For those who are watching on YouTube or Spotify, I forgot to
start the video recording, which is why we're starting it now.
Hold on, you're listening to the Back Home Network presented by
Home Field Apparel. Welcome back to Die cast Central
here set up Scott Dixon die cast from like 2009.
My my guy Tony Canon, although it's not the car he won with,
they didn't sell the big one of his his winning car, so I got
his NTT Data car. That's right, I couldn't see the
NTT Data thing on it. That's right.
Weldon. Didn't he race under 10 as well
when he won in Oaks? And and Frankini raced under 10.
Weldon. Yeah, yeah.
Welcome back to Crimson Cast folks, Galen Clavio, Scott
Caulfield, and Scott's Toy Car joining you here on the podcast.
For those of you who aren't watching, you should.
There you go. If you'd like to watch along and
see Scott getting that car way too close to the camera, you can
do so on YouTube. Subscribe go to
backhomenetwork.com or no, just back home networknot.com.
When we do our in depth intenuator discussion, that's
what I'm going to start talking about even.
Though this is like the old body pit.
It's like a 1984 race broadcast where Scott's got like a model
and he's going to start pointing at things, you know, it's like,
and this is where the fuel goes in just with Scott.
And I always go back and watch old races on YouTube during this
time of month and it of May, the not, not month, not like the
middle of every month, just May. But we've been watching the 83
race separately and then comparing notes and wow, there's
a, there's a lot to say there. It is.
Yeah, I mean, I've, I've always had the dream of like maybe we
just do a a rewatch of an of an old race and do a do a podcast
on it for like the seven other people who might be interested.
But it yeah, well, I'm just going to say it is if you if you
like Indy 500, all of the races are on YouTube.
I used to record them on like ESPN Classic, but they're all on
YouTube now. And they're just fascinating
because the production value is wild.
The stuff they talk about is wild.
The fact that pre 85 they're like half recorded, half sending
on live. And the stuff they talk about,
the way they treat wrecks and drivers like it is all, it's all
nothing. You, you see, like if you go far
enough back, I'm not talking that far back, but you go to
like 78 or 79 when cars were still doing 200 miles an hour.
It's like AJ Foyt has guys coming over in the pits wearing
jeans. Like what is going on?
Well, it's funny, it's actually under 200 miles an hour 'cause
this 83 race we're watching is I think the first race where the
pole sitter breaks the 200 mile barrier in the four lap average.
Teo Fabi and they start to so first of all, but you know what
we need to we need to hit our sponsor first before we get into
this. We are sponsored by Home Field
apparel who is particularly pertinent to this conversation
as they have one of the best Indy 500 apparel drops that
you're going to find. I am really upset, Scott,
because I there was a shirt in here I absolutely wanted.
It's this this black Indian, you didn't do it.
You didn't pull the trigger. I was gone when it dropped and I
got here and it was out of out of it was sold out in my size.
But so many other great ones. I love that tie dye T-shirt
that's I don't really dig tie dye generally.
That's awesome. They got great hats.
They got these ringer Tees just an amazing array of Indy 500
pail. Of course, I think many of you
saw was it paddle award that Jen Fryer was wearing this jacket.
He's like I need to buy that jacket.
She takes him into the the store at IMS.
He buys it sides autographs for fans.
They've also got other great Indy 500 connected apparel.
They've got a whole Ed Carpenter racing collection with with
Alexander Rossi and with Ed, they've got another one with I
think Arrow McLaren. So and you know, you, unless you
like Penske and I mean, let's be honest at this point, who does
you're, you're pretty much set for anything involving Indy.
Just go to home field apparel. Use the code home 23.
Get 15% off your first. Order I liked your I liked on
your last podcast talking about, you know, the stuff they have at
the game bridge store. Just tell them, tell them to get
the Crimson cast code. I think you should do the same
thing because they sell the home field stuff around IMS.
Just if you're going to the race on Sunday, just ask for the helm
23 on everything you're buying a Tenderloin.
But I want the Crimson cast code like let's just let's see if we
can break IMS just everywhere you go.
Like I want the Crimson cast code for the beer.
Someone will believe yes, I'll get a 24 oz can of Miller.
I'll just use the Crimson cast code.
That's great. No, but for purchase, don't I
get something? I, you know, it's kind of like
when you used to joke about, you know, the using the code to get
like a $100 off or 1000 of fake codes.
Yeah, it hasn't worked yet, but yeah, hasn't yelled at us yet.
But he will at some point. He will.
Absolutely. But no, what I was going to say
about that 83 race was in that race at the beginning, Jackie
Stewart. They by this point they'd taken
Jackie out of the actual press bar, out of the broadcast booth.
It isn't like the command center, God knows where that was
in the, in the, I don't even know if it was in the Speedway.
It might have been with like 3 TV's behind him.
Very yes, he looks, it's, it's kind of like like Oz's room or
something like that. Whereas like, that's the man
behind the curtain, which I mean, if it's Jackie Stewart,
then fine. But he goes on this whole
diatribe about how he thinks 200 miles an hour is too fast for
cars and that they, the, the governing body needs to lower
the speed by 50 miles an hour. Because in, in his words, we
won't know the difference if all the cars are going the same
speed. It's hilarious though, because
in that race you're watching it and with the benefit of an extra
40 plus years of watching, it's like, wow, those cars are slow.
They're going like 190 through the turns.
It's like, that's a slow car. So it did make a difference.
Jackie. I'm sorry.
But there's also, I mean, during the middle of the race they go
to a pre cut segment of Jackie Stewart basically doing 10
minutes on how unsafe the track is and how they need to do with
Pitt's Pitt lane modifications, which are all kind of true.
But it's like it, I remember we, I called you or left you a
message like, is this really how we promote our our sponsor race
that we're doing? Just like sit there and just
bitch about how unsafe this all is and all of the changes like
Jackie Stewart views on the paddock.
It is interesting because as we've talked about on this the,
the one time or two times a year where we talk IndyCar and Indy
500, we've mentioned this before that the race used to be on Wide
World of Sports tape delayed. And so they'd run the race and
they would record the race and then they would dub commentary
over it. It'd be Jim McKay and Sam Posey
or Jim McKay and, and Jackie Stewart.
And then they'd aired at 8:00 that night on ABC.
And so it was a, a shortened version of the race.
Like we ran for three hours and but it was like it was almost
and, and this really shines through.
If you would go through and watch these races before they
went live, First live race nationally was 1986.
So that whole period from like 75 to 85 is the ones that you
want to go and watch on YouTube. But it's like they've, you know,
landed their ship in like a foreign country where they've
never had contact with humanity before.
And they're just like doing an anthropological observation of a
foreign group of people that they have no idea or
understanding of. It's very weird.
It's very distant. But like you said, with how
unsafe the track is or how the cars are going too fast, it it's
clearly not a partnership in the traditional sense.
It's almost like they've been brought in to talk about
something journal. It's like they're at the
presidential, you know, press, you know, core thing where
they're just like interviewing the press secretary And, and
it's, it's just a very weird vibe when you compare it to how
series friendly the broadcasts are today.
That that re recording recording thing comes evidently in 81
where Bobby Unser passes Mario Andretti and like that that
nobody noticed at the race and they barely broadcast like they
did it live. If you read it then they then,
because that became the crux of how Bobby Unser won the race.
They went back and re dubbed it as like they, but they talk
about it, but they can't show it 'cause they have no video of it
of it. And so they're they keep on
talking about this past they think happened.
They don't know. And then they they come back
after the race and it's like Jim McKay in the darkness like well,
race is over, but we don't know who what it's like.
It was the most jacked up. It's.
Wild. Of an ending.
It's wild for a sporting event that was at still at the time
was called the greatest spectacle in racing and was the
most famous race in the entirety of the world, that it was both
like broadcast on tape delay and kind of treated.
Like it was a County Fair by ABC.
It's, it's just a very, it's a very odd, I invite everybody to
go at least go watch a couple of the races because you're just
going to be like, wow, this is. And for those who didn't live
through it, the, the xenophobia shines through because like the
I, I picked for us to watch 83 because it's the last time you
had a rookie on the pole. And this year, you know, we have
a rookie on the pole who's also not American.
Oh my God. And but it's like all they talk
about is he's Italian and like, he's not an American.
He's Italian. And then Jackie Stewart's like
I, I like having an Italian. It's good to have a European
like all this discussion about like, you know, Italians, they
understand this kind of racing. It's like.
Oh, there was Mars. No, no, it's like Jim Mckay's,
like people have asked, has an Italian ever won the Indy 500?
Well, Mario Andretti was, yeah, it's like, yeah, no kidding.
The most famous race car driver in the 80s.
A lot of people from a lot of places.
Anyway, so we're not. You'd imagine telling them, hey,
in 40 years we're going to have a Russian Israeli on the Pole
like they was. Who was raised?
Who was raised in Italy, Right. Yes, I know.
It's it's God. No.
Is he going to? Be able to eat at IMS.
How's he going to live? Yeah.
I know it's amazing. So there's a ton to talk about.
Yeah, there is. We were when we were thinking
about doing this year's edition of this podcast where we always
preview the Indy 500 and talk about it.
We both go right, But like a week and a half ago we were
like, what are we going to talk about?
Because let's be honest. Going to win or not?
It, it is a, it has been a very boring IndyCar Series so far
this year. And you know, this is one of
those things and it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a weird time in
as much as the reason it's boring is you've had one
absolutely dominant driver in Alex Pelo and you know he
deserves all of the flowers. He's got 248 points so far this
season. 4 wins, 5 top fives, 2 poles, 149 laps LED.
Nobody else has more than 51 laps LED on the year.
He's 97 points ahead of Kyle Kirkwood, who's second in in in
the point totals. Like he's running away with it
right now. And two of the.
Last races like in Barber, he had the pole position fastest
lap most laps LED in the wind at IMSGP, the the, the IndyCar,
Sonoma, you know, the Grand Prix, he had pole position
fastest lap and won the race. Didn't have most laps left.
But just, I mean just owning these races.
Yeah, So, you know, we, so we've been trying to figure out like,
well, what are we going to talk about?
And boy, did we had a lot to talk about over the course of
the last week with what happened during qualifying and then Fast
6 and this whole Penske controversy.
And that's in light of last year.
And now we've got more stuff to talk about not just from last
year, but two years ago when it comes to Penske and Newgarden.
Let's let's start before we get to the controversial stuff.
Let's talk about what happened in qualifying and the fact that,
as you said earlier, we have a rookie, a Russian Israeli driver
who was I think raised in Italy, who's racing for a team that's
never been in the 500 before in Prima racing.
Robert Schwartzman first Oval that he's ever been on and he
goes out and he bests Takuma Sato and Potto award and Scott
Dixon and Felix Rosenquist and Alex Pelo in the fast 6 ends up
with a four lap average of 232.79 O And it was a remarkable
run and it was fascinating. You called it, I'll give one of
Scott credit. He called it during the
qualifying. He texted it to me.
But this is a young driver who clearly just has a lot going for
him right now. And that doesn't always work
over the course of a 500 mile race, but it often works in
qualifying. And, and, you know, we've seen
unusual pole sitters over the course of the history of the
Indianapolis 500, particularly in the last 2530 years.
The race tends to shake that out more often than not.
But that's a, you know, qualifying and racing at Indy
are two entirely different things.
And the, you know, the setup's entirely different.
The driving is very different. And I mean, what Robert
Schwartzman did out there, just how smooth he looked in that
prima racing vehicle, especially when so many cars really were
struggling in ways that I wasn't expecting, especially during
that period of time. But Scott, it was also kind of a
weird product of the fact that they hadn't run at all that late
in the day and they end up running like post 6:00 on the
qualifying. It was just like the whole setup
felt a little bit odd. And it's like they've tinkered
with this thing enough that it's great in one sense because we
still get surprises, but on the other hand, it's just a little
bit strange how it all ended up working out and the fact that
this was the result. Yeah, this this year I'm
bringing my, my neighbor and buddy Dan to the race for the
first time. And his wife moved here from
Iowa like 2 years ago. Never been.
I'm like, I'll, I'll show you the 500.
So we actually went to practice Thursday and Friday and I was,
he was like, well, how you know, let me, let me tell you how
qualifying works. And I'm like, well, I think I
understand. Like I mean, I keep up, but they
change it every year. And that's what I thought was
odd is, you know, as I was telling Dan, you know, kind of
like, well, they, they practice all these different scenarios.
You know, what's it like when it's this temperature at this
degrees at this time of day, but practice ends at six O clock
every day. And then you're going to do the
fast 6 at 6:30, a time that no one's ever run.
The shadows are all over the place.
I just, I found that odd. You know, I, I just, Schwartzman
was putting up good numbers throughout the week.
And then on Saturday he looked pretty good.
On Sunday he had some good runs and I, I, I will say I called
that. That was after I knew that
Penske and Power were, you know, New Garden and Power were going
to be out. But you just look at who was in
the Fast 6 and you know, if it wasn't going to be Palo or
Dixon, I was like, it's probably going to be Schwartzman because
Sato's fast. It's to me it's an odd mix of
teams up in the top because you have Schwartzman with Prima
Racing, you have Takuma Sato with Ray Hall, Letterman,
Lanigan Racing. Pato Award is the front row with
Arrow McLaren who's come back from, you know, was it 3 or 4
years ago and they didn't even make the field with what's his
name, the the F1 driver they came in with.
Alonzo. Pete Alonzo and then Alonzo.
A weird hybrid of a Mets. Yeah, I know.
Yeah. Fernando Alonzo didn't make the
race with him. But then you have, you know, 2
Ganasses on Road 2 over, you know, Felix Rosenquist, Meyer
Shanks. And like, obviously this is
partially because Penske didn't run, but just a a weird mix of
like, hey, middle of the front row Meyer Shank.
You know, it's an odd mixing of teams.
And for a while there, I'm like, man, Sato, like if Sato Sato's
been interesting because when he won his 2nd 500, you and I had
the discussion of like, he's really putting himself up there
in some pretty rarefied air. And I was, that's what I was
thinking is like, dude, if he holds on to the pole, it adds
another. I mean, he's like what, 50 years
old or 49? Like he might have been the
oldest pulse. And like it just adds more to
the legacy. Even a front row start for Sato.
He he quietly has one of the best resumes out there that
probably nobody thinks of for the 500.
I was just thinking like a pole would have been cool.
But I I do like Schwartzman there.
But I'm with you. That's why I was interested in
seeing that did the the the fobby race in 83.
Like I'm curious to see how this shakes out for Schwartzman.
Is he able to lead the first couple laps or is he going to
get stuck in a little bit of traffic and then suddenly shake
down like I just. I'm curious to see how that
goes. You know, it's it's first of
all, Sados 48. You were close.
I think Helios 50, Sados 48. It is.
It is funny. I think about like how like my
mom would make fun of AJ Foyt for racing in the Indy 500 when
he was like 52. And we got our own version of
those guys who were young when we first started watching them.
It's it's this is the circle of life.
Yeah, it is. But yeah, the the Schwartzman
thing is interesting because I I don't worry so much about the
start. I do think that where you get
into trouble as a rookie, especially if you're running
your first Oval, is the, the, the, the constant repetition of
what you have to do for 800 turns over the course of the
race, The pit stops, the strategy, the traffic that you
run into. And then you think about the way
that the last 15 to 20 laps of basically the last four or five
races have gone and how tight those are.
And we've seen, you know, drivers who have accrued a lot
of miles in prior races are the ones that tend to fare the best
in those. And like the one exception in
the last decade is kind of the Rossi win, but that was an
entirely different category because it was a fuel strategy
win. He he wasn't having to race
anybody on that final lap. So I think this is going to be a
much tighter race 'cause I mean, just the, the delta that existed
in 2016 between the cars that were leading and the cars that
were back in the pack has shrunk so much that what you're going
to have is almost certainly several, several cars breathing
down his neck. You know, at the point when it
matters, if he makes it that far.
And that's, you know, you think about, you've got accidental
spin outs, you've got stalling the car in the pits.
There's so many things that can go wrong.
And this is a race that is, it is truly an endurance race
masquerading as as a fast Sprint race.
That's something that I think that people forget sometimes.
And that's where the lack of experience on Oval is a problem.
But that doesn't mean you can't get on the pole.
And that's where I think that, you know, you got to understand
that distinction. What I think I just want to kind
of work our way down the field and then we'll get to the maybe
the, the, the, the controversy at the end.
I, I look at, but I look at the I, I look at the front 2 rows
and outside of unfortunately Rosenquist, who's kind of the
most boring, like maybe one of the more boring guys is like,
hey, you want to get a band from Sirius to sponsor?
Yeah, sure, we'll get Creed. Like there you go.
Very, very Rosenquist ask. But I look at the the 1st 6
drivers and to me there's a really interesting, I love going
into Indy with the storyline for drivers.
And I look at it as like Schwartzman, everything you just
mentioned, like he's fast, he's never won, he's never raced an
Oval at all. He didn't really race in the US
much. I can't sound like Jim McKay,
like how how could he do it in Indy?
But. Man is so brave.
No, sorry. Go on.
Yeah, is. He going to go 200 miles an
hour, that's unsafe. I, I, I am interested to see how
a rookie is going to fare and if he's able to hang in the, the
front pack, like, you know how that's going to be interesting.
If he's there at the end is like, is he going to make a
mistake or is he going to come and, and do something really
amazing? You know, I look at Sado and
award in very similar spots. And then if you're Sado, if he's
able to kind of stay in that front pack most of the day, you
know, when you get to the end, it's like, all right, Sado will
put on a show like Sado is going to go for the win no matter
what. That's always exciting.
And I actually put paddle award very much in the same Sado spot
where Sato finished second a couple times, had the wreck with
Dario and was like, he's just like I'm putting myself in to
win, you know. Award is now finished second in
two of the last three, five hundreds.
Kind of a heartbreaking loss last year.
He you saw it in his the way he reacted in the post race.
You know, press conferences, I look at award is like, if he's
there at the end, I think he's not going to back down ever
again. And if he's getting about to be
passed, I could definitely see like an Alan, Sir Junior Emerson
fit Apaldi type situation with award.
So I think I'll, I'll take a break before we get to Dixon and
Pelo. But I I look at those 3, I think
they're all fascinating in their own way.
If they're at the if they're in the lead pack at the end.
So the last time a rookie finished in the top ten was 2020
and it was Potto Ward who finished 6th in that race.
Last year Christian Rasmussen finished 12th.
I think the previous year was David Malukas who finished 16th.
It is really hard for rookies to get anywhere close to even the
top five. And, you know, I think that's
important for people to keep in mind.
And again, that doesn't mean Schwartzman can't do it.
It just means there's a reason why rookies generally do not do
well in the 500. It is such a unique beast, even
among ovals at this point. And the the track really does
kind of have a wife of its own now.
I agree with. You it's not even just him as a
driver, it's it's a rookie team too.
I mean that's the thing too is there's, there's going to be 6
pit stops, a couple of them be green with a yellow flag, pit
stops where it's kind of a mess. And like that's, that's a lot of
times what puts the lower teams out is they just screw up a pit
stop well. Or even just strategy as just in
general, you know, and you know, when you're pitting and when
you're fueling, I mean, it, it is a a huge lift for a rookie
driver to also have a rookie team.
Even if you've got people that have been in the 500 before,
there's a synergy that you generally need that's hard to
get. So, you know, I look at that
front row. I mean, I think this sets up
really well for Potto award and look, if there's a year where it
feels like the momentum might be in his favor.
I mean, I mentioned the standings earlier on award is in
fourth, but he's only he's he's three points from being in 2nd
and he's he's got a pole so far this year.
He's got two top fives. He's been overrun kind of by
Paulo, but everybody has. And you know, when you look at
at Arrow McLaren, I mean they are they're clearly a team that
is doing well. Like Christian Lungard, their
other driver is, is right ahead of him in the standings right
now. So they've been kind of that
kind of most consistent second tier team or or you know, behind
what Ganassi's done up to this point.
And so, you know, well, Ward knows how to race.
He's had some heart breaks. We've seen that scenario play
out a bunch. I think the sado thing's
fascinating, though. You know, to the, and you
mentioned this in your preamble. This is a guy that's won 25
hundreds in 2017 and in 2020. And I feel like 2017, it still
kind of feels like how did like, wait, how, how did he win that?
Where did that come from? And then of course, the 2020
race was the race that nobody was allowed in the building.
And so when you think about Sado, and I think we talked
about this maybe last year or the year before, I forget what,
I guess he he he was, I think it was two years ago when he was
with Ganassi and finished 7th that year.
But we were talking about, you know, if you go back and look
like everybody focuses on Elio, Rick Mears, AJ Foyt, Alan Sir
Junior, Alan, Sir senior, the guys that have won four, there's
this weird kind of, you know, the the next tier guys and they
don't get talked about too much. But the, you know, Bobby Unser
won three Indy 5 hundreds. You know, Johnny Rutherford is
is up in this mix. There's there's guys who have
performed really well, they've won multiple 5 hundreds, but
they've kind of getting lost to time.
Sado, if he can pull something off here and I wasn't expecting
him to have this kind of speed, but for him to be in this
position is really fascinating too.
And I think it's it's one you've got to watch out for because if
there's a guy who is both crazy enough to make like an
outlandish move, but also savvy enough and understanding the 500
enough, like you put a rookie next to Takumo Sato, I'm going
to take Takumo Sato every day of the week.
Yeah. No, 'cause Sato is like, I, I,
I, I'm trying to think of the basketball comp.
He's like Lance Stephenson or something.
He's like, I mean, he's kind of crazy and kind of nuts, but
makes really good aggressive moves.
Like Latrell Sprewell. Yeah, Yeah, Lance was never that
good. I mean, let's.
But anyway, so I don't know, I think any, I think any of the
three on the lead on the, the, the front row could win.
But I I'd be surprised if Schwartzman's in it at the end.
I would not be at all shocked if Sado and award were dueling for
the race at the end of things, if that's the way that it worked
out. But you've got, as you
mentioned, you know, a really compelling second row Scott
Dixon, Felix Rosenquist and Alex Pelo.
You know, the the thing about all of those guys is, you know,
Scott Dixon is, you know, everybody as steady as he is,
he's, what, 44 years old at this point?
He's won all of these, these IndyCar Series wins, but he's
only won one Indy. Yeah.
And I think this would be the longest.
Gap between Indy 500 wins if he gets it.
Yeah, you know that it would be what, 17 years between?
I mean, which is nuts to think about.
He's always he always seems like he's in the mix and something
always goes like slightly wrong with him at Indy.
It's it's a very odd phenomenon. And I don't totally understand
like why it works out that way for him.
But it is, it is interesting that he's there and he's in this
spot like and you, you know, but you go back and look at his
finishes just over the last decade, you know, he was the
pole sitter in 2017, finishes 32nd, then he finishes 3rd,
17th, 2nd, 17th, 21st, 6th, 3rd. It's really feast or famine with
him. But this is his best starting
position since the last pole he won in 2022.
The problem is he finished 21st that year.
So it's almost like the further up he starts, the worse he ends
up going. It's not an ironclad rule, but
it is an interesting thing to watch, especially with a team
that's that good. No, he's, I mean, it's been more
beast than famine. I mean, he, he has a lot of top
five finishes in the Indy 500. It but a lot of it for, for a
guy who is so steady and, and always stays out of trouble.
And that's why he wins championships.
He he loses the 500. Some have been some crazy
wrecks, but like, what was it 2 years ago?
He's had a pit speed violation, which is like the most unscot
Dixon thing to do, which I think goes back to the thing you and
I, you know, you always try to remind everyone's like this is
an endurance race. And that's, that's part of not
just for the cars, but for the people and the mentality.
Just keeping your mind locked in, you know, it, it, it would
be at this point, I think I, I've never been a huge fan of
Dixon just because I feel like he's kind of vanilla and boring.
But I the the amount of time in between wins and as much as he's
put in, it would be kind of a cool to see him get a second one
and and then he would honestly vault into that category you
were just talking about. Because suddenly if he's a two
time winner with a bunch of 3rd and 4th place place finishes
with everything else he has, you know, he's probably at the top
of that two time winner list. You know the two time winner
list has Asado, but it's like, you know, Montoya, Weldon, Lion
Dyke, dancer, Junior fit, Apalde.
He's probably ahead of all of those names.
Yeah, I mean, it's it's a it's a pretty fascinating mix of
people. I mean, you think about the
folks, it just I mean, Scott Dixon needs nothing to validate
his career. And I think that's important to
keep in mind. But but you get right down to
it. I mean, you, you look at the
guys who have two, the mother, the modern day guys that have
new garden big Asterisk has two, Otto has 2, Juan Pablo Montoya
has 2, Weldon got 2 and that's it.
That's the only guys in the 21st century that have picked up
multiple victories, which is, I think an indicator of how much
parody there's been in the series since, you know, the, the
split And then obviously, I think putting things back
together again, I guess just to. Be fair, Dario.
Got 3 and Elio got 4, but yeah, well, yeah.
And that's where like. But again, it's like we think of
Dario and Elio on a completely different level.
Yeah, Yeah. You know, so I almost, Dixon,
this isn't a criticism, but Dixon is kind of in danger of
becoming the Bobby Ray Hall of his generation.
Like a guy who was like mega dominant in the series, but only
one, one Indy 500. Yeah.
So I'm going to skip Rosenquist because the far more interesting
story to me is Pelo. You know, Pelo's a guy that
hasn't won, but he's finished in the last four years he hasn't
won an Oval at all. He hasn't won an Oval, but in
the last four years at Indy he's finished 2nd, 9th, 4th and 5th.
Like he is right there knocking on the door.
And man, you know, you can never really take what goes on in the
series and necessarily apply it to what goes on in the 500.
But this is a car and a team and a driver that are just clicking
on all cylinders right now, or hitting on all cylinders, and it
would be no shock at all, especially starting at the
outside of row 2, if he was able to figure out a way to win this
one. What's interesting is you have
two drivers here, they're both Ganassi's and you know, normally
there's some hierarchy and for years it was, you know, that's
Dixon's team and that, you know, that would be kind of team
orders is Dixon's team. I do wonder if you get to a kind
of a decision point of like, you know, there's a, there's a
yellow at lap 161. It's like, are we going to go
for, you know, pit or then if someone going to try a fuel
strategy, like who, who's getting the preferred treatment
out of those two? Because if they're both in the,
in the mix and I, I just, I, I that's going to be interesting
because Dixon's like the legacy winner, but Pelo's also the, the
young one who has like he is the future of the sport.
That could be an interesting spot that Ganassi's in if he has
to make a call between the two of those that that's what I
wonder could happen there. But no, I mean, ever.
It does feel this feels similarly to like where
Willpower was a little bit of Simon Pagena where they were
just eating up the series but couldn't get a win.
And then that you look back, it's like, Oh yeah, well of
course Willpower and Simon Pagena were going to win the 500
because they were awesome drivers and they finally didn't.
That was kind of what powers thing is powered 1 like a couple
ovals, but not many other maybe with Pagino 2.
And then it's like they they're able to get it done.
And that that feels like where we're at with Palo is it feels
like sometime in the next three or four years, he's going to get
one and then retroactively he'll be like, of of course, he's he's
a really good. Driver absolutely going to to
rows 3 and 4. This is where it gets wonky just
in terms of the guys that are there and you know, the again,
like, I wouldn't be shocked if we got a winner from either of
these two rows, but it we've fallen off the these are sure
things kind of people like if I get these guys in the draw game
on on Sunday morning, I'm going to be a little upset.
But you know, Malukas, you know, I thought it performed very well
in qualifying. You know, Marcus Ericsson's
been. I mean, yeah, fine.
Has a guy fallen off from being a winner as quick as Erickson?
Like he gets changed teams and now it's kind of like, well,
Erickson might be done at the end of this year in IndyCar.
I know. No, it's.
Been that long ago. No, no, he did not win that long
ago. That isn't.
He run in 2022. That's a great.
I mean, yeah, 'cause Pasiono didn't really fall off that
quickly. Ryan Hunter Ray maybe would be
the the last one America but I think he still stayed with
Andretti for like 3 or 4 more years.
Yeah, but he wasn't very good in those three or four years.
I mean, I, I think prior to that you'd have to go all the way
back to Buddy Rice. Yeah, and that was a different.
Era. It was a completely different
era. Absolutely.
It's just, it's just weird that he's already changed teams and
it feels like Ericsson's kind of being washed out.
A win here would definitely help, but that's an Andretti
team which has had middling success of the 500.
Yep, obviously McLaughlin we're going to hold to talk about
until later because we really need to tackle all the Penskeys
at once. Connor Daly, you know.
He he has, he has been very fast at it.
Yes. And he had, he had that one
period I think where he led a couple of laps.
So it was at 2020. Three maybe, but this is 1 where
it's like is is Hunkos really going to be a team that gets you
6 blazing pit stops and the best strategy to go up against
everybody else now? The one I'm I'm really curious
about is Alexander Rossi and, and here's why.
Like Ed Carpenter racing has generally been pretty good at
the 500. They they, they do ovals really
well. And this is, I would, would you
say this is the best driver they've had in an Ed Carpenter
racing car at Indy? Yeah, I mean, Ed Carpenter's
been pretty good. I mean, he won two poles, he
finished, but. I think Ed Carpenter's a great
qualifier, OK, But I think as far as like a driver, is this
the best ECR driver that we've seen in a, in a 500?
Probably, yeah, probably. Except, I mean, Newgarden was on
that team for a while. He's just really young, right?
Yeah. That I don't.
I mean, I think you can't take embryonic Newgarden.
You're right. Yeah.
So I think you're probably
right, yeah. And this is a guy who it's been
a weird month for Alexander Rossi.
He his, his wife gave birth to their son like 3 weeks ago or 4
weeks ago. And you know, he was in the the
the top 12, but he was, he ended up finishing last in, in the
qualifying at that level. I don't know.
I'm, I'm just curious to see the, the one thing I worry about
with Alexander Rossi is he was in that Java House commercial,
which if you haven't seen it yet, might have been the worst
IndyCar related ad I've ever seen.
It's not his. Fault, but I worry that the the
the stigma from that might be too much for him to carry into
the race itself. He's also outside of two bad
years, his finishes at Indy are 1st, 7th, 4th, 2nd, 27th, 29th,
but then 5th, 5th and 4th. I mean, there's a lot there that
again, he's in kind of that spot where if he gets a second and
he's he's always going to have like he won the 100th running of
the 500. If he gets a second, assuming
it's not also on fuel strategy, that would be a wild way to do
it. But I mean, you get 2, you still
got 2. But if you have two wins with,
you know, a second, 2 fourths and 2/5, it's like another top
ten. That's.
That's pretty good for your first ten years at Indy.
And I mean, you go back and look at and I, I'm trying to solve my
own question about the the best ECR driver, you know.
So last year they had Renas, VK and Christian Rasmussen and VK
finished 9th in that race. The previous year VK finished
9th. Conor Daley was racing for them.
He finished eighth. You had Daley finished 6th in
2022. I'm going back and looking and
seeing if anybody else challenges.
I forgot about Ed Jones. Ed Jones raced for for ECR and
they finished 13th. Carpenter himself finished
second in 2018 and as you mentioned, New Garden finished
third with them back all the way back in 2016.
That was the same year that Jr. Hildebrand finished 6th for
them. So I'm going to go ahead and say
Alexander Rossi. This vintage of Alexander
Rossi's the best ECR driver that's been in a 500, and this
is a team that is kind of overdue given the number of top
10s that they've had. I think over the course of time
this is a race they always do well and that would be a great
story if you managed a huge. A huge great story locally if
they if ECR is able to win. Getting back into five and six.
So you've you've got Kevin Simpson, who's in that that last
Ganassi vehicle, Ed Carpenter himself, and then of course,
Santino Ferrucci, who's always a wild card.
He's fun, I like him. I mean, it just he feels like a
guy who needs to not be in AJ Foyt Racing team.
Like he needs another team drastically, but he's he's raced
very well in the 500. Stingray Rob in the middle of
row six and then you start, you know you're drifting back into
These are the the Howdy Holmes of the.
Of the present day or the OR the the, the Lone Star Jr. in like
85 or 86 where it's like, oh man, Rutherford's running again
or Sneva's running. That's kind of.
What I feel with like Hunter Ray and unfortunately probably
Castro Nevis, obviously you've got Kyle Larson, who can we stop
talking about the double? Does anybody actually care about
the double? No.
I, it's, I just feel like it's such an overplayed and I mean,
it's, it's, it's a great accomplishment.
It's an amazing athletic feat. It's just not interesting,
right? But it'd be cool if somebody won
them both. Yeah, Now Kyle Kirkwood, I am
kind of interested in middle of row 8, did not have the
qualifying speed, although he is like the first 3 laps he ran
were OK, but he had that huge fall off on lap four.
I didn't actually see what was the cause of that.
But you know, Kyle Kirkwood has had a good year so far.
He's second overall in the standings.
He's got the only other win outside of Alex Pelo.
And you know, Andretti tends to run well at Indy even if they
don't run well elsewhere. It's just a tough spot to be in.
But you look at the number of good drivers with good cars that
are going to have to come from the back.
Like there's no reason why he couldn't do it.
It's just a tough spot because if one thing goes wrong in front
of you there, you're basically you can't do anything about it.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, it's it's going to kind
of step on my point for the, the the back, the new garden power.
But I, I look very much like Kirkwood and even a little bit
of Colton Hurda in this area. Hurda really hasn't been set up,
but it's like if you can get through the first couple of
laps, I, I look at that group ahead of him with like, you
know, Cal Mylot and Foster and Stingray Rob and you know,
Rasmuth and I don't, I, I don't, there's a world where Kirkwood
could easily be up in, you know, the 10th spot within 5 laps.
If now, if there's an early wreck and you know, that's kind
of always being in that rows 6 and back, you're always in a
danger zone and laps 1-2 and three, if there's a wreck, you
could just get caught up and be toasted.
But if there's no first lap wreck, I could easily see
Kirkwood being somebody who's up in the top 15 by the, you know,
lap 15 and then all of a sudden in the top 8, you know, with
seven, you know, in lap 75. I could see him just slicing up
a lot of those people. Graham, Ray Hall, Marco Andre,
you mentioned Colton Hurd back there.
And then of course the back row, you know, if you if you go to
the last row party, which I've been to a few times due to media
related things, you know, you're normally getting.
Cal Mylot or. Back Harvey whatever, but no,
you're getting Joseph Newgard and willpower and Enrique in in
media yes, that was amazing. If you told me I was running on
the same Rd. with two Penske's I would have been pretty happy
great wine. I love it.
But no, this is where we need to talk about the Penske situation.
And so you know both all three Penske cars were going to be
able they, they were in the fast 12 and then you know the the
attenuator. Well, McLaughlin in the in the
morning, McLaughlin goes out for a practice run and he he wrecks.
So they're they're not even sure they're going to get his car
rebuilt. So he's kind of not basically
out of the fast 12. And then Power and Newgarden go
in for tech. And they fail tech.
Well, I'm like not to get too wonky here, but like power
passes tech, yes, correct and new, which is like, So what were
you looking for? And then Newgarden fails, yes.
And then, and then and go back and look at power and realize,
oh, we should have failed you too.
And there's this whole weird scene where there's stuff going
and we're not not sure what they're doing with the parts.
And then we don't know exactly what's wrong with the car.
And then it's finally explained that there's a the, the way that
they've routed the, the, the, the, the connector there on the
attenuator. Like they basically like there's
two pieces of the attenuator, like 2 piece of carbon fiber.
There's a lip that creates some drag and basically, I mean they
kind of put like a metal caulking basically to kind of
make it smooth. What was funny is you get your
car on pit lane for qualifying, you're only allowed to do air
temperature and like, you know, a little bit of fuel or
whatever. And it's like they're on pit
lane, they're told they can't have this piece and they're like
literally have a blowtorch and they're like chiseling.
It's like, how? How do you think this is legal?
Even if you're allowed to take this off, you can't feel like
chiseling your car on pit lane. Well, and then you know, and
then this this whole thing explodes because they they're
not allowed to to race in in the fast 12.
And then someone walks over to the IMS museum and discovers
that the winning. Car from last year at the same.
At the same thing going and so the whole debate well then on.
Monday, the car is no longer the museum.
Correct and both power and new garden are moved to the back of
the field to 32nd and 33rd. And it's just been a bunch of
controversy since then. And you know what's interesting,
there were calls for, you know, throw them out of the race
entirely. Like a battle award is like it's
kind of sucks for, you know, Abel, who didn't make the race.
Granted Abel was racing a potato out there.
Like, I mean, that was that was one of the worst cars I've seen
in a. While out, how about we put the
stuff on your attenuator and if you can make the race, go for
it. But.
But it does bring up a whole host of issues when you think
about it in relation to what happened with Joseph Newgarden
and. You're with the push to pass.
Yes, and. Or basically the Penske, I'll,
I'll very quickly make this for those who didn't keep track.
But, and correct me if I'm wrong, but basically, you know,
you had so much push to pass time, which is now hybrid, but
last year you had push to pass buttons and, and basically
Penske was able to modify their car to get unlimited push to
pass as a practice simulation. They forgot to turn it off.
And then new garden was just using push to pass all over the
place. And he said, I didn't know.
But the, The funny thing with that is like tell people who
don't know racing is like the push to pass doesn't work on
restarts. Like that's just that is not a
fact that everybody knows. And if you watch race car
drivers, they got a lot of shit to do in the car.
You just don't push buttons that don't work for no reason.
But yet Newgarden was pushing the push to pass all the time on
every restart. It was like I just.
Wanted to see what would happen. It's like, OK, you don't, You
don't just turn knobs. And like, it's not just like my
5 year old in an aircraft simulator.
Just like, what does this do? And of course, all of this
overshadowed even more by the fact that Rodger Penske owned AT
owner is also Rodger Penske, the series owner and Rodger Penske,
the Indy 500 track owner. And so you've got a a good old
fashioned like 1980s style controversy about all of these
teams. And you know, the the the
strategists aren't allowed to to be involved in the race.
And again, right. And it didn't matter last year,
obviously with new Garden, but it just it's it's both.
I, I would most years, I would say this is unfortunate.
I actually would say this is maybe the best thing that could
have happened to Indy this year because of how few real good
storylines there were. And then Qualls, like the second
day of Qualls gave us not just a rookie hole sitter, but also it
gifted us this Penske controversy, one that's not
going to go away. And look, it's not impossible to
start at the back of the field and work your way up.
But you've also got the issue of Scott Mclaughlin's car, which
didn't go through inspection. But the idea that two of the
Penske cars had this and the other one didn't would defy any
actual sense of logic or reason. Like I, I refuse to give them
and the benefit of the doubt. And I don't think anybody else
is giving them the benefit of the doubt either at this point.
So this is going to be a fascinating dynamic for the fans
and normally that doesn't matter.
But in a completely sold out Indy 500, which is the other big
news that we got this week, the blackouts lifted.
The locals are going to get to see the race for only the second
time, the third time, sorry, in the last, what, 100 and however
many years they've been running the race.
It's it's just one of that the these fascinating stews of
things where if the Penske cars make their way up to the front,
there's going to be a crapload of booing and people like openly
rooting against them. It it would be amazing theater,
you know, And I don't know if it's going to matter that much
because as we talked about earlier, it's really hard to
make your way through the field, but not impossible.
But it is going to be something everybody is watching from the
word go in this one. Yeah, and and like again, been
talking to my neighbor Dan, who's just not in the racing at
all. And I mean the two things that I
said is the First off, I was like, you know, cheating is not
like it's very similar like stealing signs in baseball with
racing, like everyone's trying to make their cars as good as
possible. So there's probably something
similar to the to the extenuate like that.
Every team has a little bit of something.
They're probably Gray area in the rules.
So I do have a a hard time with any team just calling a foul of
Penske. It's like you probably did
something too and didn't get caught.
But it's like this is year 2 of getting caught.
The the other thing that I've I've.
Had but but it's also the series owner too, and that's you.
Know honestly, if this was if this was Errol McLaren, I don't
think anybody would care that much.
No, you're right. The the other piece is that, you
know, people are asking, well, how many times does a car in the
back, you know, one or finish like, well, to me the analogy is
like that would be like saying like how many times a 16 seed in
the tournament made the final four.
It's like it hasn't happened a lot.
But this is kind of like taking Duke and making them a 16 seed.
It's like Duke gets punished finally for all of the illegal
recruiting they've done. And it's like, well, you're
going to make the tournament, Duke, but you're a 16 seed,
right? And then and.
Then you're like, well, like 16 teams, they don't do very well.
It's like, well, there's this Duke, like this is something
different. It really is yes.
It's, you know, if then that's where I go to like I, I agree.
I think it's great because I was telling, yeah, my neighbor Dan,
like this is going to be awesome because now you can watch the
back of the field too. Because if like if there's not
an early wreck or new garden power, don't get caught up in
something. You can watch them carve up the
field. Like how fast can they move up?
I remember it's like 2011, 2010 where Tony Kannan couldn't get
his car qualified and got qualified changes and he started
33rd and hers, his first lap was electric.
He passed like 11 cars. Now Kannan is a special kind of
driver, but I could see Newgarden doing something
similar. I, I could see them both being
aggressive. And I do think if I, I'm never
rooting for Rex, like I'm rooting for a clean first couple
of laps because I want to see how these guys start moving and
maneuvering. And I, I do think it adds a
whole nother level. That's kind of fun that I almost
think we should just do every year.
We should just like like like the bottom, the bottom three of
the fast 11 like you are the back row.
Well, and then you you made a good point about the cheating.
I mean, it's, it is something that happens in every series of
racing, like from go karts through sprints all the way up.
I mean, watch, watch drive to Survive and you'll see it there
too. It, it's just part of it.
Now, the bigger problem for Indy, and I don't know how they
address this, it's they can't do anything about it this year, but
how the hell does one car get through inspection and then the
second car doesn't get through inspection And then you go back
and you look at the first car, you're like, oops.
And then last year's car, what's inspection?
And again, it's like, I think Alexander Rossi's car when it
won in 2016 failed some aspect of inspection.
Like it's not like this is unique to Penske.
The problem is it's Penske's inspectors like it because he
owns the track and he owns the series.
So it's really hard in this scenario to look at it and say,
yeah, you know, this all this is fine.
This happens all the time because it just it, it doesn't
like that. And you know, I mean, what was
it? I think F1, you know, the, the
management of F1 and the like, the media of F1 have to be
completely divested here. It's all in one.
It's all under one roof because it's a much smaller series from
a financial perspective. And so it's just it's again,
it's not going to ruin the 500. It's not going to ruin the
series. It's not going to ruin the
reputation of any one of the drivers.
Although Joseph Newgarden, I think for most people now,
they're just kind of like, I'm not really, I'm not seeing like
the, the, the, the, the image that gets projected because of
how photogenic new garden is and how good he is with the press is
really running counter to what you're seeing out of these sorts
of incidents where it's like you can't keep saying, gosh, I had
no idea. It's very Rick Pitino like.
Well, the other thing you have with new garden, that name drop.
I got to meet Ari Leyendyke this this season.
He came into one of the the suites I was in for for one of
the practice. Days, folks, I got the preview
of this from Scott. It was not nearly as exciting as
you would think it would have been.
He wasn't, he wasn't as much fun as you thought, but he was
talking about stewarding. But the point that I'm getting
to is that. We talk about getting getting
his his shit smacked and and and pit lame by AJ Forge at all.
I did not mention, I didn't ask him about that.
He did not not talk about that. But but you know, the other
thing that is we're going to be curious about at the end of the
race is, you know, the the return of the snake and kind of
the the crazy ending. But this goes into last year
where Newgarden blatantly just went way past the line and
somebody was asking, you know, line deck about that because
he's one of the stewards. It's like, well, you're not
really allowed to do that. We're going to look at that.
It's like, but you're not like you're not just going to call
somebody's win off. And but this is again goes the
Newgarden thing where he is really playing in the Gray
because last year was very much like they did the snake two
years ago. You know, Marcus Ericsson tried
the snake and last year new guard was kind of just like F
it, like I'm going to take this thing all the way down.
I'm going way under that line and like penalize me if you
want. I'm curiously how that how how
the last couple laps go again, because this is something where
IndyCar it it it puts racing in a tough spot because you don't
want to end the the Super Bowl on a pass interference.
You want to end a race on a blocking pass, the lane call.
But you also, you have to have some kind of like, that's pit
lane. This is not, this is the racing
line. Like at some point you have to,
it does feel like they've lost control of the last couple, the
last couple laps because it's like you're snaking and you're
going all these places you're not supposed to go.
At some point, either it needs to stop or the series is going
to have to penalize somebody harshly to cut all this crap
out. It's such and this actually is
where we tie in the 83 race again, in that when you go back
and watch those old races, you know, the beginning of the 83
race, they replay the last couple of laps of the 82 race,
which is of course, the famous Gordon John Cock, Rick Mears
finish where John Cock holds off Mears after Mears passes him on
the front stretch on the final lap.
And then John Cock cuts him off in the first corner and holds
him off on the back stretch. And you know, Jim McKay is
constantly like, I've never seen anything like this before.
And and it's like, OK, calm down, Jim.
But to some degree, he hadn't seen anything like that before,
at least not an Indy because there were not close IndyCar
finishes. And the the rare ones we would
get 8289, which didn't, wasn't an actual finish, but it was
going to be if not for the, you know, the, the, the touching in
turn 392. And then it started happening
more regularly. And now with these cars being so
fast and so close together, and frankly, the average ability of
the drivers having gone way up in the last 15 years, Indy never
really had to reckon with the idea that if you race the way
that you race the rest of the of the, of the race, you're going
to get past. So what do you do if you're
leading and you can't just not lead like you, you know,
voluntarily not leading is kind of dumb, but it ends up creating
the situation where the driver's like, well, we're going to take
it in our own hands because we're not just going to be
sitting ducks, right? But that's where the series, and
I think with this particular race has to figure something out
because the snake thing, it's it's dangerous.
First of all, like, I mean, we're we're one.
And you know, you think about the the past attempt that Sato
tried. What race was that where he
crashed? Was it against Frank Kitty?
Frank Kitty's last one was 12, so it must have been 12.
That that that move attempt in turn 1, I think it was that ends
up with him crashing, right? Everybody's like, what the hell
is he doing? That's basically what's
happening in all of these snakes.
It's not passing per SE, but like the wild, you know, moves
up and down the track and everything else going on.
All it takes is like 1 slowing car or one person, a rookie
perhaps trying to keep up with that.
But it's also, it just kind of, it's like the that part of the
race becomes completely detached from the entire rest of the
race. And I've always felt that in
whatever sporting event you're talking about, that's a terrible
way to end things. And so I, I don't know how to
fix it other than you got to actually call penalties.
But then you get to that situation that you just
described where you're ending on a penalty.
But then if you're not going to do that, then you're going to
have this situation a third year in a row and you know enough
people are sore about it after two years in a row.
I have a hard time seeing it being something that people sit
back and just be like oh that's fine for 1/3 time.
I I agree, and I mean, the other thing with a snake is you're
going to get into it at some point.
It's like if someone doesn't snake, it's like, I'm just going
to go out. Then you could just like get
taken out. I mean, I'm you're worried about
a car hitting the, the attenuator on the way to
gasoline alley, but it I don't quite know what the solution is
because you also worry if you're like, right, I'll snake, but
I'll, I'll, I won't go all the way down.
What if somebody else goes down and passes you or you don't go
down far enough? So somebody could just SWIP
around your top it as you said, they almost have to do this and
they see that it works and it becomes so hard.
I mean, this is also a problem of a series that you basically
have the exact same chassis since 2012, I think, or 2011 and
you you had no real upgrades to the arrow of this car.
So that, you know, that was always something different is
that, you know, they would be like year 2 or year 3.
And like they, they've kind of perfected everything they can do
with this chassis. And that's the problem is it's,
you know, it, it, I, I don't know what the solution is, but
you're right. It, you know, 3 because I
remember when, when Kannan won in 2013, it was very much just
about all right. We just don't want to lead the
last lap. So it was like everyone was
jockeying to be second and that was kind of how they figured it
out. But now it's almost like the
next evolution of, you know, now we're going to shoot corner
threes is what we turned into the snake.
You almost need just an all new aero kit just so that everyone's
trying to figure stuff out again.
But I'm I'm with you. I it's going to end with either
a wreck or having to call a penalty.
Yeah. Maybe that.
Maybe of all years, this is the year that Newgarden wins, but he
snakes in such a fashion they call a penalty.
That would be. Wild what?
What about a situation like that where they like he wins, but
they penalize him and the wind goes to a ward or something?
It's one of those deals where that would be.
I I would be shocked if that was what happened, but it was
theater, man, that would be amazing.
Yeah. That would bring you what?
That was always a talk like who, what winner would get the
IndyCar back in the news? Like, that would probably get
IndyCar back in the news, Yeah. 100% Well, OK, we got we're
we're almost at the hour mark, so we should probably wrap up.
So who's your pick to win the race this year?
That's a great question. I my everything I'm going to go
with paddle award it it feels like it might be his time.
Yeah, I'm I'm just going to say award.
I really want to pick pillow. I would love to say one of the
Penske drivers are going to come through, but I I think award,
although I wouldn't, I wouldn't sleep on McLaughlin because I
think he's starting in a better spot.
I think the Penske teams are going to come with a chip on
their shoulder to try and prove. But yeah, I I think paddle award
seems right to me. What about you?
I was. Also going to go with Pelo.
It just feels like a boring call.
And so you know what, I'm going to go a little off the grid, but
but I'm going to call back something that I was talking
about earlier. I will I will pick Rossi.
I like it in this. I, I just, it feels he's been
very under the radar all month, But we know that Ed Carpenter
racing knows how to race at Indy.
We know that Rossi knows how to race at Indy.
And I think if he can keep his head down and keep himself in
the top 10 for a decent amount, that team's not going to make a
ton of mistakes. They're going to play smart
strategy. And I think between the, the,
the, the sheer red hot hatred that Arrow McLaren has for
Ganassi in particular, might end up with those two teams kind of
almost psyching each other out. And you know, if you've got
someone that can come in and just be steady throughout all of
that, I think if he's got the machinery underneath him and I
think he does, I mean, you're not talking about a huge
difference. You know, the, the top
qualifying Ganassi car is at 232 point O 5 and Rossi's at 231.7.
Like, you're not talking about a whole bunch of variation in
terms of speed. So I'll, I'll go with him.
I, I, I think honestly, though, you could just throw a dart at
anybody in the top 12. And with maybe the exception of
David Malukas, I wouldn't be shocked if any of them won the
race. I'll ask you this, do new garden
and or power get up in the top five you.
At the end of the race or at some point during the race.
Near the end, because at some point you can always be, you can
always lead on to some kind of crazy fuel strategy or pit
thing, but you do you think they'll be legitimately in
contention in the top five? I think power will be.
I think Joseph Newgarden has invited the wrath of the racing
gods, I think. I think he would have been fine
if he hadn't decided to go jogging during the Fast 6, or
maybe I think it was during the bump period.
But I think that that was taunting the gods just slightly.
And I just you just can't do that in Indy.
Yeah, I'll go commune with them later and see if I was actually
correct that that would be. So I, I, I, I, I think power,
Power weirdly has been under the radar.
I kind of feel like Power got kind of swept up in this a
little bit. But he has not had a great year,
but obviously he's having a terrible year either.
He's 7th overall, he's got three top fives.
So and he's he's just been kind of quietly there throughout the
course of the season. And obviously we know that he
knows how to win in India as well.
So I I think he'll be in contention at the end.
The last question I'll let you run with because this is your,
your, your beat, so to speak. But the weather, the, the only
thing we didn't mention, it's gonna be cold day.
You know, it's going to be the last.
I mean, I, I remember in 92 it was like 58°.
And that was when Roberto Guerrero just spun out into the
wall when he was in pole position.
It was colder, wasn't it? It was cold, so it's not going
to be that cold, but you're only talking of a high of 66.
But you and I couple days ago were like, the weather looks
awesome. This is what you want and
suddenly rain is coming back into the forecast.
It's like showers in the morning 57% but you you have better
weather skills and and forecasting that I do.
What do you think the cold is going to play any effect in the
race? But then also, what do you think
the weather for race day is going to be like?
So just just for the record, about 92, I was talking to, to
our friend Tricia Whitaker about this this morning cause 'cause
we're like talking about plans to go to the race.
And, and you know, she, she used to be a reporter in Indy
covering the race. And you know, I was like,
normally I die at the race because it's too hot.
And that's been the pattern. Like we had that one race a
couple years ago when I think the heat index was like 108.
It's been a while since we had even something that I would call
like temperate for the race last year was the closest and that
didn't count because of the rain and the extended time period and
the cloud cover. That 92 race in the morning, it
was 48°F with winds gusting to 23 miles an hour, which meant
that the wind chill was at 28°, which is why Roberto Guerrero
spins out at the start of that race.
It's not going to be that cold, thank God.
But right now, you know, depending on what Weather
Service you're looking at, what we're looking at for the the
forecast right now for that day, as far as what I look at, I
don't think it's going to rain. The forecast is for 65 with a
real feel of 67, slight breeze times of clouds and sun.
So even if there is sun, you're talking about a pretty chilly
track, which is, but it's not going to be a cold track.
And a chilly track will make for some incredible racing because
everybody's going to have an insane amount of grip.
It's kind of what happened with Qualls.
Like qualifying this year was not that warm.
I mean, I think it was what, 7073 or 72 on both days of
qualifying. So I think the result of that is
going to be less tire degradation and a lot of teams
trying to figure out like how long they can make their tires
last, which is probably going to lead to some weird fuel strategy
because you're going to want to stretch your tanks out as long
as possible because you're not going to need the tires.
And so that is, I think unfortunately, unfortunately in
big parentheses, they don't really care that much.
But unfortunately it favors the teams that understand how
strategy works at Indy. So I think the Ganassi's, the Ed
Carpenters, the Penske's are going to have a lot of an
advantage because they're going to understand how that works.
So I I think it'll benefit the teams and the drivers that know
what they're doing already and it'll make for a really fast
race as long as people don't get like over their skis in terms of
how they're approaching things. As you say that it makes me, I,
I, I could, I wish I could bet on like the set from all of
that, it sounds like there actually could be somebody who
runs out of gas. Oh, I mean, it wouldn't shock me
at all. Didn't that miss Dixon one year
as well? I think so.
He's had some weird. Mistakes for a good team yeah,
yeah. So look and if if honestly, if
it's 65 with a real feel of 67 sign me up.
That's great. That's that's that's light
hoodie weather. I'll, I'll take it compared to
some of the other races that we've had over the course of the
last 15 years weather wise. Going back to the 83 race, just
because I watched it like Sneva wins and he's he ends up saying
he only like his, his fuel light went on with five laps to go.
But they were talking about that on the on the race.
But it was funny. It's like they basically send
someone to the moon because they're like asking his his his
crew chief, like how's the how's, how much?
We don't know. Like they're doing calculations
and like they're like Sneeva doesn't know either.
He doesn't know what the like nobody knows how much gas he
has. And, and it's like it's just
they're sitting there doing it. Sorry.
They're they're doing like stuff on paper.
What is funny, at one point, at one point this is like in the
middle of the race, they show a shot of Pensky's pits and he has
like a dot matrix printer printing.
Out like it's. Like, oh, Penske with a computer
in the pits, like, Oh my God, like they really bring it all
out for this. Like he, he might as well have
been printing out like a print banner.
Like, you know, one of those print shot banners.
He's just running the Dow Jones. You know, I just, it's just got
the ticker tape going. He's.
A Kodak is not doing as well. Like, Oh my God, the print.
They brought a computer. But it's like it was so funny
that there's like Sneva doesn't know.
It's nobody knows how much gas he has and in a way it was
almost more fun that way than than now where they know
everything. Then it's wild.
It's, it's, it's funny and amazing and it's, it's awesome
how much the race has changed and yet how much it's very much
kind of the same and just different, different shades of
the same colors over time. So no, it's a it's a great time.
I hope everyone has a fantastic time there and the other sell
out. You get to watch it on TVII do
wonder if this is going to be a new well, I know we got to wrap
up, but like I do wonder with Fox coming on, you know the the
idea of a sell out. It'll you know, game bridge has
a certain number of seats When they sell out, they sell out and
normally a couple singles here and there you can call sell out
IMS. It's like they used to count
standing room only as part of like it.
It very much felt like they could control if they wanted to
sell out or not. I do wonder with the new
broadcast coming in, if this is kind of like, hey, man, if you
get close, you got to start calling it or this is going to
be the new way they do it or Fox push this because it it feels
like most years they can call a sell out every year.
They're always kind of like using standing room only or a
couple of singles as reasons why they're not calling a sell out.
They but look, the fact they sold out the grandstands and you
know, you're always can sell more infield tickets if you
wanted to, but the fact that they're using that as the metric
is great. Look, I've said for years,
years, you've heard me say this, like if the biggest mistake that
Indy makes every year is not showing the race on local
television because you lose the ability to cultivate new fans,
and I'm sorry, Gen. Xers.
I'm sorry, Baby Boomers. I'm sorry, elder millennials.
Nobody in Gen. Alpha, nobody in Gen.
Z wants to sit there and listen to the race on the goddamn
radio, right? OK, that's I I know we did it in
the 80s, OK? I did it in the 80s, too.
Nobody wants to do that now. People want to see these things.
They need to see them. There's no reason why you
shouldn't cultivate people more through getting them watching
the races, and Indy 500 is your crown jewel.
You need to have it on television.
Indiana, which is where most of your fans live.
You know this is where your power base for the entire series
is based out of this state. When you've had it on TV two of
the last like 7 years and it hasn't, it hasn't hurt ticket
sales so. I mean it.
Really is, as you said, like it truly is.
It is just different to experience in person.
I've been to tons of different sporting events.
You know, this is one of those that it really, you know, hockey
is close, but this is one that just does not replicate on TV
like you just if you go it is a different experience and it's.
Great in person, but it's not the same, you know, I mean, as
watching it on TV where it's packaged like an NFL game where
you can see what's all going on and you can get the drama like
you really, if you're in the infield, you're not really
getting a sense of what's going on in the race and that's not
what you're there for. But if you're even if, if you're
in the stands, unless you know how to watch the race and how to
keep track of what's going on and how to look for what you're
looking for, that takes a while to learn.
I, I've watched it on TVIII was spoiled.
Like I grew up in a house where we had a big dish satellite.
And so I would I watch the race every year.
You know, I didn't go in person until I was 21, and I love
going. I go every year I could.
I know how to watch. I know how to get it on TV, Even
if, you know, even without the blackout being lifted.
But the point is that shouldn't be a choice you have to make if
you're growing up in a place where the race is this
important. And that's, that's, you know, so
I also, the last thing I'll say on this, this is huge for Fox
'cause it is going to Jack the ratings through the roof from
where they would have been without the Indianapolis market
showing the race. And that makes a huge
difference, especially in a year where all race like ratings are
down, NASCAR's down, Indycar's down.
You know, I think I think Long Beach was up and I think the
other races have been down compared to last year.
It's kind of a general cycle in television.
This will be a big boost for Fox.
And I think that that's a big thing given that this is the
first year. If we could just get them to
please, like just just send Chris Myers somewhere else, just
just, if he cannot say Indy 500, if he keeps saying Daytona 500,
he probably shouldn't be part of the crew.
They've got plenty of great people in the Fox stable, like
bring Jenny Taft, bring somebody who knows what they're talking
about. And, and that would be my one
piece of advice there. So fair enough.
You know, they they brought us tom-tom Brady and Strahan.
And then I think Caitlin Clark's doing the flag.
We haven't gotten the the national anthem singer yet.
And then Gronk is in the the Snake pit, although I've heard
snake pit sales are not as good as they have been in the past.
So Gronk is not obviously the the EMX poll that he might
thought he was. The what?
That he thought the EMX or EMEDMEDM.
Yeah, yeah. EDM.
Obviously not. Not my, not my kind of music.
What the hell is? EMX it's it's the new version of
music really OK above. EDM.
Before we go, I'm going to search EMX and just see what it
is on Google. EMX EMX royalty company
headquartered in Vancouver, is explores for and generates
royalties for metals and mineral properties.
So hey, if you want a sponsorship EMX, we've got to
use promo code metals. We're we're 20% off your first
dunk in the home field and we're picking EMX up.
I love it. So all right, that'll wrap it
up. Let's we'll see you folks if if
you're at the race. Double.
You talked me, we're both doing the double.
We're doing the double. I'm gonna, yeah, be excited.
It's going to be amazing. It's going to be a long, long
day. Race in the at the midday and
then Pacers AT8II. Ice coffee is going to get me
through a. Lot of Pepsi 0 for me, I think,
but a lot of coffee in the morning and then the Pepsi Zero
later. You know, we'll get some get
some caffeine in us as we move forward.
Anyway, that'll wrap it up for this edition for Indy 500
preview. As always, a fun time, Scott.
Thank you. Scott's got his car back out
again. Thanks to you folks for
listening in. Be sure to check us out on
YouTube. Be sure to subscribe to the sub
stack and be sure to tune in for all the IU football, basketball
coverage and everything else that we do for Scott.
I'm Galen. We'll catch you folks.
On the flip side, this is Crimson cast.
Stay never daunted. Bring back the Bison.
So long, everybody.