Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Hal Jack
Indianapolis, IN–
After taking quite a bit of a hiatus from covering the Indy 500, we decided to step back on the track in Indy and see if the hype is just as much fun as it always has been. We weren’t disappointed. Snake Pit is back… fast racing is back, and the milk sill runs down the fire suit of a winner on the famed bricks. This is May in Indianapolis and there is nothing like it.
Prior to the start of the race the 500-weekend got off to one of the wildest starts in history with the legendary Team Penske taking a huge blow when two of their cars were found to have modifications and forced to hit the back of the line to start the race.
Roger Penske wasted no time in making changes after he was completely embarrassed on national level when he fired his top three executives at Team Penske.
Penske fired team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer on Wednesday.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske said in a statement. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”
Cindric and Ruzewski had already been suspended by IndyCar for the race and both teams fined $100,000. It is the second consecutive year Cindric and Ruzewski were suspended from the Indy 500.
So how did this hinder the Penske team on race day? Scott McLaughlin’s day ended almost before it started – his No. 3 car the casualty of a collision with the wall on the pace lap. Two-time defending champion Josef Newgarden completed 135 laps before a fuel pressure issue took him out in 25th place. Will Power didn’t fare much better finishing the race in the 19th spot.
Prior to this week, many outsiders and even some race teams have hinted that an independent officiating body were needed and should be considered ASAP, with Penske Entertainment’s ownership of both the series and the 500 seen as a conflict of interest.
Fast forward to today and this week gets even wilder. Just when one team thought they had a solid finish, IndyCar found some other so-called cheaters after failed race inspections.
Marcus Ericsson, who finished second to Alex Palou on Sunday will now be credited with a 31st-place finish, while Kyle Kirkwood, who had finished sixth, has been relegated to 32nd. Just another black eye on the sport.
It is no secret that some of these “modifications” go unnoticed, but it is becoming clearer that these inspections are giving no advantages to one team or another regardless of ownership. Could this be the new norm and how long has Penske been getting away with these “extras.? All of it makes for better racing and more than likely won’t change the outcome. Perhaps they should spec these cars a bit more carefully in all of these test track days instead of having a huge controversy two days before the big race. None of these 350k fans seemed to care.. they just came to see the greatest spectacle in racing right here in Indy as they have for hundreds of years now.
