Indy 500 Pole Day sets several records

The first ever all-234mph front row in Indy 500 history also resulted in the closest gap between 1st & 3rd spot. The 4-lap averages of Alex Palou & Felix Rosenqvist were just 0.103mph apart, beating the previous record of 0.112mph between James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2016.

Palou’s & Rinus VeeKay’s gap of 0.006mph is the second-smallest gap between 1st & 2nd in Indy500 history, the narrowest difference being 0.003s between Ryan Briscoe & Hinchcliffe in 2012.

The result means that the 3 front-row starters come from 3 different teams and both of IndyCar’s engine manufacturers, Honda & Chevrolet, are represented. While neither of those stats are unusual, what is remarkable is the fact that the trio’s combined number of Indy500 starts is only 10. That’s the lowest since 2004, when Buddy Rice, the late Dan Wheldon and Dario Franchitti started 1-2-3 and had only 3 starts between them.

A not-surprising corollary of that stat is that this is the 3rd-youngest front row in history. The only younger ones are 2013 – Ed Carpenter, Carlos Munoz and Marco Andretti (26 years and 9 months) – and 1930 – Billy Arnold, Louis Meyer and Shorty Cantlon (25 years, 7 months).

It is also the first time Indy 500 history that the front row consists entirely of European-born drivers; Palou is from Spain, VeeKay from the Netherlands and Rosenqvist from Sweden.

Biggest sports moments in Indiana history

Yesterday marked the 20-year anniversary of Reggie Miller's 8 points in 9 seconds. I started to wonder, where would that moment rank if it were played in the state of Indiana? Here are some from from recent memory:

• 2011 Indy 500: 100th Anny, rookie (JRH) leads final turn/lap, crashes; Wheldon wins again, his last
• 2006 AFC Championship in Hoosier Dome. 38-34. Cheaters lose
• 2010 Final Four: small, local school w/ half-court buzzer to beat #1 Devils
• 2011 Watshot 3-pt winner at buzzer over #1 and undefeated Wildcats
• 2001 Haston 3-pt winner at buzzer over #1 and undefeated Spartans
• 2014 AFC Divisional playoffs: Andrew Luck's 24-pt comeback win
• The NBA pipeline
• 2000 Pacers reaching NBA Finals

Last Century:

• Jeff Gordon winning inaugural Brickyard 400
• 1993 Notre Dame over #1 FSU (and '88 title)
• Bob Knight's championships, chair-toss & choke
• 1987 Pan Am Games
• Multiple ABA Championships in the 70s (and Nancy Leonard's fundraiser)
• Larry Bird
• Oscar Robertson
• Bobby Plump & Milan HS
• Hoosiers
• Rudy
• Breaking Away
• Slick Leonard
• John Wooden

Honorable mention: Tony Hulman, Mike Aulby, Isiah Lord Thomas, Shawn Kemp, Glenn Robinson, Damon Bailey, Billy Keller, Scott Skiles, Steve Alford

Indy tops many more lists

As mentioned in numerous posts on this blog, central Indiana is continually ranked as one of the best places in America.

Here's some more proof:

• TIME "Top 10 Best Cities to Start New Career" 
• New York Times "52 Places to go in 2014"
• USA Today "Best Convention City" 
• Livability "Top 10 Downtowns" (#3)
• Locality "Most Affordable City for Yuppies"
• US News "Best State Government"

Some factors that determine these top rankings include:
the Indy 500 "Best Bucket List Sports Event"
the Children's Museum "Best Museum for Families"

In addition to being dubbed the "Amateur Sports Capital of the World", Indianapolis stands above the rest partly due to their professional team's success, shrine-like sports venues, NCAA HQ, F1 Grand Prix, PanAm Games, Superbowl(s?), the annual NFL Combine, 8* Final Fours, and the Track & Field and Swimming & Diving championships - just to name a few.


* including 2021

America's most surprising city

click image for full article

 "Clean-cut Indy is the state capital and a perfectly pleasant place to ogle racecars and take a spin around the renowned speedway. The art museum and White River State Park have their merits, as do the Mass Ave and Broad Ripple 'hoods for eating and drinking."

Update: Lonely Planet also listed Indianapolis in their Best in the US list.

Indy ranked #1 in Jobs & Affordable Housing

Finding a city with affordable housing isn't too difficult, as long as you're willing to settle for low-income wages, high crime and high unemployment. Finding a booming city with a great job market is ideal, if you can afford to live there. Indianapolis combines both factors better than any other place in America.
With an average cost of living well below the national average, you can find a large but affordable home in any of the surrounding suburbs: Greenwood, Plainfield, Avon, Brownsburg, Zionsville, Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, etc - all just a short commute to downtown Indy. Or if you prefer to live in the city - ranked by Forbes as one of the safest in America - Indy boasts the nation's longest and busiest greenway (Monon Trail) stretching from downtown to Westfield. Indy is also home of the nationally renowned Children's Museum, the largest sporting event in the world (500), the 2012 Superbowl, NCAA headquarters, Mens & Womens Final Fours, BigTen Championships, and also dubbed the Amateur Sports Capital of the World.

The largest sporting event in the world isn't the Olympics

Gotta love this guy's enthusiasm as he experiences the Indy 500 for the first time:

This Memorial Day, VBS and a few hundred thousand other folks crowded into the Indianapolis Speedway to watch cars whip around in circles. It's the largest single-day sporting event in the world. I certainly didn't understand why the Indy 500 drew nearly half a million folks to Indianapolis each year. We'd always kind of assumed car-racing of any sort was lame and boring, but then we took an RV out to the middle of the the Rust Belt and found ourselves in the midst of one of the biggest, most out-of-control parties of our lives. The Indy 500 is a four-day-long bender cleverly disguised as a sporting event. People show up from all over the damn place, throw their RV in a reserved spot in the endless mudpit/lot, and immediately get gravely serious about having a great time. These folks have been waiting for this weekend all year, and all the built-up excitement instantly bubbles over into a rager the likes of which makes Super Bowl week look like a tea party with stuffed animals. I've honestly never seen anything like it. And when a race breaks out in the middle of this madness, well, it's impossible not to care. You're just swept up in the whole mess and all of the sudden you're ten Miller Lights deep, screaming specific things at someone going 200 miles an hour in the loudest car you've ever heard as if he can hear you or you know what you're talking about. I no longer skip racing highlights on ESPN, nor will I ever again. Viva the Indy 500 and partying; we have a new national pastime, folks.

vbs.tv/video.php?id=1138096780

2008 Indy 500 Starting Grid

ROW 1
1. (9) Scott Dixon, 226.366 mph.
2. (10) Dan Wheldon, 226.110
3. (6) Ryan Briscoe, 226.080
ROW 2
4. (3) Helio Castroneves, 225.733
5. (7) Danica Patrick, 225.197
6. (11) Tony Kanaan, 224.794
ROW 3
7. (26) Marco Andretti, 224.417
8. (4) Vitor Meira, 224.346
9. (27) Hideki Mutoh, 223.887
ROW 4
10. (20) Ed Carpenter, 223.835
11. (12) Tomas Scheckter, 223.496
12. (99) Townsend Bell, 222.539
ROW 5
13. (06) Graham Rahal, 222.531
14. (14) Darren Manning, 222.430
15. (18) Bruno Junqueira, 222.330
ROW 6
16. (02) Justin Wilson, 222.267
17. (15) Buddy Rice, 222.101
18. (22) Davey Hamilton, 222.017
ROW 7
19. (16) Alex Lloyd, 221.788
20. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 221.579
21. (24) John Andretti, 221.550
ROW 8
22. (67) Sarah Fisher, 221.246
23. (8) Will Power, 221.136
24. (41) Jeff Simmons, 221.103
ROW 9
25. (5) Oriol Servia, 220.767
26. (33) E.J. Viso, 220.356
27. (23) Milka Duno, 220.305
ROW 10
28. (19) Mario Moraes, 219.716
29. (36) Enrique Bernoldi, 219.422
30. (34) Jaime Camara, 219.345
ROW 11
31. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, 219.184
32. (91) Buddy Lazier, 219.015
33. (25) Marty Roth, 218.965