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2005 INDIANAPOLIS 500    

89th Indianapolis 500 - May 29, 2005

• 3 PAST WINNERS: Buddy Lazier (1996), Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002), Buddy Rice (2004)
• 5 IRL CHAMPIONS: Tony Kanaan (2004), Scott Dixon (2003) , Sam Hornish Jr. (2001, 2002), Scott Sharp (1996), Buddy Lazier (2000)
• 8 ROOKIES: include
• Danica Patrick - from IndyCar; she is the 4th woman to race at Indy 500 after Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher
• Sebastien Bourdais - 2004 Champcar champion

INDY 500 RACE RESULT: MAY 28, 2005

• 1 Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara, 200 laps
• 2 Vitor Meira Rahal Letterman Racing Honda Panoz +0.13s
• 3 Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara +0.2
• 4 *Danica Patrick Rahal Letterman Racing Honda Panoz +4.5
• 5 Buddy Lazier Byrd-Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara +4.8
• 6 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara +5.1
• 7 Scott Sharp Delphi Fernandez Racing Honda Panoz
• 8 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara
• 9 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Toyota Dallara
• 10 *Ryan Briscoe Target Chip Ganassi Toyota Panoz
• 11 Carpenter 12 *Bourdais 13 Barron 14 Fernandez 15 Giaffone 16 J Lazier 17 Matsuura 18 Yasukawa 19 *Enge 20 Scheckter 21 Carpentier 22 Bucknum 23 Hornish Jr. 24 Dixon 25 Hearn 26 Brack 27 Ward 28 Foyt IV 29 Manning 30 +Junqueira 31 Roth 32 Kite 33 Foyt
• *Rookie

+JUNQUEIRA INJURED:

• Champcar championship leader Bruno Junquiera will undergo surgery after a major crash
  Carl Haas (Newman/Haas Racing): "Today's incident was very unfortunate. Bruno had been running an excellent race and he was very happy with the performance of the racecar. He was running in sixth place when on lap 77 there was contact made with the lapped car of A.J. Foyt IV. This is certainly not the way we had hoped to end the month of May, but Bruno is in the very capable hands of Dr. Terry Trammel and the medical team at Methodist Hospital. Thankfully, Bruno was conscious after the incident and the extent of his injuries and best course of treatment are still being determined."

HONDA RACE REPORT: Wheldon Wins Indy; 1-2-3-4 for Honda

• Already a three-time winner this season, Indy Racing League championship leader Dan Wheldon prevailed in a Honda-powered "shootout" including a half-dozen drivers over the final 15 laps to win the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, becoming the first English driver to do so since Graham Hill in 1966. It also is Honda's second consecutive Indy 1-2-3-4 sweep.
• Wheldon, who started his Andretti Green Racing Honda only 16th after a disappointing qualifying run, consistently worked his way through the field during the early stages of the race, reaching the lead pack by Lap 50 of the 200-lap event. From there, the race developed into an "intramural" contest among a variety of Honda drivers as other potential contenders fell by the wayside.
• Two of Wheldon's teammates, pole qualifier Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti, were among the early pacesetters, along with impressive rookie Danica Patrick, Delphi Fernandez Racing's Scott Sharp and Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr.
• Kanaan and Franchitti would combine to lead a total of 69 laps as they frequently swapped the advantage, but both would fade late in the race. Franchitti would finish sixth after nearly being forced into the Turn One wall on a restart, while Kanaan struggled with handling problems the last 25 laps and would cross the line in eighth. But as they fell back, the other AGR drivers -- Wheldon and Bryan Herta -- came to the fore.
• A caution period on Lap 186, when eighth-place Kosuke Matsuura side- swiped the Turn One wall, set the stage for the final sprint. As the green flag waved on Lap 190, Wheldon quickly jumped past first Herta, then race leader Patrick on Lap 194 for a lead he would not relinquish.
• Rahal Letterman Racing's Vitor Meira also put on an impressive charge in the final laps, moving from fifth to second at the checkered, with Herta rounding out the top three.
• Patrick displayed a great deal of grit and talent, leading a total of 19 laps and surviving a pair of "rookie" mistakes (a stall during a pit stop and a spin that triggered a multi-car accident on Lap 155) to finish fourth, the best of six rookies in the 2005 field.
• Another Indy rookie, reigning Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, was headed for a fifth-place finish for Honda and Newman/Haas Racing, but had a tire fail after contact with Buddy Lazier, sending Bourdais into the Turn Three wall on Lap 198, resulting in a caution-flag finish for this year's 500.
• Sharp was yet another Honda-powered race contender, running in the lead pack throughout the first 180 laps, but then the veteran was assessed a "drive-through" [pit lane] penalty for blocking, dropping him to 11th place. He moved up four positions in the closing laps and finished seventh, just ahead of Kanaan.
• Returning to competition for the first time since the end of the 2004 season, Adrian Fernandez took his Mo Nunn/Fernandez Racing entry to a 14th-place finish, while teammate Matsuura ran as high as eighth prior to his accident. Roger Yasukawa had clutch problems early in the race, but appeared headed for a top-12 finish until his retirement due to worsening mechanical problems. His Dreyer & Reinbold teammate, rookie Jeff Bucknum, was caught up in the multi-car accident on Lap 155.
• Kenny Brack's day also ended early with suspension problems aboard the Rahal Letterman Racing machine he drove in place of the injured Buddy Rice, and Bruno Junqueira sustained a concussion and back fractures -- similar to Rice's injuries -- in a crash on Lap 76.

CHANGES FOR 2005 INDY 500:

• race to start at noon (instead of 11 am)
• 4 days of qualifying (instead of 3):
  bumping on every qualifying day with 4 lap qualifying average. 11 cars locked in for the first three days with bumping allowed throughout.
  Qualifying Saturday, May 14 (1-11 locked in)
  Qualifying Sunday, May 15 (12-22 locked in)
  Qualifying Saturday, May 21
  Qualifying Bump Day Sunday, May 22
• Practice days (noon-6 p.m)
• Rookie Orientation Program to be held during the first two days of practice (May 8-9)
• 2004 CHAMPION BUDDY RICE TO MISS RACE:
  He crashed during practice on May 11. RICE: "I am extremely disappointed that I won't be able to defend my Indy 500 championship. I have spent the last several months thinking about, working toward and planning how I would defend my Indy 500 victory. Physically, I feel fine, but I have to trust the Speedway and IRL medical team because they are looking out for my safety. I am optimistic that I will be cleared for Texas and will be able to get back in the car. I plan to stay here in Indy and help our team in anyway I can"

2005 QUALIFYING

• TOP 10
  1. Tony Kanaan, Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara, 2m 38.1961, 227.566mph
  *** $100,000 prize ***
  2. Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Racing Toyota Dallara 2:38.399 227.273
  3. Scott Sharp Delphi Fernandez Racing Honda Panoz 2:38.502 227.126
  4. Danica Patrick, R Rahal Letterman Racing Honda Panoz 2:38.587 227.004
  5. Helio Castroneves, W Team Penske Toyota Dallara 2:38.641 226.927
  6. Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Honda Dallara 2:38.873 226.873
  7. Vitor Meira Rahal Letterman Racing Honda Panoz 2:38.696 226.848
  8. Kosuke Matsuura Super Aguri Fernandez Honda Panoz 2:39.013 226.397
  9. Buddy Lazier-W Byrd-Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara 2:39.043 226.353
  10. Tomas Enge-R Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara 2:39.217 226.107

2005 SCHEDULE

PRESS RELEASE: IMS, SEP, 2004

89th INDIANAPOLIS 500 EVENT SCHEDULE (All times local, subject to change)

• Sunday, May 8, 2005 Opening Day -- Rookie Orientation Program Noon-5 p.m.
• Monday, May 9 Rookie Orientation Program Noon-5 p.m.
• Tuesday, May 10-Friday, May 13 Practice (All drivers) Noon-6 p.m.
• Saturday, May 14 MBNA Pole Day Noon-6 p.m.
• Sunday, May 15 Second Day Qualifying Noon-6 p.m.
• Monday, May 16-Tuesday, May 17 No Track Activity
• Wednesday, May 18-Friday, May 20 Practice (All drivers) Noon- 6 p.m.
• Saturday, May 21 Third Day Qualifying Noon-6 p.m.
• Sunday, May 22 Bump Day Qualifying Noon-6 p.m.
• Monday, May 23-Tuesday, May 24 No Track Activity
• Wednesday, May 25 Community Day
• Thursday, May 26 Futaba Freedom 100 Practice, Qualifying Noon-5 p.m.
• Friday, May 27 Miller Lite Carburetion Day (Indy 500 practice) Futaba Freedom 100 Checkers/Rally's Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge Miller Lite Carb Day Concert All Day
• Saturday, May 28 Public Drivers' Meeting 11 a.m.
• Sunday, May 29 89th Indianapolis 500 Noon

BEFORE RACE

• Rookie Sebastien Bourdais: "This place is legendary. It's a racetrack you have to treat with a lot of respect. I'm really happy that CENTRIX made this possible for me; they were going to run one car for Bruno but expanded their involvement for a second car for me. I didn't know what to expect here, I've got absolutely no experience. It was really important for me to participation in ROP because I've never driven an IRL car before. The only time I drove an open-wheel car with low downforce was in September of 2003 at a test in Fontana. For me, on Superspeedways, we are really starting from scratch. Since 1999 in my first participation in Le Mans, I have always liked driving different cars under different circumstances with different teams. You are enlarging your possibilities in front of you for your career. You can use this experience bit by bit and I know it has helped me a lot. I have been able to get up to speed a lot quicker in the different situations I have been in because of it. The team has been working their behinds off. There was too much work to be ready in time but it took the pressure off of me. At the end of the day I felt good in the car and I'm ready to start testing."
• Rookie Tomas Enge: "This track is so special and so unique that it can be very difficult for the drivers. So we're just trying to take it slow in our RockStar Chevy and work our way up to faster speeds. My ribs still feel the same, but I'm getting comfortable and now we can start to work on the car. The speeds are getting better and now I want to get into the groove of this track."
• Rookie Ryan Briscoe: "This was my first time running at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and everything went very smoothly and as planned for the Rookie Orientation Program. We did a few extras run at the end, made some changes to the balance so I could get a good feel for the track, and watched the wind changes. I just worked on building up my confidence along with the speed. It's the first time I've run this fast on any track and we got up to 220 miles per hour today. There's a lot more speed to be gained in the next few weeks but I'm going to take in a bit at a time and give the track the respect it demands."
• Scott Sharp: "I am truly excited for the month of May. It is my favorite track, and I feel that I have always been able to get up to speed pretty quickly there. Certainly this year, with the Delphi Fernandez team and Honda power, I return with the best effort I have ever had the type of car underneath me and engine behind me that I have dreamed about for 10 years. I am excited for every day of practice; I'm excited for qualifying and, most importantly, I'm excited for the 29th. The team and I are working well together and we are making good progress. We should be really strong."

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