INDIANAPOLIS—Dan Wheldon, an unemployed driver running only one race all year, beat all the full-time drivers across the finish line to win the Centennial Anniversary Indianapolis 500 after rookie JR Hildebrand crashed a few hundred yards from the finish line while leading the race.
“What a Cinderella story,” Wheldon told the post-race press conference.
“What a Cinderella story,” Wheldon told the post-race press conference.
“We took on the might of Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi—and I don’t think I swap Penske in front of me once in the race. That’s a testament to this team. It’s tough to beat these big teams.
“On the radio with 20 laps to go they said, ‘Some people are going to try to make it on fuel. You’re one of the guys that can make it to the end, but you’ve got to get everything out of the car that you possibly can.’
“I said to myself, ‘I’m going to move the weight jacker every lap to optimize every single corner, adjust the roll bars, just maximize everything.’
“As I was coming through Turns Three and Four I saw [JR Hildebrand] hit the fence. At that point I knew it was mine.
“Everyone on the team has worked phenomenally well, has worked very, very hard— they’ve done everything in their power to give me the fastest race car possible, and I was going to drive that thing like I stole it until I saw the checkered flag.”
I knew we when I started this race that I wanted to do everything in my power to deliver a win—for not just myself; for such a great group of people, and you can think that I am giving you the cheesy media line, but it’s not like that.”From Zero to Hero
“I said to myself, ‘I’m going to move the weight jacker every lap to optimize every single corner, adjust the roll bars, just maximize everything.’
“As I was coming through Turns Three and Four I saw [JR Hildebrand] hit the fence. At that point I knew it was mine.
“Everyone on the team has worked phenomenally well, has worked very, very hard— they’ve done everything in their power to give me the fastest race car possible, and I was going to drive that thing like I stole it until I saw the checkered flag.”
I knew we when I started this race that I wanted to do everything in my power to deliver a win—for not just myself; for such a great group of people, and you can think that I am giving you the cheesy media line, but it’s not like that.”
From Zero to Hero
Dan Wheldon couldn’t find a team to hire him for the 2011 season. He did find a small team, Brian Herta Autosport, to hire him for one race—the Indy 500.
Wheldon, who finished second here in 2009 and 2010, started sixth and ran in the top five most of the day. With ten laps to go he lay sixth; as one car after another slowed or pitted to pit for a splash of fuel, Wheldon advanced, until he was second behind rookie JR Hildebrand, driving for Wheldon’s old team, Panther Racing.
Entering the final lap it seemed Dan Wheldon was going to play bridesmaid for the third year running, and JR Hildebrand, with nearly a four-second lead, was going to win his first time in the Indianapolis 500.
Hildebrand had driven with patience throughout the race. He ended up in first place because of patience, going slowly to conserve fuel, knowing it would pay off in the end. Then on the final turn of the final lap, with only a few hundred yards between him and the checkered flag, Hildebrand got impatient when he came upon the slower car of Charlie Kimball.
Hildebrand tried to pass on the high side in Turn Four, a treacherous place to drive. Once he hit the marbles, the Indianapolis rookie had no control. His car drifted up, slammed the wall, and slid across the finish line on the three wheels—in second place.Hildebrand described the incident on ABC.
“I thought, ‘I’m just going to get around Charlie’ [Kimball]—I knew the guys behind me were humming. And I thought ‘I don’t want to have to stop going through Turn Four and have the guys get back up on me.’ I went to the high side and as soon as I got up there I got into the marbles and pushed up into the wall.”
“This team deserved to win,” he continued. “They’ve come in second the last three years in a row and I didn’t want to be the next bridesmaid.
“When it came to the end there, if we were running great and we finished fifth and that was the best we could get, that’s what you get—but to have a chance to win, for a team like this, on Memorial Day weekend, I felt like I really owed this to the team. It’s just a bummer to come home second again.”
Dan Wheldon waited until he was on the final straight, pulled around and passed Kimball, and motored home to win his second Indianapolis 500
“I was just trying to go as hard as I could I knew it was the last lap and I knew a lot of those guys were a struggling on fuel—I just kept pushing,” Wheldon told ABC.
After being sure he was going to finish second it was a huge relief to see his competitor hit the wall, he said.
“I knew he was okay, because I could see him moving. It’s an incredible feeling. I’ve been runner-up for two years before this, and I never gave up.”
“This team deserved to win,” he continued. “They’ve come in second the last three years in a row and I didn’t want to be the next bridesmaid.
“When it came to the end there, if we were running great and we finished fifth and that was the best we could get, that’s what you get—but to have a chance to win, for a team like this, on Memorial Day weekend, I felt like I really owed this to the team. It’s just a bummer to come home second again.”
Dan Wheldon waited until he was on the final straight, pulled around and passed Kimball, and motored home to win his second Indianapolis 500
“I was just trying to go as hard as I could I knew it was the last lap and I knew a lot of those guys were a struggling on fuel—I just kept pushing,” Wheldon told ABC.
After being sure he was going to finish second it was a huge relief to see his competitor hit the wall, he said.
“I knew he was okay, because I could see him moving. It’s an incredible feeling. I’ve been runner-up for two years before this, and I never gave up.”
Despite his joy at winning, Wheldon broke into tears when he said, “I want to say ‘Hi’ to my mother and thanks the Alzheimers Foundation for giving me the opportunity to represent them.” Wheldon promotes the cause because his mother was recently stricken.
Next: Ganassi Dominates, Then Fades
Ganassi Dominates, Then Fades
The Target-Chip Ganassi cars of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti led most of the first half of the race, and a lot of the second half. These two drivers, with three Indy 500 wins between them, had the speed and the savvy to keep out in front, often running one-two.
Scott Dixon started second, but took the lead on the first lap and led at different times throughout the race, usually trading the lead with his teammate. Dixon surrendered the lead on lap 180, needing fuel, probably expecting Franchitti to take over, but it didn’t work out.
Dario Franchitti started ninth because a mechanic miscalculated how much fuel he would need to qualify. It turns out this was a harbinger of the race’s end.
Dario Franchitti must have felt as if fate were smiling on him: twice as he was coming in to pit under a green flag, a car crashed, bringing out a caution, slowing the field and saving his track position. It must have seemed like his day. It was not.
Franchitti led 51 laps and was second six laps from the end, seemingly set firmly on the track to his third Indy 500 victory.
The crafty Scot is known to be the best at conserving fuel of any driver in the series, and Franchitti was using his skill to the fullest stretching his last tank of ethanol, knowing that most of the rest of the leaders would need to pit.
As in qualifying, the calculations didn’t quite work out. Franchitti had to pit for a splash of fuel on the final lap, dropping him to twelfth.
The Target-Ganassi driver had a hard time hiding his frustration.
“I know we worked very hard to day, the whole Target team, to get the car in the lead, but I’m not going to second-guess my guys on the timing stand. The past two years, we’ve won two championships and two Indy 500s, making those kinds of calls,” he told ABC after the race.
“We were in a position to win another Indy 500 today; it just didn’t work out our way. I am pretty devastated right now.
“For myself and my teammate Scott Dixon, we both had cars to win today and we didn’t get it done.”
Alex Tagliani, who started from the pole, didn’t have a race set-up to match his qualifying set-up. While he did lead some laps early, he was battling rising oil temperatures through mu ch of the race. Finally his crew called him in and bashed a hole in the bodywork to increase airflow to the oil cooler, which also hampered his top speed.
On top of that, his car was “loose,” that is, ready to spin. That is what it did, on lap 147, stuffing him into the wall and ending his race.
“I was really, really loose,” he told ABC. “I really couldn‘t turn the wheel. The car was on the edge—I had a couple of bad moments. And the last one, I think Buddy [Rice] was trying to go by on the inside. I touched the gray [the dirty track off the racing line] a bit and it pushed me off and I went into the wall.”
Penske’s Poor Performance
Scott Dixon started second, but took the lead on the first lap and led at different times throughout the race, usually trading the lead with his teammate. Dixon surrendered the lead on lap 180, needing fuel, probably expecting Franchitti to take over, but it didn’t work out.
Dario Franchitti started ninth because a mechanic miscalculated how much fuel he would need to qualify. It turns out this was a harbinger of the race’s end.
Dario Franchitti must have felt as if fate were smiling on him: twice as he was coming in to pit under a green flag, a car crashed, bringing out a caution, slowing the field and saving his track position. It must have seemed like his day. It was not.
Franchitti led 51 laps and was second six laps from the end, seemingly set firmly on the track to his third Indy 500 victory.
The crafty Scot is known to be the best at conserving fuel of any driver in the series, and Franchitti was using his skill to the fullest stretching his last tank of ethanol, knowing that most of the rest of the leaders would need to pit.
As in qualifying, the calculations didn’t quite work out. Franchitti had to pit for a splash of fuel on the final lap, dropping him to twelfth.
The Target-Ganassi driver had a hard time hiding his frustration.
“I know we worked very hard to day, the whole Target team, to get the car in the lead, but I’m not going to second-guess my guys on the timing stand. The past two years, we’ve won two championships and two Indy 500s, making those kinds of calls,” he told ABC after the race.
“We were in a position to win another Indy 500 today; it just didn’t work out our way. I am pretty devastated right now.
“For myself and my teammate Scott Dixon, we both had cars to win today and we didn’t get it done.”
‘Tags’ Tags the Wall
Alex Tagliani, who started from the pole, didn’t have a race set-up to match his qualifying set-up. While he did lead some laps early, he was battling rising oil temperatures through mu ch of the race. Finally his crew called him in and bashed a hole in the bodywork to increase airflow to the oil cooler, which also hampered his top speed.
On top of that, his car was “loose,” that is, ready to spin. That is what it did, on lap 147, stuffing him into the wall and ending his race.
“I was really, really loose,” he told ABC. “I really couldn‘t turn the wheel. The car was on the edge—I had a couple of bad moments. And the last one, I think Buddy [Rice] was trying to go by on the inside. I touched the gray [the dirty track off the racing line] a bit and it pushed me off and I went into the wall.”
Penske’s Poor Performance
Roger Penske is an IndyCar powerhouse, with 15 wins to his credit, yet today his cars were backmarkers. Will Power was his best-qualified car, starting fifth, but an uncharacteristic pit error ruined his day early in the race.
Powr’s pit crew sent him back onto the track despite his left rear tire changer signaling that he wasn’t done. Power lost his rear wheel leaving the pits and had to complete an entire 2.5 mile lap on three wheels to get back for repairs. This dropped the points-leading Penske driver to 27th. He never recovered.
On lap 157, Townsend Bell accidentally moved down on Penske’s Ryan Briscoe, wrecking both cars.
At the same time, Penske’s third driver, three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, cut a tire, causing the entire carcass to come off. Castroneves had to make his three-wheeled way around the track and back the pits.
Powr’s pit crew sent him back onto the track despite his left rear tire changer signaling that he wasn’t done. Power lost his rear wheel leaving the pits and had to complete an entire 2.5 mile lap on three wheels to get back for repairs. This dropped the points-leading Penske driver to 27th. He never recovered.
On lap 157, Townsend Bell accidentally moved down on Penske’s Ryan Briscoe, wrecking both cars.
At the same time, Penske’s third driver, three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, cut a tire, causing the entire carcass to come off. Castroneves had to make his three-wheeled way around the track and back the pits.
“It’s a tough day,” team owner Roger Penske told ABC after Briscoe’s accident. “We’ve got to execute—I said that before the race. It is unfortunate about Briscoe because he had worked his way up nicely—and Helio cut a tire.
“We’ll see what happens at the end. This is a great place but a tough place to win.”
Things didn’t look any better at the end for Team Penske. That one lap saw the end of the team’s last hopes for a decent finish.
