The 21-year-old Gabby Chaves from Bogota Columbia will be piloting the #98 Bowers & Wilkins Speakers Dalara Honda for the Bryan Herta Racing Team. Gabby is a rookie and will be starting in 29th position. The Cutter Racing team is a sponsor of the #98 car and the Weekly View is part of that group. Gabby Chaves will be carrying the Weekly View logo on his car. So we’re pulling for Gabby Chaves and the #98 Dallara Honda. It’s OUR CAR!
Remembering Scott Romebke
Scott Romebke was a name that is familiar to the Indy Car racing fraternity, if not the average race fan. Scott got a job with Patrick Racing in 1986 and was able to parlay his passion for Indy Car Racing into a successful career as a racing team CEO. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, he grew up on the east side of Indianapolis in the Irvington area. Part of the Patrick Team that won the 1989 Indy 500 with Emerson Fitzgerald, Scott joined the Rahal/Hogan team in 1991. Scott became the team’s manager. In 2000, he was promoted to chief operating officer when the team became Rahal/Letterman. He was the team CEO when Buddy Rice won for them in 2004. Mr. Romebke passed away in September of 2012 at the age of 51, after a long illness.
This coming Saturday evening at the Irish Mutt’s First Annual Pre-Race Indy 500 Party at 8 p.m., host Mike Manley will be honoring the memory of Scott Romebke and his contributions to the Indy 500. Providing the music for the event will be Scott’s brother Mark Romebke and the Blue Collar Bluegrass Band. Mike, Mark, and the whole Romebke family are hoping to make the Scott Romebke Memorial Pre-Race Party an annual event at the Mutt and they are hoping race fans will drop by and join the festivities.
The Irish Mutt is located at 7041 E. 10th Street.
The 2015 Indy 500 Starting Field
Qualifying for this year’s race was anything but smooth. Scott Dixon, the New Zealander who won the 2009 Indianapolis 500, is back on the pole after six years. The last time he won the pol, he won the race. Dixon broke the choke hold that Team Penske had on the poles in the five previous races this season. He is joined on the front row by Penske drivers Will Power (the Boss can’t believe that that’s his real name) from Australia and Simon Pagenard from France. The Saturday qualifying session was washed out. On Sunday morning Ed Carpenter became the third driver to lose control of his car and have it flip over. His teammates Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves suffered similar horrific-looking accidents on previous practice days. They were all using the new Chevrolet areo kits that were supposedly especially designed for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sunday qualifying was delayed and adjustments were made to the cars to slow them just a tad. Qualifying proceeded although the pole shoot-out had to be eliminated. There were no more incidents that day and the field was filled. Tristan Vauteir qualified in the #19 Dale Coyne Racing Dallara Honda for James Davidson. Davidson will have to start last. Bryan Clausen in the Jonathan Byrd Cafeteria Chevy #88 had the slowest time. The 1996 winner Buddy Lazier was unable to make the field. Simona de Silvestro and Pippa Mann are in the field. There were no woman drivers in the 2014 race.
In a post qualifying practice session Monday, James Hinchcliffe driving the Schmidt/Peterson Honda crashed and sustained a serious thigh injury. It was the first mishap for a Honda areo kit car but Hinchcliffe will not be able to race Sunday. His replacement hasn’t been named.
Scott Dixon seems to have the hot show right now and is the conditional favorite. Will Powers’ luck hasn’t been all that great but he may be due for a big finish this year. Watch out for Graham Rahal. He has finished second in the last two races and he could just become the second winner to be the son of a winner. Who knows?
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