IndyCar newcomer Alexander Rossi’s win will be hard to top: By Wes Raynal: Autoweek
The 100th Indy 500 was definitely The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It had it all: a sellout crowd, emotion, intrigue — even a rookie winner. Delicious. It’s going to be hard to top.Normally my race-weekend strategy goes like this: Arrive at the track Friday morning, talk to as many people as I can, then go home Friday night or early Saturday. Watch the race on TV. Nobody has time to talk on race day, they’re too busy. Not to mention too full of adrenaline.
Alexander Rossi
This time though, I stayed for the race — for the 100th, I had to; plus, I hadn’t been to Indy in a few years. So it was time. The race being a sellout meant something like 350,000 showed up, and believe me, it felt like it. My hotel was about 15 minutes from IMS. Race-day morning, it took an hour to get in, with a police escort. That’s not a complaint, it is what is, and what it is, is an indication of how many people wanted to experience in person the 100th running’s, um, spectacle.
The weather was hot and sticky by 10 a.m., the pre-race grid elbow to elbow (I ran into David Letterman, who I hadn’t seen in probably a decade — nice to hear he still likes Autoweek!). ABC’s live broadcast averaged 5,859,785 viewers, according to Nielsen Fast National data, a number actually down from last year’s 6.394 million. I reckon this year a lot of them went to the speedway instead of watching it on TV.
The race itself? A helluva show. Maybe the best ever.
Did I mention intrigue? This was among the most experienced, most competitive 500 fields ever. Veterans James Hinchcliffe, Scott Dixon, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay — surely they, and many more, would all have something to say about who would drink milk after the 100th 500.
In the end, IndyCar newcomer Alexander Rossi’s pretty blue Dallara-Honda crossed the finish line first, or I should say it actually coasted across — the fuel tank empty. Beating teammate Carlos Munoz earned Rossi a stout $2.5 million and change; and get this: In the five prior races, Rossi had won $256,000.