INDIANAPOLIS – Seven days of track time plus a final hour of practice Friday on Miller Lite Carb Day have prepped the 33 drivers for nearly every scenario they may face today in the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.
Well, not EVERY scenario.
“The one thing you can’t practice is the start of the race for Indy,” said Sage Karam, who will start 24th in his fifth 500. “You can’t say during practice, ‘Hey guys, let’s go into Turn 1 three-wide real quick just to see what a start is going to be like.’ You’ve just got to do it.”
And feel it, react to it, take advantage of it and be confident that whatever move you make in the first turn of the race will allow you to make 799 more the rest of the day. There’s no start in motorsports like the Indianapolis 500, with the field funneling from its three-wide alignment into Turn 1 and the turbulence trying to transform a car into a beast no driver has felt in practice.
102ND INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRESENTED BY PENNGRADE MOTOR OIL: Starting lineup
This year’s Indy car, with its new universal aero kit, offers a different challenge than recent years because of its lighter downforce. Teams have practiced enough to get a sense of how the car may react in a long line of traffic – the first two or three have had an easier time passing than those deeper in the field. But the start and restarts, with their slower speeds as they climb through the gears and turbulence with the field packed tightly, may turn the car into a handful.
“These cars are meant to be driven hard. They are very numb if they’re not at their limit or approaching it,” said JR Hildebrand, Karam’s teammate at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing who will start 27th. “If you’re going just 215 (mph), it feels like garbage. And that just gets magnified in a situation where there’s a crazy amount of turbulence. You’re going slow because the start of the race is slow, and there’s a ton of turbulent air. In some ways it’s no different than being on an airplane going through turbulence. Your helmet is bobbing around all over the place. If you can start closer to the front, just the start of the race is so much less hectic.”
Rookie Robert Wickens, who will start 18th in the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda, has watched video of Indy 500 starts and talked with those who’ve driven through them.
“Everyone has told me time and again that when you lift off the throttle for Turn 1, because everyone is side-by-side, you’re convinced the throttle is stuck because there is no (aero) load on your car,” Wickens said. “It’s like it is drag free. Everyone has told me to pump my brakes and make sure I have a good pedal for Turn 1 because it can catch you by surprise. I’m ready for that.”
Wickens also learned by watching Helio Castroneves in practice Monday that the outside line may work for him, especially from his starting spot outside Row 6.
“Castroneves ran like three laps in the gray (above the groove) the whole time,” Wickens said. “I was like, ‘What’s he doing?’ Then I realized he was probably seeing what the grip is like for the restarts. If he’s around me, I’ll just follow him.”
A restart can be the evil twin to the start, especially late in the race when the greatest prize in motorsports seems within reach. The boldest move can gain track position, if not the lead.
“You can definitely hang it on the outside for a lap or two,” Hildebrand said. “There are gains to be made by being aggressive. But it's a risk-reward kind of deal.”
Charlie Kimball, who will start 15th in the No. 23 Fiasp Chevrolet for Carlin, agrees that some may push a little harder on restarts, but his goal is to drive a clean race, improve his car and be in position to charge in the final laps.
“You still have to get to the end of the race,” Kimball said. “This car is light on downforce; it just walks its way through the corner and you can’t stay flat (on the throttle). People have a concept of what it’s going to be like, but until we get 100 laps in, it’s going to be something that evolves over the course of the race.”
INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRESENTED BY PENNGRADE MOTOR OIL:
Race 6 of 17 on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule.
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile oval. Today’s race will be the 102nd Indianapolis 500, dating to the first race in 1911. It has been contested every year since except for the war years of 1917-18 and 1942-45.
Race distance: 200 laps/500 miles.
Fuel allotment: 130 gallons of Sunoco E85 ethanol.
Fuel stint: 26-30 laps
TV: ABC will televise the race for the 54th consecutive year, starting at 11 a.m. ET.
Radio: Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network (terrestrial affiliates, Sirius 219, XM 209, RaceControl.IndyCar.com, IndyCarRadio.com and INDYCAR Mobile app, 11a.m. ET.
Timing and scoring is available at RaceControl.IndyCar.com.