INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Doors remained closed on a quiet Sunday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the world’s largest sports stadium that allows spectators to participate for the first time in 104 Indianapolis 500 races.
Some fans refused to be deterred by the pandemic that forced Roger Penske to organize his first 500 owners of the iconic highway in front of empty grandstands. They installed chairs in the gravel parking lot in front of the fast lane and rethought stalls along the 16th Street fence, where the spaces in the stands offer clues to the track and the chance to see the American classic.
Fans paid cash to see the Indy 500 even the Depression, and the race was only cancelled twice in history, during World War I and World War II. A normal Indy 500 can attract more than 300,000 revelers; Penske said there would be about 2,500 more people in the place at the start of the race.
Marco Andretti begins in pole as the driving force of the third generation is the first of the highest circle of outstanding relatives of motorsport to bring the painting of Indy 500 to green since Grandfather Mario did so in 1987. Mario has the only victory of Indy 500 among five other grounds of Andretti forces, and this drought since 1969 is known as “the curse of Andretti”.
Myth or not, Andretti will have a daunting task. It starts with five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, who opened this year with three straight wins. Andretti also takes on his own teammates Andretti Autorsport, previous winners Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi.
Andretti’s camp led Honda’s dizzying speed by hitting 8 of its drivers in the nine most sensitive. Chevrolet’s atypical case is 19-year-old rookie Rinus Veekay, a Dutchman known for cycling on the track.
Chevrolet stars are trapped in the back of the group and include Penske’s formidable quartet: Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, winners of the last two 500, start at 25th and 22th place. The defending champion of the series, Josef Newgarden, starts at number 13, while three-time winner Helio Castroneves makes his 20th and final in the Indy 500 for Penske, trying to enter the four-winner’s club from the 28th.
Fernando Alonso, in his third attempt to win the Triple Crown of motorsport, 26th while The Chevrolet drivers simply failed to locate the speed needed to win the first starting positions.
There are five rookies in the group, and VeeKay and Alex Palou are among the three most sensitive. Two of the newcomers are Alonso’s teammates: Pato O’Ward and Oliver Askew have shown that Arrow McLaren SP has fast cars this year, giving hope that Alonso will have a genuine chance of climbing Indianapolis to a resume that includes victories at Le Mans. And Monaco.
Penske and Speedway did their best to make the 500 feel like a world-class event, even without spectators. The Air Force Thunderbirds planned to fly over the circuit after the national anthem and chant “Back Home Again in Indiana.” The classic presentations of the pilots were going to take up position as usual.
Drivers also struggled to recognize price ticket holders who regretted that the generational series of participation in the Indy 500 was interrupted on Sunday. The 33 made wonderful individual visits to local fans; they also recorded messages for price ticket holders from their actual seats.
Penske had planned to order the drivers to start the engine. He is the fourth owner in the track’s history and ended the acquisition of past relatives’ circle Tony Hulman in January. The Hulman-George Circle of Relatives owned Indy for 75 years and had controlled command since 1955.