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Sunday, May 27
Personality of the Indy 500
By Jonathan Baum
ESPN.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- There really are only two races in the U.S. -- and possibly the world -- that are subject to weeks of extreme hype, anticipation and celebration.
Daytona and Indy.
|  | | Helio Castroneves kisses the yard of brick at the start-finish line after winning the Indianapolis 500. |
The drawn out qualifying, the history ... these are ever-present here at The Brickyard, allowing what would be a benign moment at most other tracks to become poignant and memorable.
This quality was accentuated over recent weeks by the grand return, the hero's welcome, for some old friends. Drivers, owners, fans and media alike developed an insatiable appetite for news, gossip and prognostication about the participation of some of open wheel's biggest names in this year's Spectacle.
With Penske's pair, the Ganassi Four, Sarah and Sam, Tony and Arie ... and, of course, Michael -- there was little doubt that this would be The Race. Thirty-three cars, closely matched -- the 2001 Indy 500 was made to be a classic.
This race would move the 500 back toward its glory days.
It took less than a lap for the pole-sitter to be knocked out. Another few laps, a rising star wrecks and takes a race favorite with her.
Then the IRL phenom, the points leader, loses control and spins, inadvertently taking out one of the race's Names.
Sloppy pit stops all but knock two of the race favorites out of contention.
All this with the impending threat of rain.
The rebirth of the Greatest Spectacle ... don't believe the hype?
This race wasn't supposed to play out this way. The drama was supposed to involve duels on the track, not who'd be next to be knocked off it.
And then something funny happened.
It began to drizzle as the leaders approached Lap 101.
Michael Andretti, among the greatest ever, made his charge at race leader Greg Ray, one of the IRL's fastest. And for the charge to be successful, Andretti needed to reign Ray in before the rain came and hold the lead past the midway point.
Oh, and he'd also need that rain to come down harder shortly thereafter. He was, after all, running low on fuel.
Drama.
Andretti would take the lead but was forced to pit. And the rains did come -- more than once -- and the race was eventually halted.
Tony Stewart hopped out of his car and jogged away from reporters, away from the pits. The cautions and rain delays had played games with his itinerary.
Was he done? Was there time to catch a flight to Charlotte?
More drama.
And eventually the green flag was dropped and the race resumed -- with Stewart in it. And Roger Penske sitting atop the leaders, atop the world.
His drivers fought to the finish, Andretti hung in after a facelift in the pits, and Stewart finished on the lead lap.
Then the winner, identified as a rookie just for this race, climbed the walls and delighted the fans, his team, the racing world.
That driver and his crew climbing the fence. An image we will remember for a long time to come.
Within that moment was sheer jubilation following unexpected drama after what seemed to be the making of a letdown. The knowledge that fortunes turned as often as the weather.
That moment. This race.
A classic. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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