Indycar Season Review: #ThankYouDario

Scott Dixon snagged his third Indycar crown

Congratulations to the 2013 IZOD Indycar Series champion Scott Dixon, best wishes to a champion's champion Dario Franchitti, and better luck next year Helio Castroneves. That pretty well sums up the late season drama in Indycar. Next year much will change, including the title for the series as IZOD steps aside after this season, there will be two races in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the 2014 schedule ends Labor Day weekend. And while I didn't blog this year about my usual pre-season predictions, there's little doubt that I would have missed the mark by miles, as this season was both tumultuous and unpredictable in many ways. So here's my recap along with my favorite moments.

Dario Franchitti 

I have to start with a sad note:  Dario is leaving Indycar but he is one lucky guy after his horrific accident in Houston which hastened his retirement from Indycar racing. I hate to see him retire under these circumstances but it's good to know that he will make a full recovery and hopefully find a role in the series as an elder statesman or spokesperson. So #ThankYouDario indeed for all the memories.

Tony Kanaan celebrates his first Indy 500 win

My favorite personal moment this year was being able to shoot Victory Lane at the Indy 500 to capture Tony Kanaan's emotional celebration after taking his first Indy win. In a 500 for the ages, I started the race on the roof of Stand E overlooking Turn 1 and ended up in Victory Lane so my day shooting this year's 500 for motorsport.com was quite special. It would be hard to top that day in the years to come but who knows? Maybe next year will be even better! I had picked Ryan Hunter-Reay to win Indy before the month of May started this year but I was really happy for TK to get his first one. And wouldn't you know it - a late crash by TK's buddy Dario brought out the yellow which effectively ended the thrilling lead swapping duels which had transfixed the Indy crowd all race long up to that point.

Ryan Hunter-Reay won from the pole at Barber

Defending Indycar champ Ryan Hunter-Reay started off the season on a role by taking pole position and winning at Barber Motorsports Park. That was where my Indycar season started this year and the race weekend included a couple of firsts. I had never been to Barber before, although I have driven past it several times on my way to Talladega, so it was a treat to get another maiden racetrack visit under my belt. I also got to shoot for motorsport.com for the first time as a sort of trial run and warmup for May in Indianapolis. It was quite a challenging weekend dealing with the terrain at Barber and learning the technical requirements for submitting photos to motorsport.com's website. An added bonus was shooting the Rolex Series that weekend. I felt really good driving home after three days ambling around Barber's rolling circuit and producing images I was proud of. One of my favorite shots of the weekend was taken during RHR's pole award celebration when he was holding his infant son who gave the slightest hint of a smile. He must have been enjoying all the attention!

Charlie Kimball outraced everyone at Mid Ohio to get his first win

The bookend to my Indycar season was the race weekend at Mid Ohio the first weekend in August, again shooting for motorsport.com. I love shooting at Mid Ohio and I used to think it was pretty hilly until I went to Barber! I would love to shoot more Indycar races each year but circumstances and my teaching responsibilities intervened. As it turned out, the Honda 200 was another weekend of firsts, albeit not for me as I have been shooting at Mid Ohio since the 1980's and took part in the track's Acura High Performance driving school in 2006. Charlie Kimball got his first career Indycar win by running hard and outracing everyone else who had adopted a fuel saving pace. Chip Ganassi and Dario seemed genuinely happy for Charlie to get his first win. Although there was no way to know it at the time, that weekend was also to be one of the last times that Dario would spray champagne and celebrate on the podium.

Takuma Sato 

In many ways, 2013 was a season of firsts in Indycar. In addition to Kimball, several other drivers got their initial Indycar wins. James Hinchcliffe got his first at St. Petersburg and then added wins in Brazil and Iowa. Takuma Sato got his first at Long Beach, finally rewarding the AJ Foyt team for their patience with the Honda favorite who's motto has become "No Attack - No Chance" after nearly winning the Indy 500 in 2012. Simon Pagenaud got his first in the second Detroit race and took Baltimore later on. Neither Brazil nor Baltimore are on the 2014 Indycar schedule so those race winners may be "defending champs" at those venues in perpetuity. I would expect both events to return to Indycar in the future however, but schedule conflicts must be resolved first. While not in the category of first race wins, this year's comeback story has to be Mike Conway who got a win at Detroit in a one-off ride. Conway will be with Ed Carpenter Racing in 2014 and run all the road races, so his comeback from injuries in the Indy 500 in 2010 is complete.

Carlos Munoz pits at the Indy 500

The most impressive driver this year had to be rookie Carlos Munoz. He started second in the Indy 500 and could have won the race if the last yellow for Dario's wreck hadn't waved. He was exceptionally strong at California in the season finale and was equally impressive filling in for an injured Ryan Briscoe the morning of Race 2 at Toronto He looked good in his first Indycar road race, he is fast and fearless, and has done such a good job in the Firestone Indy Lights series that Andretti Autosport has rewarded him with a full season ride for next year. I expect he will add his name to the list of first time winners in 2014.

Fan favorite Helio Castroneves was title bridesmaid again

Scott Dixon's championship run started at Pocono in July, then he swept both races in Toronto and closed it out with a first and second at Houston. He overcame a huge points deficit, along with adversity at Sonoma (where he was penalized for a pit lane incident from the lead which didn't really seem to be his fault) and at Baltimore (where Will Power squeezed him into the wall and put him out of the race). Coupled with his late season hot streak, perennial series runner-up Helio Castroneves suddenly became snakebitten during the Hosuton weekend with mechanical gremlins which wiped away his points lead in one weekend. That just didn't seem right watching it at the time, but that's racing and Dixon took advantage. If there was a trophy for the worst luck this season, it would have to go to Helio. For someone who represents Indycar so well, has won Indy three times, and is always upbeat with a smile on his face, he sure got kicked in the teeth by the racing gods this season. He led the points standings for months yet on the penultimate weekend, it all fell apart. Rarely have the words Helio and disconsolate been used in the same sentence but after Houston they belonged together and you just knew his championship hopes were gone even though the final race of the season was still ahead at Fontana.

My plans for covering Indycar in 2014 have not been solidified yet, although I am hoping to shoot for motorsport.com again whenever I can. It's a lot of work but a labor of love. So until next time, here's a gallery of my personal Indycar favorite photos from the 2013 events at Barber, Indianapolis and Mid Ohio.

#ThankYouDario - A Legend Retires

Dario Franchitti on his 2012 Indy 500 victory lap with Ashley Judd & Susie Wheldon

It seems my life is full of irony. Or maybe it's all just coincidence - except I don't believe in coincidence: everything happens for a reason. So last Thursday, on the day I posted a "Throwback Thursday" video I had created of my photo sequence of Mike Conway's 2010 Indy 500 crash, Dario Franchitti announced he was retiring from Indycar racing for medical reasons as a result of his similarly frightening crash at Houston last month.

And who won the Indy 500 which finished under yellow in 2010 as a result of Conway's accident? Dario. Then the next day I read about Mike getting a ride with Ed Carpenter for 2014 to run all the road course races next season. So in the span of 24 hours, I wrote about Mike's accident (and the fact that his Indycar comeback from his Indy 500 accident was underscored by a win at Detroit's Belle Isle circuit this past June), Dario retires and Mike gets a new ride for next season.

The common thread here is airborne Indycars. Mike Conway decided not to run ovals after getting upside down at Indy the last two times he ran the 500. Dario decided to retire after climbing over Takuma Sato at Houston and taking out the catch fencing, suffering a concussion and back injury in the process. Dario got airborne twice in 2007 (at Michigan and at Nashville), escaping without a scratch both times but this time he was not so lucky. In the aftermath of his Houston accident, I would guess that the specter of his pal Dan Wheldon was also weighing on Dario's mind with Danny's loss still fresh from the fatal accident at Las Vegas two years ago. Everyone knows that racing is dangerous but that is part of its allure - men and women risking everything at speeds most of us can only imagine:  until the risk is too great.

While I hate to see Dario retire, I am happy he is able to make a reasoned decision and walk away with his health largely intact. From the medical reports I have read, it sounded like his greatest concern is the long term impact of repeated concussions, and who can blame him for deciding that the rewards no longer outweigh the risks? Especially given all of the media attention to the effects of concussions on players in football, I hope he stays retired and doesn't fall prey to the urge to return to the cockpit.

Dario has become one of my favorite drivers the last few years and I would love to see him assume an active role in Indycar similar to other greats like Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford or Mario Andretti. Since I expanded my motorsports photo work in 2006 to include multiple races on the Indycar circuit, I have been up close and personal with Indycar drivers like Dario many times. After his 2012 Indy 500 win I was standing next to him and Ashley by the yard of bricks and was close enough to hear their conversation. So I feel like I know racers like Dario personally and when someone leaves the sport, either by their own volition or other circumstance, I can't help but feel the loss. I feel like I am losing a hero, but thankfully this time it is not the ultimate loss as with DW. It's a loss nonetheless, so I hope I get the chance someday to tell Dario how much I've enjoyed him as a person, a racer and an icon in our sport.

So this past weekend in my ongoing efforts to experiment with video production, I put together the following video with photos of Dario from races at Indy and elsewhere I've covered the last six years. Some might think the Evanescence song "Immortal" is too melancholy for this, but for me it reinforced the notion that as long as we have memories of our heroes, then they are immortal. God bless you Dario and I sure hope to see you at some races next year so fans can salute all that you've done for the sport of Indycar racing.

#TBT Throw Back Thursday: Mike Conway Indy 500 Crash

By far the scariest racing incident I have ever photographed took place at the Indy 500 in 2010 when Mike Conway ran up the back of a slowing and out-of-fuel Ryan Hunter-Reay near the end of the race. I was shooting in Turn 3 that year as I have for many years and the race had been fairly uneventful from my vantage point most of the day. With a couple of laps to go, I had turned on my digital voice recorder and set it on top of the fence post in front of me to pick up the sounds of the cars and the track public address system announcers making the call of the winner. I don't usually pan during a race at this location as I watch the entry to the turn, how the cars are coming along the apex and looking for the slightest little twitch or for a car running above the normal line. I also listen for changes in engine notes or any unusual sounds. On this day it was my ears that tipped me off to a problem, and then my eyes followed.

Then I heard a loud clunking sound to my left. I swung around to see RHR's car damaged and limping through the turn so I laid on the shutter release button thinking that he might get t-boned by other cars that were trailing him. At eight frames a second, it is hard to tell what is going on sometimes but I stayed relatively wide with my 70-200 and kept shooting, when I realized something (or someone) was airborne and I was seeing black which meant the bottom of the car was facing me. Then it was like a bomb had gone off with more awful sounds and a debris field filled my viewfinder. I ended up with 48 photos in the whole sequence and my first thought afterwards was that someone had gone under the stands. There was a gaping whole in the fencing beneath the North Vista grandstands which safety workers were peering through. The mangled cabling framed a piece of the nose of Conway's car behind the wall and the only other section of his car that remained in front of me was the engine and rear end  assembly. I feared the worst and the crowd in the north end was absolutely buzzing in the aftermath of the accident. Thankfully, the worst was not realized and I ended up with 16 minutes of audio on my digital recorder as it continued to record while I finished shooting the aftermath of the accident and checking with other photographers to see what they had. A lot of spectacular photos were taken that day by members of the Third Turn Society.

2013 Racing Sampler, Part 1: New Video

Part of the thrill of chasing race cars around the country with my cameras is reviewing the finished product. That is also some of the most tedious work involved since there are usually hundreds, if not a thousand or two, images to sift through after a race weekend. Multiply that by the number of race events I've done (and this year there were 10) and the editing process can be overwhelming. Thankfully, however, because of the nature of my assignments, most of the concise editing is done at the racetrack on any given weekend and I am still quite happy if 1 out of every 10 pictures is a keeper. Of course, I consider myself my own worst critic, although photo editors of the people I work for often make the final call. So putting together slideshows or other presentations is often not as daunting as you might think.

One of my goals going forward is to create more video content, even if it means putting still photos together with music, wild sound or narrative soundtracks (or some combination of them all). The following is one attempt to do so and includes photos from the IZOD Indycar Series, the Rolex GrandAm Series, NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series and the Firestone Indy Lights series taken at Indianapolis, Barber Motorsports Park, Mid Ohio and Talladega. I am calling it Part 1 for 2013 as I intend to do others over the next few months before I head to Daytona to shoot the Rolex 24 Hours race in January. Once that race weekend gets here, all bets will be off for 2013 and the images mostly get archived to make way for a new crop of images at various events. I have a few "sequels" in mind, but I had to start off with one that has music created by my son Max and no narrative track. There will be more as I work to polish my video production skills in anticipation of a major project I am working on for the summer of 2014. Details on that will be revealed as that time gets closer. Needless to say, lots of road miles on my '99 Integra will be involved, and I will be embedded in a six week frenzy of travel, shooting multiple events, and special video compilations to add to this blog as continuing chapters in this photographer's journey. Welcome to Indiana-ville, y'all!

Indycar Schedule Diversity - How about Lime Rock Park?

2013 Indy 500 Winner Tony Kanaan Will Race for Chip Ganassi in 2014

With this week's announcement by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) that May 2014 will start with an Indycar road race at IMS, the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis has me thinking about fans and the series schedule. The 2014 schedule is not yet ready for unveiling but should be out before the season finale at Fontana. The addition of an IMS road race the first weekend in May is almost surely a replacement for Brazil. It has already been announced that Baltimore is going by the wayside due to date conflicts so where does that leave the series? On top of that, IZOD has announced it will be leaving as the title sponsor for Indycar after 2013, so the braintrusts at IMS, now led by the very capable Mark Miles, have some serious work to do in the months ahead to put the best possible series together.

The real work lies in the next 24 months as the sport hurtles toward the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016. Discussion of breaking speed records at Indy by that time are intriguing and Dallara and Firestone will need to have their acts together to get these cars close to 240 miles per hour. There is no doubt that Honda and Chevy can produce the horsepower necessary to hit that speed. Both manufacturers have shown in pole qualifying at Indy the last couple of years that adding a few more inches of boost will result in more speed. But that is not my main concern. Quite simply, it is where will the fans come from? Will speed and a new event at IMS be enough? And what about the rest of the series?

Top level open wheel racing in America has a history of schedule diversity whether we're talking about Indycar or Champ Car. With the Indy 500 as the lynchpin, season schedules have been built around Indianapolis with races on short ovals, high speed ovals, street courses, and natural terrain road courses. That is a good thing in my opinion since it showcases the technical capabilities of the machinery as well as the talents of an international field of drivers from diverse racing backgrounds. Yet as diverse as the schedule has been over the last ten years, the primary ingredient which has been lacking is stability. I have to believe that stability in Indycar scheduling will do more to generate fan loyalty than all the technical changes combined. By my count, Indycar has raced at 15 tracks since 2004 which are no longer on the schedule: Michigan, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Nashville, Pikes Peak, Las Vegas, Richmond, Nazareth, Motegi, Homestead, Chicagoland, Kansas (all ovals), plus road/street courses at Baltimore, Edmonton, and Watkins Glen. Nazareth closed, there are too many bad memories to return to Vegas, fans ignored New Hampshire, and Richmond was too deep in NASCAR country to be successful. The other ovals are controlled by International Speedway Corporation whose bread and butter is NASCAR, so it’s no surprise those are gone. Nashville used to sell out, Kentucky had some of the closest finishes in Indycar history, and I haven’t even mentioned Milwaukee yet which seems to be iffy from year to year.

Not all is doom and gloom for the series schedule however, as there is a solid core of race events which can be the basis for stable and sustained future growth. Outside of Indianapolis, staples would seem to be St. Pete, Long Beach, Barber, Milwaukee, Belle Isle, Texas, Pocono, Iowa, Toronto, Mid Ohio, Infineon and Fontana. Doubleheaders at Belle Isle and Toronto are likely to continue along with Houston if all goes well this year. That’s an 18 race schedule so if dates and television coverage are confirmed next week, then it starts to look like there’s some schedule stability in addition to track diversity. Champ Car fans still lament the loss of Elkhart Lake and Laguna Seca, while the presence of two races in Texas most likely precludes Indycar from going to Circuit of the Americas. Could the exclusion of Lime Rock Park from the 2014 Tudor United Sportscar Series present an opportunity for Indycar in the northeast? Adding any of these tracks would be a boon for Indycar racing, as I believe the series should become known for bringing the fastest and most competitive race series to the best tracks in America.

My concern about stability for fans is based on three things. First, I wonder if fans are going to any other races than the one in their immediate area. Second, are fans getting alienated by having a race a couple of times in their area and not knowing if they can plan their schedules around that event for the following year (or years)? Third, if fans can't rely on schedule stability, then are they going to support the series on television or just happen to find the races as they channel check on the weekends?

Do events which are essentially "one-offs", like Baltimore, generate long term fans, where locals may go just to be part of the event due to its novelty and promotion as a "happening"? Has Indycar surveyed those fans and determined where else they attend Indycar races? Do they follow the series at all or just go when the race is in town because it's the thing to do? Or are they bailing out on the series when a race disappears from the schedule after a short stint because they are pissed off about losing their race? I sure don't have the answers but I hope the leaders at Indycar are asking these kinds of questions.

Are fans getting alienated by the loss of a hometown race or the instability of the season schedule? If so, are they going to make vacation plans for the next year with an Indycar race in mind? Indycar has races in some great tourist areas and fans of the Indy 500 certainly plan that way since you know the race is on Memorial Day weekend every year. Somehow I don't see the addition of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis being added to such vacation plans, but I expect it will be well supported locally and regionally by the diehards. Over time, the novelty factor may come into play, as it has with other events held on the IMS road course over the years, where crowds have been good initially but then tapered off.

Television coverage holds the key to future success for the series. It was good to hear that ABC would be televising the Grand Prix of Indianapolis live as well as the 500. NBC Sports Network continues to do a good job of covering the majority of Indycar’s races with extended and in-depth coverage. It would be ideal to have all the races on one network, but that will have to wait until current contracts are up. Improved fan experiences with real time internet content delivery at each racetrack would also help, in order to take advantage of smartphone and tablet technology. The social media efforts of the series have been well intended but that presence (and that of the drivers) needs to increase tenfold to attract (and keep) new fans.

The next generation of fans needs to be identified and nurtured, and there is no time to waste in this world of instant gratification. If you’ve read my blog before, then you know I’m not just spouting off. I love Indycars and the Indy 500. I give a damn. I hope the folks running the Hulman empire are up to the task. I believe that they are, and that the best is yet to come. We just have to get people to the tracks and they will come back for more once they smell the ethanol exhaust and the hot tires in the summer sun. You know where you can find me – with cameras in hand.

Indycar Heats Up at Sonoma - Power Gifted a Win

Scott Dixon pits at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course

One of the great things about shooting motorsports is the ability to get up close and see things from the inside which a lot of fans don't get to experience. So as I was watching the telecast of the Indycar GoPro Grand Prix at Sonoma, I began to get a sense very early in the race that something wacky was going to happen. Sure enough, it did, as a pit incident occurred involving members of Will Power's crew getting knocked over by Scott Dixon as Dixie left his pit box on the final set of stops. Team managers Tim Cindric (Penske) and Mike Hull (Ganassi) were politically correct in their television interviews afterwards talking about the need to protect the guys that go over the wall. Of course that is true, but was this situation really worthy of a penalty on Dixon which cost him the race win and handed it to Power? I think not.

Will Power, Sonoma winner

After listening to Beaux Barfield's explanation, I must say that I understand his reasoning but everyone knows the pits are dangerous and shit happens. Thankfully no one on Power's crew was seriously hurt, but in my opinion, Dixon's collision with the tire held by Power's right rear tire changer was just a racing incident. Barfield said the pit boxes were not being determined by the painted white lines on pit road since those were there for NASCAR but instead were sized by the banners hung by the teams on pit wall. That is just a load of crap frankly, and leaves too much open for interpretation. Did Power's tire changer walk into Dixon's car with the tire on purpose as Mike Hull suggested? I doubt it. But you can't legislate intent and where there is room for interpretation, decisions ought to favor letting the race play out with no intervention by the officials. If everyone had said something like "We do everything we can to protect crewmen on pit lane and it's an unfortunate situation which can sometimes happen on a crowded pit road", then I don't think anyone would have complained. As it turned out, Barfield's decision may end up having a huge impact on the season championship and my guess is we haven't heard the last of the fallout from Sonoma. The best part of the whole deal was hearing Dixon's interview afterward when he said "It was a dick move" by Power's crew member. Scottie D is usually as cool as they come but you could tell he was furious with a comment like that! And I don't mean to diminish the pit lane risks by any means, as I've taken hits from air guns while shooting pit stops and those things hurt! But let them race!

Tony Kanaan counsels Sage Karam at Mid Ohio

While I had to be in Indy couch racing this past weekend and haven't been able to shoot a race since the Mid Ohio event, August has been a whirlwind for me and I will likely only have two more race events to shoot this year:  ARCA at Salem Speedway September 14th and NASCAR at Talladega in October. Those races will bring my 2013 total to a nice round 10 race events and if I could find people to pay me to do more then I would love add to that total. Two days after getting back from Mid Ohio, I got a lead on a new teaching job and by that Friday evening I had the job and then started teaching the following Monday. With soccer officiating added to the mix on the rest of my August weekends, I have been crazy busy but loving every minute of it. I've told many people recently that I've gone from the outhouse to the penthouse with this new job and as much as I love shooting motorsports, I have to say that my cup runneth over and I have been truly blessed to do all the things I'm doing.

Until next time, I will leave you with a few more shots from Mid Ohio which show the variety of racing that occurs at great road course weekends. Be sure to check motorsport.com, my Picasa web galleries or alleygroup.net for more! See you at the track!

Randy Pobst wheels the K-Pax Volvo in Pirelli World Challenge action at Mid Ohio

Pro Mazda runners had to contend with a wet track at Mid Ohio

Jack Hawksworth navigates a turn in Indy Lights

Johnny O'Connell in the carousel in his gorgeous looking (& sounding) Pirelli World Challenge Cadillac

Back on the Road: Indycar Weekend at Mid Ohio Next

Scott Dixon returns to Mid Ohio in the favorite's role

After a hectic weekend shooting at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week to wrap up July's racing calendar, I am excited about returning to the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend to shoot the Honda Indy 200 Indycar race and support events for motorsport.com. This scenic natural terrain road course is an annual fixture on my racing schedule and Indycar is my first racing love, so the chance to shoot here again is quite special for me. It is also a track that I have driven myself in the Mid Ohio Acura High Performance Driving School, so I can empathize (somewhat) with the drivers as they negotiate the undulations and rolling terrain of the racetrack. When track announcers talk about competitors racing through the Keyhole, Thunder Valley, Madness, or the Carousel, I know exactly where they are and have a view in my mind's eye of what that looks like.

Scott Dixon

But the man to watch this weekend is Scott Dixon. Scottie D has been the master of Mid Ohio more often than not the last few years and with his recent hot streak of three wins in eight days, he must be considered the favorite this weekend. Naturally the other Indycar competitors are going to do everything they can to break Dixon's recent stranglehold on Mid Ohio, but his recent win streak has vaulted Dixie into second place in the season points battle behind Helio Castroneves. The 2012 IZOD Indycar Series champ Ryan Hunter-Reay is third in the standings and within striking distance of a repeat championship although he needs a win this weekend to regain his early season momentum. While these three focus on the top step of the podium and the series points battle, drivers like Marco Andretti, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud are stalking the favorites and hope to use this weekend as a springboard to a late season challenge for season honors. Pagenaud got his first Indycar win earlier this season and has been strong on road courses so he's my darkhorse candidate to pick up a Mid Ohio win.

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Hunter-Reay was quickest in this week's open test at the track followed by Pagenaud and Power so clearly these three are on their game and prepared to challenge Dixon for Mid Ohio supremacy. Sebastian Bourdais's recent second place finish in Toronto's second race bode well for Dragon Racing and he was fourth quick in this week's testing session. Helio and Dixon were fifth and sixth in the test so all the top guns are locked and loaded for this weekend.

Carlos Munoz has shown speed and talent in Indycar and Indy Lights

The Firestone Indy Lights Series returns to Mid Ohio after a two year absence and Indy 500 rookie sensation Carlos Munoz is hoping to grab the first series championship for boss Michael Andretti and his Andretti Autosport team. Munoz was spectacular at Toronto filling in for the injured Ryan Briscoe at Panther Racing in the second Indycar race of that weekend after jumping into the car on race morning, so the road course prowess he has shown in both series should transfer well at Mid Ohio in Indy Lights. Given his dominance of the Lights race at the Barber Motorsports Park road course this past April, Munoz should adapt quickly to Mid Ohio which is similar to Barber in many ways and should pad his slim series points lead over Sage Karam.

Carlos Munoz has been Michael Andretti's prized pupil in 2013

The car count for Indy Lights this weekend is up to eleven and recent announcements about chassis updates and new management for the series should boost the competitiveness of the series in years to come. Perhaps these changes come too late for this weekend, but there is little doubt that those running Indy Lights are serious about winning and moving up to Indycars. Munoz has his eyes on the big prize in the series which is a $1 million "scholarship" that he can use to move up to the big cars next season. He is certainly deserving and has shown the speed and adaptiveness necessary to be competitive.

There are other changes afoot for this weekend with new competitors in Indycar as well. Alex Tagliani is out at BHA Racing and Luca Fillipi is in - at least for this race. Former Indy Lights competitor and two time Mid Ohio winner in Indy Lights James Davison is also running an Indycar this weekend - for Dale Coyne's team. Oriol Servia is back with Panther for Mid Ohio as the open driver auditions continue for the Panther seat vacated by the mid-summer dismissal of J. R. Hildebrand following his Indy 500 crash and string of mediocre results. One of the great things about shooting Mid Ohio is the plethora of on track action, so these drivers not only will benefit from the open test seat time but from the multiple on track sessions. Support series on the Mazda Road to Indy are also on the weekend schedule as well as the Pirelli World Challenge, so the photo challenges will be numerous.

And did I mention that it always seems to rain at some point during this race weekend? Everyone needs to be prepared for that likelihood as well. My only regret about this weekend is that the American LeMans Series is not on the schedule, so it will be interesting to see how that effects the crowd, especially on Saturday when ALMS has traditionally raced. My photog friends still tease me about getting drenched during the ALMS race a couple of years ago, and they know I am shooting this weekend, so I'm sure I will hear about being the "rainmeister" if we do get some "moisture". Y'all just better be ready! See you at Mid Ohio!

Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest in the July 31st open test at Mid Ohio and should challenge for victory this weekend

Never Say Never: Tony Kanaan FInally Wins Indy 500

Tony Kanaan finally tastes the milk at Indy

Never say never. At long last no one can ever say that Tony Kanaan has never won the Indianapolis 500. He did it yesterday with the same style and passion that has made him a fan favorite at Indy for years. He did it with a late race pass of my pre-race pick Ryan Hunter-Reay on a restart, then the racing Gods finally smiled on him as a crash brought out a final yellow flag and he cruised to the win at Indianapolis where he has led so many times but never before won. Now he's an Indy 500 champion and his image will be added to the Borg Warner trophy alongside his former teammates Dario Franchitti and the late Dan Wheldon. In a race for the ages which obliterated previous records for lead changes, the new standard of 68 lead changes may never be topped. Tony got the last one, the one that truly mattered, and I'm sure he was thinking of Danny when he pulled into Victory Lane.

Tony starts the winning pass...

After Friday's four-car photo finish in the Indy Lights Freedom 100 race, I wondered how the 500 could top that in terms of drama and excitement. I should have known better, as I had seen many times during  practice days how passes were abundant on the straightaways and whoever was in the lead car was a sitting duck with the slingshotting that drivers are able to do in the current Dallara design.  The 97th Indy 500 will be remembered for fast, furious, clean wheel to wheel racing at its finest but I will remember it for other reasons.

...and completes it into Turn 1

My reasons fall into the "never" category, as in never done before. I've never had a Victory Lane pass for the 500 and it was the most chaotic and crazy winner's circle I have ever been in, with people in the way and photogs getting upset that their shots were being compromised. I've shot a lot of race victory lanes the last few years at a bunch of different racetracks but never anything like this one. I hope I get the chance to do it again.

The grid from the roof of Stand E

In all the years since shooting my first Indy 500 in 1984, I've never shot the race from on top of the Penthouse stands. I was on top of Stand E where it starts to curve around the outside of Turn 1 and only got the opportunity  because the person from motorsport.com who normally takes that position was unable to make the race this year. What a view from up there! It's too bad the field never really got aligned into the classic 11 rows of three but I had the chance of a lifetime to shoot from the rooftop and victory lane in the same 500. I've also never worked so hard to shoot the 500 and never shot pit stops from the outside grandstands. I went from the roof to ground level at the end of the frontstretch, then to the drop gates outside of Turn 1, back to the Penthouse stands, then inside the track to the top of the F1 garages, then to the roof overhang by the Pagoda, and finally to Victory Lane. After getting up at 3:30 on race morning and getting into the track at 5:00 a.m., the stairs and the walking were quite a workout, but I didn't really feel it until late last night as I was running on adrenaline and Excedrin on race day.

Kanaan races through Turn 1 ahead of pole sitter Ed Carpenter

Tony Kanaan never said never, and he got it done on an overcast and chilly day that was perfect for speed. Last week I wrote about odds on various driver's winning Indy this year, and I never mentioned Tony as he has not been topping the speed charts or generating headlines this month. He has quietly gone about his business as the consummate Indycar pro and showed everyone how to really race on Indy's flat oval. At 15-1 odds, a $10 bet on Tony would have paid off nicely, and those who aren't around Indy much will never know all the people Tony has touched with his spirit and generosity over the years, like newspaper salesman Chuck, The "Wolfman", who got one of the biggest hugs of all from TK during the kissing of the bricks after the race. This guy is special, having nearly been out of Indycars a few years ago after Andretti Autosport did not renew his contract. Tony has driven the KV Racing Technology team to the top and although we may never see another race like the one we had May 26, 2013, we can never again say  Tony didn't, or can't, win Indy.

TK's winning pit crew in action

All Roads Lead to Speedway for the 97th Indy 500

They say that everyone loves a parade. And in Indianapolis, the day before the Indy 500, you know it's true. The 500 Festival Parade draws throngs of parade lovers and race fans to downtown Indianapolis every year and it is as much a part of the Indy 500 as the winner drinking milk in Victory Lane. For many, the parade may be their only connection to the race as it is the uber-family friendly event of a month of race themed events. There are lots of lifelong Indy residents who would never go near the Indy 500, but they will go to the parade to see the bands, floats and all the drivers who've made the race. Today Charlie Kimball was not in his designated convertible Camaro pace car but the rest of the field was there to soak up the adulation of those lining Pennsylvania and Meridian Streets, or perched on Monument Circle. It's the final hurrah before race day and signals the countdown of the last 24 hours before the green flag flies.

Monument Circle

Indianapolis has come a long, long way since my family moved here in 1968. Even though this is my 38th straight Indy 500, there are many who have longer consecutive strings than I do, and a big theme this year is "all roads lead to Speedway". This is certainly the case for people like me who wait 364 days a year for race day and struggle through Indiana winters asking complete strangers "Is it May yet?" No longer is Indy just a cornfield with a racetrack around it, although it is not exactly a cultural mecca either. It's a big, small town full of sports lovers of all sorts where you can get anywhere in about 30 minutes by car. I met an Australian journalist on Carb Day who hadn't been to the 500 in about 25 years, so I am anxious to hear his impressions of the City I call home and the race that brings this town to life. Gone are the superstitions about racing green cars and the prohibition against women in the pits and garage area. Thank God for that! Indy has been built on the reputation of the 500 and in just three years, the 100th running should be a monumental day in this city's history.

Ed Carpenter - a Butler Bulldog

I don't know how the drivers privately feel about all the hoopla which surrounds the Indy 500 but their public statements suggest that they do more than just tolerate it. The biggest cheers today during the parade went up for Ed Carpenter and most of the drivers seemed to genuinely enjoy the fans hooting, hollering and shouting out their names along the parade route. I grew up a block from Hinkle Fieldhouse, home of the Butler Bulldogs and where scenes from the best basketball movie ever made (Hoosiers) were filmed, so it's not surprising that local fans are getting behind Ed to win Sunday. And like the Hickory Huskers who won the state title for all the little that never had a chance, Ed has a chance to do the same on race day with his own one-car team taking on the goliaths of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. If Ed were to win Indy, and if the Pacers can beat the Miami Heat again on Sunday night at their Banker's Life Fieldhouse home downtown, then Indy may come apart at the seams.

A "Pacers and Racers" weekend in Indianapolis hasn't happened in a long time so this one really has sports fans in Indy excited. Lots of "Beat the Heat" signs were on display at the parade today and race day weather is predicted to be cool and overcast, which means the day should be comfortable for everyone visiting 16th and Georgetown in the Town of Speedway. I know I'm ready to go to work for motorsport.com. I'll be headed into the track on race day before the public gates open at 5:30 in the morning, and the Greatest Spectacle in Racing will then be just a few hours away. Are you ready for race day?

James Hinchcliffe burns rubber leaving the pits on Carb Day in his bright green GoDaddy colors

Indy 500 By The Numbers

Polesitter Ed Carpenter is one favorite to win the 500

My full time job is teaching math and science to middle schoolers so I'm a numbers guy. The Indianapolis 500 has been contested 96 times already so the event is full of numbers to play with so I thought I would take a spin of my own through this year's race figures just for kicks. Although I play the lottery occasionally, I am not a gambler but I wondered who the oddsmakers in Las Vegas had instilled as the favorite this year. according to Linemakers, this year's pole winner Ed Carpenter, three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti and 2008 winner Scott Dixon, have been tabbed at 7-1 odds. Another three-time winner and the defending Indy 500 champion, Dario Franchitti, is next up at 8-1. Interestingly, Dario and teammate Dixon start next to each other on Row 6. James Hinchcliffe is also at 8-1 and he has won twice already this season in the IZOD Indycar Series, and been a stalwart in the Andretti Autosport onslaught on top practice speeds this past week. Hinchtown's teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, my pre-practice pick to win this year, is at 10-1 while another Andretti racer, rookie sensation Carlos Munoz, is at 20-1. Even though I wrote earlier this month that Ed Carpenter should be considered a darkhorse candidate, this may no longer be true since he has won twice on ovals in Indycars, and now he gets to start from P1 at the track owned by his relatives. If car numbers mean anything, the last driver to win with #20 was Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989 in his legendary duel with Al Unser, Jr., so Ed would be in good company were he to follow in Emmo's wheel tracks.

A. J. Allmendinger has support to win Indy

Oddly enough A. J. Allmendinger is posted at 12-1 along with Penske Racing teammate Will Power even though the Dinger has never run the 500 before. Chalk that up to the strength of the Penske team and A. J.'s prowess in Champ Car a few years back. The pride of Japan, Takuma Sato, is listed at 30-1 but I would put five bucks on him in a heartbeat since he came so close to winning last year and won an Indycar race this season at long last. Sato's teammate, rookie Conor Daly, is only given a 300-1 chance of winning from the last row but rest assured that race fans in Noblesville, Indiana and Heritage Christian High School would be willing to take those odds and blow a few dollars to show their support. Needless to say, the top drivers with the top teams are being touted as potential winners this year, but the 500 usually has its share of surprises in store. 

My pick to win:  Ryan Hunter-Reay

Lots of other numbers factor into this year's race. There are four previous winners and four women starters. Dario won in #10 in 2010. The most experienced and oldest driver is Buddy Lazier at 45 years of age with 16 Indy 500's under his belt, although he starts next to Daly in Row 11, and isn't likely to do much on race day. Carols Munoz is the youngest at 21 and hopes to follow the example of fellow Columbian Roberto Guerrero challenged for an Indy as a rookie in 1984. Eighteen drivers, including Munoz,  have experience in the Firestone Indy Lights Series, so the Road to Indy feeder system must be judged a success on that basis. Seventeen drivers in the field have led laps at Indy previously, and Dario has led more than anyone who is starting the race this Sunday. The lowest starting position ever to produce a 500 winner is 28th, and you have to go back to Louis Meyer in 1936 and Ray Harroun in the inaugural 500 in 1911 to find them. When Lone Star Johnny Rutherford won the 1974 race, he had started 25th but since then 30 of 38 winners have started in 10th or better. J. R. Hildebrand starts 10th this year and was one turn away from winning as a rookie in 2011 when the late Dan Wheldon got his second Indy win in car #98. Starting next to Hildebrand? Alex Tagliani in Car #98. Don't count Tags out, even at 50-1 odds. There's another five bucks that would be well spent.

If these numbers don't make your head spin, then try these: as I recall, the teams ran over 11,000 laps (27,500 miles) in the nine days of track activity, which is more than enough to make a lap around the earth at the equator (24,859.82 miles), or for every car in the field to run the full 500 miles 1.67 times. My camera counters were spinning too as I shot 4,490 images (that I kept), and that's with a schedule that only allowed me to be at the track full time on four out of the nine days. If you add up all the car numbers for the 33 starters, the total is 1,028, so the average car number is 31.15152. While there is no car #31 in this year's race, all the cars in Row 11 end in the number 1 - (41, 91, 81), and the last driver to win in #31 was Al Unser, Jr. in 1994. The third row car numbers add up to 31 and it includes three of the odds-on favorites:  Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe. Finally, in Row 6, the car numbers add up to 33, there are 33 cars in the field, and 3 + 3 equals 6. This row features Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato, so watch out for these guys!

The most important number is that the 97th Indianapolis 500, which used to also carry the moniker of an "International Sweepstakes", is now just a little more than three days away. It will my 38th in a row and I can hardly wait to see you all at 16th & Georgetown!

A Week at the Indy 500 Lasts a LIfetime

Katherine Legge is happy to be back in the 500

What a week this has been. Nine days of preparation for the 97th Indianapolis 500 are now over and I feel it in my bones. Bump Day wrapped up qualifying today with zero drama after Saturday's rain delayed Pole Day shootout. Other than Ed Carpenter, Katherine Legge is probably the happiest driver in the 500 as she jumped in a car this morning, got it up to speed, qualified on the bubble as 33rd fastest and never had to deal with a serious challenge from the only other car/driver combination, Michel Jourdain, Jr. I felt bad for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team which thrashed all day to find speed for Jourdain but he just kept going slower and slower the later it got today. And that was even after teammate Graham Rahal took the car out for a few laps in the middle of the afternoon to try and help sort it out. Neither driver looked comfortable in the 17 car at all. I hate that there was no bumping today once the field got filled around 1:00 p.m., but most of the qualified teams took advantage of the track time, spending most of the day running race trim in traffic and emerging with their equipment intact. Carburetion Day this Friday will likely be just a quick shakedown for most teams.

Pole Winner Ed Carpenter leads a pack into Turn 1

I wish I knew how many miles I walked this week at the Speedway as I was able to be there eight out of the nine days the track was open. Every year I talk about wearing a pedometer but it never seems to come to mind when I'm getting my stuff together for the track and this year was no different. With the warmer weather the last few days, it's a challenge to stay hydrated while lugging a few extra pounds of camera gear around. Today I had a special treat as I borrowed a 400 mm lens from Canon and went to shoot in Turn 1 while all the top teams were in race preparation mode. The down side of schlepping that 400 around was it was damn heavy but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Traipsing up and down the pit lane to get driver shots is one of the most enjoyable parts of working Indy but also one of the most tiring. Hot, loud, smelly - wait a minute; it's perfect! All the sensory stimulation anyone could want for people who love that sort of thing. And I do.

Indy's Infield Hawk

Another aspect of walking so much at Indy that may not occur to casual fans is the nuances of the track. Yesterday as I was going back to my car to swap out some gear, I noticed something in one of the last remaining large trees in the infield. From prior experience I knew that was a large redtail hawk nests in that tree so I got my longest lens and took a break from the race cars to shoot some wildlife - and I don't mean in the snakepit. The hawk waited there for me to get close and kept a keen watch on me as I circled the tree and took pictures. Race fans walking by probably wondered what the heck I was doing, but I did hear someone say "Look, there's a bald eagle". I cut them some slack for not knowing their birds and went about getting shots of this beautiful creature. I've seen this bird, or a family member, numerous times on race day circling the crowd high above the track so it was a real blessing to be able to take its picture while it was guarding its nest. I have a special affinity for hawks - and I believe they do for me as well. I see them all the time while traveling, there's a pair that lives at the cemetery in Muncie, Indiana where my sister Carol is buried that I see almost every time I go pay my respects, and whenever I see one I know everything is going to work out the way it's supposed to. I use one of my hawk photo on my website and business cards, and have a hawk based on that photo tattooed on my left shoulder. Lo and behold, at the end of Bump Day today as I stood on the 2nd floor balcony of the media center, there he was, circling high overhead in the middle of the track, white belly exposed as it lorded over its territory. Seeing it today was no accident.

And I suppose it was no accident either that a group of total newcomers from Manassas, Virginia struck up a conversation with me about 5:00 this afternoon as I shot from the rooftop platform seating area above the formula one garages. They were college students and teachers in Indy for a robotics competition at IUPUI, and they literally knew nothing about the track or the 500. One young man asked why they were called Indycars; another asked how qualifying worked and what the teams were doing running so many laps at that hour. I got the chance to explain the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway again, just as I had on Friday to my middle schools students, and explained how the video displays showed current lap times for cars on track and what the numbers on the main scoring pylon meant. It was a fitting way to end another memorable week at IMS, and now I have a few thousand more digital images to add to my archives, and more memories which will last a lifetime.

The best is yet to come. Next Sunday at this time I will be recapping the 500 itself, carving more indelible scenes into my brain and contributing photos to the great story which is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. You have to come see for yourself; I promise it will be worth it.

Ed Carpenter On Top After Indy's Longest Pole Day

Ed Carpenter and team members celebrate an Indy Pole win

The longest Pole Day in Indianapolis 500 history ended after 7:15 p.m. tonight with a sprint car guy and Butler Bulldog taking the first qualifying spot after the Fast 9 shootout:  Ed Carpenter! Now rain on the first day of qualifications at Indy is not new, as it has happened many times before. What was new was the early decision by Indycar to let the normal qualifying process play out all the way to the scheduled 6:00 p.m. closing time and then run the Fast 9 starting at 6:30. I don't ever remember the Speedway running after 6:00 and it was well worth the wait for local fans who genuinely rooted Ed  and his "little team that could" on. I said earlier this week Ed could be a darkhorse this May but thought sure Will Power would close the deal as the final Fast 9 Qualifier. Even though two Andretti Autosport drivers took the other two front row starting positions with Carlos Munoz second and Marco Andretti third, Ed taking P1 was a huge victory for the little guy.

I had an extremely long day and as I suspected in my last blog post, my Indy 500 OCD behavior took over early. I left home on Indy's northeast side at 5:45 a.m. and was one of the first people to set up in the media center a little after 6:00. I was hoping to get a sunrise shot over the Pagoda tower but it was heavily overcast and it didn't seem like there was any way the morning practice would start at 8:00 as scheduled after the rain we got last night. But it did so I headed out on pit road and then down to the end of the front stretch where the cars turn into the first corner to shoot. About halfway through the session, I walked back to the media center and took my gear to Canon to get a suspected problem looked at, but thankfully it turned out to be operator error and my equipment checked out fine. Can't say the same about the operator however, as sometimes my 7D seems to do things on its own which still bewitch me even after owning it for three years and shooting tens of thousands of images.

Speaking of which, the counters on both my main camera bodies rolled over again this week, so there's another 10,000 images captured. Ironically, my 7D rolled over just as the pole winning celebration for Ed Carpenter was getting started when it became apparent that Will Power was not going to be quick enough, so editing was a snap since those images started at 0001. I didn't even leave the media center until after 8:15 p.m. and still had to get dinner, write this post and finish another file transfer from the Fast 9 session.

Rain, rain go away!

I'm not complaining. I'm just going on adrenaline now, still hearing the track's public address system announcers in my ears along with the turbocharged engine sounds from the canyon which is Indy's front stretch. I am getting a little sick of the rain so far this racing season. It rained almost the whole drive to Salem Speedway for the ARCA race at the end of April. Then I went to Talladega to shoot the NASCAR races the first weekend in May and both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races had lengthy rain delays, not to mention all the rain I drove through to get there. My photog friends already give me hell about bringing rain with me at every race I shoot after I got drenched at Mid Ohio a couple of years ago and almost ruined my camera gear, so enough already with the "moisture"!

My lady friend alternately calls me a "madman" and the "Energizer Bunny". Bump Day will be more of the same on Sunday. And we will actually have at least one car bumped now that Katherine Legge has been confirmed. This wasn't quite the 24 Hours of Indianapolis today, but it sure feels like it.