135,000 spectators officially came to the track to watch the greatest spectacle in racing last Sunday. That’s the largest number of fans gathered for any event during the pandemic. It was perfect for racing — sunny, cool, and comfortable. Everyone was ready for a really big show and they got one!
Pole sitter Scott Dixon led the field to the starting flag, but it was Rinus VeeKay grabbing the first lap lead and held to lap 32. There were some new lap leaders such as Conor Daly who led the most laps with 40, Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist, Sage Karam, and of course VeeKay led the race for the first time. Then there are old pros, such as Dixon, Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal, and Simon Pagenaud. Dixon led 7 laps total.
There were only two rookies in the race, Scott McLaughlin driving for Team Penske and Pietro Fittipaldi driving for Dale Coyne. McLaughlin finished 20th. He drove smoothly and stayed out of trouble. He was the 2021 Indy ROTY. Fittipaldi finished 25th.
Jimmy Johnson and Danica Patrick were color commentators who did okay in their roles. Graham Rahal entered the pits with the lead after 118 laps, but when he returned to the track a loose left rear tire fell off and he went spinning and hit hard into the second turn wall. His tire bounced in front of Conor Daly’s oncoming car, but thankfully he was able to miss it. Will Power stalled and Simona de Silvestro spun around and had to be turned by her pit crew. Stefan Wilson spun on pit road on Lap 35 as he tried to slow down but he hit the retaining wall and stopped facing the wrong way — done in 33rd place. 30 cars were running at the end of the race with 22 of them completing the full 200 laps. Honda engines took 1st and 2nd position but Chevy took 6 of the top 10 finishing positions. Sage Karam was the most improved finisher. Starting 31st, he finished 7th. Will Power had to be the most disappointed driver. If it wasn’t for bad luck Will wouldn’t have had any luck this month. He nearly didn’t make the starting field. As it was he was 30th — last among those still running at the end.
Simon Pagenaud finishing 3rd was the lone bright spot for Penske Racing this year. Josef Newgarden finished 12th. His car just didn’t seem to have the speed to stay with the leaders and it’s a testament to his skill that he finished as well as he did.
Now we come to the winner. Helio Castroneves has moved from being a great race car driver to becoming a legend. He is now one of the big four. He joins Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears as a 4 time Indianapolis 500 winner. He drove a smart, patient race. His move on Alex Palou with 2 laps to go was brilliant. I’m not going to go into his post race celebration except to say that it was typical Helio — full of joy and excitement. The 46-year-old Brazilian took home $1.8 million, Not a bad day’s work. So the IndyCar boys meet next at Belle Isle on a weekend double header at the Chevy Detroit Grand Prix.
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