There are only a few things in life l like almost as much as the Indianapolis 500-mile race. The company of a pretty lady at my all-time favorite Italian restaurant and maybe a warm pastrami sandwich, but that’s about it, and the older I get, the more I find myself reminiscing about the eras of the past at 16th St. and Georgetown Road, where I’ve spent a considerable period of my life soaking all the action up.
From the Offenhauser to the Novi, to the Turbine, yours truly has seen all those engines that made history and kept me excited about all the speed records they would eclipse along the quest to win the greatest race ever.
You want some drivers?
How about Andretti, Foyt, Unser, Mears, Rutherford, for starters and some guys named Parnelli and Dixon?
Yes, throughout the decades, there’s so much I’ve taken in while enjoying it immensely.
I’ve even lived through the transfer of ownership for the Cathedral of Motorsports and witnessed a rebirth of sorts as it pertains to the massive renovations that Roger Penske has made since he purchased the hallowed grounds l so love.
While nothing goes without change forever, I’ve also witnessed the cost of racing rise dramatically, forcing good teams to fold up shop and leaving a sport that’s always been about the haves and have-nots to diminish in both popularity and strength away from the greatness that is IMS and its coveted lore.
One of the sacred traditions at the 500 has always been the composition of the starting field, which of course, contains eleven rows of three on race day, as they come flying out of turn number four heading to the green flag and the start of what can only be described as the absolute best moment in all of racing.
The aforementioned costs of fielding a team in the IndyCar Series aside, there has never really been quite the obvious scramble like the one we’ve witnessed this year in terms of reaching a field of thirty-three cars and drivers for the 110th running of the 500.
With the Series staring at just thirty-two entries, the powers that be put General Motors together with AJ Foyt Racing, and all of a sudden, you’ve got a thirty-third entry with Katherine Legge piloting a Chevrolet-powered Dallara with the benefit of a solid technical alliance between Foyt and Penske Racing, along with the support of HMD Racing at the helm.
While no one is saddened by the opportunity for Ms. Legge, it is fair to say that Roger Penske and his organization bringing all these parties together to secure a full field is both good and bad, and deserving of the scrutiny it’s receiving.
I fully understand why the move occurred, but that doesn’t mean l have to look away and not cry foul on behalf of all the teams who didn’t receive what can only be called a subsidy that no other group received for May.
This move allows a great tradition to continue, but it also places the definition of true competition at a risk that the Series shouldn’t have to endure, regardless of what the old guard says is right.
Sure, you can say this last entry has virtually no shot of visiting Victory Lane, but that’s not the point, as it challenges the sanctity of the race and questions just how far the steward of this great event should go in terms of underwriting a team and thereby compromising the integrity of the race and the entire NTT IndyCar Series.
Do I blame those who made the decision to preserve tradition? Yes, I certainly do.
Does it matter what I think?
Well, probably not, but as terrible as it sounds, I certainly would’ve preferred thirty-two cars as opposed to the support for one team that all the arm-twisting rendered this week, and in turn, we’d be avoiding a dark cloud over IMS on a race day that is so special to us racing purists.
Notes: The next stop on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course on May 9th. While good seats are still available, you can also watch it locally on WXIN FOX 59 or listen to it live on the IMS Radio Network.
Danny Bridges, who will attend his fifty-seventh consecutive Indy 500 this May, can be reached at (317) 370-8447 or at bridgeshd@aol.com
Danny Bridges is an award-winning journalist and a longtime sports columnist for the Indianapolis Recorder. He covers college, professional sports and especially all things IndyCar racing. He can be reached at 317-370-8447 or at bridgeshd@aol.com.
