Juan Pablo Montoya claims victory in 99th Indy 500
By JAMES HOWELL, Jr.
ISL IndyCar Writer
INDIANAPOLIS— The world watched with anticipation of something crazy happening during the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
After four severe crashes during the month of May, many eyes were focused on if the race would be safe for all of those involved. With 15 laps to go, all of those eyes saw some of the greatest racing the spectacle had ever seen.
Many accidents were scattered throughout the entirety of the race, including two incidents with injury. Neither injury was life threatening, however. Chip Ganassi driver Sebastian Saavedra suffered a dislocated right foot and Dale Coyne Racing pit member Daniel Jang suffered a severely injured ankle that required surgery.
No accident took away from the thrill of the final 15 laps of the race. After the crash involving Saavedra, Jack Hawksworth and Stefano Coletti the drivers went back to green flag racing. Throughout the final stint, Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power and pole sitter Scott Dixon battled. No man could hold the lead for more than a single lap without being overtaken by another.
While these three men battled, Dixon’s teammate and dark horse in many eyes, Charlie Kimball, sat back and waited.
“I saw Scott racing pretty hard with the Penske boys. I thought that I could be in the catbird seat here if they go three-wide into one and I go in the warmup lane and come out the other side,” Kimball said. “Having said that, it was great racing. Scott had to lift for traffic, I wasn’t going to lift. I didn’t have anything for the Penske boys the last couple laps. A lot of credit to them. They ran strong all day.”
The three front-runners never made a mistake. As they came to a finish, somebody had to separate themselves though. That somebody was the 2000 Indy 500 champion, Montoya. Coming through the final two turns of the final lap, Montoya says he knew that the race was his.
“When I got through three and four (I knew),” Montoya said. “I come out of turn two, Will pushed, I had to push, the gap got bigger. Turn four, he wasn’t close enough. Ha, ha, ha, I got this! I was screaming. I was so happy.”
Montoya’s win marks the largest gap between two Indy 500 wins for any one driver. The final gap made the race the fourth closest in race history.
The event certainly bodes well for the track and its popularity as it heads into the 100th running in just 369 days.
