ESPN's got a couple classics on demand - 1985 (Danny Sullivan's spin and win), 1992 (Little Al beats Scott Goodyear by two feet, Michael wonders who he has crossed in a previous life), and last year, along with a profile with the A-Rod of Indycars. Too bad they didn't have 1982 (Johncock vs. Mears) and 1995, Bonger's first 500 and an absolute cracker where Scott Goodyear jumped the pace car and Jacques Villeneuve won after a 2 lap penalty (also the last 500 with CART). So I'll give them to ya:
Obviously Indy isn't what it used to be since Tony George napalmed American open wheel racing, but the big day doesn't just stop being a big day - there'll be 400,000 as usual - and there's an awful lot of talent in this year's 500. Helio Castroneves is on pole and is looking to join the immortals as four time winners of the 500: AJ Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears. While there's no doubt Helio didn't have the competition Foyt, Unser and Mears faced, there's also no doubt he's the best around and in a Penske he's got to be the favorite. Will Power and Ryan Briscoe are also in Penskes, and the Ganassi duo of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon are probably going to put up the best fight against Roger Penske being in Victory Lane.
Graham Rahal qualified 7th, the top American and a pretty good performance from a 21 year old without a full-time ride (even if he's driving for dad as part of Rahal-Letterman). Marco Andretti's way back in 16th, and the heir to the throne seems to have gone backwards from his strong 2006, when he won a race and nearly won Indy, losing it to Sam Hornish on the last lap.
A total wildcard is Tony Kanaan, a former IndyCar Series champion, qualifying 33rd and last. There's a decent chance he could be in the top 10 at the end of this. The joy of Indy is that it is an endurance race, and guys like Kanaan can really move up through attrition and a good pit strategy. Winning is probably out of the question (though what a story) but he could wind up with a very successful race.
Finally, we have four women in the race this year, a record. To my immense pleasure rookies Ana Beatriz and Simona de Silvestro outqualified Danica Patrick. Sarah Fisher also popped up in 28th, pretty cool when you consider she runs her own team at the age of 29. Danica's fall from grace has been a feature of this year's IndyCar season. She's been a complete snot to her team, publicly blaming them in an interview with the IMS Radio Network for her poor qualifying in the 500, a huge no-no that got her booed. She's having a pretty poor season for the Andretti Autosport team and the whole thing is just getting ridiculous. She's won one race, she's got one top-10 finish this year, and there's been way too much hype around someone who a lot of people around Indycar don't like anyway.
Obviously Indy isn't what it used to be since Tony George napalmed American open wheel racing, but the big day doesn't just stop being a big day - there'll be 400,000 as usual - and there's an awful lot of talent in this year's 500. Helio Castroneves is on pole and is looking to join the immortals as four time winners of the 500: AJ Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears. While there's no doubt Helio didn't have the competition Foyt, Unser and Mears faced, there's also no doubt he's the best around and in a Penske he's got to be the favorite. Will Power and Ryan Briscoe are also in Penskes, and the Ganassi duo of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon are probably going to put up the best fight against Roger Penske being in Victory Lane.
Graham Rahal qualified 7th, the top American and a pretty good performance from a 21 year old without a full-time ride (even if he's driving for dad as part of Rahal-Letterman). Marco Andretti's way back in 16th, and the heir to the throne seems to have gone backwards from his strong 2006, when he won a race and nearly won Indy, losing it to Sam Hornish on the last lap.
A total wildcard is Tony Kanaan, a former IndyCar Series champion, qualifying 33rd and last. There's a decent chance he could be in the top 10 at the end of this. The joy of Indy is that it is an endurance race, and guys like Kanaan can really move up through attrition and a good pit strategy. Winning is probably out of the question (though what a story) but he could wind up with a very successful race.
Finally, we have four women in the race this year, a record. To my immense pleasure rookies Ana Beatriz and Simona de Silvestro outqualified Danica Patrick. Sarah Fisher also popped up in 28th, pretty cool when you consider she runs her own team at the age of 29. Danica's fall from grace has been a feature of this year's IndyCar season. She's been a complete snot to her team, publicly blaming them in an interview with the IMS Radio Network for her poor qualifying in the 500, a huge no-no that got her booed. She's having a pretty poor season for the Andretti Autosport team and the whole thing is just getting ridiculous. She's won one race, she's got one top-10 finish this year, and there's been way too much hype around someone who a lot of people around Indycar don't like anyway.