For Tony Kanaan the reward of 500 miles at the famed Brickyard in Indianapolis, In was a drink of milk. After years of trying, he finally found victory lane in his 12th attempt. On Sunday Kanaan won in the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 and will be rewarded with a jug of 2% milk.
Nine years ago Kanaan gave his good-luck necklace to a young girl undergoing brain surgery wishing her good luck. On Saturday night she over-nighted the necklace to Kanaan telling him he needed good luck. He ran the race with the charm in his pocket, pulling it out in victory lane.
A recording setting number of 68 lead changes took place at Indy, doubling the record which was set a year ago.
Local driver Ed Carpenter began the race on the pole, becoming the first driver/owner to do so since 1975.
The first car out of the race was J.R. Hildebrand who lost control of his car while Takuma Sato would later spin his car. For much of the early part of the race Carpenter, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti traded the lead.
A.J. Allmendinger who started fifth and dealt with a gear issue early on would take the race lead just prior to halfway. On lap 112 Allmendinger pitted after his belts came undone, he would eventually work his way back to the lead but remained off pit sequence while racing against Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
James Hincliff would pit with 12 laps to go giving way for Kanaan and Hunter-Reay to compete for the top spot. With less then ten laps to go Graham Rahal crashed which set up a three lap shootout. It did not last long.
Tony Kanaan would win the race after Dario Franchitti hit the wall on the restart. Finishing second was Carlos Munoz while Hunter-Reay was third.
Results for the Indianapolis 500
POS | DRIVER | CAR | MANUFACTURER |
1 | Tony Kanaan | 11 | Chevrolet |
2 | Carlos Munoz | 26 | Chevrolet |
3 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1 | Chevrolet |
4 | Marco Andretti | 25 | Chevrolet |
5 | Justin Wilson | 19 | Honda |
6 | Helio Castroneves | 3 | Chevrolet |
7 | AJ Allmendinger | 2 | Chevrolet |
8 | Simon Pagenaud | 77 | Honda |
9 | Charlie Kimball | 83 | Honda |
10 | Ed Carpenter | 20 | Chevrolet |
11 | Oriol Servia | 22 | Chevrolet |
12 | Ryan Briscoe | 8 | Honda |
13 | Takuma Sato | 14 | Honda |
14 | Scott Dixon | 9 | Honda |
15 | Ana Beatriz | 18 | Honda |
16 | Tristan Vautier | 55 | Honda |
17 | Simona De Silvestro | 78 | Chevrolet |
18 | E.J. Viso | 5 | Chevrolet |
19 | Will Power | 12 | Chevrolet |
20 | James Jakes | 16 | Honda |
21 | James Hinchcliffe | 27 | Chevrolet |
22 | Conor Daly | 41 | Honda |
23 | Dario Franchitti | 10 | Honda |
24 | Alex Tagliani | 98 | Honda |
25 | Graham Rahal | 15 | Honda |
26 | Katherine Legge | 81 | Honda |
27 | Townsend Bell | 60 | Chevrolet |
28 | Josef Newgarden | 21 | Honda |
29 | Sebastien Bourdais | 7 | Chevrolet |
30 | Pippa Mann | 63 | Honda |
31 | Buddy Lazier | 91 | Chevrolet |
32 | Sebastian Saavedra | 6 | Chevrolet |
33 | JR Hildebrand | 4 | Chevrolet |