“Gentlemen, start your engines.”
The 99th running of the Indy 500 Sunday gave the crowd its money’s worth. Pre-race
pageantry, including the only logical replacement for Jim Nabors—Straight No Chaser,
singing “Back Home Again in Indiana”—plus a
little startus interruptus—the first
few laps were run under the yellow flag after a three-car crash in the first
half-mile of the race—add the usual mechanical demons, and a few more crashes
for the complete spectacle that is The Indianapolis 500.
Juan Pablo
Montoya
jockeyed for the lead in the final five laps, despite a couple of scrapes
earlier in the race. His right rear fender and rear wing assembly had to be
replaced after being struck from behind by Silvera
De Simona, and in Lap 40, he skidded into the pits and had to be backed up
to his mark. That pit stop cost him over 12-seconds, which can be a
race-losing margin.
Montoya crossed the finish line 0.1046-second ahead of team
mate, Will Power, to collect his second Indy win.
“This is pretty much un-fricking-believable,” he
told ABC Sports. “This is what
racing in IndyCar is all about.
Racing down to the wire,” he said. And then he drank a quart of milk.
Actor Patrick
Dempsey was the honorary starter for the race. NASCAR god Jeff Gordon drove the pace car, the
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06.
Recent retiree David Letterman was honored by his Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan racing team with his likeness emblazoned
along the side of Oriol Servia’s yellow
#32 race car, with the hashtag, “#ThanksDave.” Servia was sidelined by an
accident midway through the race, but team mate Graham Rahal finished in fifth place.
Not a bad way to spend your first weekend in retirement, Dave!
Not a bad way to spend your first weekend in retirement, Dave!
 |
| Inigo Montoya...no relation to Juan Pablo |
The other race at Indy this year was between
Honda and Chevrolet. Half the engines whirring around the track at over 200-mph
were built by Honda’s Santa Clarita skunk works. The rest of them were Chevy’s.
Both companies spend millions to provide the engines for IndyCar that must run
2,500-miles with no more than normal service and maintenance.
For race cars.
For race cars.
Still… the bragging rights are incalculable. Think about that the next time you consider a new car purchase from one of the
companies that builds the engines in those spectacular race cars.
I’m impressed.
I’m impressed.
Ahead of Sunday’s race, Dana Mecum’s Original Spring
Classic muscle car auction achieved over $42-million in sales of over 900 vehicles.
Don Davis’ 1967 Shelby 427 Cobra Roadster set the high water mark, selling for
$1-million.
The second-highest price was paid for a 1971 Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta.
“The
Spring Classic auction brought consignments from 36 states this year and buyers
from all over the world increasing sales by more than $2 million over last year,”
Mecum said.
What’s
your favorite Chevrolet Corvette color?
Torch Red, Gray Metallic, and Laguna Blue Tintcoat are among the most
popular on the new and improved ‘Vette’s.
A $439-million investment into Chevy’s
Bowling Green, KY assembly plant will include a new paint shop that’s nearly half
the size of the original production facility. Corvette is now the world’s
longest-running, continuously produced passenger car—at 62-years.
So,
it’s rained every day for the past two weeks where I live. Some parts of the Texas
Hill Country remain waterlogged, and there’s more rain on the way this week. I
need to go wash my car in time for the next rinse cycle.
