Hitting Fifty

On Sunday, the 50th Super Bowl takes place from Santa Clara, California. The Carolina Panthers look for its first title and Carolina will take on twice champion Denver Broncos. While the biggest sporting event in the United States reaches 50 this year, many historic races in motorsports have already made it to 50 and plenty have surpassed it.

The oldest race in the world is the French Grand Prix and while it hasn't been run since 2008, it was the oldest grand prix. First run in 1906, the 50th running didn't occur until 1964 after interruptions because of two World Wars. That race took place at Rouen and was won by Daniel Sexton Gurney in a Brabham. It was Gurney's second grand prix victory and first in two years after he won what is still Porsche's only victory in Formula One. Graham Hill finished second with Jack Brabham rounding out the podium.

Two years later, the Indianapolis 500 would hit the half-century mark. The roadster was fighting to hang on but the rear-engine cars had firmly rooted into the landscape of motorsports. Eleven cars were eliminated right when the green flag waved to start the race when Canadian Billy Foster on the front straightaway. Drivers taken out in the accident included Gurney, A.J. Foyt, Don Branson and rookie Cale Yarborough. Surprising, the only injury in the accident was a cut to Foyt's hand after he climbed the catch fence to avoid a potential fire.

The race was restarted after over an hour under the red flag. Jim Clark was going for back-to-back victories and the Scotsman battled Lloyd Ruby. Ruby led the most laps in the race but started losing oil and had to surrender the race lead to Jackie Stewart while Graham Hill passed Clark after Clark mistakenly thought Hill was a lap down. Stewart lead for 40 laps but oil pressure issues ended his chance to be rookie winner with ten laps to go. Hill would go on to win in his first Indianapolis 500 after starting 15th.

There would be a hiatus in major races hitting the 50th race milestone but in 1982, three motorsports stables would hit the milestone. Walter Röhrl won the 50th Rallye Monte-Carlo. The German would go on to win his second World Rally Championship title that year. Later that June, the 24 Hours of Le Mans would hit fifty. It was the first race under Group C regulations and the Porsche 956 dominated the race. Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell would take the victory. It was Ickx's record-setting sixth and final Le Mans victory. It would be Bell's third of five Le Mans victory. Three months later, the 50th Italian Grand Prix was run at Monza. René Arnoux took the victory in a Renault ahead of the Ferraris of Patrick Tambay and Mario Andretti. It was Andretti's final Formula One podium in his penultimate start.

While the 1985 Australian Grand Prix was the first time Formula One went to the country, it was the 50th running of the event. Prior to Formula One, the race had been contested by sports cars, Formula Libre, Tasman Series, Formula 5000 and Formula Mondial. The race in 1985 was the first on the streets of Adelaide. Keke Rosberg took the victory, his final in Formula One.

In 1988, Ayrton Senna won the 50th German Grand Prix at the Hockheimring. Four years later, Senna would win the 50th running of the Monaco Grand Prix. It was Senna's fifth victory at Monaco and fourth consecutive. He took the lead after Nigel Mansell had to make a late pit stop for a loose wheel nut. The Brit chased down the Brazilian but could not pass him and finished just over three-tenths back. Later in 1992, the Belgian Grand Prix hit fifty at Spa-Francorchamps and Michael Schumacher took his first of 91 grand prix victory.

There would be nearly five years until the next grand prix made it to fifty and that next race would be the British Grand Prix. Jacques Villeneuve won that day at Silverstone after Mika Häkkinen's engine expired while leading with eight laps to go. The next 50th running wouldn't occur until the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix where Kimi Räikkönen won after leading 62 of 66 laps from pole position. The 2008 Spanish Grand Prix was only the final race for Super Aguri.  The most recent grand prix to reach 50 was the Canadian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel won the 50th running of the race North of the Border in 2013.

It's not just sports cars and Formula One that has had event lasted for over half a century. Dirt races have made it to fifty. The 50th Turkey Night Grand Prix was the final one to take place at Ascot Park and that was won by Stan Fox. The 50th Hoosier Hundred was won by Tony Elliott in 2001 and Dave Darland won the 50th Hut Hundred in 2003. The Knoxville Nationals reached fifty in 2010 and Tim Shaffer took the victory and ended Donny Schatz reign. Schatz had won the four previous Knoxville Nationals. Schatz has won the five Knoxville Nationals since Shaffer's victory.

The once famous Daytona 200 reached fifty in 1991. Miguel Duhamel won the race, his first of a record five Daytona 200 victories. Mick Doohan won the 50th Dutch TT in 1998. It was Doohan's final Dutch TT as he went on to win his fifth and final world championship.

Beside Rallye Monte-Carlo, other rallies to hit the 50-running milestone include Wales Rally GB. Colin McRae won the 50th Wales Rally GB in 1994. McRae was the first Brit to win the event since Roger Clark won in 1976. Marcus Grönholm won the 50th running of his home rally, Rally Finland in 2000. The following year, Finn Harri Rovanperä surprisingly won the 50th Rally Sweden. It was Rovanperä's only WRC victory.

Other major endurance races to make it to fifty include the Spa 24 Hours, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Bathurst 1000 and the 24 Hours of Daytona. In 1997, the Spa 24 Hours hit fifty with the BMW of Eric Hélary, Marc Duez and Didier de Radigues picking up the victory. The Audi R8 of Johnny Herbert, Christian Piscatory and Dindo Capello won the 50th running of Sebring in 2002. Bathurst reached its 50th in 2006 with Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup taking the victory. It was Whincup's first Bathurst victory and Lowndes' second. Michael Shank Racing won the 50th 24 Hours of Daytona with A.J. Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri, Jr., John Pew and Justin Wilson in 2012.

Each leg of NASCAR's triple crown has made it to fifty. The Southern 500 was the first to reach the milestone, however, the 50th Southern 500 ended prematurely due to rain. Jeff Burton took the victory and won a million dollars thanks to the No Bull 5 award. The 50th Daytona 500 was in 2008 and Ryan Newman took the victory with a last lap pass on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart. It was Roger Penske's first Daytona 500 victory. The following year, the Coca-Cola 600 would hit the milestone but like the Southern 500, the race in Charlotte would be rained on. First it would be postponed a day and then it would end after only 340 miles due to rain. David Reutimann took his first career victory.

The 50th time IndyCar raced at the Milwaukee Mile the week after the Indianapolis 500 was in 1997. Greg Moore won his first career victory that day. Of course, because of the split, Moore didn't run the week before at Indianapolis and Moore would never get a chance to run the Indianapolis 500.

With all the major races that have hit fifty, a few races that have made their history as a junior formula event have also made it to the milestone. The 50th Pau Grand Prix was in 1991 and won by Jean-Marc Gounon. It was his first International Formula 3000 victory. Other notable drivers in that race were Christian Fittipaldi, Alex Zanardi, Damon Hill, Allan McNish, David Brabham and Michael Bartels. The 50th Macau Grand Prix was in 2003 and won by Nicolas Lapierre. Ryan Briscoe, Marco Bonanomi, Nelson Piquet, Jr., Robert Doornbos, James Courtney, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Richard Antinucci were other drivers who raced in the 50th Macau Grand Prix. Finally, the 50th New Zealand Grand Prix was a Formula Ford race in 2005 and won by Simon Gamble at Teretonga Park.

A few other races are nearing fifty. The Norisring Trophy hits fifty later this year. The Brazilian Grand Prix has been run 44 times and the Japanese Grand Prix is at 41 runnings. The Suzuka 1000km has also been run 44 times.

I think the history of some of these events hasn't been properly celebrated. As races have become more commodities that could be thrown by the wayside at any moment due to sanction fees, races have been sterilized. Gone are the historic backbones for events that have no history whatsoever in places that have no thirst for motorsports. These races should be celebrated. Each has its own unique history and they should not be ignored. Ignoring history makes race valueless and there are plenty of races that should be on racing schedules and are not.

2016 Bathurst 12 Hour Preview

Just a week removed from the 24 Hours of Daytona comes the third major endurance race in four weeks but instead of coming from the metropolis of Dubai or the legendary coastal town of Daytona Beach, this one comes from Mount Panorama.

The 15th Bathurst 12 Hour is set for this weekend and 37 cars are entered across three class, twenty-two are GT3 cars and will compete in Class.

Nissan returns to defeat its victory. Katsumasa Chiyo and Florian Strauß will attempt to become the fifth and sixth drivers to win consecutive Bathurst 12 Hours. Joining them this year in the #1 GT-R NISMO GT3 is 2006 V8 Supercars champion and current Nissan Motorsport driver Rick Kelly. Fresh off his victory in the Dubai 24 Hour is Laurens Vanthoor and he leads the #2 Phoenix Racing Audi entry. The Belgian will be joined by Markus Winkelhock and V8 Supercars regular Alex Davison. Vanthoor is going for his third consecutive endurance race victory after he won the Sepang 12 Hours last December.

Six other Audis are entered, five of which belong to Melbourne Performance Centre. Greg Taylor, Barton Mawer and Nathan Antunes will drive the #5 Arris/GT Motorsport/Pete & Co./PAYCE Audi and the #9 Hallmarc/Network Audi will feature 2012 winner Christer Jöns, Marc Cini and Mark Eddy. James and Theo Koundouris will drive the Handley Surveys #49 Audi with Marcus Marshall and Shea Davies. Two cars are entered under the name of James Pem Racing. Two-time winner Christopher Mies looks to join John Bowe as the only three time winners of the event. Joining Mies in the #74 Audi will be Christopher Haase and Marco Mapelli. René Rast will look to do the Daytona-Bathurst double after winning in GTD with Magnus Racing. Rast replaces an injured Craig Lowndes in the #75 Audi alongside 2007 V8SC champion Garth Tander and Steve McLaughlin. Andrew Bagnall, Rick Armstrong and Matt Halliday will drive the #82 International Motorsport Audi.

Bentley Team M Sport returns with two Continental GT3s. Steven Kane, Matt Bell and Guy Smith will pilot the #10 Bentley. Andy Souceck, Maxime Soulet and David Russell are assigned to the #31 Bentley.

Four McLarens are entered. McElrea Racing's #11 McLaren is to be shared by Warren Luff, Tony Walls and Matt Campbell. Keltic Racing returns with the #37 McLaren for Craig Baird, Tony Quinn and Klark Quinn. The other two McLarens belong to Tekno Autosports. Shane Van Gisbergen runs one final time for Tekno, his V8SC team for the previous three seasons. Van Gisbergen moves to Red Bull Racing Australia for 2016. The New Zealanders' co-drivers are Álvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb in the #59 McLaren. Rob Bell, Andrew Watson and Will Davison will drive the #60 McLaren.

Lamborghini will be represented by three Gallardos. Roger Lago will share the #32 Lago Racing Lamborghini with Luke Youlden and Steve Owen. Justin McMillan, John McIntyre, Dale Wood and Glen Wood will drive the #48 Lamborghini for M Motorsport. Performance West Racing has entered the #62 Lamborghini for Nick Percat, Peter Rullo and Scott Andrews.

MISHUMOTORS has entered the #33 Mercedes-Benz of Renger van der Zande, Mirco Schultis and Patrick Simon. The other two Mercedes-Benzes entered belong to Erebus Motorsport. Thomas Jäger, David Reynolds and Nico Bastian will drive the #36 Mercedes-Benz. Bernd Schneider returns with Maro Engel and Austin Cindric as his co-drivers in the #63 Mercedes-Benz. Engel and van der Zande are the only two drivers that competed Dubai and Daytona last month. Engel failed to finish either race. Van der Zande failed to finish in Dubai and was 4th in the PC class, 34th overall at Daytona. Cindric is the only American in field.

Two Ferraris round out the A Class. Vicious Rumor Racing will have Andrea Montermini, Benny Simonsen, Tony Defelice and Renato Loberto drive the #49 Ferrari. Maranello Motorsport returns with the #88 Ferrari for Mika Salo, Toni Vilander, Tony D'Alberto and Grant Denyer.

Seven cars are entered in the B Class for Cup Cars.

Notable entries in the B Class include the #4 Grove Racing Porsche, which will feature Earl Bamber, Steven Grove and Scott McLaughlin. Chris van der Drift will lead the #11 Mobil 1 New Zealand Porsche with Scott O'Donnell and Allan Dipple. The #77 Team NZ Motorsport Porsche features Will Bamber, Graeme Dowsett, John Curran and Craig Smith.

Eight cars in the I Class, five are MARC Car Australia Ford Focus.

Seven drivers have won the Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 1000. Percat, Tander, Kelly and Will Davison could all add their names to that list. The seven drivers are Allan Grice, Gregg Hansford, John Bowe, Dick Johnson, Paul Morris, Tony Longhurst and Craig Lowndes.

This race is the first of three rounds that make up the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The second round will be the Spa 24 Hours in August and Sepang 12 Hours in December.

The race will begin at 1:45 p.m. ET on Saturday. A live stream will be available to international viewers.

Musings From the Weekend: Where is Your Purse?

The Race of the Year may have occurred at Daytona. Three classes came down to the final lap. You had gearbox issues, a fuel derby and a photo finish. Drivers got monkeys off their backs and a great start to the 2016 season. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Where is Your Purse?
Listening to Trackside from last week, Kevin Lee and Curt Cavin discussed the new presenting sponsor for the Indianapolis 500. When it came up about adding the money to the purse (start at the 18:00 mark), they brought up a good point that $5 million over three years isn't enough to make the purse for the race something to rave about.

However, the purses in IndyCar do need to be bolstered. I know "purses" don't really exist outside of the Indianapolis 500 because of the Leader Circle program but every race does pay bonuses for the top twelve finishers at each race. The "bonus" for winning a race is $30,000, an earth-shattering amount, right?

The only problem I had with the presenting sponsor deal was how low it was. It adds nothing to the purses. IndyCar and the Speedway should want the Indianapolis 500 to be an astronomical number that leaves people quivering in excitement when they hear how much it pays to win. While the Indianapolis 500 purse is still a healthy, it doesn't stand out and it doesn't draw drivers like flies. Last in the Indianapolis 500 once paid more than winning a Formula One grand prix. Now, Sebastian Vettel makes more after the first test day of the season than finishing last in the "500."

It's extremely unlikely for the "500" will pay more to finish last but it's bolstering what the winner makes and the top half of the field. I was hoping any sponsorship deal, whether it was title or presenting, would be enough to get the winner's share over than $3 million plateau (which has only happened once: 2009 with Hélio Castroneves). I want to see the Indianapolis 500 winner get $5 million. That's something people talk about. Why do people talk about Floyd Mayweather fights? It's not because they are thrilling, it's because he is making tens of millions of dollars, if not more.

The "500" aside, IndyCar in general needs to increase its purses. I like Leader Circle and I think it's smart to give the teams a foundation to start on but the "bonus" for winning a race has to be more than $30,000. The lack of money in IndyCar is the reason Sam Hornish, Jr., A.J. Allmendinger and Danica Patrick would all rather be mediocre in NASCAR than be in the top half, if not the top quarter of IndyCar. You make more running 23rd in NASCAR than running in the top five of IndyCar.

How is IndyCar going to raise purses? The series needs more exposure to attract more sponsors and get a larger television deal. As for the "500," it needs to take a playbook out of the Daytona International Speedway's playbook. The track took out the backstretch grandstands and but up billboards. As much as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wants to stay in the year 1950, white walls don't pay the bills. There is no reason why the walls are white. The walls should be covered in sponsorship because that is going to bring revenue into the track.

Forget Tony Hulman. If Tony Hulman were around today he would see that the climate of the early 21st century is a hell of a lot different and that 1950 business tactics won't work. He would see that white walls are wasted space and that a title sponsor could be tremendous and the Indianapolis 500 would still be the Indianapolis 500 even if a company spent $10 million a year on title sponsorship.

Tony Hulman isn't spinning around in his grave because of presenting sponsor, he is spinning in his grave because the Speedway has not kept up with the times and is scrambling to exist.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about the 24 Hours of Daytona but did you know...

Ryan Dungey won the AMA Supercross race from Oakland, his second consecutive victory.

Landry Norris, Guanyu Zhou and Pedro Piquet won the three Toyota Racing Series races from Hampton Downs Motorsports Park.

Coming Up This Weekend
Bathurst 12 Hour.
The first Formula E race of 2016, the Buenos Aires ePrix.
AMA Supercross will be in Phoenix.

Extreme Speed Motorsports Wins Overall; Corvette Photo Finish in GTLM

The #2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier-HPD of Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek, Scott Sharp and Ed Brown won the 24 Hours of Daytona by 26.166 seconds over the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP of Max Angelelli, Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Rubens Barrichello. This is Sharp's second 24 Hours of Daytona victory. He won in 1996 with Wayne Taylor and Jim Pace. Derani won on his Daytona debut. Rounding out the podium was the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP of Marc Goossens, Ryan Dalziel and Ryan Hunter-Reay. All three cars finished 736 laps.

Fourth overall, five laps down, was the #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of João Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque and Scott Pruett. The #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Alexander Wurz, Brendon Hartley, Andy Priaulx and Lance Stroll finished 11 laps down in fifth. The #31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, Simon Pagenaud and Jonny Adam finished 12 laps down in sixth

The #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler won in GTLM by 0.034 seconds over the #3 Corvette of Antonio García, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller. Gavin held off García at the line after battling for the final 20 minutes. It is Gavin and Milner's first victory in North America since Mosport 2013. Gavin and Milner won last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jordan Taylor. Earl Bamber, Frédéric Makowiecki and Michael Christensen finished third in GTLM in the #912 Porsche. All three cars finished 722 laps. Alessandro Pier Guidi, Alexandre Prémat, Daniel Serra and Memo Rojas rounded out the top ten overall, fourth in GTLM, a lap behind the GTLM leaders. The #25 RLLR BMW of Bill Auberlen, Dirk Werner, Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler completed 721 laps.

Twelfth overall was the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, Davide Rigon, Toni Vilander and Olivier Beretta, completing 709 laps. A lap behind the Ferrari was the #02 Ganassi Ford Riley of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson.

René Rast conserved enough fuel to cost the #44 Magnus Racing Audi to victory in GTD. Rast, Andy Lally and John Potter all scored their second class victory and all three won together in 2012. Marco Seefried scored his first Daytona victory. The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche of Tim Pappas, Nicky Catsburg, Patrick Long and Andy Pilgrim finished second in class, three seconds behind the Magnus Racing Audi. The #93 Dodge Viper of Ben Keating, Gar Robinson, Jeff Mosing, Eric Foss and Damien Faulkner finished third in class. All three cars on the GTD podium finished 703 laps. Fourth in GTD was the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Richie Stanaway, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda, one lap down in class.

The #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports Oreca of Stephen Simpson, Kenton Koch, Chris Miller and Mikhail Goikhberg won in Prototype Challenge. The #85 Oreca completed 702 laps and won by four laps over the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Tom Kimber-Smith, José Gutierrez, Robert Alon and Nicholas Boulle. Third in PC was the #20 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca of Johnny Mowlem, Brendan Gaughan, Marc Drumwright, Tomy Drissi and Ricardo Vera. The #20 Oreca completed 693 laps.

The second round of the IMSA season will be the 12 Hours of Sebring, which will take place on March 19th.

The #5 Action Express Corvette DP Leads With Eight Hours To Go

Sixteen hours are in the books and eight hours separate the teams from the finish of the 54th 24 Hours of Daytona. Daylight is upon us. Here is the run down:

The #5 Action Express Corvette DP of Christian Fittipaldi leads the #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ricky Taylor, who drivers the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP. Just over two seconds cover the top three overall.

The #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Andy Priaulx is situated in fourth. Scott Sharp is fifth in the #2 Ligier-HPD, the final car on the lead lap.

A pit fire dropped the #31 Action Express Corvette DP a lap down. Jonny Adam is behind the wheel of that machine, sixth overall.

Seven cars are still on the lead lap in GTLM.

Oliver Gavin leads in the #4 Corvette with Nick Tandy trailing in second in the #911 Porsche. Bruno Spengler runs third in the #25 RLLR BMW and Frédéric Makowiecki has the #912 Porsche in fourth. The #3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen is fifth. Two Ferraris round out the lead lap cars in class. James Calado has the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari ahead the #68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Daniel Serra in seventh.

Seven cars are on the lead lap in GTD. Magnus Racing leads with René Rast behind the wheel of the #44 Audi. Alex Riberas is second in the #23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche. The #97 Turner Motorsport BMW of Maxime Martin runs in third position. Mathias Lauda has the #98 Aston Martin up to the fourth in class with Cooper MacNeil running in fifth in the #22 Alex Job Racing Porsche.

Patrick Long runs sixth in the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche. The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Robert Renauer is seventh. The #30 Frikadelli Racing Porsche of Patrick Huisman, #9 Stevenson Motorsport Audi of Dion von Moltke, #93 Riley Dodge Viper of Damien Faulkner and #28 Konrad Racing Lamborghini of Lance Willsey are all a lap down.

Prototype Challenge has seen the most attrition of the four classes. Kenton Koch leads by ten laps in the #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports Oreca over the #26 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca of Don Yount but Koch's lead has shrunk by a few laps after Koch had his own accident. The #20 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca of Ricardo Vera is a lap behind it's teammate and the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of José Gutierrez is a lap behind the #20 Oreca.

Notable cars to suffer setbacks during the night include the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini. Gearbox issues through out the night have the #02 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Jamie McMurray outside the overall top ten. The #16 Change Racing Lamborghini has retired as has the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier-HPD.

After Eight Hours, Negri Leads 24 Hours of Daytona.

One-third of the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona has been completed. Here is a run down of the four classes after eight hours.

Oswaldo Negri, Jr. has the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier-HPD in the lead despite the #60 having a slight incident early in the race when John Pew ran into the back of the #2 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier-HPD of Johannes van Overbeek at the bus stop chicane. Nergi, Jr. passed the #02 Ganassi Ford-Riley of Tony Kanaan for the overall lead on the most recent restart. Ricky Taylor has the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP up to third while #02 of Kanaan is in third. The #10 team will be a man down for the rest of the race as Jordan Taylor is unable to continue due to illness. Jordan did complete one stint. Kanaan is trailed by the #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP of Marc Goossens.

Filipe Albuquerque rounds out the top five in the #5 Corvette DP for Action Express Racing. The #31 Action Express Corvette DP of Eric Curran is sixth. Andy Priaulx has the #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley in seventh and van Overbeek has the #2 Ligier-HPD in eighth, the last car on the lead lap.

The #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber leads in GTLM ahead of Jan Magnussen in the #3 Corvette and the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari of James Calado. The #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin is fourth. Toni Vilander is the top Ferrari as the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is fifth ahead of the #911 Porsche of Kevin Éstre and #100 RLLR BMW of Kuno Wittmer. A lap back in class is Augusto Farfus in the #25 BMW. Two laps down is the #68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Daniel Serra.

The debut for the Ford GT has not gone to plan. Both cars have suffered from mechanical issues but both are still running. Ryan Briscoe is 22 laps down in the #67 Ford while Dirk Müller is 11 laps behind his teammate in the #66 Ford.

Tom Kimber-Smith leads in PC by two laps in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. In second is Brendan Gaughan in the #20 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca. Kenton Koch is third in class in the #85 JDC/Miller Motorsports entry. Kyle Marcelli is fourth, also two laps back, in the #38 Performance Tech Oreca.

Thirteen cars are on the lead lap in GTD. The #48 Paul Muller Racing Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti leads the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini of Spencer Pumpelly. René Rast has the #44 Magnus Racing Audi in third with the #23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche in fourth. Rounding out the top five is the #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche of Norbert Siedler. The #6 Stevenson Motorsport Audi of Andrew Davis is running in sixth.

The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche of Nicky Catsburg is seventh, ahead of the #98 Aston Martin of Richie Stanaway. The top Ferrari is the #51 Spirit of Race entry of Peter Mann. In tenth is the #22 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Leh Keen. Antonio Pérez has the #007 TRG-Aston Martin in 11th with Christina Nielsen in 12th in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari. The last car on the lead lap in GTD is the #33 Dodge Viper of Jeff Mosing.

Notable retirements include the #54 CORE Autosport Oreca, the #0 DeltaWing and the #70 Mazda.

The Pace Car Driver: No More Than A Piece of Trivia

The Super Bowl is just over a week away. Does anyone know who will be doing the coin toss? No. Can you name whom did the coin toss last year? No? Teddy Bruschi and Kenny Easley. Did you know Tom Brady did the coin toss ten years ago at Super Bowl XL? The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in the United States and yet we don't remember who did the coin toss. Why? Because in the grand scheme of the game it is irrelevant beyond a prop bet that gambling addicts sweat over.

The Indianapolis 500 pace car driver is in the same boat as who does the Super Bowl coin toss. It's just a piece of trivia in the end. No one turns on the Super Bowl to see whom does the coin toss and no one tunes into the Indianapolis 500 because of the pace car driver. 

It is complete bullshit to believe the pace car driver can be used for activation to promote the Indianapolis 500. If people are going to watch, there will have to be more than the pace car driver. The race needs to grab people's attention. It needs to become something they are going to invest their time and emotion in. If the race can't do that, they will flip the channel to something else or turn it off altogether and go outside to sit by the pool. 

If you want more people watching the Indianapolis 500 and in turn IndyCar to grow, the pace car driver is just going to let you down. Hoping the pace car driver will draw a crowd is like getting hooker, it provides a short-term surge but long term you are still lonely. You can get some glitz and glamor celebrity with more Twitter followers than all 33 drivers starting the race combined and you can get them to tweet pictures from Instagram and show to their flock where they are at but do you really think someone is going to become hooked on it long time? No. People will see it and then forget about it when said celebrity tweets out pictures at some other event less than 48 hours later. 

IndyCar should want a spouse, someone who is going to invest in the series and stay around and keep coming back for more. How do you do that? It's going to take more than a pace car driver. What happens on the racetrack must grab people and the characters performing the play are what must keep them around. I have said this time and time again: make the drivers relatable to people. If the people can relate to the drivers then people are more likely to stick around because they have a reason to watch. The connection needs to be with the drivers, not the pace car driver. 

The pace car driver is just a piece of trivia. If you believe it is a promotional tool than it's a promotional tool that has a shelf life of all of five minutes.

With that said, perhaps IndyCar should take a page from the playbook of the NFL and the Super Bowl coin toss. Like I said, last year it was done by Teddy Bruschi and Kenny Easley, an ex-player from each time playing in last year's game (New England and Seattle respectively) and a decade ago Tom Brady did. In recent years the coin toss has been done by Joe Namath, Phil Simms, Cris Carter, Bill Parcells, Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Gen. David Petraeus, Jerry Rice, Steve Young and Dan Marino. What does all but one of those names have in common? They are some of the greatest football players of all-time. Go back and look at other past Super Bowl coin tosses. The Super Bowl coin toss has become a way to celebrate the past, celebrate the history of the game and share it with young and old fans. 

Since the pace car driver is just a piece of trivia and it's relevance is so little, instead of chasing stars and hoping it becomes a trending topic on social media why not just have the pace car driver be a honorary position for some of the greatest people in motorsports? People, those who are motorsports fans and those who aren't would respect a legend getting honored more than attention-seeker getting more attention. A celebrity can be a pace car driver but I would rather have it be someone who wants to do it and not some who has to be asked and then informed about what they will be doing. 

With this being the 100th Indianapolis 500, a lot people have been bickering about who should do it. Honestly, I don't care. It's just a piece of trivia. Like I said before, it should honor someone from motorsports and this year in particular it should honor somebody steep in the history of the Indianapolis 500. I threw out Roger Penske because nobody has won more at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway than Penske and he has that "Chevrolet connection."

(Quick sidebar: I hate the idea of the "Chevrolet connection" and Chevrolet getting a say in who drives the pace car. It sounds like all someone has to do is slide their hand in Chevrolet's pocket to get the position. Chevrolet should get no say. One of its cars is getting whored out and that's all they should get. If they don't like it than I am sure Honda would love to promote the NSX). 

Other than Penske, A.J. Foyt could do it again; Mario Andretti could do it. There is anyone of a plethora of names who could do it and you couldn't argue against. Rick Mears, Al Unser, Alex Zanardi, Sam Hornish, Jr. (if he isn't competing in the race), Jigger Sirois (could you image that? That would be the most inside of jokes), a Hulman-George family member (could you imagine if Tony George did it?), Damon Hill (in honor of the 50th anniversary of his father Graham Hill winning the race), Bobby Rahal, Michael Andretti, you get the point. 

Regardless of who does it, it will still only be a piece of trivia. All that matters will be what happens during the race.