(Photo: Doug Mathews / INDYCAR)
By Aaron Bearden
There’s no such thing as a perfect race, but the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500 came as close as a race fan could ask given the circumstances that surrounded it.
The return of the NTT IndyCar Series’ signature event to its traditional May slot has been among the most anticipated storylines of the 2021 season, and for good reason.
Roger Penske had acquired both Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar at the start of 2020 only to see his first year with the track hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 104th edition of the race was held without fans in August – something most would have deemed sacrilegious even six months before it occurred.
This year’s running still brought uncertainty. But with the pandemic situation slowly improving in America, it also came with a glimmer of hope.
Fans were confirmed to be allowed to attend heading into May, with 135,000 lucky spectators offered a chance to watch the stars of IndyCar compete. Bumping was back with 35 hopeful entrants, and the field contesting the event was being praised as among the most competitive in IndyCar history – a deserving claim given the now six different winners in as many races so far in 2021.
The Month of May wasn’t entirely normal. There was no Carb Day concert or Freedom 100 on the Friday of race week and the 135,000 allowed in attendance were only a bit over a third of the amount that can be seen at the Brickyard for its annual day in the spotlight, with no Snakepit concert in the infield to blast alongside the race.
But it was still Indy, filled with all of the usual pomp and circumstance during pre-race. “Taps” echoed out over the silent fans before they joined Jim Cornelison in singing “Back Home Again in Indiana.” There was a perceived pensiveness from the spectators early on, but this was still the largest crowd seen since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 – a big enough group to provide the old-school Indy feel if the right circumstances presented themselves.
And boy, did they.
On an unusually cool late May day, the 33 competitors on-hand provided a thrilling race. There were more than 350 total passes including 36 overtakes for the lead, starting on the opening lap when Colton Herta shot past pole-sitter Scott Dixon.
The race had drama and unpredictability, with Dixon and Alexander Rossi knocked out of contention early due to an untimely caution for a crashed Stefan Wilson on pit road that caused them to run out of fuel. In their place, a host of Indy 500 hopefuls emerged ranging from Herta, Conor Daly and Rinus Veekay to Graham Rahal, Pato O’Ward, Ryan Hunter-Reay and even Helio Castroneves.
One by one, contenders slowly fell away. Rahal crashed after losing a wheel while exiting pit road. Daly hit that wheel and endured nose damage at the front of his car. Hunter-Reay suffered a speeding penalty while Veekay and Herta slowly faded out of the picture. Takuma Sato and Felix Rosenqvist tried to steal some Indy glory on an economy run with late fuel strategy but ultimately had to pit with less than 10 to go.
Through all of the chaos emerged a small field of true contenders. Alex Palou and Castroneves were tops among the group, with O’Ward shortly behind. Veterans Simon Pagenaud and Ed Carpenter chased the lead trio down to add themselves to the mix.
In the end the story of the race became one of the old guard against the new, something the sporting world has seen many times this year with triumphs from old greats like the NFL’s Tom Brady and PGA legend Phil Mickelson.
Leading the way for the new wave was Palou – a teammate to Dixon and perhaps his greatest championship threat. The Super Formula transplant had already won the season-opener at Barber Motorsports Park to kick off his second year in IndyCar, but proved capable of a true breakout performance on the sport’s grandest stage at the age of 24.
Fighting desperately to deny him was Castroneves, a veteran of the race hailed as one of the best drivers in Indy 500 history. The Brazilian had spent two decades contesting the race for Team Penske, winning three times along the way in 2001, ’02 and ’09, while coming desperately close to a record-tying fourth victory in numerous years including 2014 and ’17.
Castroneves was back for 2021, but lunged into comparative obscurity. He wasn’t driving for Penske or even Chevrolet, running instead with a second Honda entry for Meyer Shank Racing – a rising team that was still looking for its first IndyCar win.
Sure, there was always a chance that Helio could contend. But he was 46 years old and driving for the equivalent of a small market team in most other sports. This was the Indiana Pacers picking up a veteran point guard and trying to beat the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers.
But the beauty of the Indy 500 with a competitive field is that you never know who might show up to the ball ready to dance – and this time the former “Dancing With the Stars” winner brought his dancing shoes.
Castroneves played the run to the checkered perfectly, alternating between the lead and second, keeping third-place O’Ward at bay while sizing up the youngster Palou. He finally struck for the last time coming to two to go, leaping outside of the Chip Ganassi Racing star and clearing him heading into Turn 1.
Palou drove a fantastic race to place himself in contention, but Castroneves had timed his move correctly. The pair caught lapped traffic while taking the white flag and no opportunity to overtake Castroneves presented itself.
In a story too good to be scripted, let alone reality, Castroneves etched his name into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway record books with a fourth Indy 500 win in his first attempt since departing Team Penske, at a track now owned by Penske, and for a previously-winless team that included beloved sports car team owner and Indy hopeful Michael Shank.
It was a feel-good moment. No driver had won their fourth 500 in three decades, making the accomplishment feel like a near-impossible feat of the past to replicate in the modern era of extreme parity. Castroneves was the first part-time driver to prevail at Indy since the late Dan Wheldon a decade prior, and he’d accomplished the feat in front of a large crowd – many of which had seen lengthy Indy 500 attendance streaks end in 2020 and some that hadn’t been to a race in as long as two years or more.
Those spectators took what was already a special moment and made it into something seismic. Without the concert or party atmosphere of most Indy 500s, those in attendance were primarily longtime fans of racing in general or the 500 specifically, which is to say that they understood the magnitude of what was occurring in front of their eyes.
The crowd showed its potential to add to the moment early in the race, when local favorite Conor Daly surged to the lead and elicited a cheer loud enough to be recognizable on TV. Those same fans filled the 2.5-mile oval with excited noise in the closing laps, adding to the intensity and spectacle of the late battle. When Helio finally crossed the yard of bricks to secure his place among the greatest drivers in Indy 500 history, the proverbial roof blew off the speedway as fans exploded in joyous sound.
From there the celebration was on, and it was one for the ages.
Castroneves has long been a fan favorite for his infectious joy, energy and optimism. So when he tied the Indy 500 win record the crowd was happy to bathe him in jubilant cheers.
If the crowd was his orchestra, then Castroneves was proud to be the conductor. He climbed the fence with his crew on the front stretch, hugged everyone around, jumped back on the wall and waved his arms in rhythm as the nearby fans chanted “Helio! Helio!”
Not done yet, Castroneves jogged triumphantly back down the front straight before being congratulated by the sister Meyer Shank Racing team and teammate Jack Harvey. Fellow competitors like Marco Andretti, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud embraced him, and Castroneves was given the ultimate seal of approval when he bowed to Mario Andretti and was kissed lightly on the head.
Eventually the Brazilian finally made his way to victory lane, too, enjoying a moment with former boss Roger Penske, donning the wreath and drinking the milk – flavored with strawberry syrup to match his pink driving suit. But even Indy’s traditional festivities for a race winner played as a backdrop to what was an inescapably grand moment for one of the series’ biggest modern stars.
Those ending scenes added to what was a near-perfect day for IndyCar. The 105th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing was a celebration of everything that makes the race great.
Under sunny skies on a beautiful spring day, the eleven rows of three put on one of the greatest motor races at a track with over a century of history. For a couple hours race fans were able to forget all of the troubles of the past year and enjoy an experience filled with joy from the opening of the entry gates until the sun set on Castroneves in victory circle.
It was a moment that can best be described as pure at a time when purity was sorely needed.
The best Indy 500 ever? Perhaps not.
But certainly one of the most memorable and important.
