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Tuesday, May 27
Updated: May 28, 4:02 PM ET
2003 Indy 500 in the books
By Robin Miller
Special to ESPN.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- The 87th Indianapolis 500 is history, just like anybody with a Chevrolet engine, but it's time for some reflections on what turned out to be yet another Penske Benefit.
Gil de Ferran, one of brightest, funniest and best drivers in open wheel racing the past 10 years, certainly deserved the victory since he lost in 2001 to teammate Helio Castroneves on the last pit stop exchange and had his 2002 chance end with a loose wheel. But he still might want to buy A.J. Foyt IV a nice steak dinner for running interference in Turn 2.
Before anybody gets too carried away with gushing adjectives to describe this race as a "classic," please remember that the top-five never changed during those final 31 laps because they were all running the same speed. Much like an oval race in CART in 2000-2001-2002 or a street race. Or the Brickyard 400. Sure it was close, but whomever got out first on that last pit stop was destined to win.
Sam Hornish Jr. showed his considerable skills by charging all the way to sixth place in his underpowered Chevrolet before it imploded. Hopefully, someone (Roger Penske?) will keep the two-time Indy Racing League champion in Indy cars and not let him escape to NASCAR.
The start of the Indy 500 has become a disgrace. Way too much space between rows and the leader is taking the green while the last row is still in the short chute. Brian Barnhart, IRL director of operations, needs to check some old Indy movies where all 11 rows were jammed on top of each other. These guys are supposed to be the best so start treating them like professionals and not a bunch of driving school hacks.
Castroneves' streak ended but another one stayed alive: Five straight foreign Indy winners (an American hasn't won here since Eddie Cheever in 1998 and he grew up in Italy and Formula One) and seven of the last nine.
Three former CART teams -- Penske, Ganassi and Andretti-Green -- dominated practice, qualifying and the race. Think Ron Hemelgarn, John Menard, John Barnes, Billy Boat and Robbie Buhl still like the IRL's direction?
Toyota not only won its Indy debut and ran 1-2, it powered seven of the Top 10, although Honda's Tony Kanaan turned in the fastest lap of the race (229-plus). Rookie Buddy Rice had the highest finishing Chevy (11th, one lap down).
Speaking of rookies, Tora Takagi (fifth), Tony Renna (seventh) and Roger Yasukawa (10th) certainly had impressive introductions to Indy. Takagi had a legitimate shot at winning and became the first Japanese driver to ever lead a lap at Indy, while Renna outshined Kelley teammates Scott Sharp and Al Unser Jr. all month.
There were many noticeable empty seats around the Speedway but probably no more than 10,000-12,000 all told.
Joe Negri of Chevrolet admitted afterwards: "I probably underestimated Toyota and Honda and we've got to regroup. But we're not giving up on this year. We've made a lot of progress since the beginning of the season but, unfortunately, so has our competition." Negri, whose company had won six straight Indy 500s before last Sunday, said that General Motors cannot accept what's happened and will definitely not be bailing at the end of 2003. "But I know this is a business and we've got to show progress to keep our customers. We've got to get this fixed."
After collecting $2 million from IMS, Roger Penske commented: "Open wheel racing is on more solid ground than it has been in the past." Gee, the visibility from the penthouse must be worse than we ever imagined.
A lot of people in Gasoline Alley would never admit it but they were thrilled Castroneves was denied his third straight win. Especially many of his fellow drivers. But, in the true irony of Indianapolis, it was easily Helio's best drive of the three and yet he didn't pull into Victory Lane.
Now that he's going to be on the Borg-Warner Trophy, maybe de Ferran will have his last name pronounced correctly by the IMS announcers. It's Gil (like Jack and Jill), not Gil (like McDougal).
Brazil, Brazil, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, USA. Order of finish. U.S. Grand Prix? Indy 500?
The race helped salvage an otherwise miserable May. Bump Day turned out to be Fill Day as it took four laps -- at any speed -- to make the orchestrated lineup. The only two days with good crowds were Carb Day and last Sunday. But five drivers chasing each other to the checkered flag is all you can ever hope for in 500 miles. At least it might soothe the sting of a $10 ticket increase and $7 handling charge. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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