Ed Carpenter is on the pole and Katherine Legge will start in the 33rd position. The field is set for the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Not a whole lot of drama in the qualifications any more. Those who remember the days when Tom Carnegie was calling the qualification runs from the pits with the cry of “And he’s on it!“ screaming out over the loudspeakers and the drivers were attempting to produce record speeds from their cars when they ran also remember when there were as many spectators for the first day of qualifications as for the race itself. Every true race fan wanted to be able to say that they were watching Jack McGrath break the 140 mph barrier, Parnelli Jones, the 150 barrier, Jimmy Clark the 160 barrier, and so on. It was really hard to tell how fast the race car was going but when Carnegie yelled out “Ladies and gentlemen, hold on to your hats! IT’S A NEW TRACK RECORD!!!,” everyone in the place was jumping up and down with excitement. I was there for a few of those moments myself.
The standard four lap or ten mile run has been around since the 1930s and the average speed of the four laps is what determines the total qualifying speed. In 1958 Dick Rathman set a 4 lap qualifying record of 145:974 mph. Ed Elisian, however, set a one lap record of 146:508. Elisian’s total time was .0008 of a second off of Rathman’s time so he won the pole.
This was also the time when there were four days of qualifications. Until 1970 the pole position was taken by the car and driver combination that turned in the fastest qualification run on the first qualification day. There were a number of times when the car which qualified the fastest and even the record-holder did not qualify on the first qualification day. In 1960 popular driver Eddie Sans set a one lap track record and four lap track record of 146:592 in qualifying his Dean Van Lines Roadster for the pole. On the fourth and final qualification day, a 27 year old rookie named Jim Hurtubise went out and put his Travelon Trailer Roadster in the field with a record-breaking 149:059 mph run. Because of the fact that he qualified on the 4th day, he started 23rd on the grid, as dictated by the rules of the day.
In 1977 Tom Sneva broke the 200 mph speed barrier with a 2nd lap speed of 200:535 mph. It was at this time that the first talk of restricting the car speeds was seriously heard. It did take another 20 years before the new speed rules were implemented.
During the 1996 month of May qualifying, two-time race winner from Holland Arie Luyendyk set the all-time one and four lap speed records which will never be broken. His fourth lap was a blistering 237:498 miles per hour with a 236:986 four lap average. It was known at the time that the following years would see changes in the engine displacement that would limit the speeds.
Ed Carpenter’s pole winning run of 228:762 is about as fast as current rules will allow. The idea of the pole “shoot out” and fast nine to determine the first nine starting positions was instigated for the 2010 race and was adopted to put some excitement back into the process. The fastest nine first day qualifiers have their times of the first session thrown out and try to re-qualify for a faster speed. Each eligible car/driver combination may attempt as many qualifications as time permits., and at the end of the time allotted, the car with the fastest requalification speed wins the pole. To say that interest in the qualification days has “dwindled” is an understatement. While change was necessary and inevitable, the magic of seeing speed records set is now history and it’s not nearly as much to watch the cars on their qualification runs. The cry of “AND IT’S A NEW TRACK RECORD!” is sorely missed!
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