MOORESVILLE, N.C. — The 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 was one of the greatest Indy 500s I’ve ever attended.
It was not the closest finish and it didn’t have the most passes for the lead, but I can speak for everyone who was there that day — it was electric. Not just when Helio Castroneves crossed the finish line to win his fourth Indy 500, but throughout the day.
There was a level of excitement in the air I haven’t felt before during The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It all began at 6 a.m. when they fired the cannon to start the day. It was followed by a fireworks display for the first time.
I think the electricity had a lot to do with the fans being allowed back at the track. I was there for last year’s 500 with a total of 2,000 people — drivers and crews included. That was eerie. This was exhilarating.
Throughout the day we saw the touches that Roger Penske has already made to improve Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 500. Many of those things put the spotlight on the drivers and the cars, including some of the old Indy classics such as the Boyle Special pictured here with IMS President Doug Boles at the wheel.
– Just for fun, I asked every person I chatted with while in Indy who was a “person in the know,” what they thought would be the next event added to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway schedule? Could it be Formula 1, MotoGP or a significant sports car race? Everyone I talked to said Formula 1, with the most likely timeframe between two and four years. We’ll see.
– While it has not been announced, yet, we heard from high-ranking Speedway Motorsports Inc. officials that they want to bring NASCAR back to Circuit of The Americas for a second time next season.
The SMI team did a tremendous job of getting the facility ready for NASCAR’s first appearance on the Texas road course. They didn’t receive the keys to the facility until four days before the doors were opened to teams and fans. Numerous upgrades, adjustments and updates were made to accommodate NASCAR’s top touring divisions, including 5,000 gallons of fresh paint.
The downside to the weekend was all the rain, but that was out of the control of SMI head man Marcus Smith and his team.
I thoroughly enjoyed working the COTA weekend for Performance Racing Network and calling the action from turn 11 during NASCAR’s inaugural visit to the track. Doug Rice has a great team of broadcasters at PRN. Thanks for the invite Doug!
– We were recently invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of Technique Chassis, the company that is building the chassis for NASCAR’s Next Gen race cars.
The Technique chassis is being built utilizing a fascinating combination of talented welders and robots. The eventual goal is to have 75 percent of the center sections of the chassis built by robots. Currently, robots do 60 percent of the work on the chassis middles.
Each robot costs around $600,000 with Technique investing $10 million into its 37,000-square-foot facility near NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C.
Technique employees and robots are working six days a week building the future NASCAR chassis. They expect to have 280 of them ready before the Daytona 500. (To read more about Technique Chassis, see the story on pages 30-31.)
– While at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway during Speedweeks, I ran into Gary Balough, who used to dominate racing at the Florida short track.
Balough gave me a copy of his book, “Hot Shoe,” that he penned with SPEED SPORT columnist Bones Bourcier. It’s a fascinating read about the stormy life and career of one of the sport’s most talented racers.
Balough didn’t pull any punches on the track or off of it. He is very open and honest in discussing everything from the highly controversial “Batmobile” to his two stints in prison.
The one thing that is not debatable is that Gary Balough was quite a wheelman on dirt and pavement, beating many of the best in the business, all of which leaves the reader wondering what might have been. Get a copy from coastal181.com. Thanks for the book, Gary. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
– Believe it or not, Mark Donohue’s famous Sunoco-backed Porsche 917-30 Can-Am car is going to hit the streets.
Renowned car restorer Bruce Canepa told us he is preparing the 1,400-horsepower monster for owner Rob Kauffman. Kauffman plans to drive it in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance during California’s Monterey Car Week in August.
The tour will travel along portions of the famed 17 Mile Drive. Canepa said they will raise the car a couple of inches and put rain tires on it.