109th Indianapolis 500 May 25th, 2025 Official Thread

[O-Blaze]

Going ahead and making this thread since we're a couple weeks away.​

 

[Wolverine]

Thank you for starting the thread.

 

[Samoa Looch]

Who's gonna win?

 

[O-Blaze]

Who's gonna win?

Me

 

[Samoa Looch]

Me

Oh... well congratulations, Blaze!

 

[Wolverine]

Next week's the big race.

Here's some news to pass along:

Josef Newgarden, Will Power fail Indy 500 inspection - Racing News

Josef Newgarden, Will Power fail Indy 500 inspection. Indycar inspection issues at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

racingnews.co

Indycar inspection issues at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway​

Yesterday, 34 cars took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for qualifying. Today, the top 12 are back on track to complete the Indy 500 starting lineup.

Indycar has issued penalties ahead of the final day of Indy 500 qualifying.

Will Power and Josef Newgarden unloaded and were ready to take part in the Top 12 qualifying run in search of the pole position. Suddenly, both Team Penske cars were pushed back to the garage.

The drivers remained in the cars are the crews pushed them back.

Indycar has stated that both cars have failed pre-qualifying inspection. Indycar will not allow either car to turn a qualifying lap on Sunday.

Crews have begun taking parts of the car. They were seen grinding away on parts that appear to be part of the inspection issues.

The team has not made any comments.

It gets worse for Team Penske. All three cars were set to qualify in the fast 12 on Sunday. And all three will not turn a single lap.

Scott McLaughlin went airborne in practice earlier this morning. After the crash, that Team Penske driver also won’t take part in Sunday qualifying.

This post will be updated.

McLaughlin destroys car, misses shot at Indy pole

Scott McLaughlin crashed his Team Penske car and ruined his chance to repeat last year's Indianapolis 500 pole-winning run.

www.espn.com

Scott McLaughlin destroys car, won't race for Indy 500 pole​

INDIANAPOLIS -- Scott McLaughlin crashed his Team Penske car in Sunday afternoon practice and ruined his chance to repeat last year's Indianapolis 500 pole-winning run.

McLaughlin qualified Saturday inside the top 12 and was eligible to run for the pole later Sunday. But he spun at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and immediately lifted both hands to his helmet as he braced for impact with the Turn 2 wall.

The New Zealand driver's car went airborne and was destroyed, and Team Penske said it would slot him at 12th and not even attempt a qualifying run Sunday.

The team began working on Penske's backup speedway car that had been earmarked for teammate Josef Newgarden to use in next week's pit crew competition.

McLaughlin, who last year led a Penske sweep of the front row in qualifying, was clearly deflated after he was released from the medical center.

"I'm OK. I'm just really, really, really, really, really sorry for everyone at Team Penske," McLaughlin said. "It was talking to me and I sort of felt it, and I probably should have backed out, but you're trying to complete a run to see what it feels like and was it worth the risk? Probably wasn't. I'm incredibly sad."

He said he felt fortunate that the car did not launch into the catchfence, but the crash did cause damage to the track surface that IMS workers had to fix during a stoppage created by his wreck.

"They can build a new car for me, but I'm just really gutted more than anything," McLaughlin said. "It's hard to take, like you wish it was for something, but it was for nothing, right? In practice."

McLaughlin was also rattled to see his wife crying after his crash.

"They're nervous about me," he said. "I wanted to get out of the car straight away just so she knew I was OK."

There have been three hard crashes in the past two days at Indianapolis. Marcus Armstrong and Colton Herta both crashed Saturday, and Armstrong has to qualify Sunday for the field of 33 using a road and street course backup car. Herta qualified inside the top 30 to lock himself into the field once his car was ready for qualifying.

 

[Wolverine]

Indy 500 rookie Shwartzman wins pole in shocker

Robert Shwartzman, who has dual nationality in Israel and Russia, became the first Indy 500 rookie to qualify on the pole since Teo Fabi in 1983.

www.espn.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- A rookie driver for a brand new team has won the pole for the Indianapolis 500.

Robert Shwartzman, a 25-year-old with dual nationality in Israel and Russia, became the first Indy 500 rookie to qualify on the pole since Teo Fabi in 1983. Shwartzman drives for Prema Racing, an Italian team which races in the Formula 2 series in Europe and made its IndyCar debut this season.

Shwartzman was mobbed by a sea of red-clad team members as soon as his pole-winning run became official.

"Honestly, it feels like I'm dreaming. I just had it in my dreams when I was going how would it feel to do such a good job in quali," he said. "It's the Indy 500. It's the main race of the year. Honestly it feels unbelievable."

Shwartzman had been pursuing a career in Formula 1 and was part of the Ferrari development program as well as its reserve driver from 2021 until the end of last season -- when Prema nabbed him for its two-car team.

He was the fourth of six drivers to make their qualifying attempt and took the pole from Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan. But he still had to wait for Pato O'Ward of McLaren and Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing to make their runs, and he nervously watched from pit lane.

O'Ward went first and landed in the third spot and Rosenqvist dropped to fifth, sandwiched in the second row between Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Álex Palou. It was a strange finishing order as the Ganassi cars were expected to battle each other for the top starting spot in "The Great American Race" that will be run next Sunday.

"Rookie on pole with Shwartzman -- how wild does that get? New team. I didn't see that coming at all," said Dixon, the 2008 winner.

The pole was wide open for the taking first when Team Penske was disqualified from qualifying for an illegal modification on the cars of two-time defending Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden and Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin destroyed his car in a Sunday morning crash during practice.

The three Penske drivers all started on the front row last year, but will be 10th, 11th and 12th in the fourth row together next weekend. That put the odds in Ganassi's favor, but they had a surprising drop in speed from Saturday to Sunday.

So then Sato, in his first race in nearly a year, sat atop the scoring pylon until Shwartzman's shocking run.

"I don't even know what to say. The car felt amazing," Shwartzman said, "Coming here for my first oval race, I couldn't even expect to be in this position. Big thanks to everyone. Big thanks to the fans cheering for me. It's unbelievable."