IZOD Indycar Series Round 5 of 19: Indianapolis 500Track length: 2.5 miles
Race length: 200 laps
Straights: 2
Corners: 4
Previous winner: Dario Franchitti
Here's where they'll (not) be racing.
Little early, isn't it?NO. Practice starts on Saturday, which means it's officially Indy 500 time. In fact, the official Indy 500 Golf Outing takes place tomorrow morning! You can book your place
here, I'm sure Head Golf Professional Jeff Williams won't mind. Here are some more dates for your calendar:
11 May-17 May (Noon-6pm): Indycar practice
18 May:
Pole Day19 May:
Bump Day22 May: Autograph Day
23 May: Indy Lights Day
24 May: Carb Day
25 May: Parnelli Jones and Hot Wheels Day
26 May:
Indy 500 DayYou're doing it wrong.
Five Facts that Indy 500 noobs shouldn't do without1) Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a golf course
2) The Indy 500 takes a really long time
3) But not as long as all the practice sessions
4) Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a golf course
5) Similar to the stipend the Israeli government gives to young Haredi men to study the Talmud indefinitely, there are Indiana folk paid out of the state budget to quit their jobs and watch every minute of Indy 500 practice.
What is this Indycar championship you speak ofDuring the last month or so I've heard the creaky sound of bandwagon jumping. Perhaps owing to the fact that Indycar sucks slightly less than every other racing series this year, the hardcorest of hardcore race fans have begun to leave off reading Red Bull politics from Paul Hembery's worry lines, pretending this year's Le Mans 24 Hours won't be a Toyaudi 1-2-3-4-5-6, and basking in the summer that one charging barging Spanish motorcyclist swallow didn't make, and are instead paying attention to The Greatest Spec Series With Two Engine Choices On Earth.
If Indycar were a clinical depressive housebound by a nervous breakdown punctuating the high-livin' 1990s, I'd say that having managed to make brief excursions from its bed in 2011ish, it's now wandering around the kitchen eating Weetabix and sending a couple of messages on Facebook to show it's still alive. It's not too far off being able to sit in the same room as someone else without bursting into tears or rehearsing all its loathings in the universe. Curtains haven't quite been opened yet, and it's a long way off making a trip down the shops. But with a little help from Good Angel Hinchcliffe and Bad Angel Satoooo, I figure it's not blasphemous to talk about recuperation.
Congratulations, Jim!
Enough metaphor! I hate metaphors!Okay let's talk about straightforward racing drivers instead. It's believed that the whole IMS board is legally obliged to commit Seppuku should the Indy 500 not reach 33 entries. The regular season car count this year has hovered between 25 and 27, which means a few wildcards have to be drafted in to save IMS from some ruinous dry cleaning bills. These are:
AJ Allmendinger (Roger Team Penske)
Ryan Briscoe (Chip Ganassie Racing)
Michel Jourdain Jr (Team Rahal)
Carlos Munoz (Andretti Autosport)
Conor Daly (Foyt)
Townsend Bell (Panther Racing)
Pippa Mann, who confusingly enough is a woman (Dale Coyne)
Buddy Lazier (Lazier Partners, possibly the first racing team in Indy 500 history to sound like a legal firm?)
I didn't say they'd be exciting wildcards!
Indianapolis's newest racing dynasty
Anyway I've just noticed someone else has already started an Indy 500 thread so I'd better go. I expect we'll be having some more Indy 500 related posts when things happen.