Waiting to see who will grab pole...
Great job Hinch! Couldn't be a nicer, more fan-friendly guy. Along w/ Ryan Hunter-Rhey & Simon Pagenaud, Hinch should be the face of the sport ... impossible not to like them! Good luck to all 33 pilots, and here's hoping for a safe race.
Hinchcliffe's story is the sort of thing legends are made of especially if he can convert pole position into a victory. A great story, just what Indy Car needs now rather than the well-documented bone headed moves the series makes in the board room on a near-daily basis. As usual though at Indy, it comes down to Penske and Ganassi teams as they work their way to the front. There are plenty of good opportunities for a dark horse to win though, Newgarden qualifying second, how about sports car guy Townsend Bell qualifying fourth and rookies like Rossi and Daly? The guys to be watching though have to be Dixon, Pagenaud and Rahal. It'll be interesting. BHW
Pulling for Rahal. Wasn't a super fan, he was just there - I admired his dad Bobby, but my guy was always Mario. However, when Rahal began dating (and ultimately married) John Force's daughter Courtney, I was more interested in him as a person. I love racers that are multi-dimensional (Mario, Gurney, Foyt - modern day guys like Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, Doug Kalitta - even John Andretti raced a Top Fuel dragster!) and the cross promotion has been fun to watch. Seems like a great kid, and I think he's even posted on F-Chat. Would love to see him win. Rahal-Letterman (Lanigan) has been in sort of a holding pattern of late.
All the nonsense aside, it's shaping to be a good race. Hopefully, the forecasts are positive and no rain delays. I like to remind Bobby Rahal that he passed on hiring Tom Kristensen in 1999 for Kenny Brack. Shell liked it that Brack had "Indy 500 Winner" on his CV, how'd that work out? Tom went on to become a living legend in the most important race in the world. BHW
