Back In The Pack At The Indy 500

Kurt Busch finished 6th in the Indy 500, and then headed off to Charlotte.  [Mark Walczak Photo]

The stars of the 2014 Indianapolis 500 get the majority of the post-race TV time and answer the most press conference questions, but in the garage area and along pit road, the co-stars are telling their stories and what they might have done differently.  Are they happy even though their uniforms don’t have milk stains? Would they have done better with a different pit strategy? And in the case of 2004 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch, “What’s was it like racing at Indianapolis?”

Jacques Villeneuve returns to race in the Indianapolis 500. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Juan Pablo Montoya had a solid showing in the Indy 500. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Townsend Bell ran all the way up to 2nd place late in the race. [Mark Walczak Photo]

Busch, who had an unexpected time cushion before flying off to Charlotte to complete the 1,100 mile Indianapolis/Charlotte Double, landed there at 4:54 ET and noted that his Indianapolis race was, ”An experience of a lifetime.”

The Andretti Autosport driver started his first Indianapolis 500 in 12^th spot, took it easy at the start, falling to 20^th after his first pit stop, but got stronger after that.

“We settled in and ran laps to pace ourselves. I just tried to feel the car all race long,” he said. “I’m sure the car was a top- five car. I was on edge those two restarts, making adjustments trying to find air. I had to lift in Turn 2 all day.”

And how did he like his first Indy 500?  “My throat’s really dry because I was smiling the whole time and fresh air was coming in my mouth.”

He finished sixth in this, his first open-wheel race, and was the highest finishing rookie.

Busch was the fourth driver to attempt the Indianapolis/Charlotte double. Others were: Tony Stewart, John Andretti and Robbie Gordon.

For a while it appeared that veteran Townsend Bell might also be in the mix for a high finish today until he was involved in two incidents which put an end to his hopes.

On a lap 176 restart he was slightly involved when James Hinchcliffe and Ed Carpenter made contact in Turn 1 bringing out the event’s third yellow.

“I thought I was side-by-side with just Ed in Turn 1. I didn’t realize someone else, I think it was Hinch maybe, had forced three-wide, which was pretty optimistic,” Bell stated. “I haven’t seen a replay but I would guess Ed didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Bell restarted in second behind leader Hunter-Reay, but on lap 191a caution for debris was displayed. But as it slowed the field, Bell’s Robert Graham KV Racing Chevrolet made hard contact with the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier. At that point the race was stopped to clear a mountain of debris.

“I was trying to go for it to see if we could get to the front. You don’t get these chances very often, but unfortunately the left rear took too much pounding during the day to make it work and it got away from me. That was a pretty good hit.”

Bell, 39, a road-race veteran as well as having 36 Indy car starts, finished a disappointing 25^th.

Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya, both winners in F1 and Indy cars, struggled early in today’s race, but were stronger near the end.

Villeneuve, who started 27^th in his Schmidt Peterson Honda, hadn’t raced in the 500 for 19 years, and confessed to taking it easy early on.

“I started toward the back according to plan. I hung back and focused on not losing a lap,” the Canadian noted. “I was amazed at how many laps we did without a yellow flag. I definitely want to come back because a 14^th (place finish) isn’t good enough. We ended up on the lead lap and stayed away from the wall, so I think that’s an acceptable result for being away so long.”

Montoya, who has won races in NASCAR, CART and IndyCar as well as recording wins in F1 and the Indianapolis 500, is competing in the entire 2014 IndyCar schedule for Roger Penske. He struggled early in the season, but has recorded a fourth- place finish at Long Beach prior to returning to Indianapolis.

“I made a mistake on one of the pit stops today when I pressed the wrong button resetting the fuel. We got a speeding penalty but we came back strong and finished fifth,” admitted the Colombian vet who now resides in Miami. “I don’t think we had anything for Hunter-Reay or Helio-it was cool watching them swap the lead back and forth on the final laps. I wish we were in the middle of that but we had too much understeer at the end.

“It’s good to be back here in Indy and it was an exciting race.”

When Montoya took the lead on lap 64, it marked a record 14-year gap between races led here. He last was in front when he won the 500 in 2000.

Another Indy veteran, 2013 500 winner Tony Kanaan encountered problems early and fell many laps behind before his Target Chip Ganassi Chevrolet was finally repaired.

“Our day was pretty much over before it started with the issues we had on pit lane,” Kanaan reported. He had the starter stripped on his car when he killed the engine while pitting as the leader on lap 33.

“When you go that many laps down you simply cannot recover. I always say this place chooses its winners and unfortunately today she didn’t choose us.”

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Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

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