So I was busy graduating pretty much all afternoon and I managed to miss the crap out of Pole Day. Then I fired up my internet and found out that I missed some pure, hardcore craziness. Seriously, look at the car Tony Kanaan was driving today!
Turns out Tony was unhappy with his car after two days of practice, and the team agreed that something drastic needed to be done. One of the advantages of being part of a rich, four-car team is that there are a lot of extra parts sitting around from which to build an entirely new car. Thus, we have the tub, sidepods, and engine cover from Hideki Mutoh's garage and wings from his own and from that is created the sixth-place starter for the 500-Mile Race. Nice work by the AGR folks.
One of the many mondo-surprises of the day was the man (yeah, I'll call him a man, even if he's younger than me) who, if he were a rookie, would've waltzed off with the Teo Fabi Award. Graham Rahal qualified fourth, and showed that Newman/Haas/Lanigan is seriously for real and, if they play their cards right, could pull in their first 500 victory in many tries. We already know Graham is a killer-good driver and N/H/L has showed that they have some fight in 'em this year, so the possibilities are endless.
Unfortunately, the other N/H/L car has apparently started a love affair with, and can't seem to stay away from the Turn 2 wall. Robert Doornbos, who had the Teo Fabi Award for Rookie Qualifying Excellence practically on his shelf, washed into the South Chute wall yesterday and spun his backup car into the Turn 2 wall before qualifying started. At this point, Doornbos will be lucky to get his car in the field on Day 2 of qualifying.
The other refreshing surprise of Pole Day (apart from Mario Moraes keeping it real for KV Racing) was Alex Lloyd pulling together some pink-moxie and putting his car in 11th to lock himself into the field. The pink-mobile is alive and well and I have a feeling a lot of people will become fans of it on May 24.
Oh, and Team Penske is still better than everyone. Helio Castroneves tap-danced his way into a well-deserved pole position.
Oh, and it was windy. Speeds were down today because the south end of the track was nearly impossible to navigate and cars were twitchy through Turn 2 the whole time
93rd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Starting Grid (as of 5/9):
1. Helio Castroneves 224.864
2. Ryan Briscoe 224.083
3. Dario Franchitti 224.010
4. Graham Rahal 223.954
5. Scott Dixon 223.867
6. Tony Kannan 223.612
7. Mario Moraes 223.331
8. Marco Andretti 223.114
9. Will Power 223.028
10. Danica Patrick 222.882
11. Alex Lloyd 222.622
In news that is completely, entirely awesome, I will be at the track tomorrow! I couldnt come to Opening Day because it was on a freaking Wednesday, and I couldn't get to Pole Day because I was graduating, so tomorrow will be my first time there this year. I'm looking forward to see what Paul Tracy does tomorrow, and I can't wait to see Sarah Fisher take to the track. Excitement abounds!
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