and gave Roger Penske a new record fifteenth win in the "greatest spectacle in racing."

Sorry for being late but I still hope you enjoy the photos and the new version of my website. So here it is as originally composed . . . . .

It's been a long time -- like almost two and one half years since I posted anything new on Bob Jennings' World O' Racing. There are a number and variety of reasons why I have been absent from the Internet since the end of 2006. I won't go into detail except to write that life got in my way.

To mark my return, I created a new version of  Bob Jennings' World O' Racing. The legacy version will remain on line for a while, at the old domain. Eventually I intend to add early content to this new Microsoft .Net website. Then hopefully, I can eventually retire that version in the future. But it will be a while before that happens.

If you look at the two tables below, you will see that even though I haven't posted new content on Bob Jennings' World O' Racing, I attended a number of racing events in the meantime. I also shot thousands of digital photos of racing images -- and my plan is to post many of them as 2009 progresses. 

I was lucky this month. I was able to visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway nine times during the twelve days of on track activity. I missed one day of rookie orientation activity and thirty four minutes of opening practice day one, on Wednesday May 6, until rain put an end to the action for the day. Other than that, I was there for nearly all of it. I took more photos than I can count and so far, I have only been able to review and edit 454 of those images.

There were few defining moments this month, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; no big controversies and from a historic perspective, the story lines have been difficult to ascertain. It was a similar situation in May 2006, except the weather was much better this time and we capped May 2006 with the wild conclusion that featured Sam Hornish beating Marco Andretti to  the checkered flag by .0635 seconds; the second closest finish in "Indianapolis 500" history. Wouldn't it be neat if we could have another pass, at the finish line tomorrow, the way Hornish did it in 2006?

My mother died at 9:45 pm on Wednesday May 20, 2009, after entering the hospital on April 24. During her stay, there were repeated times when it appeared she was going to pass away. Had it not been for the practice and qualification days at the Speedway, I might have lost it because it was a very sad and stressful time, watching Mom die. The "Indy 500" pre-race provided distraction and diversion.

God bless the "Indianapolis 500." Thank God I have the race to focus on. The "Indy 500" is my favorite "whatever" in this world. Tomorrow will be my 53rd time to attend the "500." I haven't missed the race since my dad took me to the 1956 "Indianapolis 500."

Perhaps the number one story line going into the race tomorrow is how smoothly the program has proceeded given the economic problems we all face today. There was an interesting story, by Steve Ballard, that appeared in today's issue of The Indianapolis Star, which focused on how the sport of Indy car racing and the "Indianapolis 500" has been mostly successful in coping with the economy while the NASCAR "gorilla" has experienced more turmoil this year.   

For the past few months, I have read and heard reports that ticket sales were up for the 2009 "500." After the 2008 "Indy 500," Tony George reported there were 16,000 more people at the race than in 2007. From what I understand, attendance tomorrow may exceed race day 2008. May 25, 2008 was a beautiful day for racing and that probably had much to do with the increased enthusiasm. Tomorrow's weather calls for thirty percent chance of precipitation, with a high reaching 81 degrees. Unfortunately there is a chance of scattered thunderstorms.

Like many "Indy" fanatics, I wish there was some diversity in the field of 33 cars that will line up tomorrow. As I write this, I am listening to a replay of the radio broadcast of the 1968 "500," that featured one of the most technically interesting starting lineups of all time. In 1968, there were three wedged shaped STP Lotuses, powered by Pratt & Whitney turbines; turbocharged Ford V8 engines, normally aspirated Fords, a stock block production based Gurney Weslake Ford V8, turbocharged Offies and a Repco Brabham V8. There were a large variety of chassis packages in the 1968 race; Lotus, Eagle, Hawk, Mongoose, Lola, Coyote, Gerhardt, Brabham, Finley, Vollstedt, Shrike and Mallard.

Tomorrow, thirty three Dallara - Honda race cars will take the green flag. This particular Dallara model was introduced in 2003. I wish the "Indy 500" had not evolved into a spec car series and the Dallara looks way too familiar. But this is the nature of today's motorsport. Even Formula One appears to be going in this direction.

But hey -- this is the "Indianapolis 500" folks! It's still the best thing going -- warts and all and it's what old Bob Jennings lives for! The excitement is building now. I am preparing my cameras and lenses for tomorrow -- and it doesn't get any better than this.

Let's take a look at some of my photos. I present images of each of the starting thirty three cars and drivers by order of their grid position. These photos were taken during my nine days at the Speedway this month.

I have been pleased with the photos I took this May, with the possible exception of "carb day," on Friday. That was when it actually hit me that Mom was gone and I was barely able to get into anything. However I hope as I review more of Friday's images, I will find some which are reasonable but it was a sad "carb day" for me.

I like the starting field for this year's "500." I wish Buddy Lazier could have made the race, and I also think Buddy Rice should be racing tomorrow. But aside from those two former "Indy 500" champions, I think the field of thirty three represents contemporary Indy car racing, in the second year of reunification, pretty well.

I wrote earlier that there were fewer story lines surrounding the 93rd "Indianapolis 500" than during recent Mays at the Speedway. However one story line that I find especially significant is the closeness in speed throughout the field. I think the fact there is only 3.1 seconds separating the fastest and slowest qualifiers, over their ten mile qualification runs, is remarkable. That is a record for the "500."

In terms of miles per hour, there are only 4.267 mph separating the fastest qualifier Helio Castroneves and the slowest Ryan Hunter-Reay. That is impressive too. Everyone is running the same chassis - engine package and this will be seventh time these Dallaras have raced in the "500."  That obviously plays a part in the competitive nature of this field of competitors.

However, despite the competitive qualifying this May, I can only see six drivers with any sort of realistic shot at winning tomorrow. That group would include Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti. I just added Marco to this list and it's based on the third generation Andretti having run so well in his first three attempts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There will be other drivers to watch too however. Of course we will all want to see how Paul Tracy does in his return to the Speedway after a six year absence. Tracy still claims he won the 2002 "500." I'm anxious to see how much Graham Rahal has improved since his "Indy" debut in 2008. Danica Patrick is the poster child for Indy car racing and she is likely to make her presence felt too. How about young Mario Moraes? He has been extremely fast this May -- to the surprise of many. Dan Wheldon's Indy car career looks to be on the slide, after he was fired by Chip Ganassi. Can Wheldon return to the top? Is he going to race good tomorrow? I like Justin Wilson -- what a terrific guy. I believe Wilson is steadily improving and it appears long time CART competitor Dale Coyne has upgraded the quality of his little team with the addition of veteran engineer Bill Pappas.

I am hoping the Dale Coyne cars perform well in the "500." My Indy car favorite Tomas Scheckter sits in the other Coyne entry, back in row nine on the grid. Car 19 is one of the wildest looking cars in the race. It should be easy to spot on the track.

It's been a tough time for Scheckter. I still can't believe Tomas is not sitting in one of the top cars. As things have turned out, Tomas Scheckter seems fortunate to even be in this race -- and I really don't understand why. I'm glad he is in the race though and I anticipate that Tomas will put on a marvelous show charging through the field, if his car holds up under the rigors Scheckter will likely put car 19 through.

To get back to story lines, that Helio Castroneves won his third "Indianapolis 500" pole is a nice human interest chronicle after all the turmoil he suffered during his tax evasion trials. It would be very compelling if Helio caps the story by winning again in 2009. He is probably the odds on favorite and I can see Castroneves taking it all.

I am going to go out on the limb to pick Ryan Briscoe to win the 93rd "Indianapolis 500" though. This time last year, I was not that impressed with Briscoe and like many, was questioning how long Roger Penske would retain the Australian. Then I went to the Milwaukee race and watched Ryan chase down Scott Dixon, one week after his "500" victory, and beat the new "Indy" champion. To beat Dixon like that in June 2008 was doing something special because Scott was hot.

I was at Mid Ohio to see Briscoe win and I really began to understand why Penske picked Ryan to replace Sam Hornish. After Briscoe won in Australia, in October, and again to open this season with another win, in St. Petersburg, I decided he looked like the driver to beat in the "500" this year. It reminded me a bit of how I felt in late 1969, when Al Unser came back from his broken leg, suffered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in May, to kick Mario Andretti's butt and win five races. By the start of 1970, I was convinced Al Unser was going to win his first "Indianapolis 500" and he did.

The Team Penske cars look to have that slight edge over Target Ganassi and a bigger margin over Andretti Green this May and to me, Roger's fifteenth "500" win looks like a strong possibility. Briscoe has been fastest much of the month and he has been solid. At the same time, Team Penske teammate Helio is going to take some beating for sure.