Caught your breath yet? Gotten the heart rate back to a manageable number yet?
Wow.
No…wow!!!
Sometimes, this race is the Greatest Spectacle in Racing in name only. Sunday, the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 was as good as it gets, as good as it's ever been, a mad sprint to the finish between two of the sport's giants, Juan Pablo Montoya and Will Power. Back and forth they went, Power and Montoya, Montoya and Power, with both Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball hanging around after a late three-car crash required a restart with just 15 manic laps remaining. And it was ON, the best drivers in the sport letting it all hang out with the most important trophy in the sport on the line, and the result was a show that captured the imagination of the massive audience.
And when it was over, there was Montoya, the fearless Colombian, crossing the start-finish line and puncturing the air with his right fist.
“This is what racing and IndyCar is all about,'' a beaming Montoya said as he stood in the winner's circle and shared swigs of milk with his children.
All week long, we worried about automotive carnage, about cars going airborne, and we wondered how the new technology might react when it was introduced to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for the very first time in traffic. High anxiety? Absolutely. But while there were crashes and injuries – specifically to pit-crew members – the thing this race will be remembered for was the racing. The smart, clean, awe-inspiring racing. (Except for one silly attempt by Takuma Sato to pass on the outside on the first lap, taking out dark horse hopeful Sage Karam. Karam would later call that a “bonehead move,'' and frankly, he was absolutely right).
Otherwise, it was a clinic in what racing ought to be, why it grabs our attention the way it does.
“I've never been here where I saw 15 laps at the end there where it could have been anybody's race,'' said team owner Roger Penske, who won his record 16th Indianapolis 500. “They raced clean, they passed, so there's something working.''
Said Kimball, the third-place finisher: “We put on a heck of a show.''
You think?
The race started in the choppiest way imaginable, and it foreboded a race that might be filled with yellows and general stop-and-start mayhem. Alex Tagliani was stuck for what seemed like forever when his car wouldn't go into gear at the start. Conor Daly's car started smoking and even experienced a small fire during the second parade lap, forcing Daly from the race lamentably early. Then, on that first lap, in that first turn, Sato tried to do something he shouldn't have been trying to do, and took out Karam in the process.
It appeared that the old gray lady would stay in a sour mood, just as she had been throughout most of the Month of May.
And then an unforgettable race broke out with 37 lead changes – the second-most all time -- and solid, hard-core racing.
The denouement began began in an ominous way, with a three-car crash that involved Sebastian Saavedra, Jack Hawksworth and Stefano Coletti, leaving a debris field the size of Iowa. But that tightened up the field, and set up a 15-lap shootout that had the massive crowd breathless and standing on its feet.
After some give and take and more give and take, Montoya finally passed Scott Dixon, the man who led most of the race – 84 laps, in fact.
Then, with three laps remaining, Montoya eventually got the best of Power, another front-runner for long stretches of the afternoon.
And that was that.
“(I knew I'd won) when I got through (turns) three and four,'' Montoya said. “I came out of turn two, Will pushed, I had to push, the gap got bigger. Turn four, he wasn't close. `G-a-a-a-h-d, I've got this!' I was screaming. I was so happy.''
“The only thing I could have done was not lead,'' Power said. “And I understand the car, I just had too much push when he got by. I had to lift on that last lap. I couldn't get close enough because I ran a little less downforce than him.''
Imagine what kinds of numbers Montoya would have put up in IndyCar if he hadn't left the series in 2000 to pursue a career in Formula-1. It's mind-boggling. Even more mind-boggling, Montoya's victory came 15 years after his other Indy 500 victory, the longest gap between wins in 500 history. That was a different Montoya back then, single, childless. This time, he could celebrate and enjoy his spoils with his wife and children, all of them taking turns sipping the milk in the winner's circle.
Different Montoya, VERY different Indianapolis 500 victory. The first one in 2000 was a breeze. He just showed up and blew everybody off the track, leading 167 of 200 laps that day. This one was work, hard work. Early on, he engaged with Simon deSilvestro, leaving him with a broken piece of the aerokit hanging off the back and flapping in the wind. At one point, he was in 30th place. But he kept moving up, kept tweaking the car, and by the end, he appeared to have the best car in the field.
As expected, Chevy's dominated. As expected, as usual, Penske dominated. But while the Penske people would tell you that Simon Pagenaud had the best car of the Penske foursome, it was Montoya's car, which just kept getting better and better and more dialed in as the day went on, that was the best at day's end. Had a little something to do with the driver, too, by the way. Drove the wheels off it, as they say.
Good stuff. Great stuff. Unless you were Helio Castroneves, who said the following to George Montgomery of Fox Sports Radio:
“Honestly I'd rather go airborne than get to the last 15 laps of this race just to see the level of aggressiveness,'' Castroneves said. “I am not happy with these guys. I don't care if they crash each other they can go ahead and hurt themselves, but when they put me into that scenario that is when I get upset, but we have to keep moving on.”
“…The last 15 laps or the last 20 laps and the restarts it was absolutely crazy! In fact, I got damage on my front wing. It is insane! Road course rage sometimes but not on the oval.''
Looked like epic racing to me.
Am I alone here?