Once again, Ed Carpenter had the fastest time in the Indianapolis 500 qualifiying runs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year.
Carpenter edged out James Hinchcliffe and secured his second straight pole position with a four lap average of 231.067 mph. So congratulations to the 1999 Park Tudor High School graduate and fan favorite. Good luck on May 25th!
A heart-felt congratulations goes out to one of the nicest IndyCar drivers I have ever met, Ed Carpenter. He won the pole position for the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500. (The race will kick off shortly after noon EST on Sunday, May 26.) Ed will be trying to take advantage of the pole position to finish better than his Indy 500 best finish of fifth place in 2008.
P.S. Some of you may recall that I posted a free download in July 2012 of a Facebook cover photo of Ed Carpenter’s Fuzzy’s Premium Vodka race car. That download is still available and is re-posted here for your benefit:
Free Facebook cover image from Eric Scott Miller Photography, featuring Ed Carpenter’s 2012 Indy 500 race car.
Living in Indianapolis, a large percentage of people around here live and breathe with the IndyCar racing series. Earlier today, the 2013 series kicked off with the first race of the season in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Since getting introduced to the IndyCar hoopla at the Indianapolis 500 two years ago, I have gotten my interest piqued and have added IndyCar to the list of sports which I (somewhat) follow.
So when I heard the winner of yesterday’s race was Canadian James Hinchcliffe, I knew the name rang a bell. So I did a quick check of my archives from the past two months of May and came up with this shot of his rookie appearance at qualifications for the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
So congratulations go out to Mr. Hinchcliffe for his first IndyCar career win!
Here is this month’s free download for your personal use: A Facebook Timeline image featuring the IndyCar ride of Ed Carpenter. Feel free to download, use, and share this month’s free download!
Free Facebook cover image from Eric Scott Miller Photography, featuring Ed Carpenter’s 2012 Indy 500 race car.
INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar officials announced today that 2011 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed when his helmet struck a fence post which tore through his race car.
Wheldon was one of 15 drivers involved in a fiery crash on lap 11 of the October 16 series finale at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“The accident was significant due to the number of race cars damaged, but more importantly through the non-survivable injuries to Dan Wheldon,” said IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard.
The report detailed how Wheldon’s #77 car made contact with the left rear tire of Charlie Kimball’s car at 165 mph, sending Wheldon into the air. “The chassis of the 77 impacted a vertical post along the right side of the tub that created a deep defect in the tub that extended from the pedal bulk head, along the upper border of the tub and through the cockpit,” IndyCar President of Operations Brian Barnhart said. “As the race car passed by, the pole intruded into the cockpit and made contact with the driver’s helmeted head.”
There had been speculation on what created the tragedy on the 1.5-mile oval track. The official report identified several contributing variables which combined to create “a perfect storm.”
Barhnart said the investigation revealed “nearly unlimited movement on the track surface under race conditions. This capability of relatively free movement on the track without restraints of natural racing grooves must be attributed to the overall track geometry beyond banking.” Traditionally each race track has one or two racing grooves which limits a driver’s ability to utilize the entire track surface.
“The ability of the drivers to race from the bottom of the racetrack all the way up to the wall and run limitless is not a condition we’ve experienced before,” added Barnhart.
One factor which was eliminated during the investigation was the size of the starting field. “The 34-car starting field was determined to be acceptable based on factors such as length and width of the racetrack and pit space capability, and review of the incident supports the conclusion,” investigators concluded.
When the 2012 IndyCar schedule is released, Las Vegas will be missing. “Las Vegas is a great city, a resort destination. Our fans, our sponsors and everyone likes Las Vegas and it’s a great place for the race,” said Bernard. “But I don’t want to go back there if the conditions aren’t right and it’s not safe for our race cars.”
The Las Vegas race was the final event on the IndyCar schedule to utilize the IR3 Dallara chassis, which has been driven more than two million miles with Wheldon’s being the first fatality. Italian automaker Dallara, which recently moved into a new facility just south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was poised to ship out the new DW12 chassis, named in honor of Wheldon who had logged more than 2,000 miles testing the new design.
(This article is copyright 2011 by Eric Scott Miller.)
My heart skipped a beat earlier today when I learned of the horrific accident at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway involving 2011 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon.
This past May, I was introduced to IndyCar racing. I ended up being out at the track for qualifying weekend and shot a ton of photos. Although I wasn’t able to get one of Wheldon outside of his car, I did get several images as he raced around the famed 2.5-mile oval. Here is one of the images I captured that month:
Dan Wheldon runs a lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2011.
A nice gift to wake up to this morning. The Evansville Courier & Press ran one of my photos on its website today to accompany an article about Bret Schmitt, chief Mechanic for Indy 500 driver Takumo Sato. Schmitt will not only be working in the garage for the Memorial Day festivities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he will also be over the wall working as Sato’s outside tire changer during the race.
Check out the article and the accompanying head shot here.