You need to focus on the big prize, which is the race.
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Eight rookies have won the Indianapolis 500. Sullivan regained the lead 20 laps later and won in the famous “spin and win” race. “Obviously I have to pass 17 people before I get really happy with my vehicle”, Kanaan told reporters after practice. “Hey, who is that guy?” he said of Moore, “He looks like he’s having fun”. “I remember seeing little clues. (I) have a lot of pride in the community that we have here, being kind of a hometown girl”. “I knew at that point there was a problem”. MacDonald’s flaming vehicle slid across the track into the path of Eddie Sachs.
The 100th Indianapolis 500 is here, so start your engines and rev up for an exciting weekend of the biggest single-day sporting event of the year. But the race is also marked by tragedy.
The first race was held in 1911 (it was not held in 1917 or 1918 and from 1942 to 1945). He was trying to buy a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, but General Motors didnt want to give a franchise to a race auto driver. His vehicle exploded into a fireball and slid back onto the track. They flashed the thumbs-up sign, and one of them exchanged a high-five with a lucky trackside sportswriter, who for a few wonderful moments had some of his ever-increasing cynism wiped away.
Almost 2,000 miles away, Rich MacDonald tried to flip on a TV and watch the rest of the Indy 500 that would be won by A.J. Foyt. But its drivers have struggled even more than Penske’s, and the common denominator is Chevrolet, which at a minimum has lost much of its advantage over rival Honda on this track. “That’s why it’s so busy this year”, said Speedway resident Jim Elliott. “All I knew was they kept talking about dad on TV”.
MacDonald’s mother, Sherry, was at the track that day.
With close to 400,000 fans expected to pack the Brickyard on Sunday, and swarm souvenir and concession stands, a record haul seems certain.
Rich MacDonald and Sherry; Sachs’ son, Eddie III, and Angela Savage, daughter of Swede Savage, the last driver to die in the race (1973), will all travel to the speedway this week and hope to pose for a group photo on the track. Savage died more than a month after the race. That’s what I think.
That mere thought made Castroneves reminisce about his first trip to Indianapolis.
Sounding less optimistic was Marco Andretti, who is once more trying to end his family’s long dry spell in the race. “This is the final step where she will be able to deal with it”. And drivers are far from the only victims.
“We love coming out and seeing the race fans”.
While the Super Bowl poured an estimated $178 million into the local economy, the Indy 500 has traditionally dwarfed that. “A lot of people don’t understand A.J. He’s intense”.
“He behaves like a 22-year-old”. No driver has been killed in May at the speedway since pole-winner Scott Brayton in a fatal crash testing a backup vehicle in 1996.
“I did a good job, but we just didn’t have the power”.
Advancements in technology are credited with saving lives, with just four deaths at the speedway since 1982. MacDonald and Sachs were killed. “It’s nothing to do with the skill of the drivers”.
With the IndyCar Series struggling to reclaim its place in the ultra-competitive US sporting landscape, there is a feeling in some quarters that the 100th running will be more of blip than a boom.
The Indy 500 date is Sunday May 29th, but you’ve probably heard about the race throughout this week and last due to time trials, qualifying runs and other hype about the race. His brother, Stefan Wilson, will race the Indy 500 in his honor. “We didn’t get going until right at the end”, he said after a lap of 222.821 miles per hour. But it’s not what it used to be. Disc brakes, SAFER barriers and other advancements also made their mark at Indy.
Perhaps you go every year to the greatest race in the world, or maybe you’re returning this year for the historic 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 after a lengthy absence.
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“It’s a special number”, he said. “Race drivers are courageous men who try to conquer life and death and they calculate their risks. They take it as a part of living”.
