Indy 500 Is Classic Confusion

The buzz before the race was, with the best field in years, this year’s Indianapolis 500 would be a classic, a race to remember.

Oh, well. Half a loaf and all that.

It ended under the yellow flag, so it won’t go down as a classic. It certainly was a race to remember, though, from its rag-tag, single-file start right on through its but-who-really-won? finish.

In between were such memorable moments as:

* Pole-sitter/leader Bruno Junqueira stalling his car in the pits, then later unintentionally oiling the track with a blown engine, causing subsequent leader Tony Kanaan to hit the wall.

* Robbie Gordon’s pit fuel tank catching fire and blowing its top while crew members sprayed Gordon and his car with fire retardant to keep him from doing the same.

* Leader and dominant rookie Tomas Scheckter, a hot young driver known for his aggressiveness, hitting the wall while enjoying an eight-second lead with only 27 laps to go.

* Gil de Ferran driving out of the Penske pit--the Penske pit, mind you--and almost immediately losing his just recently changed right rear wheel.

And all that was before things got really interesting.

At issue, ultimately, was the victory, and it remains at issue today, pending resolution of a protest.

Defending champion Helio Castroneves, Roger Penske’s other driver, took the checkered flag and, as is his custom, climbed the fence in celebration, then drank the traditional winner’s milk.

But had he really won?

Or had Paul Tracy, as he maintained, passed Castroneves just before the yellow light flashed on Lap 199 of the 200-lap race?

Race officials ultimately ruled that Tracy had passed after the caution period had been called and that Castroneves was the winner, but for the longest while, confusion reigned and the crowd of 400,000 left the track not knowing which driver deserved the accolades.

As the race neared what suddenly looked like a sprint to the finish, Castroneves led but was nursing his car’s fuel supply, having skipped a pit opportunity after teammate De Ferran’s loose-wheel goof. Behind him, but also behind a lapped car driven by Dario Franchitti, were second-place Felipe Giaffone, a Brazilian rookie, and Tracy, Franchitti’s Team Green teammate.

On Lap 197, Giaffone made his move, trying to pass Castroneves for the lead. Franchitti was in the mix, though, and Giaffone had to go high on the track, opening the door for Tracy, who slipped past underneath and set out after Castroneves.

He caught him on the next-to-last lap, just about the time rookie Laurent Redon and 1996 winner Buddy Lazier tangled behind them on the track, bringing out the yellow and sending Redon to the hospital with a concussion.

“I caught Helio and passed him on the back straight, going into Turn 3,” Tracy said. “I passed him on the outside and ... the green [light] was still up. In my eyes, I saw the green.... My interpretation of the rule is that when you are ahead of somebody when the yellow comes out, then that’s your position.”

Precisely so, but Castroneves begged to differ on Tracy’s recollection of the pass.

“The yellow light came on and ... then Tracy came by and I said, ‘He passed me on the yellow! He passed me on the yellow!’”

Trackside officials apparently saw it that way, for they declared Castroneves the leader and eventual winner.

Elsewhere, however, things were not so certain. Scoring-and-timing posted Tracy as the winner on the TV screen in the press room, showing Castroneves second, Giaffone third. That posting stayed up for five minutes or more, then suddenly it was changed--Giaffone showing as the winner. Then, finally, seconds later, Castroneves was posted as the winner, Tracy second, Giaffone third.

Unofficial printed results were distributed later, showing that finish--but also listing Tracy as having taken the lead on Lap 199 and leading for two laps, which would have made him the winner.

Meanwhile, Barry Green, owner of Team Green, was threatening to protest, which, he was told, he couldn’t do until official results were posted. Instead, Indy Racing League officials showed him what they considered definitive tapes of the disputed pass. He asked for something more definitive, so they went searching for more.

And, naturally, this being Indianapolis, there were politics to be considered, on several levels.

Tracy, in his younger years, drove for Penske, won races for him, in fact. But Tracy is a free spirit and Penske is a buttoned-down kind of guy--he’s known as “the Captain”--and when their disagreements reached the impasse state, Tracy was politely fired.

That was in their CART days.

Then, after last season, Penske, at the urging of his sponsor, Marlboro, jumped from CART, an organization he had helped form, to the IRL, the rival group founded by Indianapolis Speedway owner Tony George. The move of CART’s premier team to the IRL gave George’s struggling group instant credibility.

So now, here’s a dispute between Tracy, a CART guy, and Penske, the IRL’s newfound savior, about who had won the Indy 500, the event around which the IRL was built.

“There’s going to be a lot of politics playing into this,” Tracy said. “I don’t want to dig too deep into that, but there’s politics in everything, every form of motorsports, and I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Penske’s take on that?

“It’s unfortunate that a situation like this comes up and people take sides,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any politics involved. I’ve got to go along with what the chief steward says. It’s my understanding that he said we won the race.”

Finally, nearly six hours after the race had ended, Brian Barnhart, IRL vice president and chief steward of the race, ruled definitively that Castroneves had won.

Team Green filed its protest and Barnhart said IRL officials would hear that protest today. So, until then, at least, Castroneves is the winner, Tracy the runner-up.

A race to be remembered, certainly. But hardly a classic.