Indy Car: Dan Wheldon “Wins” Centenial Indy 500 (With Video)

After the F1 race I’m sure most of you tuned into the centennial Indy 500 race that took place just a few hours after.  I have to admit I was a bit more excited for the Indy 500 than I was for the Monaco GP.  I still have a soft spot for American open wheel racing!  While previous years could have been criticized as a snore-fest this year’s 500 was anything but.  First, there was the incredible and emotional pole day in which Alex Taglianai took the pole away from the monster teams like Ganassi and Penske.  Then once the race started there were so many incidents and lead changes that it was like a game of musical chairs at 200mph.  Everyone from Scott Dixon to Danica Patrick had a run at the front, even Graham Rahal had the lead for a bit.  However at the end it was Indy Car rookie (and Mazdaspeed Ladder graduate) J.R. Hildebrand who inherited the lead with just 5 laps to go and was on his way to bringing his car to what would be a historical Indy 500 victory.  J.R. made it to the last lap seeing the white flag and he was just about to come around turn 4 to see the checkered flag when he went to the outside of the turn, lost grip, and hit the wall allowing Dan Wheldon to blow by him as J.R. literally slide across the line then Graham Rahal followed behind to take third.  Check out the full post-race report on the Indy Car website and check out the video of the dramatic finish below.

Indy 500 Finish:

Indy 500 Highlights:

[Photo: LAT Photo USA]