12 replies to this topic

[Mike Patterson]

I am sorely disappointed that no one has commented on the race, so let me be the first.

 

I thought it was a pretty good race. I must admit, I was kinda surprised at Chevrolet's speed disadvantage. Someone's not paying attention.

 

Even though they look hideous, after seeing Scott Dixon's crash, I must say the Dallara chassis works as far as it's safety aspects.

 

Fernando Alonso aquitted himself well. When interviewed, he always seemed to have a smile on his face, although I wish he would have removed the sunglasses once in a while (contractual agreement?). I think he enjoyed the whole experience. I hope he comes back, and brings some of his buddies.

 

Congratulations to Takuma Sato. Things finally worked out.

 

If Penske had ran Hondas, this whole scenario would be different.

 

 

[MattD]

I enjoyed the race and look forward to the 500 every year.  I wasn't disappointed, it was a decent race and had some excitement at the end.    Alonzo did  live up to his expectations for the most part.   I don't really care for any more 4 time winners, the 3 we have are  maybe from an era when  guys had to be good in lots of different kinds of cars and not specialize, although Rick was an open wheel specialist.   Those guys are 3 of my favorite all time drivers.     If Castro had won 4, well that's good press and a big deal.   His Chevy just didn't have the HP to get it done.   It appeared he made a pass attempt with 3-4 laps to go and couldn't pull it off, when he lost that  closeness, he never seemed to get it back.

 

It's not 1960 anymore or 1965, but it's still the 500.

[Zippity]

How Scott got to walk away from that ghastly aerobatic crash, was nothing short of a miracle. A few more inches forwards, and he would have been toast.

 

I take my hat off to anyone crazy enough to race those cars.

 

I'll just stick to my slot cars, they are safer 

[Roy Lievanos]

The last 10 laps were awesome. I remember when Sato almost won a few years back. I believe he was racing for AJ Foyt.
Although I am an Andretti fan, I was pulling for him. Nice to see Sato win. Nice guy. How abought rookie Jones. Nice 3rd place run.

[Pappy]

If Penske had ran Hondas, this whole scenario would be different.

Maybe not, look what happened to Alonzo and a couple others.

At the end I was rooting for Helio Castroneves.

[A. J. Hoyt]

This was an interesting and exciting race that played out to the TV audiences and the spectators in the stands.

 

Not to take ANYTHING away from Alexander Rossi's win last year, I know I wasn't aware of the details of the how his race unfolded until watching the pre-race show this year, where they explained his AMAZING series of events "contributing" to the win. He was the Andretti dark horse and, likely, given the team's "lowest ranking" prep, pit stop, strategist and crew chief. If I got all of the details right, his team "under-filled" his car (no cause given) for his first three stops and put him slightly out of sequence with the majority of the front running teams. He was told by his crew chief (brilliantly) to get good fuel mileage for the rest of the race (their only hope of finishing because they were NOT coming in to the pits) and he dutifully drafted behind two teammates who were a lap down to get this done; a "deep" organization having a dark horse team allows you to roll the dice this way.

 

In other words, it was a series of misfortunes or outright mistakes in the pits that put him in that position and my point is that the TV audience, announcers and the crowd in the stands likely did not follow this so they were not aware of "why" he was there! Rossi really put on a show early to try to erase any doubts that it was no fluke last year.

 

The Andretti dark horse team earned that win last year and Sato certainly earned THIS one! Congrats to him!

 

Keep it in the slot,

 

AJ

[MattD]

Everybody likes excitement and a car spinning gets you on the edge of your seat.    Watching Dixons car take to the air, was just plain scary and  you knew it was gonna be bad.   Watching in slo-mo, it was clear that a few inches in another direction and he would have been killed.   To roll on the wall and not  get his head hit was a miracle.     That would have marred the whole race.

 

The real miracle is that he will probably get right back in the car!   Imagine being that close to death and thinking of your young wife  family and  your millions of dollars!   Why would I do this again?    These guys  may be "Mommas' boys", as Foyt says, but they have big cajones!

[Pete L.]

Certainly an exciting race with the THREE sometimes FOUR wide racing throughout the day. The wild wreck and the miraculous escape of those involved along with the lead swapping at the end made for an extremely entertaining event !

[Kevin Donovan]

It's the greatest event I've ever experienced. TV doesn't begin to do it justice. If you've never been to the Indianapolis 500 you owe it to yourself to go.

[Terry]

Don't be surprised if this turns out to be Dixons last Indy 500.

 

I saw an interview with his wife Emma after the race and she was not very happy regarding his accident.

 

I would bet money that once they got behind closed doors, she is going to be giving him an ultimatum "either you retire before you get killed or you lose me and the kids".

[Bryan Warmack]

  Great race and a well deserved victory for Sato!!

[bbr]

Indeed, Dixon was lucky. Things happen fast. The rookie/inexperience drivers don’t know when to back off and thus put themselves and others in harm’s way.

Dixon in post interview shrugged it off like nothing, but I think he knew how lucky he was.

Michael Andretti had enough bullets (six cars) and one of them hit the bullseyes. Well done Sato San.

[MattD]

As Dixon gets brave enough to watch replays of the wreck I'm sure he'll see how close he was to death and how he was "saved".  Thinking of family and his economic health, he may decide it is no longer the main thing in his life to win in a race car.    I think this is the same thing Jr Earnhardt went thru last year.  

 

I also think when one of these guys has such a bad wreck, it's hard for them to come back  as strong.    At least for awhile they tend to be a little more careful, a little more likely to back off insted and putting the throttle down.