CRANK 'EM UP

(Well, almost.)

You might be wondering why I titled that the way that I did. Well it's because of the car and driver you see above, Helio Castroneves. He had a few problems getting his car started when they told the crews to start their engines. Problems with the fuel lines kept Castroneves from getting any of the new ethanol that made the cars go. It took several long seconds before the car finally turned over and Helio was able to get out on the track.

It didn't take long before the first of eleven yellow flags would fly. This was the tail end of John Herb's crash that left his car bent and wounded. The worst crash of the day came near the end when Marco Andretti got airborne and flew upside down. No, I didn't get that one. That happened as I was on my way back to the tower to beat out some rain.....(wait I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see some more stuff first.

The early laps of the race changed hands back and forth several times. Here, Dario Franchitti sped he way through turn two at well over 200 mph hour. I must admit that when the race first began I missed getting a single frame of several of the cars. Being only a few feet from the track I was caught a little off guard by how fast they would be coming through.

Pit stops seemed to come pretty quick. Of course all the yellows were helping in that area too. In this picture Ganassi driver Scott Dixon pulled out of the warmup lane from pit road as Marco Andretti came through the outside of turn two. Kind of makes you want you hold your breath doesn't it.

You really can't help but wonder what's going through a driver's head as he and another driver are only scant inches apart as they are going side by side at over 200 mph on only a 9 degree banking. I have a feeling a lot of them have learned to hold their breath for a very long time.

Then came what nobody wanted to see. The sky opened up and unleashed a downpour that made everybody run for cover. Because the race was an official one at 113 laps, nobody hardly thought it would continue and Tony Kanaan was sitting in the catbird's seat with the lead. Here the cars have been impounded with tech inspectors guarding them like hawks as the track is being dried.

When the rain did stop some crew members were allowed to come back to the cars and check the electronics and batteries. No actually setting changes could be made on the cars to make them possibly go faster if the race were to be restarted. Here, the crew of Danica Patrick's car checked her electonics while a tech man watched very carefully to see that no shinanagins were being pulled.

Amazingly, the drying crews, with their jet engine driers got the track dry and race ready in just three hours. When the racing began again it was Patrick making the most noise as she moved up to second place. A lot of the drivers were being impatient with their strategies, however, knowing that more rain was on the way. It was very evident too as clouds darkened to the west.

In the end it would be Mother Nature forcing an end to the race with a mighty cloudburst drenching both track and drivers. It also meant that Dario Franchitti had won his first Indianapolis 500 and Franchitti had to be very careful making his way back to the finish because of the possibility of hydroplaning and spinning out before crossing the finish line. In this picture both Franchitti and Scott Dixon crossed the finish line in the first two spots while ponchos and umbrellas popped up amongst the crowd.

I finish with this picture of Dario from the press conference that followed later, this being shot as he did a quick video message. This year's Indy definitely had it all, a lot of hurrying the get things going, drama with just the engine starts, leader changes from the very beginning, the race against Mother Nature, a driver having thought he might has won because of rain suddenly finding out that it wasn't over yet, Patrick moving into second place and threatening to take the lead, and then in the end Mother Nature taking charge and having her say. There was a new first time winner and he hoist the bottle of milk proudly. Yep....it wasn't a bad day at all.