Joe Soriano
O.J. LewisDixon Kisses the Bricks at Indy
May 25th 2008 23:48
Scott Dixon drinks the milk and kisses the bricks of Indy.
2009 Indianapolis 500 Results and Wrap Up
Ganassi Target driver Scott Dixon became the 19th person to win the Indianapolis 500 from the pole.
The race was filled with 8 cautions along the way and included some unusual crashes while under cautions. The race started off with Ganassi target drivers Dixon and Dan Wheldon exchanging the lead by lap three. Then on lap seven the first caution flag was waved for debris, the #18 car of Bruno Junqueira lost its right-side mirror on the track. This is when the first odd incident happened while under caution, Sarah Fisher, in the #67 car, was trying to warm-up her tires, the problem was she was entering into the turn at the time. This caused her to spin off into the grass. Luckily for her she didn’t hit anything and after a pit stop came out two laps down.
On lap 35 Dixon and Wheldon started lapping cars on the track. Soon after, on lap 36 the next caution flag would wave, this time for Graham Rahal who had hit the outside wall. This would finish Rahal’s day. While coming out of his pit stall A.J. Foyt IV’s car spit fuel out, which instantly caught fire. Foyt the IV was immediately sprayed with the flame retardant and got out of the car to take a breather. He seemed fine and would return to the race.
The next caution (#3) flew on lap 62 when the oldest driver in the race, Marty Roth would also hit the wall. His debris field flew out and damage Helio Castroneves’s front wing. His crew would replace it without incident. Roth’s day was done. The race didn’t stay quiet for long as caution flag #4 would wave on lap81 after Jaime Camara tagged the wall.
On lap 94 someone not in a Ganassi Target car would finally lead the race when Tony Kanaan moved into the front spot. History has shown when Tony Kanaan is in the lead bad luck usually strikes. The 92nd running of the Indy 500 was no exception. Kanaan had slowed a bit, and his Andretti Green Racing teammate Marco Andretti would get below him late going into turn three. This caused Kanaan to have to get too high and up into “the marbles.” This cause him to spin, he somehow managed to keep it off the wall and just when it looked like he could drive away from the incident his car turned sharp to the left, back down the track. Sarah Fisher came along and t-boned Kanaan. Both drivers were treated at the car center and physically ok. Fisher however was emotionally crushed. She is also team owner of her race team, a team that has almost no budget, and had a sponsor back out on them at the last minute as they came into Indy for the race. In Kanaan’s interview he made it clear he was not happy with Marco’s move on the track.
The next incident happened under this caution. The #41 car of Jeff Simmons crashed into the outside wall, bounced down the track and into the inside wall. He was done.
On lap 120 race officials warn Danica Patrick about blocking as she tried to hold off Castroneves. A lap later we had another new leader, Marco Andretti. On lap 133 the 7th caution of the day came out when rookie Justin Wilson smacked the wall.
Going back to green rookie Mario Moreas led them to the restart. He didn’t stay on point for long. Andretti was passing him when Dixon shot from third past both of them to retake the lead with Andretti in second, and Moreas falling deep into the field.
The next yellow flag came out when Alex Lloyd bumped the outside wall then bounced down the track and into the pits where he hit the pit road wall and came to a stop after crashing through the speed indicator pylons. Luckily no one at the start of pit road was over the wall, the first people in danger were track officials abut halfway down the strip. Tomas Scheckter wouldn’t come out of the pits this time. After driving well all day near or in the top 10, his car had a broken driveshaft and went back to the garage.
On this restart Vitor Meira who had been driving toward the front all race made a bold move between two cars and pulled into the lead. With 38 laps to go Castroneves moved up to third place. Then on lap 168 while driving n 19th Milka Duno spins out and crashes. It would bring out the 8th caution and bring her day to an end.
During this caution there was trouble in the pits. Danica Patrick had made her stop and was driving in the outside lane to exit pit road when Ryan Briscoe’s car dropped to the ground and he spun his tires to get out of his pit box he slid out a bit. Patrick’s rear tire crashed into his car breaking her right-rear suspension. For the first time in her four Indy 500s Danica would not finish. Patrick was not at all happy with Briscoe, she got out of her car and started her way down pit road to Briscoe’s pit. She was walking with a purpose. As a PR person was trying to catch her from behind to stop her she realized Danica was moving too fast. So the PR person hopeed the wall and got the head of security at the track who was luckily nearby. He climbed over the wall and talked to Danica as they walked. When he saw an opening he got her to turn and go over the wall instead of continuing on. She was escorted back to her team’s control center to cool down.
Coming out of the pits it was Dixon, Meira, and Castroneves 1-2-3. With 23 laps to go Helio was warned for blocking while trying to stay ahead of Marco Andretti.
With 20 laps to go the top five was Dixon, Meira, Castroneves, and Andretti, followed by rookie Hideki Mutoh. Andretti finally made the pass of Helio for third with 12 to go. At 10 to go the only change in the top five was Mutoh out and Ed Carpenter into fifth, it was like this at five to go also. Meira was .7 seconds behind Dixon on lap 5, he did cut it to .4 on la four, but then missed one of his marks and it dropped to .6 seconds. This is when Dixon came up on lapped traffic. He made it through fairly easy while Meira was hung up a little. Scott Dixon then took the Checkered flag to win the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500. Meira was left with his second 2nd place finish at Indy. Dixon led 115 of the 200 laps and was never truly challenged by anyone for an extended period of time.
Marco Andretti would have to settle for third, followed by Castroneves, Ed Carenter, and the highest finishing rookie Ryan Hunter –Reay in sixth. After leading 30 laps, the second most, Dan Wheldon finished back in twelth place while Danica Patrick officially finished 22nd. Graham Rahal was listed in 33rd place after finishing just 36 laps. Others to lead laps were Ed Carpetner (3), Buddy Rice (8), Bruno Junqueira (2).
Dixon celebrated with his wife Emma, and car owner Chip Ganassi as they both drank the traditional milk, most of Dixon’s ended up over his head instead of in his mouth.
To me the race seemed like follow the leader for most of the day, Dixon being the leader. No one seemed to have enough to challenge him. Helio and Danica never got their cars just right. With challengers like Kanaan, Patrick, and those with familiar names Graham Rahal, and Foyt the IV being crashed out it just wasn’t all that exciting. I thought Meira or Marco Andretti might make it interesting near the end, but it just didn’t happen.
| 92nd Indianapolis 500 Results - 2008 | ||||||
| POS | DRIVER | # | MANUFACTURER | LAPS | START | LEAD |
| 1 | Scott Dixon | 9 | Honda | 200 | 1 | 115 |
| 2 | Vitor Meira | 4 | Honda | 200 | 8 | 12 |
| 3 | Marco Andretti | 26 | Honda | 200 | 7 | 15 |
| 4 | Helio Castroneves | 3 | Honda | 200 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | Ed Carpenter | 20 | Honda | 200 | 10 | 3 |
| 6 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 17 | Honda | 200 | 20 | 0 |
| 7 | Hideki Mutoh | 27 | Honda | 200 | 9 | 0 |
| 8 | Buddy Rice | 15 | Honda | 200 | 17 | 8 |
| 9 | Darren Manning | 14 | Honda | 200 | 14 | 0 |
| 10 | Townsend Bell | 99 | Honda | 200 | 12 | 0 |
| 11 | Oriol Servia | 5 | Honda | 200 | 25 | 0 |
| 12 | Dan Wheldon | 10 | Honda | 200 | 2 | 30 |
| 13 | Will Power | 8 | Honda | 200 | 23 | 0 |
| 14 | Davey Hamilton | 22 | Honda | 200 | 18 | 0 |
| 15 | Enrique Bernoldi | 36 | Honda | 200 | 29 | 0 |
| 16 | John Andretti | 24 | Honda | 199 | 21 | 0 |
| 17 | Buddy Lazier | 91 | Honda | 195 | 32 | 0 |
| 18 | Mario Moraes | 19 | Honda | 194 | 28 | 3 |
| 19 | Milka Duno | 23 | Honda | 185 | 27 | 0 |
| 20 | Bruno Junqueira | 18 | Honda | 184 | 15 | 2 |
| 21 | A.J. Foyt IV | 2 | Honda | 180 | 31 | 0 |
| 22 | Danica Patrick | 7 | Honda | 171 | 5 | 0 |
| 23 | Ryan Briscoe | 6 | Honda | 171 | 3 | 0 |
| 24 | Tomas Scheckter | 12 | Honda | 156 | 11 | 0 |
| 25 | Alex Lloyd | 16 | Honda | 151 | 19 | 0 |
| 26 | Ernesto Viso | 33 | Honda | 139 | 26 | 0 |
| 27 | Justin Wilson | 2 | Honda | 132 | 16 | 0 |
| 28 | Jeff Simmons | 41 | Honda | 112 | 24 | 0 |
| 29 | Tony Kanaan | 11 | Honda | 105 | 6 | 12 |
| 30 | Sarah Fisher | 67 | Honda | 103 | 22 | 0 |
| 31 | Jaime Camara | 34 | Honda | 79 | 30 | 0 |
| 32 | Marty Roth | 25 | Honda | 59 | 33 | 0 |
| 33 | Graham Rahal | 6 | Honda | 36 | 13 | 0 |
| 90 |
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