Got Milk? Dixon Does.

Sunday provided a triple bill of blue ribbon racing. First off we had Formula One from Monaco, discussed above. After which we were treated to the Indy 500.

The Indy 500, for those of you who don’t know, is the Indy Racing League’s premier event. It’s the race everyone wants to win. The race, like the Daytona 500 for Nascar, follows a different format with qualifying. The grid is decided in sessions before a final ‘bump’ day to decide who gets in. This year featured the largest grid in some time for the IRL, assisted by the unification. The race also features a three-wide start compared to the conventional two-wide.

Kiwi Scott Dixon took victory for Chip Ganassi. It was his first time to win the big event. From the off it looked that the winner would come from the Ganassi stable. Dixon and Weldon locked out the front row and was the car to beat. Tony Kaanan rose to the challenge at the half-way point, but the Brazilian’s luck would elude him. After losing grip whilst avoiding his team-mate Marco Andretti, he slid up towards to wall before been t-boned by Sarah Fisher. Andretti would go on to finish second at the event for the second time in three years.
It was an impressive day by part-time driver Tomas Scheckter. The son of 1979 F1 champ Jody, he kept tabs on the lead until a driveshaft problem on his final stop put paid to his hopes. The former Champ car teams had contrasting days. Oriol Servia and Will Power brought their KV cars home on the lead lap whilst the rest all hit difficulties.