The 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race is now history. Juan Pablo Montoya, driving for Team Penske, claimed his second win in three starts and gave “The Captain” Roger Penske his 16th win as an owner/manager. Starting with the Angie’s List Grand Prix which was run on May 9 on the IMS road course and won by Aussie driver Will Power in a Team Penske Dallara Chevy, the month belonged to Team Penske.
The 2015 race marked the debut of the Aero kits for both the Chevy- and Honda-powered automobiles. The kits consist of front and rear side wings, side pods and engine cowlings and have been in the works since 2012, but its taken several years and lots of money for them to make their appearance on the cars. The kits are supposed to make the cars faster and safer. Honda and Chevy each had kits formulated to their unique engine designs, one for the ovals and one for the road courses. They cost about 70 grand apiece. When I talked to Sam Schmidt, he was very excited about them. I got to see the Honda oval kits close up and they are very impressive looking. As the month unfolded however, there were four flipover crashes, three involving Chevy powered cars and one involving a Honda powered car, that called into question the safety and dependability of the kits. Some last minute rule changes were made that affected the use, but did make them a bit more stable.
Chevy ruled the practice speeds with Scott Dixon in a Team Ganassi Chevy posting the fastest time without drafting another car at 227. Carlos Munoz driving a Honda for Team Andretti was the first driver to hit 230 in practice. The first qualification day was rained out with only two cars qualifying; defending Champ Ryan Hunter Reay and Carlos Huertas completed runs before the rains came. Their qualifications were later voided because they were made before the procedure change. Scott Dixon grabbed the pole for Team Ganassi in the #9 Target/Coca-Cola Chevy at a speed of 226.760. He was joined on the front pole by Team Penske drivers Will Power and Frenchman Simon Pagenard. Chevy engines took 8 of the top 10 starting sports, with Team Andretti driver Justin Wilson the fastest Honda starting in 6th position with a 225:279 qualification speed. Tristan Vautier qualified the Dale Coyne Team Honda for James Davison which meant the Australian driver would start 33rd. There was no pole shootout but the last row shootout was held towards the end of the afternoon. Local driver Jimmy Clausen put the Jonathan Byrd Chevy in the 33rd and slowest qualifying speed at 220:523. 1996 Winner Buddy Lazier was not able to find a quick enough speed to qualify. Two ladies joined the starting field: Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro, the 2010 Indy Rookie of the Year and British driver Pippa Mann starting her 4th Indy 500.
On the Monday post qualification James Hinchcliffe crashed and was critically injured in his Schmidt-Peterson Honda. Dale Coyne Team driver Carlos Huertas was found to have an ear infection and was therefore medically disqualified from competition. Coyne named driver Tristan Vautier to replace him. Ryan Brisco was named to replace Hinchcliffe. This meant that the last row was made up entirely of substitute drivers, a first for the race.
Race Day turned out to be a good day for racing with the rain holding off for 24 hours. The a cappella singing group Straight No Chaser“ took Jim Nabors’ place in singing “Back Home Again” and it was a very enjoyable rendition. The group has it’s roots in the IU School of Music and will most likely become a regular feature in the pre-race ceremonies. Mauri Hulman George gave the command, “Drivers, start your engines.” Her granddaughter attempted to help her but Mauri waived her away. Jeff Gordon drove the Corvette Pace Car. On the parade lap, the Honda of driver Connor Daly caught fire, ending the Schmidt-Peterson pilot’s day before the green flag fell.
As the race unfolded it was Dixon, Pagenard, and Tony Kanaan who ran for the lead. On lap 7 de Silvestro rear ended Montoya causing damage to his rear wing. He had to pit, but was quickly back in competition although in 30th place. Will Power never finished an Indy 500 but thought that if he could finish he could win. He joined the race for the lead in earnest in the second half of the race. On lap 151, he was involved in a spin and crash and was eliminated. Simon Pagenard hit Justin Wilson on lap 176 and fell back with a no-longer-competitive car. That made it a race between Dixon, Power, and the now very fast Montoya who had worked his way up in the field with some really skilled driving. The last 13 laps were among the most thrilling in recent memory with 4 lead changes among the three contenders. On lap 197 Montoya drafted past his teammate Power and held him off to take the checkered flag for his second win.
Montoya showed some of his old skill and craftiness in his winning drive. His 9 laps led are the 4th fewest that any Indy winner has lead. His 15 years between his first and second win is the longest stretch between victories. In three starts in the 500 he has 2 wins and a third place. Chevy engines dominated the race. Graham Rahal driving for Rahal-Letterman was 5th, giving Honda its best finish in the race. Marco Andretti was 6th, giving Honda only two of the top ten finishers.