The Indianapolis 500 is considered to be one of the greatest spectacles in sports and the 2013 race is expected to be one of the biggest events in North America this year with hundreds of thousands of people flocking to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday May 26th for the 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' and the 97th running of the Indy 500.
Practice runs and qualifying started on May 11 for the race and the pole position will be held by Ed Carpenter after putting up the best speed of the field with a 228.762 for his four lap average. Both Hélio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti are looking to tie a record with their fourth win at the Indy 500, while Carpenter is notable for the fact that he is the stepson of the IndyCar founder and he has set a number of achievements. Carpenter is the first American driver to take the pole since 2006 and another milestone is the fact that he is an owner and driver, making him the first to do that since the 1975 race.
Carpenter grew up near the track and being an owner made winning the pole even more special, as he knows the 2.5 mile Brickyard track very well and now he is in a very good position to take the Indy 500 in Sunday. Carpenter was followed in the running by rookie Carlos Munoz of Colombia, Marco Andretti and Venezuelan E.J. Viso, who finished ahead of Marco Andretti. Will Power is in good position as he will be starting in sixth behind AJ Allmendinger in fifth place. Power started off well and he has won 21 poles and 14 races over 2010 and 2012 and he finished behind Franchitti each of those times. Power was looking to get into the front row after he did it once in 2010 and he is hoping for a better result than last year when he crashed out in 78 laps.
Carpenter surprised many with the win, even himself, as a number of drivers didn't make the cut. After missing out on the top 24 in the qualifying, Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal made their way in last Sunday on Bump Day to get two spots in the race after nearly missing out. Conor Daly, Buddy Lazier and Katherine Legge all had to re-qualify, while Pippa Mann and Ana Beatriz are looking to take the mantle from Danica Patrick and are the first women teammates in the history of the race. Daly is a rookie and Munoz is now the first rookie to start in the front row since Juan Pablo Montoya did it in 2000.
The event is the fifth race of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season and James Hinchcliffe is coming into the race after winning the last race in Sao Paulo after Takuma Sato took the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The first race of the season in St. Petersburg was won by Hinchcliffe as well before Ryan Hunter-Reay took the pole and win in Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. The race will be presented by Go Daddy and will be at Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting at 11 AM on Sunday morning. The next race will be the Indy Dual in Detroit at Raceway At Belle Isle Park.
