Indy Car Hype: Alexander Rossi Wins The 100th Indy 500 (Video)
Did you miss the Indy 500 this weekend? Well, this time I’m not doing a non-spoiler podium report because this is all over the news by now so don’t be pissed! So, if you’ve read the title of this post you know by now that “rookie” Alexander Rossi won the Indy 500 on his first crack at it. I use the term “rookie” lightly here because while this is technically Rossi’s first season in Indy Car, he is a seasoned open-wheel driver putting in more than a few years across the pond in an attempt to make it to Formula One being the first American in the sport since Scott Speed had a go of it a while back. He was nearly there too but at the last minute he lost his seat and found himself the odd man out in the game of F1 musical chairs. Rather than sulk about it, the 24 year old Californian decided to take a quick detour on his road to F1 and try out Indy Car. He landed a seat at the new super team created by Brian Herta Racing and Andretti Autosport joining forces.
He was able to get a spot in the big show during Indy’s arduous qualifying and held his own for most of the race but spent a lot of time in the back at first. In fact at one point Rossi was running in 33rd place. So, how did he go from 33rd to 1st? Well his win came from a combination of an excellent fuel strategy and a lot of contenders taking themselves out, mostly in the pit lane. Tony Kanaan had a good run at a win but he just couldn’t stretch his fuel enough but Alex could and did, earning him 2.5 million dollars part of a total 13+ million dollar purse for winning the big race. Not bad for a day’s work! Carlos Munoz once again became a bride’s maid with a 2nd place finish for the second year in a row and Josef Newgarden grabbed a respectable third place finish.
For highlights of the 100th running of the Indy 500 check out the video below!
[Photo: IndyCar.com]