Castroneves wins the 500

[Indy]

Fastest Qualifying Speeds, last 20 years.
Notice the drop after 1996? I think Arie ran a four lap average during the race over 237 from what I recall. If so, it'll be out there somewhere.

1988 Rick Mears 219.198
1989 Rick Mears 223.885
1990 Emerson Fittipaldi 225.301
1991 Gary Bettenhausen 224.468
1992 Roberto Guerrero 232.482
1993 Arie Luyendyk 223.967
1994 Al Unser Jr. 228.011
1995 Scott Brayton 231.604
1996 Arie Luyendyk 236.986
1997 Arie Luyendyk 218.263
1998 Billy Boat 223.503
1999 Arie Luyendyk 225.179
2000 Greg Ray 223.471
2001 Scott Sharp 226.037
2002 Bruno Junqueira 231.342
2003 Helio Castroneves 231.725
2004 Buddy Rice 222.024
2005 Kenny Brack* 227.598
2006 Sam Hornish Jr. 228.985
2007 Helio Castroneves 225.817
2008 Scott Dixon 226.366

I remember when Tom Sneva broke 200 and it was a HUGE deal. Guess I'm dating myself :ack2:

 

[Ratickle]

I remember when Tom Sneva broke 200 and it was a HUGE deal. Guess I'm dating myself :ack2:

I think that was only one or two years earlier.

 

[Indy]

i think that was only one or two years earlier.

'78 @ 202.156

 

[Ratickle]

'78 @ 202.156

Dang, now I'm showing my age......:ack2:


Seems like only yesterday.........:sifone:

 

[C_Spray]

Wow!.....tell us the road you travelled to get to be Danny Sullivans crew chief and then winning the Indy 500......

All the good paper routes were taken, so I had to do something....


1976: Graduated from Purdue with a Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering. Worked almost 2 years in general industry (Babcock & Wilcox). Go-kart race at Purdue ("Purdue Grand Prix") was great training.
1977-1978: Worked part-time and then full-time for a Can-Am team, George Follmer driving.
1978: George got me an interview at the International Race of Champions, where he worked as a test/development driver. IROC was co-owned by Roger Penske.
1980: Transferred from IROC to Penske Racing as Truck Driver/Utility Mechanic on the spare car. That year the spare car was driven at Indy by Mario Andretti. (Cool - Working on Mario's car in my first year...)
1981/1982: Mechanic on Rick Mears' car. CART National Champion both years.
1983/1984: Mechanic on Al Unser's (Sr.) car.
1985-1988: Chief Mechanic on Danny Sullivan's car. 12 wins, including 1985 Indy 500 and 1988 CART National Championship.
1989-1998: Team Manager and General Manager, Penske Racing.
1999-present: VP/GM of Racing Experience, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penske Racing, conducting race track experiences for invited consumers of PMUSA, and training mechanics for the various Penske teams. Go to ZERO IRL events, but I'm still proud of what the team accomplishes. Lots of the staff are guys I hired many years ago...

 

[fund razor]

Very cool.

 

[Ratickle]

All the good paper routes were taken, so I had to do something....


1976: Graduated from Purdue with a Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering. Worked almost 2 years in general industry (Babcock & Wilcox). Go-kart race at Purdue ("Purdue Grand Prix") was great training.
1977-1978: Worked part-time and then full-time for a Can-Am team, George Follmer driving.
1978: George got me an interview at the International Race of Champions, where he worked as a test/development driver. IROC was co-owned by Roger Penske.
1980: Transferred from IROC to Penske Racing as Truck Driver/Utility Mechanic on the spare car. That year the spare car was driven at Indy by Mario Andretti. (Cool - Working on Mario's car in my first year...)
1981/1982: Mechanic on Rick Mears' car. CART National Champion both years.
1983/1984: Mechanic on Al Unser's (Sr.) car.
1985-1988: Chief Mechanic on Danny Sullivan's car. 12 wins, including 1985 Indy 500 and 1988 CART National Championship.
1989-1998: Team Manager and General Manager, Penske Racing.
1999-present: VP/GM of Racing Experience, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penske Racing, conducting race track experiences for invited consumers of PMUSA, and training mechanics for the various Penske teams. Go to ZERO IRL events, but I'm still proud of what the team accomplishes. Lots of the staff are guys I hired many years ago...

Gotta ask the obvious.....


You ever get to test drive??????:sifone:

 

[C_Spray]

Gotta ask the obvious.....


You ever get to test drive??????:sifone:

After sitting in a few of them while they were running, I lost interest. I did buy one of our 1994 cars a few years ago. Once I get it restored, who knows....

 

[Dude! Sweet!]

Chuck, I was thinking of you guys when I was watching the race. Penkse and Chip are in a class of their own and obviously the Captain is the head of that class. Congrats!

 

[Knot 4 Me]

I was there in '92 when Guerrero ran 232.4. We froze our units off. Place was going nuts as his speeds were being announced. "And we have a new track record..."

 

[pullmytrigger]

All the good paper routes were taken, so I had to do something....


1976: Graduated from Purdue with a Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering. Worked almost 2 years in general industry (Babcock & Wilcox). Go-kart race at Purdue ("Purdue Grand Prix") was great training.
1977-1978: Worked part-time and then full-time for a Can-Am team, George Follmer driving.
1978: George got me an interview at the International Race of Champions, where he worked as a test/development driver. IROC was co-owned by Roger Penske.
1980: Transferred from IROC to Penske Racing as Truck Driver/Utility Mechanic on the spare car. That year the spare car was driven at Indy by Mario Andretti. (Cool - Working on Mario's car in my first year...)
1981/1982: Mechanic on Rick Mears' car. CART National Champion both years.
1983/1984: Mechanic on Al Unser's (Sr.) car.
1985-1988: Chief Mechanic on Danny Sullivan's car. 12 wins, including 1985 Indy 500 and 1988 CART National Championship.
1989-1998: Team Manager and General Manager, Penske Racing.
1999-present: VP/GM of Racing Experience, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penske Racing, conducting race track experiences for invited consumers of PMUSA, and training mechanics for the various Penske teams. Go to ZERO IRL events, but I'm still proud of what the team accomplishes. Lots of the staff are guys I hired many years ago...

WOW.......!!

how absolutely cool is that.......!!

Went to the Toronto Indy every year for ever......would be there for 3 days.....would hang out at the Penske pits for hours......used to think those chrome transporters were off the hook......too bad that series went to waste.

 

[Perlmudder]

cool!!

 

[C_Spray]

...Went to the Toronto Indy every year for ever......would be there for 3 days.....would hang out at the Penske pits for hours......used to think those chrome transporters were off the hook......too bad that series went to waste.

But at least we still have the transporters! (About a dozen of them now, if I recall.) Actually, they're polished stainless - that makes them marine-grade. Here's one that we took delivery of in January. The photo is before we got the stripes applied, but you get the effect.

 

[pullmytrigger]

do you have pics of your '94 car??......I could imagine what would happen if you showed up with that at your local track day, maybe you could get Danny to come along to help sort it out......ha!

 

[Ratickle]

But at least we still have the transporters! (About a dozen of them now, if I recall.) Actually, they're polished stainless - that makes them marine-grade. Here's one that we took delivery of in January. The photo is before we got the stripes applied, but you get the effect.

I need to borrow one next week, okay?????:sifone:

 

[Mark]

Awesome for Helio! A great guy!

C Spray - you have had an awesome career!!!

 

[C_Spray]

do you have pics of your '94 car??......I could imagine what would happen if you showed up with that at your local track day.

As raced in 1994 (Emmo), and as it sits now. At least I managed to find a dyno-fresh engine for it a few years back. 740hp @ 12,000 rpm and 1550 pounds empty. Do the math.

 

[pullmytrigger]

As raced in 1994 (Emmo), and as it sits now. At least I managed to find a dyno-fresh engine for it a few years back. 740hp @ 12,000 rpm and 1550 pounds empty. Do the math.

Whoa!!!.....cool!......straight from the hey day of CART!.....one of the guys that we used to get together with to watch the 500 named his son Emerson, and it was his wife's idea!.....he's like 14 now.....I wonder what power it could make without one of those pesky pop off valves??......I bet youve tried it.

Man.....you need to post this in the "Members,Cars,Trucks and other toys" thread in the "Boys and their Toys" Fourm.....seriously

 

[Ratickle]

Whoa!!!.....cool!......straight from the hey day of CART!.....one of the guys that we used to get together with to watch the 500 named his son Emerson, and it was his wife's idea!.....he's like 14 now.....I wonder what power it could make without one of those pesky pop off valves??......I bet youve tried it.

Man.....you need to post this in the "Members,Cars,Trucks and other toys" thread in the "Boys and their Toys" Fourm.....seriously

It'll be a short thread if he starts a new one with something like "Show Pics of Your Indy Cars"....

 

[03darkshadow]

As raced in 1994 (Emmo), and as it sits now. At least I managed to find a dyno-fresh engine for it a few years back. 740hp @ 12,000 rpm and 1550 pounds empty. Do the math.

that is awesome, can i come see it sometime? :rofl: