2009 Indianapolis 500

The 93rd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 24, 2009. It was the 14th Indy 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and the premier event of the 2009 IndyCar Series season.
Hélio Castroneves, a native of Brazil, won the race from the pole position, his third Indy 500 victory. He became the first foreign-born three-time winner of the race, and tied a record by winning the race three times in the same decade (2001, 2002, 2009). The win was car owner Roger Penske's 15th Indy 500 triumph, extending his team's own record. Former winner Dan Wheldon of England came second, with Danica Patrick third, the best finish ever by a female driver. There were eight crashes, with Vítor Meira and Tony Kanaan both suffering non-permanent injuries.
The 2009 Indianapolis 500 began a three-year Centennial Era celebration which marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 2011 marked the 100th anniversary of the first Indy 500.
The victory by Castroneves marked the milestone 60th Indianapolis 500 victory for Firestone. It came less than two months after Castroneves was acquitted of federal charges of tax evasion and conspiracy. The IRS filed the charges against Castroneves in the fall of 2008, and the trial was held in March 2009 at the U.S. District Court in Miami. A guilty verdict in the trial would have likely sent Castroneves to prison, and ended his driving career.
Entry list.
"See Team and Driver Chart for more information"
The official entry list was released April 20. The initial list includes 77 cars for 40 entries. 32 driver–car combinations have already been announced, as of Monday, May 4. Among the participants include five former winners (Lazier, Castroneves, Wheldon, Franchitti, Dixon), and six rookies.
Paul Tracy, the runner-up of the controversial 2002 race, returned for the first time since that race, and Scott Sharp also returns.
Time trials – Weekend 2.
Sunday May 17 – Bump day.
Shortly before midnight on May 17, Conquest Racing announced that Alex Tagliani, who had failed to qualify, would replace Bruno Junqueira in the No. 36 car. Because of the replacement, the car was moved to the last spot in the starting grid.
Carb Day.
IndyCar Series final practice.
The final hour-long practice was held.
Pit Stop Contest.
Team Penske won the 32nd annual pit stop contest, their record tenth overall victory in the event. The teams of Hélio Castroneves and Marco Andretti met in the finals with Castroneves and his chief mechanic Rick Rinaman winning the $40,000 first prize after a 7.962-second pit stop.
Qualification round.
Note: Positions 5–8 are eliminated from the competition. Positions 3–4 advance to the quarterfinals. Positions 1–2 received a bye for the quarterfinals, and advanced directly to the semi-finals. Ryan Briscoe and Graham Rahal were randomly selected to bypass the qualifying round and advance directly to the quarterfinals.
Starting grid.
Failed to qualify
Race.
The green flag was waved off on the first attempt after Hélio Castroneves hit the accelerator in the middle of turn four and the field did not maintain its traditional three-row lineup. The second attempt, although similar in formation, was given the green flag.
During the first lap entering the first short chute, Mario Moraes squeezed Marco Andretti into the wall, crashing both drivers out. Both drivers were out, but Andretti returned briefly later in the race. Moraes held the view that Andretti ran into him, and both drivers expressed their frustration to the TV crews. Andretti said that Moraes is "clueless," while Moraes believed that Andretti checked down on him.
Ryan Hunter-Reay also had a crash on lap 20 which saw his car slide into the pit lane. This capped a brutal month of May for the Vision Racing driver, in which his car never seemed to get up to speed, and he barely even made the 500 field.
Graham Rahal and Davey Hamilton had similar crashes on laps 56 and 83 respectively. Both slowed their cars between turns 3 and 4, drifted up the track, and hit the wall on the front straightaway. Rahal had a similar crash in the 2008 race.
On lap 98, while running third Tony Kanaan suffered a driveshaft failure while at speed in the back stretch, pitching his car into the wall. Kanaan's steering was largely incapacitated and the Brazilian bounced off the backstretch wall and then hit the turn 3 wall. In television interviews, Kanaan appeared visibly shaken. The next day, Tony stated the hit was recorded at 175 G's.
During the first half of the 200-lap event, Scott Dixon, Castroneves and Dario Franchitti swapped the lead with the Dixon–Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi team leading much of the laps. Dixon led laps 91 through 141, with Franchitti close behind to protect him.
Drivers Robert Doornbos, Nelson Philippe, and Justin Wilson, all former Champ Car World Series race winners, had incidents in the middle-to-late stages of the race that ended their respective days. Under the caution for the Philippe incident, Franchitti's fueler got stuck in his car, causing him to lose track position. With nobody to block for him, Dixon was powerless on the restart to stop Castroneves from passing him. The Penske Dallara-Honda cleared Dixon before the cars even entered turn 1. It turned out to be the winning pass.
The scariest incident of the day occurred on lap 173, when Vítor Meira and Raphael Matos collided in turn 1. Both had heavy contact with the wall. Meira's car also flipped on its side and slid along the wall for hundreds of feet before falling back to all four wheels on the track. Meira was taken to Methodist hospital after the incident. Meira broke two vertebrae in his back and spent the next two days in the hospital being fitted for a back brace. Matos suffered a bruised right knee in the crash.
Ryan Briscoe had fallen back to the middle of the pack with a bad set of tires, but short-fueled in a late round of pit stops to claim second place, behind teammate Castroneves. Eventually Briscoe attempted to take the lead, with the intention of pulling Castroneves along, in order to help the Brazilian save fuel by using the draft. However, he had to pit during the Meira–Matos caution and was never a factor to win.
In the final 15 laps, Castroneves maintained a gap over Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick and Townsend Bell. Castroneves and Wheldon kept similar lap speeds of 218 mph through the last 15 laps, but with a gap of roughly eight car lengths and Patrick on his tail, Wheldon could not catch the pole-sitter.
Castroneves won the event as his sister, Kati, and mother celebrated. The driver and his crew engaged in his traditional victory celebration, climbing the frontstretch catch fence, to the delight of the crowd. It was his third career Indianapolis 500 victory, with the others coming in 2001 and 2002. He is the sixth driver to win three 500s and the first foreign-born driver to do so.
Race results.
All cars utilized Dallara chassis, Honda engines, and Firestone Firehawk tires.
Crashes summary.
Ten drivers crashed in the race:
Broadcasting.
Television.
The race was televised in high definition in the United States on ABC, the 45th consecutive year on that network. ABC Sports signed a four-year extension to continue covering the Indianapolis 500 through 2012. Marty Reid served as anchor for the fourth year. For the fourth time, the telecast utilized the Side-by-Side format for commercial breaks.
Time trials and Carb Day were shown live in high definition on Versus, part of a new ten-year contract with the network and the Indy Racing League. Bob Jenkins served as anchor, along with Robbie Buhl and Jon Beekhuis as analysts. Jack Arute, Robbie Floyd, and Lindy Thackston covered the pits.
Radio.
The race was broadcast on radio by the IMS Radio Network. Mike King served as anchor. For the first time, three living "Voices of the 500" joined together to offer commentary during the pre-race. King, Paul Page, and Bob Jenkins recollected their experiences on network. Page remained in the booth to offer commentary and observations throughout the race. Jenkins, who had returned as a turn reporter in 2007-2008, was unable to serve during the race due to his commitments with Versus.
Jake Query moved from the pits to take the turn two location. For 2009, there were only three regular pit reporters, but they were joined by Dave Wilson, who moved from the booth to cover the garage area and infield hospital.
For 2009, as a gesture to the Centennial Era, a special change was made for the famous out-cue "Stay tuned for the greatest spectacle in racing." The out-cues for each commercial break were recordings of previous renditions by the former "Voices of the 500." Each commercial break would feature a different chief announcer, rotating through Sid Collins, Paul Page, Lou Palmer, Bob Jenkins, and Mike King.