Indy 500 Race Notes

The start of the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. [Russ Lake Photo]

May 29, 2016
• The winning car owners today, Michael Andretti and Bryan Herta have won the 500 a total of five times: Andretti in 2005, 2007, and 2014 while Herta in 2011.
• Singer Lady Gaga took a ride with Mario Andretti in the Honda two-seater as they led the field during the pace laps. Gaga was a sub for country singer Keith Urban who cancelled his 500 appearance due to a back injury.
• The 500 is truly an international affair as 13 drivers (one shy of the race record) from Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Australia and the United States led the race at various times.
• There were 54 lead changes during the 200-lap.
• This is the fourth time that a car numbered 98 has won the 500. Other winners were Troy Ruttman (1952), Parnelli Jones (1963), Dan Wheldon (2011) and Rossi (2016).
• A rookie has won the first (Ray Harroun), 50th (Graham Hill) and 100th (Rossi) 500
In total, 10 rookies have won here their first time out at Indy. Rossi is the 10th rookie overall to win here.
• Montoya becomes the third defending 500 winner to finish in 33rd position. Others were Jimmy Bryan (1959) and Johnny Rutherford (1977).
• With five rookies starting the 2016 500, it brings the total to 763 different drivers who have started in the 100 Indianapolis 500s.
• This was the 12th time that Helio Castroneves has completed the entire 500 miles.
• Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Sage Karam and Bryan Clauson led the 500 for the first time in their careers.
• To show the quality of the 500’s competition, in the last six 500s the race winner has or the final time with four laps or fewer remaining.
• When Tagliani took the lead on Lap 117, he became just the third driver to lead after starting last. Tom Sneva did it in 1980 and Phil Shafer did it in 1925 when just 22 cars started the race.
• Prior to the start it was estimated that Chevy-powered cars could go 28-30 laps before refueling and Hondas could go 32 under green-flag conditions. Rossi’s final tank lasted 36 laps and owner Andretti explained that: “We ran the numbers. I have to say the guys on the timing stand, it started off every half-lap, then every quarter-lap, gave us updates. We were watching it that close.” Rossi’s previous best fuel run was 31 laps.
• And how did Andretti hook-up with the somewhat unknown Rossi to run a full season of Verizon Indy Car? “We followed his career all the way through when he was in Formula One and Formula 3 even, all the way through. He was our hot, young prospect to be in F1. He finally achieved his goal last year, which was awesome.”
• Third-place finisher Josef Newgarden had an interesting take on Rossi’s win and the strategy his Andretti team employed. “Fuel became a factor at the end. Everyone was on different strategies. They played the fuel strategy. For us it would have been silly to do that. That’s why none of the leaders did. When you have fast cars, you know you have cars to win, you got to go flat out and you got to try to win the thing as you would, without trying to play the fuel game.”

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.”

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