|| *Comments on the 2009 Indianapolis 500:* View the most recent comment <#39> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Neal posted: 05.24.2009 - 10:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's 3.5 hours I'll never get back. Quite possibly the most boring Indy 500 I've ever seen. Almost zero on-track green flag lead changes and the last 30 laps were completely anticlimactic. Congrats to Helio but this year's race will be forgotten by next year. 2. Darrell posted: 05.25.2009 - 9:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yahoo! Sports headline: "Racer has storybook Indy 500, edges Danica" Uhh...Danica wasn't even close to catching him. She even called Wheldon an "easy target" but couldn't catch him. Congrats to Helio, but the story will never be about the Indy winner as long as DanicaMania is in force. (And I'm not taking anything away from her effort, but it's annoying how she gets all the attention when she doesn't win. Sort of like Dale Jr. back in 05 and before) 3. 18fan posted: 05.25.2009 - 10:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hard crashes for Kanaan and Meira. Will Power was running second when his crew messed up on the right rear on the last stop. This race was boring, but I watched most of it waiting for the Coca-Cola 600, which was suspended. 4. Kirkyal posted: 05.25.2009 - 10:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Really pleased for Helio! What a way to come back from an event which would have ended a great talent... Gutted for Dario, ran well all day but had a pit malfunction (is it just me or is it a year for pit mistakes in motor racing) and ended up deep in the pack... Vitor Meira ended up on fire also in a pit incident! Luckily he was fine and returned to the race before a huge wreck saw him on his side and was taken to hospital... Not the most entertaining Indy 500 simply not enough green flag runs but great result for helio! 5. Anonymous posted: 05.25.2009 - 10:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell, You got fact about Dale JR. wrong. He won races before 2005. He won 15 out of his 18 points wins from 2000 to 2004. Dale Jr. He only won 3 times after 2004. 6. George posted: 05.25.2009 - 1:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't want to make this a Dale Jr discussion, but he has actually proven himself to be a good driver with 18 wins and over 6000 laps led. Danica on the other hand hasn't done a whole lot in her career. The Vitor Meira crash was pretty bad with the way his rode the wall. I also heard he injured his back, hope he gets better. Poor Tony's bad luck at Indy continued with a bad crash, and this was his only start at Indy in which he didn't lead. Congrats to Helio, it was great to see all that emotion in victory lane showing how much the win meant to him after all the crap the IRS put him through. 7. Kit posted: 05.25.2009 - 4:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The media has a love affair with Danica just because she's a female driver. Yeah, he really edged Danica alright, a driver who never led all day and was several seconds behind. I guess Yahoo didn't care that Dan Wheldon finished second because he's a dude. I watched a race a while back ('06 Indy 500 maybe) where Danica marched herself, all 5'2" of her, down to another driver's pit to start something. She's not going to actually fight anyone, so what's the point of that? Nobody will pay attention. After that I think she's a joke. I agree with Neal, this was an extremely boring race and thus why I don't watch open wheel series. Helio's family are a little strange; they went into a prayer trance with about 20 laps to go. Okay, I know the 500 is a major race and a dream for A LOT of drivers, but they looked like they were praying for someone who's on the operating table with a serious condition. I'm happy that Helio won considering all the crap he had to deal with in the past month, but man, just watching him in victory lane it's like he never won before at all. I'd really like to say something positive about this race, but something positive escapes me. 8. RaceFanX posted: 05.25.2009 - 6:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alex Lloyd may have been the real winner today in spite of finishing 13th. Before the race, Lloyd's wife went into labor to have the couple's first child. Despite contractions only 10 minutes apart, she waited to have the child until after the race. Our best wishes to the Lloyd family on their new arrival. The Target Chip Ganassi team probably dominated much of the race but lost. Dario had a pit road miscue knock him from contention. Anybody know what happened to Dixon? Marco Andretti's Indy hopes ended quickly when Mario Moraes got into him and both crashed in turn 1 on the opening lap. Andretti got back in the race, Moraes car was totalled. Former 500 RotY Ryan Hunter-Reay wound up sliding down pit road during his early crash. Despite the big pit road fire, Meira's team was able to quickly put it out and he not only got back in the race...he stayed on the lead lap. Sadly his second chance ended in a scary crash that saw him shooting backward down the track on his side against the wall at 100 mph after contact with Raphael Matos. Scott Sharp returned to the IRL from ALMS for a one-off. This was his first IRL race since 2007. Alex Tagliani actually failed to qualify for this race. He got in when his team put him into their second car that had qualified to meet sponsor requirements. Bruno Junqueira had originally qualified that car. The car did have a sponsor in this race, All Sport sport drinks. Danica's 3rd is the best ever for a woman driver in the Indy 500. Paul Tracy finishes 9th in his first 500 since he was robbed of the win in 2002. 9. Pacer posted: 05.25.2009 - 6:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The pace car for this Indy 500 was a Chevrolet Camaro. Chevy had just revived the classic muscle car. Helio joins an elite group as a 3-time Indy 500 winner. Richard Petty's first ever Indy 500 entry finished 19th with NASCAR driver John Andretti at the wheel. the car was naturally #43 (in Richard's font) and painted Petty Blue and STP Red. 10. Anonymous posted: 05.25.2009 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) People who complain about a lack of passing in Nascar should watch a tape of this snoozer. I saw maybe three or four green flag passes the entire race. Also, why does it take the track crews so long to clean up after a wreck? It seemed like every caution period was 7-10 laps. 11. Baker posted: 05.25.2009 - 11:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Its sickening how far open wheel racing has fallen. The new areo tech has made the cars faster, but impossible to pass which only creates extremely fast single file racing. The fastest bordem possible really. The talent level in open wheel is also fallen dramatically. There isn't a single driver in this series who could compete with Nascar guys in any car it doesn't matter. They would be 20-45 in points type drivers. If they had an IROC series still the Nascar guys would destroy these wanna be racers. Marco Andretti is young with the most famous name in open wheel racing, so lets hope he can improve and become a dominate force. 12. Anonymous posted: 05.26.2009 - 12:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) the problem with the indy 500 nowadays is that all 33 cars are on the some engines and the same chassis back in the day the racing was better when there was a good mix of chassis and engine combanations. good for helio, but when only the two main penske cars and two ganassi cars lead a lap, makes for a boring race 13. indycar1 posted: 05.26.2009 - 2:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There's was actually quite a bit of passing that was not shown on always bad coverage, (ABC for short.) However the main problem is that this was designed 100 years ago, when race cars barley went 100 mph. Now they go 225, and the track just isn't designed for those kind of speeds. what I like to see them do is make the corners progessvely banked like at Bristol, Homestead, and a few other tracks. That will allow more Side-by-Side racing, and fewer wrecks, and I would also like to see a rule that makes the drivers use the access road that starts in turn 3 when they make a pit stop. The way the track is now it is one groove, you can't run off the bottom without being too high, and going straight into the wall. And every time a car pulls off to make a pit stop in turn 4, everybody that is behind has to slow way down even though they are not pitting. It amazing we don't have a big pila-up everytime somebody makes a green-flag pit-stop. Career best Indy 500 finishes for all three of the women drivers. 14. indycar1 posted: 05.26.2009 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Correction this is not Milka Duno's career best finish, but it is the most laps she's completed in one race at IMS. 15. Willy on Wheels posted: 05.26.2009 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This season is really competitive! There has been a different winner each race so far 16. Anonymous posted: 05.26.2009 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No one could have been a more fitting winner. Great work by Team Penske and Helio Castroneves!!! Bobby Unser said the same thing (four or five comments above me) about all of the cars being the same and this running the same speed. RaceFanX, have you heard anything yet about if Samantha had the baby yet? Heather Carpenter is due in June and Emma Dixon in late July soon after Bruno Junqueira's wife (I don't know her name). Who's next? Baker, IndyCar and NA$CAR have very little in common. As Richard Petty said earlier in the month, "Both kinds of cars have four tires and a steering wheel; there, the similarities end." The only reason the IndyCar and F1 veterans who try NA$CAR and struggle is because their training was for a single seater racing car. Montoya is a world-class talent, but is only 13th or 15th in the standings. 3 years ago, the only experience he had in a stock car (of ANY kind) was when he and Jeff Gordon swpeed rides at Indianapolis (Tradin' Paint on SPEED). The bashing of open wheel crossovers by NA$CAR "fans" is senseless and needs to stop (REAL fans don't do that). Need I comment on Stanton Barrett? It's like comparing Wolfgang Puck or Emiril Agassi with a fast food cook. Same genre, but two very different worlds. 17. Kit posted: 05.27.2009 - 1:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "People who complain about a lack of passing in Nascar should watch a tape of this snoozer." Yeah, but just because NASCAR is more interesting to watch relative to the Indy 500 doesn't mean that NASCAR is not boring. To put it another way, watch a tape of the '92 Hooters 500 compared to a recent NASCAR race. "Now they go 225, and the track just isn't designed for those kind of speeds." You may have a point. The cars zip around the track so fast that it's kind of hard to see pack racing. 18. Dodge posted: 05.28.2009 - 6:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It has been reported that Paul Tracy will be driving in place of Vitor Meira. I personally think they should put Buddy Rice in over the the jerk Paul Tracy. I have never like him one bit. 19. Baker posted: 05.28.2009 - 10:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mario Andretti could win in both, AJ Foyt could win in both, Tony Stewart could win in both. Don't give me your sorry excuses. You're reaching looking for something to make you right when in all reallity you're still wrong. These guys don't have the talent because if they did they would leave and go to Nascar where they can earn more money. 20. Anonymous posted: 05.28.2009 - 5:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sometimes it's not about the money, Baker. It isn't everything. In reality, neither of our conflicting opinions will have real merit (though we each feel we are right) until Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, or Denny Hamlin leaves for full time IndyCar racing. 21. Baker posted: 05.28.2009 - 8:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually you are wrong because I named 3 seperate cases of success in both types of racing, so my statement holds plenty of merit. You are right in the fact that its not about the money all the time...you forgot one thing...competition. The elite talents don't like to beat up on weak competition they want to win against the best of the best to prove their worth, and right now the best of the best drivers in the world are in Nascar...not open wheel. 22. Anonymous posted: 05.30.2009 - 1:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Both of us are wrong because these are only opinions. How many AJs and Marios exist in this day and age? Montoya and Stewart are really the only two who could quickly adapt to a new type of car and, though I highly respect both of them, they aren't quite Foyt/Andretti caliber. NA$CAR drivers being the best in the world is only an opinion. I believe against it because: 1. 100% of the races are held in North America (98% in the US) and 2. 95% of the drivers are from the US; hardly any WORLD representation. Best in America; perhaps, but not the world. And if you think IndyCar's best "don't have the talent", then you should actually WATCH them. If you're not even an IndyCar fan why even comment on the sport? I stopped commenting on current NA$CAR races LONG ago (recent changes turned me off). Both types of cars are difficult to drive; difficult in different ways. The IndyCar requires finesse, quick reflexes, and sureness from the driver. The NA$CAR vehicle requires not as much immediate stamina, but it is longer and more drawn out in a car weighing twice as much (the Labor Day Southern 500 is a prime example). Like a sprint compared with marathon. 23. Baker posted: 05.30.2009 - 1:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was an open wheel fan before I was ever a Nascar fan. When I used to watch open wheel cars there was far greater talent in the sport than there is today. The entire split with CART and IRL completely ruinned open wheel and the talent willing to come to the sport. 24. Ryan posted: 05.31.2009 - 6:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RaceFanX, sorry, but Paul Tracy was not robbed of the '02 500. Helio was ahead of him when all the caution lights came out. Another 100-200 yards Tracy would have won, but it was not to be... 25. Smoke14TS posted: 11.04.2009 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was really concerned about Tony Kanaan after his crash in this race. I was rooting for him after Moraes took out Marco and then after he crashed I was rooting for Vitor Meira and we all know how that turned out. And to top it all off Helio Castroneves won. I've never liked him, never will. 26. RaceFanX posted: 11.09.2009 - 10:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Perhaps ABC played up how close she was to having to a baby. Alex Lloyd's wife Samantha gave birth to their daughter over a week later on June 2nd. Still, congratulations to the Lloyd family. 27. Sunoco posted: 03.14.2010 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Just because a race doesn't have a thousand lead changes and a photo-finish doesn't make it a snoozer. Not every race can be great. Also, whoever suggested changing the track to allow for more progressive banking obviously has no idea how Indy Cars work. 28. RaceFanX posted: 03.28.2011 - 10:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Conway's #24 was sponsored for this race by Purex Robert Doornbos' #06 was sponsored by the Hole in the Wall Camps (likely a placeholder, that's Paul Newman's charity, but it was still what was on the car) 29. Evan posted: 05.29.2011 - 8:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) After all Castroneves went through at the start of the year with his tax evasion charges including having his racing peers including Jimmie Johnson to go to bat for him about his integrity, it was Helio's day and as it should be. He was very emotional after that win and I don't like to use John Madden quotables but winning is a great deodorant and certainly was for Castroneves that day. Though the race was not exciting, it was fitting that he won. 30. Greg posted: 06.16.2011 - 12:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mechanical DNF: Viso - suspension Servia - fuel pressure 31. RaceFanX posted: 09.18.2011 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #91 Buddy Lazier - Great Lakes Leasing (Ron Hemelgarn) D/H/F #98 Stanton Barrett - Curb Records (Curb-Agajanian / 3G Racing) D/H/F #34 Alex Tagliani- Rexall Edmonton Indy / King Tut (Eric Bachelart) D/H/F As previously mentioned Tagliani got back into the race by replacing Bruno Junqueira in Conquest's #36 for race day. The #36 was sponsored by All Sport Body Quencher. 32. RaceFanX posted: 09.18.2011 - 4:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did not qualify: #91 Buddy Lazier - Great Lakes Leasing (Ron Hemelgarn) D/H/F #98 Stanton Barrett - Curb Records (Curb-Agajanian / 3G Racing) D/H/F #34 Alex Tagliani- Rexall Edmonton Indy / King Tut (Eric Bachelart) D/H/F Sorry about leaving that part off. 33. CBASS posted: 12.23.2012 - 6:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some sponsor updates #21 IZOD/ William Rast #20 Menards/ William Rast #02 McDonald's McCafe/ Arctic Ice #13 PDVSA/ Herbalife #11 7-Eleven Slurpee #7 Boost Mobile/ GoDaddy.com #27 Formula Dream/ Panasonic #36 All Sport Body Quencher #99 Her Energy/ Sanitec #15 GEICO/ Rehab Vegas #44 HP- Touch the Future Now #00 i drive green #2 U.S. Air Force/ McAfee #34 Rexall Edmonton Indy/ King Tut #98 Curb Records #26 Venom Energy/ Meijer Found using Motorsport.com's photo library 34. RaceFanX posted: 04.26.2014 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #36 Alex Tagliani- All Sport Body Quencher 35. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 08.31.2016 - 4:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) First Indy 500 starts for Alex Tagliani, Mike Conway, and Raphael Matos. Only Indy 500 starts for Nelson Philippe and Robert Doornbos. Last Indy5 00 starts for Scott Sharp, A. J. Foyt IV, and Milka Duno. 36. RaceFanX posted: 05.19.2019 - 3:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan Hunter-Reay bumped into this race with a final qualifying run right as the gun sounded. Hunter-Reay said the intensity of that run, and having to get it in the field right there or not at all, is something at Indy he'll never forget. 37. RaceFanX posted: 05.19.2019 - 3:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Driver Change Listing: #36 Bruno Junqueira- All Sport Body Quencher (owned Eric Bachelart) 38. SweetRich posted: 02.26.2020 - 10:34 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear And Eddie Cheever. The Pit Road Reporters Were Jack Arute, Vince Welch, Jamie Little And Brienne Pedigo. 39. Rich posted: 12.23.2020 - 6:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The studio host was Brent Musburger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: