100th running of the Indy 500

[Helix]

anyone else watching? i'm going to watch a bit of it. i'm usually in the blackout zone, but this year it sold out, so i can watch it on TV. then i'm going to go enjoy a mostly empty golf course, i hope.

 

[mak2]

I was born and raised in Indy and have been to countless 500's, some I remember. But I have never believed their attendance figures. Do you remember it being sold out before?

anyone else watching? i'm going to watch a bit of it. i'm usually in the blackout zone, but this year it sold out, so i can watch it on TV. then i'm going to go enjoy a mostly empty golf course, i hope.

 

[countryboy]

anyone else watching? i'm going to watch a bit of it. i'm usually in the blackout zone, but this year it sold out, so i can watch it on TV. then i'm going to go enjoy a mostly empty golf course, i hope.

I cut the satellite out a couple of months ago (and love it), so no, I won't be watching. But I hope you enjoy the race and golf.

I'm about to hop on the mower and go out for a couple of hours.

 

[Helix]

I was born and raised in Indy and have been to countless 500's, some I remember. But I have never believed their attendance figures. Do you remember it being sold out before?

the seats, i think, but not completely sold out. i only saw it broadcast once around 2001 or 2002, but that's because we were playing shows in Fort Wayne then, and they are outside of the blackout zone, apparently.

i've never been to the race, but i went to carb day when i was 12.

 

[chuckiechan]

I record it on my DVR so I can fast forward through the boring parts... basically 400 miles of left turns with no position challenges. \

But hey, that's just me.

 

[mak2]

sometime in the late 90's I was a few seats away from an epic woman fight in turn 1. The 500 is so much more than racing, in fact it took me years to figure out where all the noise was coming from.

 

[Helix]

At the 100th Indianapolis 500, up to 350,000 expected - CBS News

350k? man.

yeah, we got out of Indy on Friday afternoon for this reason. :lol:

 

[Helix]

i think that this is from the first running :

 

[Mark F]

I was born and raised in Indy and have been to countless 500's, some I remember. But I have never believed their attendance figures. Do you remember it being sold out before?

This is the first year AFAIK they have ever had a sell-out - grandstands, boxes and infield. The Speedway, being privately owned, does not announce attendance figures.

 

[calamity]

I was born and raised in Indy and have been to countless 500's, some I remember. But I have never believed their attendance figures. Do you remember it being sold out before?

I used to be a huge Indy fan. Bobby and Al Unser, AJ Foyt, Mario, Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi...I never missed a race back then, even listened on the radio if I was away from a TV or not at the track itself. But, I haven't paid a lick of attention to the races since the late 90's. Not sure why. Maybe because all my favorite car drivers retired and I never developed an interest for the new guys.

Too bad. It used to be good times.

 

[mak2]

I think I lost it when they went to CART or what ever it was and a bunch of the drivers left or formed there own league, then they toned down the party and changed all the month of May activities and I grew up and had a family and on and on. I have had a lot of fun there though.

I used to be a huge Indy fan. Bobby and Al Unser, AJ Foyt, Mario, Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi...I never missed a race back then, even listened on the radio if I was away from a TV or not at the track itself. But, I haven't paid a lick of attention to the races since the late 90's. Not sure why. Maybe because all my favorite car drivers retired and I never developed an interest for the new guys.

Too bad. It used to be good times.

 

[calamity]

I think I lost it when they went to CART or what ever it was and a bunch of the drivers left or formed there own league, then they toned down the party and changed all the month of May activities and I grew up and had a family and on and on. I have had a lot of fun there though.

That's right. I forgot about that. All the Penske guys boycotted the race for a few years. And, by the time they all made nice again, I was on to other things.

 

[chuckiechan]

It used to be about the drivers. Now it's about the teams and the corporate sponsors, and the gold digger wives. How many big name drivers won because a teammate blocked his competition?

It's time to penalize team blocking, team drafting, etc.

 

[Hawkeye10]

Long ago I used to watch it on tv every year if I was not working, but somewhere along the way I lost interest. Probably been 15 years since I watched any of it. I was never in it for the crashes, I wanted to watch drivers do cool stuff, at some point that disappeared for me. I know that the organizers have changed up the race many times over the years, maybe it is fun again, but once they lost me they never got me back.

 

[Crosscheck]

Is that Florence Henderson who was Carol Brady on the Brady Bunch giving the winner Rossi a kiss?

 

[RetiredUSN]

Good race!

Grats to Rossi!

Munoz 2nd time runner up?

 

[Dragonfly]

I was going to start a thread asking if anyone cared any more.

I recall this being such a huge race as a kid. Now, who cares?

I doubt anyone outside of Indianapolis would give a flyin fig if the whole race was canceled.
Which is a shame, but ultimately, I completely forgot it was on today until I clicked on a news website.

 

[Mark F]

I went to the race in 2010 and had never seen so many human beings in one place. Yesterday's crowd was noticeably larger. I think we have answered the relevance question.

As for the race, great surprise ending. I must say I didn't see it coming. I pretty much ignored Rossi until the last lap as I waited for Munoz and Newgarden to come around and fight for the win,... and it didn't happen. Watching Rossi go down that back straight at what couldn't have been more than about 180 mph I jumped out of my seat and yelled something to the effect of holy :censored he's actually gonna do it - and sure enough Rossi did. I am certain he was dead stick going across that finish line. A surprise win from an unknown driver in a car that had never been a factor for the race lead all day by relying on a super bold all-or-nothing strategy was a fitting end to the 100th race.

Thanks to ABC's typically terrible coverage I had to re-watch the last 35 laps just to figure out how he did it since they never even talked about Rossi all day until the end.

 

[calamity]

I went to the race in 2010 and had never seen so many human beings in one place. Yesterday's crowd was noticeably larger. I think we have answered the relevance question.

As for the race, great surprise ending. I must say I didn't see it coming. I pretty much ignored Rossi until the last lap as I waited for Munoz and Newgarden to come around and fight for the win,... and it didn't happen. Watching Rossi go down that back straight at what couldn't have been more than about 180 mph I jumped out of my seat and yelled something to the effect of holy :censored he's actually gonna do it - and sure enough Rossi did. I am certain he was dead stick going across that finish line. A surprise win from an unknown driver in a car that had never been a factor for the race lead all day by relying on a super bold all-or-nothing strategy was a fitting end to the 100th race.

Thanks to ABC's typically terrible coverage I had to re-watch the last 35 laps just to figure out how he did it since they never even talked about Rossi all day until the end.

The power of having good math skills. Someone did their fuel calculations very well.

 

[RetiredUSN]

It isn't just the Indy 500 suffering. American auto racing has been in decline for a number of years for various reasons.

The economy.

The untimely deaths of some popular drivers.

Drivers leaving for other leagues.

Unpopular rule changes, and points formats.

Nascar took a serious hit with Dale Earnhardt's loss all by itself. He was the last cowboy as Dale Jarret said. The sport is all vanilla now days, and filled with 19 year old drivers who never had any skin in the game. They show more bravado on Twitter than behind the wheel.

 

[calamity]

It isn't just the Indy 500 suffering. American auto racing has been in decline for a number of years for various reasons.

The economy.

The untimely deaths of some popular drivers.

Drivers leaving for other leagues.

Unpopular rule changes, and points formats.

Nascar took a serious hit with Dale Earnhardt's loss all by itself. He was the last cowboy as Dale Jarret said. The sport is all vanilla now days, and filled with 19 year old drivers who never had any skin in the game. They show more bravado on Twitter than behind the wheel.

Indy cars used to be special too when 200 MPH was considered ungodly fast. Back in the 70's and early 80's, speed thrilled audiences. Now, it's not really that big of a deal anymore.

In the end, no one cares which restrictor plate stock car team wins Daytona or which foreign race car driver no one ever heard of wins Indy.

 

[Mark F]

The power of having good math skills. Someone did their fuel calculations very well.

Running in 9th with 33 (potentially) green laps to go in a car you know isn't going to race its way to the front and a driver who is not a factor in the series championship, I think the only call to make is to lean it out as far as possible and pray. That team really was in a win or nothing situation more so than some others. The front runners couldn't try it but I knew someone in the mid pack would give it a go. I'm still shocked it worked. Power and Kimble did the same thing and it didn't pay off for either of them.

 

[Mark F]

Indy cars used to be special too when 200 MPH was considered ungodly fast. Back in the 70's and early 80's, speed thrilled audiences. Now, it's not really that big of a deal anymore.

In the end, no one cares which restrictor plate stock car team wins Daytona or which foreign race car driver no one ever heard of wins Indy.

And yet 350,000 + people paid to see an AMERICAN driver win Indy.

 

[calamity]

And yet 350,000 + people paid to see an AMERICAN driver win Indy.

Only because his team knew their math. And, from what I read, most people left disappointed in that race's outcome or ever heard of this American.

 

[calamity]

Running in 9th with 33 (potentially) green laps to go in a car you know isn't going to race its way to the front and a driver who is not a factor in the series championship, I think the only call to make is to lean it out as far as possible and pray. That team really was in a win or nothing situation more so than some others. The front runners couldn't try it but I knew someone in the mid pack would give it a go. I'm still shocked it worked. Power and Kimble did the same thing and it didn't pay off for either of them.

It usually doesn't. But, they had him slow down to an optimum speed and it worked, with about 4-1/2 seconds to spare apparently.