Hinchcliffe Thrills With Indy Pole Run

James Hinchcliffe heads out for his Indianapolis 500 pole winning run. [Russ Lake Photo]

On Armed Forces Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the mantra was “One chance is all you get.”

And one chance, the final one in a long, windy day, gave James Hinchcliffe his first pole win; a long awaited present from a track that almost took his life just a year ago.

James Hinchcliffe gets his pole winning check at Indy. [Russ Lake Photo]

Josef Newgarden. [Russ Lake Photo]

Townsend Bell. [Russ Lake Photo]

Helio Castroneves. [Russ Lake Photo]

Carlos Munoz. [Russ Lake Photo]

Simon Pagenaud. [Russ Lake Photo]

Mikhail Aleshin. [Russ Lake Photo]

Will Power. [Russ Lake Photo]

Ryan Hunter-Reay. [Russ Lake Photo]

Roger Penske. [Russ Lake Photo]

With a larger-than-usual crowd for qualifying waiting till the day’s final run, Hinch gave them and all those who supported him in “Hinchtown” a thrill that they will long remember.

With a run of 230.760mph, Hinchcliffe’s Arrow Schmidt Peterson Honda blew Josef Newgarden off the pole and left the usually gabby Canadian almost grasping for words.

“This is the best team in the house. We had momentum from being on the podium (in the Angie’s List race earlier in May) and my teammates shared a lot of information that really helped,” bubbled the first-time Indy Car pole winner.

“But the support I felt from the fans and especially the people of Indianapolis all year was most inspiring to me.

“I’m at a loss for words. The car was incredible-right on the edge.”

Newgarden (230.700) and his Ed Carpenter Chevrolet sits in second, the best starting spot he’s had here, and was surprised at the speed he had on his first lap run.

“It was a good first lap and I was shocked by it,” the Tennessee native said. “It fell off a little too much though, but it’s good to be up front come Sunday.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay was happy to have put his Andretti Autosport DHL Honda in third, but almost seemed happier for the resurgent pole-winner.

“I’m thrilled for James to see how far he’s come is awesome. When a driver almost dies in an accident here and then comes back to be able to drive a car 240mph into a corner is really awesome.”

And the pole that got away from you in just a few final moments?

“I’m happy with our performance. The car kept freeing-up, but it’s the best car I’ve had here. I didn’t knock him off the pole but I’m so happy for him. I thought I had the pole there for a second. We threw a big punch for Honda today.”

There are six former winners in the starting field: Helio Castroneves and Hunter-Reay in the first nine, followed by Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Buddy Lazier and Juan Pablo Montoya.

“I came into this month hoping we’d have a new story to talk about after what happened last year and I think we did it. That and three Schmidt Peterson cars in the top 10 is incredible.”

And owner Sam Schmidt used that word to also describe his emotion.

“It’s incredible. It’s five years to the day that we did this (win the pole) with (Alex) Tagliani. For the 100th running we’ve put an effort into this since last September. It’s been an all-around team effort; three cars in the top ten.”

Emotions were running high when Hinchcliffe climbed out of his pole-winner and was greeted with a hug and thumbs-up by his friend Hunter-Reay.

“We’re best of friends,” RHR noted.

And today Hinch and his miraculous comeback made thousands more than he’ll ever know.
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The Group 1 battle for positions 10-33 saw a trash bag, a changed engine and five rookies dominate the action.
Oriol Servia was the quickest in the division with a run of 229.067 in his Schmidt Peterson Marotti Honda.

Rookie Alexander Rossi’s Honda (228.473) sits in the middle of row four, but he felt strongly that he should have been in the Fast Nine Shootout group. “Today was pretty crazy,” said the former F1 pilot. “I’m disappointed that I’m not in the top-nine group going for the pole. We were easily good enough, but we’ll race ’em on Sunday.”

Veteran AJ Foyt driver Takuma Sato (228.029) is next to Rossi in another Honda.

Former 500 winner Scott Dixon had his Ganassi Target Chevy towed in during morning practice needing a new Chevrolet engine. His crew attacked the car feverishly as time was slipping away prior to qualifying. They made it through tech inspection with just 30-seconds remaining and put the cold engine into 13th starting spot. “It’s frustrating to have engine trouble that close to qualifying, especially when you only get one attempt.”

Juan Pablo Montoya’s Verizon Penske Chevrolet sucked a large, black trash bag under its front suspension during his first run and slowed so greatly that, according to the rules, he was given another try. “I’m surprised that the spotter didn’t see it. I saw it on the grass during my warm-up lap, but it blew on the track and I had no place to go,” the 2015 500 winner moaned. ‘We lost the front downforce-I think it may have bent the wing.”

Five rookies made the 100th 500 field; all in this group. Max Chilton, Stefan Wilson, Matt Brabham, Spencer Pigot and Rossi are among the largest group of first-year 500 drivers in recent years.

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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