Pole Day—the day when the fastest qualifying driver compete to start in the first spot on the gird—was filled with unexpected and even bizarre outcomes. The top four cars on the starting grid include one driver who doesn’t have a ride for the rest of the season, a driver who is struggling to find funding to race for the rest of the season and a driver who couldn’t find a ride last year and was a last-minute hire for 2011.
After years of domination by the Big Two—Penske and Ganassi—or the Big Three—the two plus Andretti Autosport—IndyCar is seeing the success of the little teams. The underdogs and the unwanted, triumphed.
Tagliani, who is struggling to find sponsorship to continue racing, teamed up with car owner and former driver Sam Schmidt after Tagliani’s FAZZT Racing team folded. With Schmidt as a partner, Tagliani slew the proverbial giants of Penske Racing and Target-Chip Gansassi Racing.
“For everyone is a little bit tired of the domination of the Penskes and Ganassis, for everyone that cheered for us and bet on us—I am glad that we didn’t make them lose money,” Tagliani said with a laugh at the post-qualifying press conference on Indycar.com.
Same Schmidt was crying with joy as he watched Tagliani win the pole.
“This is the greatest thing that’s happened since my kid’s birth; this is huge,” he told Versus. “It’s really big for the team we want to be here full-time in 2012 we need the sponsorship to do it. The guys put a lot effort into this.
“We had a great two weeks but you just know that Penske, Ganassi and Andretti and those guys are so strong. I wish my wife and kids were here with me to enjoy this Look at Townsend [Bell,] he’s fourth and he only runs one race a year—fantastic.”
Scott Dixon earned second place for Target-Ganassi, but he was on track to win the pole when his car stumbled for lack of fuel—an amazing error considering the number and quality of engineers working on the car.
Even more amazing was the fate of Dixon’s teammate. Dario Franchitti in the other Target-Ganassi car, ran out of fuel entirely at the end of his third lap. Franchitti was headed for third place on the grid had he finished his fourth lap at the same pace.
“That’s frustrating,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. “To run out of gas like that is inexcusable.” “All year we’ve been working on this one and to make that mistake,” said Dario Franchitti. “Phew; It just makes you mad.
“We can still win it from ninth, but it would have been easier from third.”
That one of the biggest, richest, most experienced teams on the grid—and in many other forms of racing—to forget to fuel the car when qualifying for what is far and away the most important race of the season is mind-boggling.
Oriol Servia in the Telemundo-Newman-Haas car qualified third. Servia had to sit out the 2010 season—no team thought he was a worthwhile hire. He signed last-minute contract with Newman-Haas for 2011 and has performed brilliantly; his qualifying could not find a ride for 2010
Alex Tagliani’s teammate Townsend Bell took fourth. Bell is another driver who does not have a full-time ride— no doubt many team owners will be wondering why they didn’t sign him.
Will Power was the highest-placed Penske driver in fifth. Power has won pole position at every race in 2011—except at Indy, the most important race of the season. His teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe didn’t even make it into the Fast Nine which competed for the pole. Castroneves qualified sixteenth and Briscoe crashed in practice and is far down in the field.
Dan Wheldon and Buddy Rice, past Indy 500 winners who are without rides this season, qualified sixth and seventh.
Ed Carpenter, another Indy 500 one-off, qualified eighth, ahead of Dario Franchitti, who earned ninth on the strength of his morning qualifying run—he was awarded no time for his failed Fast Nine effort.
The 100th Anniversary IndyCar Indianapolis 500 takes the green flag at noon EST on Sunday May 29. Tickets are available through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway website.
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