Well, that was a surprise. Even if it perhaps shouldn’t have been. But that’s the beauty of the Indy 500 and how these incredible races can play out. Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, two of Chip Ganassi’s strongest cars and drivers, the former history making all week. Lead 132 laps. Neither won. Marcus Ericsson snuck in, nailed a hot lap, got the front of the queue, and then survived a final 2 lap sprint to win it all. We discuss a superb 500 here, and the new chapter in the story of Marcus’ career. F1 backmarker, he is not.
We also talk about some of the guys who lost out. We had Scott Dixon who blew a golden chance at the win with 20 laps left, via speeding in the pitlane. We had Alex Palou get caught out with an emergency stop right as a yellow came out for Callum Illot putting it in the wall. And hell, Jimmie Johnson, the big meal ticket, made the biggest error of the race and smashed the Turn 2 wall. It nearly cost chip the W. Ooft.
Speaking of Jimmie, we also talk about the controversy over his winning of the Rookie of the Year award. Despite his DNF, he won it based on practise speed and fan interaction. We talk about how David Malukas felt he might have been hard done by, the journalist who stirred the pot… and well, just how screwy the award actually is.
All that and more on a loaded, Indy 500 special edition, of Motorsport101!
