2006 Indianapolis 500

90th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	Indy Racing League
Season
Date	May 28, 2006
Winner	Sam Hornish, Jr.
Winning team
Average speed	157.085 mph
Pole position	Sam Hornish, Jr.
Pole speed	228.985 mph
Fastest qualifier	Sam Hornish, Jr.
Rookie of the Year	Marco Andretti
Most laps led	Dan Wheldon (148)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Members of U.S. Armed Forces
Back Home Again in Indiana	Jim Nabors
Starting command	Mari Hulman George
Pace car	Chevrolet Corvette
Pace car driver	Lance Armstrong
Honorary starter	Sugar Ray Leonard
Attendance	250,000 (estimated)
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, Rusty Wallace
Nielsen Ratings	5.0 / 14
Chronology
Previous	Next
2005	2007

The 90th Indianapolis 500 was held on Sunday, May 28, 2006. Sam Hornish, Jr. won the race by passing rookie Marco Andretti on the final straightaway, about 450 feet from the finish line. It was the first time a driver made a pass for the lead on the final lap for victory in the history of the event.

The margin of victory was 0.0635 seconds, the second-closest finish in the history of the Indy 500. Hornish had earned the pole in qualifying with a four-lap average of 228.985 mph (368.516 km/h). Although defending champion Dan Wheldon dominated much of the race, leading 148 of the race's 200 laps, a punctured tire forced him to make a final pit stop earlier than planned, dropping him too far in the standings to recapture the lead by race's end.

Qualifications

This was the second year in which a new qualifying procedure was in place for the Indianapolis 500: only eleven spots were to be open on each of the first three days of qualifying, thus allowing bumping (removal of entries which had qualified from the field due to faster qualifying runs by other drivers) on each day, and with all thirty-three cars potentially eligible to be bumped on the fourth and final day of qualifying. However, the first two days of qualifying (May 13 and May 14) were rained out, so all thirty-three spots were open on the first day qualification could be attempted (May 20).

Thirty-two drivers qualified on May 20. Sam Hornish, Jr., won the pole with the fastest four-lap qualifying speed of 228.985 mph (368.516 km/h); it was the tenth pole of his career. Only one driver, Dario Franchitti, did not qualify on his first attempt; he waved off a sub par performance in which he experienced engine trouble after three laps, but then qualified later in the day after changing the engine. Although the new qualifying rules allowed qualified cars to be withdrawn and re-qualified in hope of gaining a better starting position, with a maximum of three attempts per day, only one driver did so. Townsend Bell's qualification at 223.659 mph (359.944 km/h) was withdrawn, and he achieved an average of 224.374 mph (361.095 km/h) on his second attempt, but this improved his starting position by only one spot.

The final spot in the starting field was filled by Thiago Medeiros on May 21, the last day of qualifying. Marty Roth would attempt to find the necessary speed to bump Medeiros during "Happy Hour," but a turn one crash during a practice run prevented him from making a qualifying attempt.

Qualifying Chronology

Saturday, May 13, 2006 no qualifications due to rain
Sunday, May 14, 2006 no qualifications due to rain
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Attempt	Time	Day	Car No.	Driver	Laps	Total Time	Speed (mph)	Result	Position	Rank
1	12:03	1	92	Jeff Bucknum	4	2:42.5566	221.461	Qualified	22	22
2	12:07	1	90	Townsend Bell	4	2:40.9590	223.659	Qualified; withdrawn	--	--
3	12:12	1	4T	Vitor Meira	4	2:39.1823	226.156	Qualified	6	6
4	12:16	1	31	Al Unser, Jr.	4	2:44.0925	219.388	Qualified	27	27
5	12:21	1	7	Bryan Herta	4	2:40.5859	224.179	Qualified	16	16
6	12:25	1	41	Larry Foyt	4	2:42.6519	221.331	Qualified	23	23
7	12:30	1	88	Airton Dare	4	2:45.0091	218.170	Qualified	29	29
8	12:34	1	55	Kosuke Matsuura	4	2:39.6431	225.503	Qualified	7	7
9	12:39	1	2	Tomas Scheckter	4	2:40.2431	224.659	Qualified	11	11
10	12:43	1	51	Eddie Cheever, Jr.	4	2:42.1420	222.028	Qualified	19	19
11	12:48	1	52	Max Papis	4	2:42.1198	222.058	Qualified	18	18
12	12:52	1	1	Michael Andretti	4	2:40.3505	224.508	Qualified	13	13
13	12:57	1	9	Scott Dixon	4	2:38.6457	226.921	Qualified	4	4
14	1:01	1	21	Jaques Lazier	4	2:42.7847	221.151	Qualified	24	24
15	1:06	1	11	Tony Kanaan	4	2:38.7471	226.776	Qualified	5	5
16	1:11	1	20	Ed Carpenter	4	2:40.3224	224.548	Qualified	12	12
17	1:15	1	8	Scott Sharp	4	2:39.7720	225.321	Qualified	8	8
18	1:20	1	15T	Buddy Rice	4	2:40.4326	224.393	Qualified	14	14
19	1:24	1	26	Marco Andretti	4	2:40.0586	224.917	Qualified	9	9
20	1:29	1	91	P. J. Chesson	4	2:42.4724	221.576	Qualified	20	20
21	1:33	1	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	4	2:37.2155	228.985	Qualified	1	1
22	1:38	1	12	Roger Yasukawa	4	2:44.5393	218.793	Qualified	28	28
23	1:42	1	10	Dan Wheldon	4	2:38.3543	227.338	Qualified	3	3
24	1:47	1	16T	Danica Patrick	4	2:40.2319	224.674	Qualified	10	10
25	1:51	1	5	Buddy Lazier	4	2:42.9534	220.922	Qualified	25	25
26	1:56	1	17T	Jeff Simmons	4	2:43.3785	220.347	Qualified	26	26
27	2:00	1	97	Stephan Gregoire	4	2:45.5723	217.428	Qualified	30	30
28	2:05	1	3T	Hélio Castroneves	4	2:37.8893	228.008	Qualified	2	2
29	2:10	1	14	Felipe Giaffone	4	2:42.4973	221.542	Qualified	21	21
30	2:14	1	27	Dario Franchitti	3	2:02.1355	221.066	Waved off	--	--
31	5:27	1	27	Dario Franchitti	4	2:41.1857	223.345	Qualified	17	17
32	5:33	1	90	Townsend Bell	4	2:40.4466	224.374	Qualified	15	15
33	5:38	1	98	P. J. Jones	4	2:46.8091	215.816	Qualified	32	32
34	5:51	1	61	Arie Luyendyk, Jr.	4	2:46.3952	216.352	Qualified	31	31
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Attempt	Time	Day	Car No.	Driver	Laps	Total Time	Speed (mph)	Result	Position	Rank
35	5:08	2	18	Thiago Medeiros	4	2:46.8763	215.729	Qualified	33	33
REPORT

Starting Grid

Row	Inside	Middle	Outside
1	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Hélio Castroneves (W)	Dan Wheldon (W)
2	Scott Dixon	Tony Kanaan	Vitor Meira
3	Kosuke Matsuura	Scott Sharp	Marco Andretti (R)
4	Danica Patrick	Tomas Scheckter	Ed Carpenter
5	Michael Andretti	Buddy Rice (W)	Townsend Bell (R)
6	Bryan Herta	Dario Franchitti	Max Papis
7	Eddie Cheever (W)	P. J. Chesson (R)	Felipe Giaffone
8	Jeff Bucknum	Larry Foyt	Jaques Lazier
9	Buddy Lazier (W)	Jeff Simmons	Al Unser, Jr. (W)
10	Roger Yasukawa	Airton Daré	Stephan Gregoire
11	Arie Luyendyk, Jr. (R)	P. J. Jones	Thiago Medeiros (R)

(W)-Former Indianapolis 500 Winner, (R)-Indianapolis 500 Rookie

Race Summary

Start

After considerable rain during the month, race day was sunny and hot. Temperatures topped out at 89 °F (32 °C), one of the hottest days for the Indy 500 on record.

Due to the state of Indiana observing Daylight Saving Time, the start of the race was scheduled for 1:11 p.m. EDT. Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines at 1:04 p.m. EDT, and all 33 cars pulled away for the pace laps, with Lance Armstrong driving the pace car.

Sugar Ray Leonard waved the green flag to start the race, and polesitter Sam Hornish, Jr. took the lead into turn one. Down the back stretch, Helio Castroneves passed Hornish for the lead, and Dan Wheldon moved into second. On the front stretch, defending race winner Wheldon slipped by Castroneves and led the opening lap.

On the second lap in turn two, Jeff Bucknum spun out and collected his teammate P. J. Chesson, taking both of the entries from Hemelgarn Racing out of the race.

First half

After the Hemelgarn incident, a long period of green-flag racing ensued, lasting 60 laps. During this period, Dan Wheldon dominated the race, briefly losing then regaining the lead during a round of green-flag pit stops around laps 36-39. By lap 64, Wheldon had built up a 19-second lead—nearly half a lap—over the next nearest competitor, and after 65 laps had lapped twenty-five of the other cars in the race, including all five of the other former 500 winners, leaving only eight cars on the lead lap.

The field tightened during a yellow flag on lap 67 due to a crash by Tomas Scheckter. The crash sent debris into the inside grandstand, injuring five spectators, none seriously. Wheldon maintained the lead through a series of pit stops, and led at the halfway point.

Second half

Wheldon gave up the lead briefly during pit stop on lap 108, which allowed Scott Dixon to lead.

On lap 110, Hélio Castroneves struck Buddy Rice from behind, taking out both cars. It was the first time two former winners had been involved in the same crash in the Indy 500 since 1992. It was also the first time in his career that Castroneves failed to finish the race.

Sam Hornish, Jr., took the lead from Wheldon on lap 130. Wheldon, however, would regain the lead on lap 145 and hold it through lap 182.

On lap 149, Al Unser, Jr. precipitated a caution period after spinning down the back-stretch and crashing in turn 3. During the caution, Jeff Simmons left the pit area with the fuel hose nozzle still attached. The hose tore, and Simmons's car dropped the nozzle out on the track in turn 3. On lap 150, the leaders pitted. Sam Hornish, Jr. started to pull out of his pits with the hose still attached. The hose ripped, but Hornish stopped in the pits allowing the crew to disengage the nozzle. Team owner Roger Penske accepted responsibility for the error, having told Hornish to go before the fueling was complete. Fuel spilled in the pit stall, but Hornish was able to return to the track and stay on the lead lap.

Still under caution on lap 155, the field was preparing to go back to green when Jeff Simmons wrecked in the north chute. The caution was prolonged. On lap 160, Michael Andretti and Sam Hornish, Jr. ducked into the pits to top off their fuel. Both would be able to make it to the finish without another pit stop.

On lap 163, the green came back out with Dan Wheldon leading. Sam Hornish, Jr. was assessed a "drive-through" penalty (being required to drive once through pit road, without stopping, obeying the pit road speed limit). Hornish returned to the track over 30 seconds behind the leader.

Tony Kanaan took the lead on lap 183. By lap 187, members of Andretti Green Racing held the top four spots (Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti, and Michael Andretti). Sam Hornish, Jr. in sixth barely clung to the tail end of the lead lap.

Finish

Dan Wheldon (lap 184) and Marco Andretti (lap 190) went to the pits for their final fuel stops. As Marco Andretti was pitting Felipe Giaffone crashed in turn two, bringing out the yellow. Marco Andretti (legally) slipped by the pace car exiting the pits, and avoided losing a lap in the shuffle. Leader Tony Kanaan, who still needed to pit, was stuck out on the track as the pits were closed at the onset of the yellow. The pits re-opened as the field came by for lap 193. Kanaan and Dario Franchitti ducked into the pits for fuel. Fan-favorite Michael Andretti stayed out on the track, and assumed the lead. Michael had come out of retirement to race with his 19-year old son Marco, who shuffled up to second place. In his 15th Indy 500, Michael was still looking for his first Indy victory. Scott Dixon was lined up third, and Sam Hornish, Jr. was now up to fourth.

The green came out with 4 laps to go. Michael Andretti led the field, with his son Marco close behind in second. Hornish made a desperate pass deeper in the field, and emerged in third place as the field exited turn 2.

With three laps to go, Marco Andretti pulled outside of his father down the front-stretch, and passed his father for the lead in turn 1. Marco began to pull away as Michael now assumed a blocking role to protect his son's lead. Down the back stretch, Michael tried but failed to hold off the charging Hornish, and Hornish took over second place.

With two laps to go, Marco led Hornish by a half second, with Michael still in third. Down the back stretch, Hornish tried to squeeze past Marco as they approached turn three. He was pinched down, and ran out of race track, and had to back off. Hornish lost his momentum, and Marco pulled out to a 1-second lead at the start/finish line with one lap to go.

On the final lap, Marco held his lead down the back stretch. In turn three, however, Hornish began to reel him in. As the two cars exited turn four, Hornish performed a slingshot pass in the final 400 feet, and beat Marco Andretti to the line by 0.0635 seconds (15 feet (4.6 m)), the second-closest finish in Indy 500 history. It was also the first time in Indy history that a driver made a pass for the lead to win the race on the final lap.

Afterwards, Hornish commented on his last-second pass, "I figured I came all this way, I ought to give myself one more shot at it. I kind of looked at it as, I was going to drive over him if I had to."

Third-place finisher Michael Andretti had high praise for his son: "I felt so bad for Marco, but I'm so proud. He drove a hell of a race. I drove with him a hell of a lot in that race. He drove like a champion. He drove like he's been out there 10 years." But Marco wanted more: "Second's nothing," he said.

Full Race Results

Finish	Start	Car No.	Driver	C*	Laps	Time/Retired	Team	Points
1	1	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	D	200	3:10:58.7590	Team Penske	50
2	9	26	Marco Andretti (R)	D	200	+0.0635	Andretti Green Racing	40
3	13	1	Michael Andretti	D	200	+1.0087	Andretti Green Racing	35
4	3	10	Dan Wheldon (W)	D	200	+1.2692	Chip Ganassi Racing	32+3
5	5	11	Tony Kanaan	D	200	+1.6456	Andretti Green Racing	30
6	4	9	Scott Dixon	D	200	+3.0566	Chip Ganassi Racing	28
7	17	27	Dario Franchitti	D	200	+5.6249	Andretti Green Racing	26
8	10	16	Danica Patrick	P	200	+5.7263	Rahal Letterman Racing	24
9	8	8	Scott Sharp	D	200	+11.1252	Fernandez Racing	22
10	6	4	Vitor Meira	D	200	+17.9554	Panther Racing	20
11	12	20	Ed Carpenter	D	199	+1 lap	Vision Racing	19
12	25	5	Buddy Lazier (W)	D	199	+1 lap	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	18
13	19	51	Eddie Cheever (W)	D	198	+2 laps	Team Cheever	17
14	18	52	Max Papis	D	197	+3 laps	Team Cheever	16
15	7	55	Kosuke Matsuura	D	196	+4 laps	Super Aguri Fernandez Racing	15
16	28	12	Roger Yasukawa	P	194	+6 laps	Playa Del Racing	14
17	24	21	Jaques Lazier	P	193	+7 laps	Playa Del Racing	13
18	29	88	Airton Daré	P	193	+7 laps	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	12
19	32	98	P. J. Jones	P	189	+11 laps	Team Leader Motorsports	12
20	16	7	Bryan Herta	D	188	+12 laps	Andretti Green Racing	12
21	21	14	Felipe Giaffone	D	177	Accident	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	12
22	15	90	Townsend Bell (R)	D	161	Suspension	Vision Racing	12
23	26	17	Jeff Simmons	P	152	Accident	Rahal Letterman Racing	12
24	27	31	Al Unser, Jr. (W)	D	145	Accident	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	12
25	2	3	Hélio Castroneves (W)	D	109	Accident	Team Penske	10
26	14	15	Buddy Rice (W)	P	108	Accident	Rahal Letterman Racing	10
27	11	2	Tomas Scheckter	D	65	Accident	Vision Racing	10
28	31	61	Arie Luyendyk, Jr. (R)	P	54	Handling	Luyendyk Racing	10
29	30	97	Stephan Gregoire	P	49	Handling	Team Leader Motorsports	10
30	23	41	Larry Foyt	D	43	Handling	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	10
31	33	18	Thiago Medeiros (R)	P	24	Electrical	PDM Racing	10
32	22	92	Jeff Bucknum	D	1	Accident	Hemelgarn Racing	10
33	20	91	P. J. Chesson (R)	D	1	Accident	Hemelgarn Racing	10

^*C Chassis: D=Dallara; P=Panoz. All cars in the 2006 Indianapolis 500 used Honda engines and Firestone tires.

(W) = Former Indianapolis 500 winner; (R) = Indianapolis 500 rookie

Race Leaders

Seven drivers led the race, with a total of fourteen lead changes.

Laps Leader 1-9 Hélio Castroneves 10-34 Dan Wheldon 35-37 Sam Hornish, Jr. 38 Tony Kanaan 39-107 Dan Wheldon 108-110 Scott Dixon 111-124 Dan Wheldon 125-127 Scott Dixon 128-129 Dan Wheldon 130-144 Sam Hornish, Jr. 145-182 Dan Wheldon 183-193 Tony Kanaan 194-197 Michael Andretti 198-199 Marco Andretti 200 Sam Hornish, Jr.

Driver Laps led Dan Wheldon 148 Sam Hornish, Jr. 19 Tony Kanaan 12 Hélio Castroneves 9 Scott Dixon 6 Michael Andretti 4 Marco Andretti 2

Caution Periods

There were five caution periods during the race, with a total of forty-four laps run under yellow.

Laps	Cause
2-6	Jeff Bucknum/P. J. Chesson crash
67-75	Tomas Scheckter crash
111-122	Hélio Castroneves/Buddy Rice crash
149-161	Al Unser, Jr. crash; extended by Jeff Simmons crash on lap 155
191-195	Felipe Giaffone crash

Notes

• For the first time, Honda was the sole engine supplier to the field. It is believed that for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, that the race was run without a single engine problem during the entire month.

• In Hornish's seven tries at the Indy 500, this was the first that he had even completed 500 miles (800 km).

• It was the 14th Indianapolis 500 win for Roger Penske as an owner.

• This was the first Indianapolis 500 in which the leader of lap 199 did not win the race.

• The second- and third-place finishes by Marco and Michael Andretti were the 49th and 50th unsuccessful attempts to win the 500 by members of the Andretti family as drivers (Michael Andretti was a winning owner in 2005 and would be again in 2007) since patriarch Mario Andretti's sole win in 1969, extending what is popularly called the "Andretti Curse" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

• A few weeks after the race, Tom Carnegie announced his retirement after 61 years, making the 2006 500 his final race as track announcer.

• ABC Sports utilized Side-By-Side for the first time during the Indianapolis 500.

External links

• www.indy500.com