Event Coverage: 2016 Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

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NO!  James Hinchcliffe was the final car to qualify and he made it count.  While other drivers slowed with each lap, Hinch’s laptimes were all within 0.5 MPH of each other.  And on the final lap, he snuck over Newgarden with an average of 230.760 MPH.  You will remember that Hinchcliffe was involved in a nasty practice crash in 2015 and nearly died in his car.  He finished 3rd in the GP and was fastest both Saturday and Sunday.  Hinch has a vendetta with this track, and nobody is going to stand between him and a win.  The fans went wild when Hinch landed his pole winning speed.  
However the feel good stories don’t end there.  Hinchcliffe’s car owner is Sam Schmidt, a former IRL driver who was paralyzed in a testing accident in 2000.  He is a quadriplegic and has been wheelchair bound since his crash.  Arrow Electronics built this special Corvette Stingray for Sam to drive.  An air tube controls the throttle and brakes.  Sam simply sucks into the tube to accelerate and blows into it to slow down.  Steering is controlled with a set of 3D glasses: where he looks, the car will go.  Sam completed a full qualifying run in the car, hitting speeds of 150 MPH and a 4-lap average of 105.  
Watching Sam driving the speedway once more was an unbelieveable experience.  The entire field came down to congratulate him and the roar from the fans was louder than any Belieber can muster.  With any luck we will get to talk to the folks at Arrow and learn more about this awesome Vette.

 

So without further ado, here is the 2016 Indianapolis 500 field, powered by Penngrade Oil:

RowInsideMiddleOutside
1James HinchcliffeJosef NewgardenRyan Hunter-Reay (W)
2Townsend BellCarlos MunozWill Power
3Mikhail AleshinSimon PagenaudHelio Castroneves (W)
4Oriol ServiaAlexander Rossi (R)Takuma Sato
5Scott Dixon (W)Marco AndrettiJR Hildebrand
6Charlie KimballJuan Pablo Montoya (W)Tony Kanaan (W)
7Sebastian BourdaisEd CarpenterGabby Chaves
8Max Chilton (R)Sage KaramConor Daly
9Pippa MannGraham RahalMatt Brabham (R)
10Bryan ClausonSpencer Pigot (R)Stefan Wilson (R)
11Jack HawksworthBuddy Lazier (W)Alex Tagliani

(W) = Winner (R) = Rookie

 

 

The field is set and every driver wants to have his or her face engraved on the towering Borg-Warner Trophy. The 5 foot 3/4 inch, 110 pound trophy is made of sterling silver and is valued at $3.5 million! Each of the last five 500s has featured a different winner.  Will that trend continue in 2016?  Will Helio finally make it 4?  Will Montoya defend his 2015 victory?  Will a dark horse driver snatch victory from one of the favorites?  The table is set and on Sunday May 29, the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 will be undertaken by what is one of the deepest fields in the history of the race.  At least 1/3 of the field has a legitimate shot at winning and even more could pull off an upset.  Festivities start at 11AM on ABC.  You don’t want to miss it!

 

Sources

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

 

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