Checkered Win for Castroneves

After 495 miles of the Indianapolis 500, there finally was a pass for the lead--and it didn’t count.

Paul Tracy, charging like a Canadian buffalo in the fading laps of the 86th annual race Sunday, swept past leader Helio Castroneves in the third turn of Lap 199, but a crash at about the same time between Buddy Lazier and Laurent Redon brought out a race-ending yellow flag.

Did the yellow caution light come on before Tracy’s pass? Tracy says no. Chief steward Brian Barnhart said yes.

So, the winner appears to be Castroneves, who would be the first back-to-back champion since Al Unser in 1970-71, and the first Indy Racing League driver to win since CART teams resumed running here in 2000.

But not necessarily.

IRL officials posted “final official results” at 7:40 p.m., nearly six hours after the race ended, but Team Green, owner of Tracy’s car, filed an official protest.

“Based on the video, it is unclear when the yellow light came on, in relation to the time of the accident, but other data we have accumulated supports the results as posted,” said Barnhart. “Clearly, the 3 car [Castroneves] was in front of the 26 [Tracy] at the conclusion of the race.”

The protest will be heard today.

Castroneves treated the more than 400,000 spectators on a sunny day to his usual fence-climbing celebration after taking the checkered flag. This time the Brazilian was joined by car owner Roger Penske--who won his record 12th Indy--and most of the Marlboro crew. The winning car was a Chevrolet-powered Dallara.

“My interpretation of the rule is that when you are ahead of somebody when the yellow comes out, then that’s your position,” Tracy said. “I feel that we were ahead when the yellow came out. All I can do is cross my fingers and pray and hope. If it’s not to be, then I congratulate Helio and Penske and the job they did.”

Castroneves and Penske, not surprisingly, had a different version.

“I was trying to conserve my fuel, and when the yellow light came on when I was in Turn 3, the fuel light came on too,” Castroneves said. “Then Tracy went by me so fast. I thought, ‘Hey, he passed me on the yellow. He can’t do that.’”

Added Penske: “We had telemetry in the pits and when the yellow light came on, Helio was in the lead. No question about it.”

The dramatics began when South African rookie Tomas Scheckter, driving one of Eddie Cheever’s Infinitis, crashed on Lap 173 after dominating most of the race. Coming out of the fourth turn, Scheckter’s car went straight into the new SAFER barrier, scattering debris down the front straightaway.

“I don’t want to say anything broke because I’m not certain,” said the son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter. “It just went in straight. It wouldn’t turn. The thing is, we could have won. The thing was on cruise control.”

By the time the mess was cleaned up, there were 20 laps left, Castroneves was leading, followed by several lapped cars, then rookie Alex Barron, Felipe Giaffone and Tracy. Giaffone and Tracy quickly passed Barron.

They remained in that order despite several parries by Tracy that just fell short. Then, catching Giaffone trapped behind Dario Franchitti’s lapped car, Tracy made his move and his momentum carried him right behind Castroneves.

“I didn’t think Helio could finish, I knew he was running low on fuel, so I kept the pressure on. Then all of a sudden I was right on top of him. I got a good run through [Turns] 1 and 2 and came up on him as he was protecting his position down the back straightaway.

“I made my move toward the outside and like I said, when I passed him going into [Turn] 3, he came out of 3, and the [yellow] light was on.”

Giaffone finished third, Barron fourth in a finish that probably will earn him rookie-of-the-race honors at tonight’s victory banquet.

“Alex was in a position to win this race,” said Tom Gloy, president of Rayovac Blair Racing, Barron’s team. “In reality he almost did in it, not based on anything other than the fact that if Scheckter had not hit the wall, we were the only team that could go to the end. And when Scheckter hit the wall, it put us in a situation where we were all packed up. But the key is that we were in the right spot at the right time.”

Barron started 26th, just ahead of Tracy, who began the day 29th.

Results of the Indy 500 have been changed before. In 1981 Bobby Unser was declared the winner, but a day later Mario Andretti was given the win when it was ruled that Unser had illegally passed cars while blending into the field during a yellow caution period. An appeals hearing did not decide the winner until the following October, when Unser was given the official win by a 2-1 vote.

The statistics show that there were 19 lead changes among nine drivers, but not one of them occurred at racing speeds on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile rectangular oval. All but two came when the leader made his pit stop.

The other two came when the race leader, Tony Kanaan on Lap 90 and Scheckter on Lap 173, crashed while in front.

Kanaan, the CART veteran driving as a rookie here for Mo Nunn, led 23 laps before spinning in oil apparently left by pole-sitter Bruno Junqueira’s blown engine.

“I guess that’s the price you pay for being in first place because you’re the first one to get to the oil,” Kanaan said. “But I had a blast. At least I can say I led the Indy 500. We did what we could, but unfortunately, we missed it.”

Junqueira led the first 32 laps after pacing the field through what was probably the worst start in 86 years. Instead of the famed 11 rows of three-abreast cars, starter Bryan Howard let them go single-file with Junqueira at least two car lengths in front of Robbie Buhl and the rest strung out behind.

Scheckter, on probation for “unsportsmanlike conduct” at an IRL race last month at Nazareth, Pa., appeared to have the strongest car in the race while building leads of up to 10 seconds while running in front for a race-leading 85 laps. Scheckter also had the day’s fastest lap, 226.499 mph, on Lap 20.

Eleven drivers were on the lead lap at the finish, the most for the 500 since 1963 when 14 drivers completed the full 500 miles.

Five caution flags for 34 laps, including the final two, reduced Castroneves’ winning speed to 166.499 mph.

Arie Luyendyk set the race record 185.981 mph in 1990.

Luyendyk, at 48 the oldest driver in the race and driving in his 17th 500, finished 14th.

“The day actually was better than our finish would indicate,” the two-time winner said. “I did some 222-224 [mph] laps on my own and that gave me hope that I’m not too old for this.”

George Mack, who joined Willy T. Ribbs as the only African Americans to drive in the 500, was the second-highest rookie finisher. He was 17th, two laps back of Castroneves.

“The 310 Racing crew kept telling me to relax because I got frustrated a few times, and they had to try to keep me as calm as possible so we could bring [the car] home,” said Inglewood’s Mack. “I started to get a little too aggressive at one point, and they had to remind me to back off. The team actually did more than I did. The entire crew fought with me the entire race, both in the pits and over the radio. This finish is theirs as much as it is mine.”

*(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

INDY 500 RESULTS

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis

Lap Length: 2.5-mile rectangular oval

*--* Fin. (Start)Driver Car Engine-Model Laps, Reason Out 1. (13) Helio Castroneves No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 laps 2. (29) Paul Tracy No. 26 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 3. (4) Felipe Giaffone No. 21 G Force-Chevrolet 200 4. (26) Alex Barron No. 44 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 5. (6) Eddie Cheever No. 51 Dallara-Infiniti 200 6. (22) Richie Hearn No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 7. (25) Michael Andretti No. 39 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 8. (11) Robby Gordon No. 31 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 9. (15) Jeff Ward No. 9 G Force-Chevrolet 200 10. (14) Gil de Ferran No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet 200 11. (21) Kenny Brack No. 22 G Force-Chevrolet 200 12. (12) Al Unser Jr No. 7 Dallara-Chevrolet 199 13. (30) Airton Dare No. 14 Dallara-Chevrolet 199 14. (24) Arie Luyendyk No. 55 G Force-Chevrolet 199 15. (20) Buddy Lazier No. 91 Dallara-Chevrolet 198, crash 16. (2) Robbie Buhl No. 24 G Force-Infiniti 198 17. (32) George Mack No. 30 G Force-Chevrolet 198 18. (23) Billy Boat No. 98 Dallara-Chevrolet 198 19. (28) Dario Franchitti No. 27 Dallara-Chevrolet 197 20. (27) Shigeaki Hattori No. 12 Dallara-Infiniti 197 21. (3) Raul Boesel No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet 197 22. (16) Laurent Redon No. 34 Dallara-Infiniti 196, crash 23. (18) Max Papis No. 53 Dallara-Infiniti 196 24. (9) Sarah Fisher No. 23 G Force-Infiniti 196 25. (7) Sam Hornish Jr No. 4 Dallara-Chevrolet 186 26. (10) Tomas Scheckter No. 52 Dallara-Infiniti 172, crash 27. (8) Scott Sharp No. 8 Dallara-Chevrolet 137, mechanical 28. (5) Tony Kanaan No. 17 G Force-Chevrolet 89, crash 29. (17) Rick Treadway No. 5 G Force-Chevrolet 88, crash 30. (19) Jimmy Vasser No. 19 Dallara-Chevrolet 87, gearbox 31. (1) Bruno Junqueira No. 33 G Force-Chevrolet 87, engine 32. (33) Mark Dismore No. 99 Dallara-Chevrolet 58, handling 33. (31) Greg Ray No. 11 Dallara-Chevrolet 28, crash

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*--* RACE STATISTICS

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*--* Time of race: 3 hours 10.8714 seconds Margin of victory: 0.0376 of a second under yellow Lead changes: 22 among 10 drivers Lap leaders: Junqueira 1-32, Scheckter 33-63, Kanaan 64-66, Sharp 67, De Ferran 68, Unser 69, Kanaan 70-89, Giaffone 90-91, Scheckter 92-120, De Ferran 121-124, Sharp 125-126, Giaffone 127-129, Barron 130-131, Scheckter 132-149, De Ferran 150-157, Giaffone 158-160, Barron 161-165, Scheckter 166-172, Tracy 173, Giaffone 174-176, Castroneves 177-198, Tracy 199, Castroneves 200 Caution Flags: Five for 35 laps

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