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| Start of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 |
The 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 may have produced the best finish of any 500 ever. It may have been one of the best finishes of a race ever. It was definitely the best Indy 500 I have ever watched.
Besides the first double-file restarts in the 500, there was little to be desired during the first 100 laps. Ganassi teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon traded the lead back and forth the entire time. Pole sitter Alex Tagliani led some laps too, but later hit the wall coming out of Turn 4 and ruined his race.
The excitement began when Ryan Briscoe crashed on lap 168 and brought out the yellow flag. All cars would have to pit just once more, but just Dario Franchitti and J.R. Hildebrand came in and pitted.
-This was something that I didn’t understand. Why not pit now? I knew at this point that it would either be Franchitti or Hildebrand that would win.
With 20 laps left, Scott Dixon came into pit road and surrendered the lead to Danica Patrick, with Tomas Sheckter in 2nd, Ed Carpenter 3rd, Bertrand Baguette in 4th, Marco Andretti in 5th, Franchitti 6th, and Hildebrand 7th.
15 laps left and Danica still lead, but was being caught by Bertrand Baguette. Baguette took the lead over with 12 laps left. At this point, Sheckter had made his pit stop, so Andretti moved up to 3rd; Franchitti was 4th, and Hildebrand 5th.
10 laps left and Baguette still lead the race. Patrick and Andretti came in for their pits stops, which meant Franchitti was in 2nd and Hildebrand was 3rd.
-At this point you could actually hear that Franchitti was running about half throttle. I told my brother that Hildebrand was catching up and running full out, which you could see and hear. I knew that all Hildebrand had to do was pass Franchitti and he would win. We were both ecstatic.
5 to go and Baguette still lead, with Franchitti in 2nd, but Hildebrand was right behind him. Hildebrand got around Franchitti right as Baguette came into pit.
4 to go, 3 to go, 2 to go, and finally the white flag. The 300,000 thousand fans in attendance were about to see history be made. JR Hildebrand drove his car around Turn 1, then Turn 2, then onto the backstretch, with the crowd going crazy. He dove into Turn 3 and came into Turn 4 on the high line to pass a slower car. Then WHAM!
Hildebrand was in the wall. Hildebrand was had crashed in Turn 4. For just those few seconds as the thousands watched, there was a humongous “gasp” and silence. Then Dan Wheldon, who had come from nowhere, crossed the finish in 1st place. He had won the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
Hildebrand’s car slid across the finish line in 2nd place. He climbed out of his wrecked car and just sat on the ground. It’s impossible for me to imagine what was going through his mind. He could see the checkered flag, he could see the $2.5 million paycheck, and then he saw it all disappear.
For two hours after the race, race officials met and talked about the finish of the race. They finally declared Wheldon the official winner, but it would have been kinda awkward to take the victory away after he celebrated. The controversy was that Hildebrand’s crash could have, and maybe should have, brought out a caution immediately. Instead, Wheldon passed Hildebrand, and then the caution flew.
In my opinion, the IndyCar officials let the finish play out, and threw the yellow flag when Wheldon passed Hildebrand. I’m not sure what would have happened had the yellow been thrown immediately when Hildebrand crashed. He still would have crossed the finish line, but not much besides that. I think the right decision was made though, Hildebrand made a mistake, and Wheldon capitalized.
The victory was Wheldon’s second Indy 500 victory and the first for team owner Brian Herta. Wheldon said after the race, "It's obviously unfortunate, but that's Indianapolis”. Truer words have never been said. It is Indianapolis, where the unexpected always happens.
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| Dan Wheldon passes JR Hildebrand |
Teams Penske and Ganassi had complete opposites of days. Ganassi drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, finished 12th and 5th, respectively, and lead for a combined 124 laps. Ganassi-affiliated drivers Graham Rahal finished 3rd, and lead six laps. Charlie Kimball finished 13th.
No Penske driver finished in the top 10, and led no laps. This had to be the worst 500 for Penske ever, except the year none of his drivers made it into the race.
It turned out to be a decent day for Andretti Autosports, which only had four of its five drivers in the race, one of which was in a car owned by another team. Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick finished 9th and 10th, respectively. John Andretti finished 22rd, and Ryan Hunter-Reay 23rd.
Tony Kanaan was the sole bright spot for his KV Racing Technology team. Kanaan finished 4th, but his teammates finished 32nd and 33rd.
Now, I’m sure you are all wondering how my predictions went.
I had picked Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Alex Tagliani to win. Well obviously that was a bit off. But those three combined to lead 144 laps and were running 1-2-3 for awhile.
I guaranteed no Penske driver would finish in the top 5, and that was right.
In my list of 8 drivers (excluding Ganassi or Penske) that had the best chance of winning, I failed to mention: JR Hildebrand, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan, Bertrand Baguette, Tomas Sheckter, all finished in the Top 10.
