Qualifying at Indianapolis: 10 miles of adrenaline
Dave Lewandowski
MAY 17, 2013
It's four white-knuckle laps of a 2.5-mile superspeedway. It's adrenaline conquering nervousness, speed besting sanity at almost any cost. It is Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And, for at least nine competitors May 18, they'll be asked to do it more than once in pursuit of the Verizon P1 Award for the 97th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.
Click it: Indianapolis 500 Qualification Order
"I think the adrenaline of having to go out and do four laps at a very tough setup to gain maximum speed in front of a great crowd in Turn 1 is the coolest part," said Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 21 Century 21 car for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. "It's a fun experience getting to do that in front of the crowds in the inside and outside of Turn 1 when all the pressure is on you and you have to complete the four laps. It's something that isn't super easy to do."
The draw for positions in the qualifying order was held following the rain-halted practice May 18 (including Ryan Hunter-Reay's son, the youngest to select). The first segment of the program from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (ET) consists of four timed laps with the average speed on the tricky low-banked oval producing the official qualifying result. The top nine entries recording the fastest average speed will return at 4:30 p.m. for a 90-minute shootout for the pole and a $100,000 bonus.
"It’s very difficult to predict anything right now," said Ed Carpenter, driver of the No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car. "I think the pole will be in the high 227 or low 228 for four laps. I have a good idea of what I think we can run, but I’m not sure what everyone else can do. Of course, weather will be a big component on how qualifying plays out. Until everyone goes out in qualifying, you really don’t know how good you are with your car."
Ryan Briscoe, driving the No. 8 NTT DATA car for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams this year, was the pole sitter last May (226.484 mph posted in the shootout). On May 17, E.J Viso posted the fastest practice lap (229.527 mph) since 2003.
