Indy 500 May 29 2005

Dan Wheldon Wins Indy 500 
 

Wheldon's victory was the first for a British driver at the Indy 500 since Graham Hill won the race in 1966. Wheldon had a disappointing qualifying run. This placed him and his Andretti Green Racing Honda in 16th at the pole. He was already a 3 time winner in the Indy Racing League , but he had to spend the first 50 laps just to work his way into the lead pack and assumed lead when Danica Patrick had to pit for fuel with just 6 laps to go.

Looks like this kills the Andretti Indy curse and it is about time. To be such a legend and having to face all the publicity that this so called curse has placed on his racing family had to be hard. Now it can be put to rest, and we can thank Dan Wheldon for that and expect a lot more from him.

Danica Patrick    
Twenty-three-year-old Danica Patrick, the only woman in the 33-car lineup and only the fourth female to race in the big event at the Brickyard in its 89-year history, showed us that she is a real contender.

 5 foot 2 inches and a 100-pounds,  she muscled her way through the pack, much the same as she has to make her way through the throngs of fans that mob her wherever she goes.  Patrick, a native of Roscoe, Ill., and resident of Phoenix, was an accomplished driver in the Toyota Atlantic series. She finished fourth in the previous I.R.L. race April 30 in Japan.

Around  300,000 fans at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway clapped and screamed, encouraging Danica on.  This makes it sound as though she was a shoo in but she had to take her lumps with the rest of the drivers. She dropped from 4th place to 16th when her car stalled coming out of the pits on the 79th lap. This only seem to make her more determined and she pushed through the next 79 to get back into the top 10. Even this wasn't a clincher. She went into a spin in the 155th lap and bounced off 2 cars, requiring replacement of the left front wing. The tough get going and she did,  she went on to lead a total of 19 laps and and had to give up her lead with just 6 laps to the finish. Even grit and determination can't propel a car if it needs fuel and Danica had to surrender the lead to get some. The race team owned by Rahal and Letterman got her in and out again and she was able to finish 4th. Not the winner but a winner regardless. We expect to see great things from her and her crew in the future.

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