The field for the 97th Indy 500 is set

My son and I got to spend most of Saturday at IMS and were able to watch a bunch of action as we

dodged showers, worked around his baseball schedule and enjoyed a get-together with our family (today). If you don't like IndyCar or any racing, this post won't interest you...but J should have a curling playoff post up soon as the general public demands it to be so.

There weren't a ton of surprises at the track this weekend...but one of the few shockers was atop the board.  Ed Carpenter has always been pretty fast at Indy, but I thought Andretti or Penske would place one of their drivers on the pole; Carpenter would have none of that.

Andretti Motorsport has been fast all month...and they were still fast on Saturday, but Carpenter was faster.  Carpenter is a guy that Indianapolis likes.  Indy loves Kanaan because he's in the line of Raul Boesel and Scott Goodyear; He's been good-to-great at the 500, but hasn't gotten his likeness on the Borg Warner (yet).  When he took the lead last year, the crowd erupted. But Carpenter's a bit different because he's everyman...kinda.

Carpenter graduated from Butler and calls Indy his home...and Donald Davidson calls him a throwback driver because he doesn't run the full circuit, lives in Indy, isn't a rockstar and is a family man. In fact, I have been at a playground with one of my kids and Carpenter was there with his.  Without a sleek machine moving at a high rate of velocity, or a fire suit or bobble head-like helmet on his dome, he's an average Joe.

But he's in the line of John Andretti- he's got connections that surely don't hurt him...in fact, just like Andretti's name allowed him to have a longer career than most drivers with his record of success, Carpenter's stepdad, Tony George, has helped his career along...but merely having a famous name or money behind you doesn't guarantee that you can go fast (ammiright, Kyle Petty? You're welcome NASCAR fans).

Carpenter triumphed in the gimmicky, but entertaining, Fast 9 format on Saturday...so he will lead rookie Carlos Munoz, of the Andretti stable, and Marco Andretti in the front row.  Andretti landing on the front row wasn't surprising...Michael's son not being P1 was.  Munoz handling the pressure and changing conditions was also a little surprising...but Chevy power plus talented engineers and crews leads to success this year at the brickyard.

It's pretty obvious that Chevy power has a bit of an unfair advantage this year...you have to go all the way to Taglian, starting in 11th position, to find the first Honda powerplant in the field. Maybe Hondas will better better in traffic a week from now; at this point we don't know. What we do know is that the best-prepared, best-trained Hondas in the field, those of Ganassi's team, will do everything possible to be in contention around lap 200...and I'd be pretty shocked if Dixon's fuel management or Franchitti's savvy style don't land either or both of them in the top-5.  But my darkhorse is Ryan Briscoe. Hey- a true darkhorse shouldn't have high expectations (check), shouldn't be a media darling (check) and should be generally quiet and steady during the practices leading up to the race (check).

Briscoe has seemed like a guy who's lost his confidence, at least from an outsiders view, for a while now.  But he has a ton of ability...he's finished in the top-5 at Indy multiple times and is on a Ganassi team; they know how to win here.

Buddy Lazier made the field...kinda by default.  The only good thing about him being in this field is that he's a pretty steady guy behind the wheel who doesn't make many mistakes.  I think he'll struggle on race day since he no longer races regularly and doesn't have a full-time team behind him. The good news is that he's at the back of the field, so he won't get in the way as some of the low-qualified madmen make moves early to get up front.  Look for Sato, Rahal and Saavedra to all make a mad dash forward...at the same time, Bell, Briscoe and Pagenaud will patiently pick their spots and move up.  Both groups, of course, will need to have a bit of luck on their side.

The guy that makes the most-nervous at the top of the field is Munoz because of something he did yesterday in practice- he attempted to pass Tony Kanaan down low...a similar move put Sato into the wall late in last year's race; but Sato had the good sense to wait until late in the race to try something like that. Viso and Allmendinger also make me a bit nervous up in the top two rows; not because they can't drive fast, but because patience isn't either of their strengths...and they'll be surrounded by some stone-cold assassins.

The field is deep with talent- former NASCAR, CART, IndyCar, F3 and F1 winners and contenders are sprinkled throughout the field.  A few IndyLights up-and-comers, a few guys that seem to just look and feel like future greats and a handful of hall-of-famers make up the majority of the field. There was no bumping on Sunday; only 34 car/driver combos were even available...but Jourdain's car was a dog and neither he nor Graham Rahal could squeeze enough speed out of it as it dragged on the ground (literally) with suspension problems during Sunday afternoon practice laps.

I would have loved to see Busch or Tony Stewart cross over into the series and try to enter a DW12 chassis into the field...I'd love to see someone like Hamilton or Massa take a crack at this circuit.  But as we all know, the money in the league isn't like it was in the late 80s early 90s, so those types of crossovers aren't likely.  But on the other end of the spectrum, a gun-shy Mike Conway or Dr. Jack Miller-type of entry didn't bump anybody out either...and mercifully, there are no Lotus entries.

Sure, I miss the days in which Bump Day was furious with activity as 40 cars scrambled for 33 spots...I also miss having hair on the top of my head; times change.

The field has been more star-studded than 2013's, and has been much weaker as well; but right now, IndyCar is a good product. Races are competitive, talent level is high and the product is entertaining. Sorry NASCAR fans- I know there isn't enough rubbing, blocking, competitions yellows or teaming up for your liking, but that's why there are multiple leagues. There's something out there for everybody, I guess.

I'm looking forward to next Sunday as Indianapolis does what it does best- Entertaining hundreds of thousands of guests from out of town, as the world watches.

96th Indy 500 Review

The Indy 500 is the largest single-day event event in the world...and, in spite of my blood flowing with gold and black hues, it's my favorite one.

My Dad and my Grandpas all served in the military...I wasn't brave enough to make that decision.  But Indy's pre-race Memorial Day activities always remind me how I'm standing on the shoulders of these, and other great men just by living my life in our great country.  If you've never been to IMS for a race, I'm sorry you haven't, but TV doesn't capture the event like being there. From patriotic songs, to taps, to "Back Home Again in Indiana" to when the flag finally drops, it's a day that strikes every chord for me.

Yesterday though, a surprise completely shocked and moved me just prior to the race.

Back Home

As it is each year, taps was played prior to the race.  But, toward the end of simple and moving tune, Dan Wheldon's car that won the race one year ago pulled slowly out of the pits for a lap. I looked around at my family and friends and all were visibly moved.  The car continued slowly around the track as "Back Home Again" played...and I'm sure most in the stands, like me, had no clue that the bright orange and white machine was going to soon pass by.

It was a bit ghastly, but at the same time, it was perfect...the car was the same, but the helmet in the cockpit had a waving British flag to pay tribute to the two-time champ who died in a crash at the end of last season.

Then came the race.

Right away, in our Row 1 seats in the SW Vista, we could tell the new chassis had changed the dynamics of the race. When the green flag dropped, the cars didn't have quite the speed coming into one as they used to.  Granted, they were still fast, but not as fast. I'd estimate the cars were entering one about 10 or 15 MPH slower than before...but the increased downforce coupled withe the slower speeds allowed cars and drivers to come into the turn in tight packs.  This made me nervous as this used to be a formula for a wreck, but time and again, all of the cars in the field would come away unscathed in this formation.

The Lotus machines were, unsurprisingly, notably slower than the rest of the field.  They were so slow in fact, they were both black flagged about ten laps into the race.  While I agree that the more engine manufacturers, the better, or this and any other series, but putting my Mazda3's engine in the field might produce similar results.  At this point, Lotus doesn't belong racing at Indy, or anywhere else on the IndyCar circuit.  They don't compete...and that's what racing is about.

The race had long stretches of green flag action...and the most lead changes ever in the 96 year history of the event.  The new aero package of the cars made it easier to use the draft of the car in front and slingshot by than ever before...so time and again, a driver would take the lead only to see it relinquished about 2.5 miles later.

It was Briscoe v. Hinchcliffe...then Andretti...then Sato and the Ganassi machines; battling back and fourth, and much of the action happened right in front of the seats that I'm blessed to sit in each year.

After getting pushed into a 180 spin in the pits by Viso, Franchitti fell to around 28th position (I believe).  In front of him, was a field that included a ton of Indy vets and machines that were pretty evenly matched.

After a month of domination by Chevy power, Honda and its teams flexed their collective muscle.  As the red Ganassi cars and Japanese darkhorse, Takuma Sato were the story for much of the second half of the 200-lap classic.

A couple stories that I liked watching were these: Mike Conway, who had struggled to find speed at Indy since his catastrophic, back-breaking wreck at the end of the race a few years ago, once again competed.  He rushed up the field into the top-10.  But, he got loose in one and collected the unlucky-at-Indy Will Power in a nasty looking wreck.  Like his last big collision at Indy, this one took him into the air and into the fence, topside first.  But thankfully, he walked way.

Conway and Power narrowly avoiding disaster

The wreck really began a few laps earlier- after Conway's torrent pace, his pit crew had some problems that led to slight damage to the front wing and a rattled English driver. Both of Foyt's machines did not finish.

Another guy I'm a fan of is local driver and Butler alum, Ed Carpenter. He had a pretty lousy month.  But, he did what he does at Indy and climbed the leader board to the top-5.  With about 30 laps remaining, it seemed that Carpenter was ready to win the race...and he got aggressive, in turn one time and began mixing it up with the bluebloods of the field.  I loved what I saw from him- he was selling out in order to win the race; something that became a recurring theme.  But, after pushing a bit too hard, his run at the lead ended in a spin in the short shoot between one and two...after changing tires, and probably his undergarments, he re-entered the race at the back of the active field.

Marco Andretti, who was my pick coming into the race, had the lead often in the early going...but his car went away from him a bit.  And in the closing laps, pushing for a higher position from sixth, he lost the car into the outside wall.

Tony Kanann, the clear fan favorite was in the lead at that point...but relinquished the lead after the wreck. The crowd was visibly excited to see the Brazilian atop the board.  An illegal, but crafty and gritty jump coming off of a yellow thrust TK from fifth to first just laps before.  His car wasn't as fast as the Honda-powered Ganassi rides...but he wanted the win, however possible.

Dixon and Franchitti, their race strategists and their pit crews earned the P1 and P2 positions for much of the closing stanza of the race.  Like Penske usually does, this veteran team was simply dialed in...and it looked like one of them would take the Borg Warner trophy.  But Sato had other ideas.

Franchitti's defining moment of the race

With a few laps left, Sato passed Dixon...putting him in second position; and his sites were set on the (then) two-time champ Scotsman. With one lap left, Sato saw a small sliver of opportunity and he went for the kill in turn one.  He went very low, Franchitti didn't leave him a ton of room, but the end result was Sato nose-first into the wall...and Franchitti claiming his third win; putting him in truly elite company.  But this wasn't just his third win, it was his third in six years.  Astounding.

I used to be more of a fan of Franchitti, but he seems to think he's above the fray of the rest of the drivers and lays blame at everyone else's feet time and again. Atop of that, his wife is simply unbearable for me.  She rode the coat tails of her talented mother and sister to earn fame. She rode the coat tails of Kentucky basketball to generate more buzz, and now she follows the wake of her husband to get more facetime.  She's  a good-looking woman that I don't like looking at because I find her to be so syrupy that it's nauseating.

So I didn't like seeing Mr. Judd winning the race yesterday.  I was rooting for Sato, Dixon, Andretti, Carpenter...hell, even wildman Servia would have been better.  The feeling I had was like when Fittipaldi would win back in the 90s; kinda empty.

But still, the race was great. And even though the cars weren't as fast as I'd like them to have been, and some of my favorite drivers ended up as DNFs and also-rans, I left IMS sunburnt and satisfied in the sweltering 93 degree Indiana heat.

Monday Gumbo; Pre-Indy 500 Edition

Big Jay Gets Screwed...Again
Jay Simpson had surgery on his foot recently following breaking his foot a few weeks ago.  In spite of needing surgery to repair the break, his docs still say he'll be available for the trip to Italy with his Boiler teammates. I'd venture a guess though, with two months out of commission, Jay will exhibit some rust come early August.  He says he's currently about 10 pounds heavier than he'd like to be...so getting in shape for the '12/'13 season, while not impossible, will be difficult for Purdue's 6'9" Freshman PF.

This isn't the first time Simpson has had to have surgery on a foot; a few years ago, he had similar surgery on the other foot.

In November, Simpson joins a youthful, but talented frontcourt with fellow Freshman, Hammons and Hale, along with Sophomore, Jacob Lawson and Juniors, Carroll and Marcius.

Still Champs...But...
The Baseball Boilers dropped their first series of the B1G season in Iowa over last weekend.  The sub-.500 Hawkeyes managed to score at least 6 runs in all three games of Purdue's final series of the regular season.  Now, Purdue heads into the B1G tourney as the #1 seed in the conference...but needs to play well in an effort to host a round in the NCAA tourney.

Back on the Team
OJ Ross practiced all Spring without a schollie for the Hope's team after academic problems and enigmatic behavior put the starting behavior in the doghouse.  Dwayne Beckford had another run-in with the law during the winter that forced him out of Spring practice and off of the team.

Both players have had their scholarships re-instated...but make no mistake, both cases aren't the same.

Ross, while exhibiting some laziness, both on and off the field probably should be given another chance to play in the fall.  Purdue's receiving corps desperately needs stability and experience...especially with Antavian Edison's status still a question mark following his arrest in Florida earlier this month.

But, Beckford, in my opinion, has had more than enough opportunities to stay out of trouble, and simply hasn't been able to do so. I think Hope really wants to see the kid graduate...and I appreciate that idea. But, as we saw at the end of Tiller's time at Purdue, letting guys who repeatedly break the law does no good for the program in the longrun...and really doesn't do much good for that individual either.

While Purdue needs help at LB even more than WR, I'd rather not see #3 playing for my alma mater in the fall...but I'm not the guy who makes the call (obviously).

Edison's weapons charge in Florida still has a ton of ways it can go.  Who knows if Antavian was unaware of the weapon in the car, if it was his or if he tried to deflect some of the attention off of his uncle (who is already a convicted felon)...regardless, this seems like a really dumb situation to be caught in...and if he gets off with misdemeanor charges and a plea (which I think he will), hopefully, he never puts himself in this position again.  Unlike Beckford, Edison has never been in trouble with the law before this incident...but if he's charged/convicted with a felony weapons charge, he'll surely be off the team and kicked out of school.

Spake or Steele? Everyone's a Winner here
I'm a big fan of blonde-haired sports reporters with dimples. Weird, I know.

I think Samantha Steele is one of the best in the business...she's knowledgeable and very good to look at as well.  But racing fans, specifically NASCAR fans know Shannon Spake...and probably like her quite a bit.  IndyCar fans have Jamie Little (I'm not a huge fan).

But in a cage match for on-field (or on track) supremacy, who wins- Spake or Steele? Weigh in on the upper right of the page on this week's poll.

No losers in this competition

No-Bump Bump Day
I spent two afternoons at IMS in the last three days...and gathered some more opinions of my favorite form of racing...here are some nuggets.

Bourdais' new paintjob is badass.

-The extra boost used to help make quals and practice faster and more entertaining did exactly what it was supposed to do.  BUT, I don't think it's a coincidence that there were four crashes in that period.

The new chassis, as it's configured now has a ton of downforce and makes it easier to drive.  The combo of additional horsepower and taking out as much wing as possible led to some pretty dramatic wrecks.

-Before a few teams left Lotus to seek some engines that would actually compete at Indy and everyplace else on the circuit, it was tough to find an extra engine in the IndyCar garages.

After a few of those Chevys went backend-first into the outside walls, the engine shortage became an even bigger deal.  The end result was a Bump Day at IMS that had exactly 33 driver/car combos...and four or five drivers left with their hats in their hands as they sought rides to get into the show.  Next year, with another year of development, and hopefully the loss of Lotus and another manufacturer (i.e. Ford or Mazda?) coming into the league, Bump Day should return to where it was in 2011 and before.

-I'm all for safety of the drivers...but let's look at what racing really is at its core: Go as fast as possible and beat your competition.  That principle is no longer in play in any of the major racing leagues in the world.

NASCAR machines were going 205+ in the 90s...CART had cars that would do close to 250 on a straight-away in the 70s and 80s (sure, they couldn't turn at anywhere near that speed) and F1 continues to take away aero advantages to make driving the car more of a challenge (I'm actually a fan of this as it seems much of F1 racing is out of the drivers' hands)...

The point is IndyCar needs to get back to the days in which teams were encouraged to innovate and press for speed. Sure, that idea led to a Buick that went 236 mph...but couldn't hold up for more than 40 laps of race conditions; but isn't that the point? Everything in racing is about risk/reward.

Allowing the teams to change aero packages next year is a good step forward...and hopefully, with another year of development, the Honda and Chevy engines will be able to get closer to 230 again. But the fact that multiple drivers were over 235 mpg 20 years ago, and can barely crack 225 now makes fans like me long for "the good ole' days".

That said, I still love IndyCar and the month of May at IMS.

IndyCar's Last Stop Before The Big One

Since five or six of you guys actually like IndyCar, I thought I'd write down a few thoughts of the season so far.

First off, let's talk about the Sao Paulo race that just happened yesterday, shall we?  That looks to be the tightest course in the IndyCar series...not many places to pass...but, that didn't mean the race was uneventful or boring. In fact, there were a ton of attempts to pass, lots of aggressive driving and yet another entertaining race.

The Field Is Set

Today, Lil' Boilerdowd and all of the males in the Boilerdowd family headed to IMS to watch Bump Day. It was LBD's first visit to the track with cars running...and he fought off feeling a little under the weather to enjoy a pretty eventful afternoon of qualifying. An added bonus to the day, was that I got to connect with fellow Purdue Blogger, race fan and all-around good dude, T-Mill for the afternoon, and Mrs. T-Mill* to boot.

I'm going to try not to bore you non-race fans with too much of this...and for those of you who think I shouldn't be writing this because it's supposed to be all-Purdue sports, all the time- let me remind you of a few things. First, it's not your site. Second, we never said the site would be only Purdue sports...and actually, four years ago, we wrote a lot more about non-Purdue sports than now. But, this time of year, as the Purdue news continues to slow to the pace of molasses out of the tap at winter in Vermont, we're left with few options. But I digress.



Growing up in Indy, my brothers and I loved CART/Indy Car racing. And outside of race day, one of our favorite track visits each year was Bump Day. While I'm not a fan of the shootout format adopted this year, Bump Day is still, with a few tweaks, as dramatic as it was 20 years ago.

If you watched it on TV, you know there were some questionable moves toward the end of the day that left Paul Tracy and others on the outside looking in. But, the best drama for me and many others was watching Tony Kanaan and his team do everything possible with a machine (or two maybe) that simply has not been right since the team arrived at the greatest track in the world.

I love this guy, but have never met him. I'm not typically like this about athletes, but I am just a big fan TK. In fact, when he came out for his qual run around 5:25 today, I was nervous for him.

Years ago, my Dad was good friends with a driver who had some good years at Indy, but had some struggles toward the end of his driving career. One recurring theme during that period was a mad dash to get a ride, shake it down and qualify it, all in about 5 hours on Bump Day. Our family's hopes and heartbreak on those Sundays rode along with Johnny Parsons, Jr.

It felt weirdly-similar today as we watched Kanaan scramble and struggle. And as he turned four very-fast laps and placed himself solidly into the field, it was tough not to admire the grit and struggle of this guy and his team.

Sure, J Money mocks race fans as a blood-thirsty bunch whose passion for Indy Car, Neckcar or other leagues is nothing more than a love of twisted metal and splintered carbon fiber. But, the nuance of racing is what I love. Today was a great example of why the little details and moments during a race weekend make it great to me.

I've said it before, The Indianapolis 500 isn't my first love in sports, you all know what that is. But I love the month of May in Indy (or at least two weeks, for now) and if nothing else, it's a diversion as I pine my time until the fall.

*photo might or might not be Mrs. T-Mill

Why I love the 500

I've been out of town for a week and haven't been able to post on the happenings of my favorite sporting event...From bump day to rained-out carb day and finally the 92nd running of the greatest race in the world, the Indy 500. My honest opinion about this year's contest, from the perspective of the Southwest Vista Row A, would have to be that I have seen much more exciting races and even much better-driven races.

That said, Scott Dixon was in the same category of Tony Kanaan coming into Sunday as a veteran that kept the IRL going during the lean years...A guy who is a very good driver that I really wanted to see on the Borg Warner trophy. So, I'm very pleased about the outcome of this year's race. But, most of the passing seemed to occur in the straights and the pit crews did great jobs making up positions during the race...so we didn't see as much racing as in quite a few of the previous races I've seen. With the exception of Dan Wheldon jumping all over Dixon following yellow flags (which I didn't understand), the passing was minimal in turn one. The drivers further attested to this by calling one "hairy" and extremely tough this year. It could be the fact that they've remodeled the corner so aggressively to prepare for the Moto GP race in September. I don't know...but the passing was sparse in our area...so were the wrecks which is always a good thing. But overall, there was plenty of sloppy driving that led to a lot of avoidable yellows.

Graham Rahal, who I find talented but very arrogant along with the less-than-talented Marty Roth both lost control of their cars in similar fashion in four. TK got into the marbles, and no-thanks to his team mate Andretti, couldn't recover and collected the innocent bystander Fisher in the mess. That wreck could have been catastrophic as these cars are not made to withstand nose-to-side impact...Luckily, Fisher avoided a much harder collision by acting quickly and braking while diving to the inside. Most notably because of Danica's antics, Ryan Briscoe left his pit and lost his tailend into the #7 Motorola machine of the cute-but-bitchy Patrick. She of course stormed down pit road and I guess was preparing to rumble with Briscoe, but security wouldn't allow it much to the chagrin of the 400K in the stands.

My feelings about Danica are these: If she's going to push and shove other drivers (a la Wheldon in '06) and get in their faces following mistakes on the course, she had better bring her brass knuckles because when guys like Paul Tracy, A.J. Foyt and others have acted that way in the past, things have escalated. Once you physically address someone, you've decided to take it to the next level...and she's done that on multiple occasions. She may eventually see her pretty face get bruised if she's not careful in coming months/years.

Sorry for the J-Money-esque length of this entry...but I'm not done yet.

Onto the greater Spectacle...
Alright, IMS, for me, is like Ross Ade stadium. I grew up there and have been fond of the place since I can remember. My family had a rule that we couldn't go to a race until we turned 10...Since then, I've missed two races- one because I had to move my wife out to the Northeast following our nuptuals and the second because my cousin got married on the day of the race. Outside of the 21 races I've attended, I've been to days of practice, quals and numerous carb days...I love this form of racing. Furthermore, I must...because honestly, I can't stand many of the elements within IMS during the events. The fact that I am guarded taking my wife to the track says a lot...On a recent visit, a guy that looked like the lead man of House of Pain heckled my sister-in-law as we left the track. I can't stand that garbage...and if people want to be trashy, good for them. But, when their drunk behavior spills over into other people's witnessing of the event, that's a bad deal.

It seems that about a third of those who attend events at the track have no idea that cars are even involved at the venue...but they keep coming back sadly. I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I'm a racing dork. I love prognosticating about whose car is going away as the race progresses or watching drivers size another up for an imminent pass. The racing, the speed and even the smell of rubber and now Ethanol combined are all parts of the event that keep me coming back.

That said, what occurs before the race might be equally important for me. I love the fact that Memorial Day is an important part of race day. Real heroes are paraded around the 2.5 mile circuit...Some old, some young, but all worthy of more cheering than a New Zealander, Brazilian or American who is only circling the same track for their own recognition. The playing of taps, the fly over and the singing of God Bless America always bring me to tears...as I feel so blessed to have been born where I was born when I was born. Even Jim Nabors welcoming me home gets me sobbing.

Now, following the meaningful pageantry of honoring America's fallen fighting men and women with the fact that the race is electric is an amazing emotional reversal for me. I have to gather myself, dry my wet eyes as they announce the command for the machines to roar to life. The parade laps are great, as we wish the drivers well...But the first time the field of 33 rips through one, it's like a roller coaster ride for me. The flash of color, intense loud noise, the sheer speed of the machines, the aroma in the air and the possibility of danger all make my heart pound.

I've brought people to the race that simply don't understand my excitement for the event...that's alright...but my love for it hasn't ebbed and flowed even as I watched Mario retire or Marco race his first. To me, this event, this spectacle is greater than any single driver and always will be. Media outlets have told me the excitement is back at Indy...I don't know what they've been watching, but for me, it never left.