We have made it to June, but with the Indianapolis 500 running on its latest possible date, our review of the month of May comes early into the next month. Nothing has happened yet in June. We haven't missed a thing. Of course, this best of the month mostly revolves around the events of the Indianapolis 500. As I said before, we can spend three days recapping the Indianapolis 500 and we are basically doing that.
The Millennials' Four-Timer
Need is a strong word, but Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles had a point in the aftermath of Hélio Castroneves' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory when speaking to Racer's Chris Medland. The Indianapolis 500 needed another four-time winner.
Boles acknowledged the long standing four-timers, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears, are getting old, and off the heels of Bobby Unser's passing, we know our time with some of these men are dwindling. It has always been special seeing the past winners hang around every May. The past is never too far away from the present, but after 60 years of Foyt, 50-plus years of the Unsers, Andretti and Rutherford, soon they will not be around. Who will fill that void?
Mears is still young. He turns 70 years old this December, but even he will soon step out of the spotlight. There is going to be this space and the winners of the last 30 years should be around to fill it.
Unfortunately, The Split has taken some of the shine out of history. There is not much nostalgia for Buddy Lazier and Eddie Cheever. Jacques Villeneuve and Kenny Bräck aren't really around, but that next wave of winners are still competing and from the looks of it will be regular visitors to 16th and Georgetown.
Castroneves is made for the celebratory nature of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it isn't crazy to think we were somewhat due for another four-time winner. There were none over the first 60 years of the race. In the next 15 years there would suddenly be three four-time winners. We had to wait 30 years between Mears and Castroneves joining the club and we will have a few chances to see Castroneves raise the bar.
The memories from this weekend will live on though. There are fewer people who were around for 1977 and 1987 and 1991. Even for a fan in their early 40s, Unser and Mears' victories were either just before they could develop concrete memories or even knew what they were watching. It was great to see Castroneves and Dario Franchitti each make it to three, but four? IndyCar was approaching a point where half its fanbase would not know what seeing that felt like. Everyone has now gotten to experience it. It is a jolt to the system and that excitement can be carried on for the next three or four decades.
Castroneves will be living benchmark for the next 30 years, regardless if he gets a fifth victory or not. If another driver reaches four victories in the next 30 years, Castroneves will be there to welcome that member to the club. In the same way, Dario Franchitti will be there when that driver reaches three victories.
There were nine past Indianapolis 500 winners in this year's race. Most are over the age of 40, but in the next ten years we are going to see a flurry of new winners and some of those new winners will become multi-time winners. We only had Castroneves and Franchitti run one race together as both went for a fourth, but the conditions are prime that we could see Alexander Rossi competing with the likes of Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, Patricio O'Ward, Álex Palou, Colton Herta, Rinus VeeKay and company to see who can be the next to fourth. First, they have to get one victory and then a second and a third, but the next race to four has begun.
I Got Something Wrong
After this year's race, I got something wrong.
Castroneves' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory came just over 20 years after his first in 2001. Something sparked in my mind that Rinus VeeKay is only 20 years old and I know his birthday is in September. This led me to state in Rinus VeeKay's lifetime, Hélio Castroneves has won three Indianapolis 500s.
That is correct. In fact, Castroneves has won four Indianapolis 500s in VeeKay's lifetime. However, I thought VeeKay was born after Castroneves' first victory and VeeKay has been alive for only three of Castroneves' four victories.
But! I forgot VeeKay was born on September 11, 2000. He has been 20 years old for nine months now. For VeeKay to be before after Castroneves' first, he would have had to be 19 years old on race day unless he was born on May 28, May 29 or May 30 in 2001.
I got that wrong and I should have known. It shouldn't have added up and I got caught up in the moment. I thought I was adding two and two but I actually didn't realize I had a two and a three. I saw 20 years and 20 years and thought Castroneves' victory came before VeeKay's birth, neglecting that both events could be 20 years old and VeeKay is older.
I feel like a fool. It's not the worst mistake in world history, but still a mistake and I must address that it happened and correct it. I have to make sure it doesn't happen again.
However, Rinus VeeKay was not alive when Juan Pablo Montoya won the 84th Indianapolis 500 on May 28, 2000. Although, VeeKay was alive when Montoya won in 2015.
We did have a past Indianapolis 500 winner competing against a driver who not born when he won the Indianapolis 500 and I have to ask when was the last time that happened?
The answer is not a surprise. It was in 1994. Mario Andretti won the 1969 Indianapolis 500. Two drivers were making their debuts in 1994: Jacques Villeneuve, who was born April 9, 1971, and Bryan Herta, who was born May 23, 1970.
We had a couple of close calls in recent years, and one involved Mr. Villeneuve. The Canadian won the race in 1995 and then did not return for a third Indianapolis 500 start until 2014 driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Sage Karam was making his debut that day, but Karam was born on March 5, 1995, almost three months before Villeneuve's victory.
Buddy Lazier made his final start in the 2017. The following year saw Matheus Leist and Zachary Claman De Melo make their Indianapolis 500 debuts. If Lazier had held on for one more year, the 1996 winner could have raced against drivers born almost 16 months after his victory and another born almost 23 months after his victory.
It should be noted that in A.J. Foyt's final Indianapolis 500 start in 1992 he ran against eight drivers who were not born for at least one of his victories. These drivers can be split into three groups.
Five drivers were not alive when Foyt won in 1961:
Al Unser, Jr. (April 19, 1962)
Philippe Gache (May 31, 1962)
Michael Andretti (October 5, 1962)
John Andretti (March 12, 1963)
Jeff Andretti (April 14, 1964)
Jimmy Vasser was the only one not alive for Foyt's first two, but around for the second two. Vasser was born November 20, 1965.
Then there are two drivers who were not alive for Foyt's first three victories:
Buddy Lazier (October 31, 1967)
Paul Tracy (December 17, 1968)
Obviously, all these drivers were alive for Foyt's fourth victory in 1977.
Six-Stopper
After watching Sunday's race and seeing the recent trend of driver avoiding the lead in the Indianapolis 500 because of fuel mileage, would the race be best served if there was a minimum number of pit stops?
Everyone was trying to make it in five stops. Understandable, but it does take something out of the race. People complain about fuel mileage races. The race isn't going to be shortened to 170 laps and the fuel cell is not going to be enlarged or shrunken. What about a set minimum number of stops?
It is not crazy and it was done before. After the events of the 1964 race, a two-stop minimum was set for the next race. That was done in the name of safety, but any minimum set today would be for the sake of competition.
If everyone had to make six stops then there is going to be a short stint somewhere. Either they are going to go split a stint in half or run hard and take a splash at the end. No matter what, teams are still going to try and make that final stop as early as possible. However, if you make it so everyone has to make the same number of stops, we will see a variety of strategies while allowing everyone to run as hard as possible.
It has its flaws. A team could very well could make a extra pit stop to top off under one caution and take one stop out of the question. And then we are right back to where we started. IndyCar could set a provision that only one pit stop under caution counts to the total. That does allow for a chance of confusion over which pit stop counts and which one doesn't. We don't want to complicate things and have penalties handed down because of whether or not a team made the correct number of pit stops.
I don't think there is an easy answer into disincentivizing fuel conservation from lap one of the Indianapolis 500. People would not like a minimum number of pit stops. People would not like the NASCAR route of awarding points at the end of every ten laps to encourage drivers to lead and go for positions. We cannot just make the fuel cells bigger or smaller. I have always wondered why we can't start a race on a half-tank of fuel, not just for this race but all races, road and street courses included. Everyone would be off strategy from the start. Some will stop early. Some will try to go as long as possible. It would at least mix it up.
For now, we have to live with what we have got. In the end, it didn't turn out that bad.
June Preview
We are into June and there is one series I am keeping an eye on this month.
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters begins its GT3-era at Monza on June 19-20. It is the first of seven rounds this season. Lausitz will host the series on July 24-25. Zolder will be on August 7-8. The Nürburgring marks the midway point on August 21-22. There will be a trip to the Red Bull Ring on September 4-5 before Assen hosts the penultimate round on September 18-19. Hockenheim hosts the season finale on October 2-3.
This is a major change for the DTM as it is no longer a touring car series but a sports car series. It is no longer the series of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, though all three manufactures will be on the grid this season. There will also be Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren. It will be a GT3-spec series, but DTM's goal is to be the fastest GT3-spec series to differentiate it from the 16 million other GT3 series around the world. This could pose a problem for Monza as BMW is unsure the teams will have enough fuel to complete the scheduled race distance.
It is a massive change for the struggling series. It has fallen from its heights in the 2000s, but it is trying to adapt, and we have lacked a single driver GT3 sprint series ever since Pirelli World Challenge morphed into GT World Challenge America. This has a chance to stand out.
The grid is respectable. DTM regulars return. Audi still has Mike Rockenfeller, Nico Müller and Kelvin van der Linde. Marco Wittmann leads BMW with Timo Glock and Sheldon van der Linde also in the fold. Mercedes-Benz has brought the band back together. Gary Paffett is back along with Lucas Auer, Daniel Juncadella and Maximilian Götz. Vincent Abril joins the series as Götz's teammate.
New manufactures bring new names. Ferrari's entrance comes with Red Bull fielding two cars. Alexander Albon will run the races that do not conflict with his Red Bull F1 reserve driver role. Nick Cassidy will fill in for the races Albon is unavailable and Liam Lawson will be full-time. Christian Klien joins the series in JP Motorsport's McLaren.
While there is star power on this DTM grid, it does feel more amateur than any DTM grid before it. Esteban Muth is only 19 years old and his résumé is thin, with some French F4 experience with some sports car races sprinkled in over the last two years. Muth will drive the only Lamborghini on the grid. Dev Gore joins the series and Gore sat out 2020 with his most recent experience being the Toyota Racing Series and a few Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup races.
Philip Ellis has been a regular competition in the Michelin Pilot Challenge series and Ellis will run a Mercedes-Benz, as will Arjun Maini. Maini has spent the last few years in LMP2 machinery between the European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Sophia Flörsch will drive an Audi while pairing DTM with a full season driving an LMP2 car in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
One issue DTM faces is some drivers are not committing to a full schedule. We already covered the Albon/Cassidy pairing. Klien and JP Motorsport will only run Zolder, Nürburgring and Assen. The series lost Jenson Button's team, Jenson Team Rocket RJN, only months after committing a McLaren to the series.
This season isn't going to be perfect, but it needs to lay the foundation for something brighter. The DTM has to show it is an option for teams and drivers. It could be a renaissance. It could be a swing and a miss. The series is at least trying something to survive.
Other events of note:
IndyCar has three races, two at Belle Isle and one at Road America.
Formula One will race in Azerbaijan, France and Austria.
There will not be a 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the 8 Hours of Portimão will take place.
NASCAR has a road course race (Sonoma), its All-Star Race (Texas), the Cup Series first visit to Nashville Superspeedway a decade after the track last hosted a race and a Pocono doubleheader.
IMSA closes the month with the 6 Hours of the Glen.
MotoGP ends the month with the Dutch TT.
Formula E makes its first trip to Puebla, Mexico.
