2005 Indianapolis 500

89th Indianapolis 500

File:2005indy500.jpg
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Date	May 29, 2005
Winner	Dan Wheldon
Average speed	157.603 mph
Pole position	Tony Kanaan
Pole speed	227.566 mph
Fastest qualifier	Kenny Bräck (227.598 mph)
Rookie of the Year	Danica Patrick
Most laps led	Sam Hornish, Jr. (77)
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	Colin Powell
Honorary starter	Reggie Miller
Estimated attendance	250,000 (estimated)
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Todd Harris, Scott Goodyear
Nielsen ratings	6.5 / 18
Chronology
Previous Next 2004 2006

The 2005 Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 29, 2005. Dan Wheldon won the race under a yellow flag.

Rookie Danica Patrick, who qualified fourth and finished fourth, became the first female driver to lead laps during the race and won the Rookie of the Year award. Patrick leads three separate times for a total of 19 laps, even after spinning and recovering between the third and fourth turns on a restart, the fourth driver in history to do so. However, she slips back from the lead to fourth place during the last seven laps, with Dan Wheldon winning to become the first English victor since Graham Hill in 1966.

Starting Grid

Row	Inside	Middle	Outside
1	Tony Kanaan	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Scott Sharp
2	Danica Patrick	Hélio Castroneves	Dario Franchitti
3	Vitor Meira	Kosuke Matsuura	Buddy Lazier
4	Tomáš Enge	Tomas Scheckter	Bruno Junqueira
5	Scott Dixon	Adrian Fernández	Sébastien Bourdais
6	Dan Wheldon	Roger Yasukawa	Bryan Herta
7	Darren Manning	Richie Hearn	Jeff Bucknum
8	Alex Barron	Kenny Bräck	Ryan Briscoe
9	Patrick Carpentier	Ed Carpenter	Jaques Lazier
10	A. J. Foyt IV	Marty Roth	Larry Foyt
11	Jeff Ward	Jimmy Kite	Felipe Giaffone

Failed to qualify: Arie Luyendyk, Jr. (#98)

Full race results

Finish	Start	Car No.	Driver	C*	E*	Qual	Rank	Laps	Status	Team
1	16	26	Dan Wheldon	D	H	224.308	17	200	Running	Andretti Green Racing
2	7	17	Vitor Meira	P	H	226.848	8	200	Running	Rahal Letterman Racing
3	18	7	Bryan Herta	D	H	223.972	20	200	Running	Andretti Green Racing
4	4	16	Danica Patrick (R)	P	H	227.004	5	200	Running	Rahal Letterman Racing
5	9	95	Buddy Lazier (W)	D	C	226.353	10	200	Running	Panther Racing
6	6	27	Dario Franchitti	D	H	226.873	7	200	Running	Andretti Green Racing
7	3	8	Scott Sharp	P	H	227.126	4	200	Running	Fernandez Racing
8	1	11	Tony Kanaan	D	H	227.566	2	200	Running	Andretti Green Racing
9	5	3	Hélio Castroneves (W)	D	T	226.927	6	200	Running	Team Penske
10	24	33	Ryan Briscoe (R)	P	T	224.080	19	199	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	26	20	Ed Carpenter	D	T	221.439	25	199	Running	Vision Racing
12	15	37	Sébastien Bourdais (R)	P	H	224.955	16	198	Crash T3	Newman/Haas Racing
13	22	51	Alex Barron	D	T	221.053	27	197	Running	Team Cheever
14	14	5	Adrian Fernández	P	H	225.120	15	197	Running	Fernandez Racing
15	33	48	Felipe Giaffone	P	T	217.645	36	194	Running	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
16	27	21	Jaques Lazier	P	T	221.228	26	189	Running	Playa Del Racing
17	8	55	Kosuke Matsuura	P	H	226.397	9	186	Crash T4	Super Aguri Fernandez Racing
18	17	24	Roger Yasukawa	D	H	224.131	18	167	Mechanical	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
19	10	2	Tomáš Enge (R)	D	C	226.107	11	155	Crash T4	Panther Racing
20	11	4	Tomas Scheckter	D	C	226.031	12	154	Crash T4	Panther Racing
21	25	83	Patrick Carpentier (R)	D	T	222.803	22	153	Mechanical	Team Cheever
22	21	44	Jeff Bucknum (R)	D	H	221.521	24	150	Crash T4	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23	2	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	D	T	227.273	3	146	Crash T1	Team Penske
24	13	9	Scott Dixon	P	T	225.215	14	113	Crash T1	Chip Ganassi Racing
25	20	70	Richie Hearn	P	C	222.707	23	112	Crash T1	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
26	23	15	Kenny Bräck (W)	P	H	227.598	1	92	Mechanical	Rahal Letterman Racing
27	31	22	Jeff Ward	D	T	218.714	34	92	Handling	Vision Racing
28	28	14	A.J. Foyt IV	D	T	220.442	28	84	Handling	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
29	19	10	Darren Manning	P	T	223.943	21	82	Mechanical	Chip Ganassi Racing
30	12	36	Bruno Junqueira	P	H	225.704	13	76	Crash T2	Newman/Haas Racing
31	29	25	Marty Roth	D	C	219.497	32	47	Handling	Roth Racing
32	32	91	Jimmy Kite	D	T	218.565	35	47	Handling	Hemelgarn Racing
33	30	41	Larry Foyt	D	T	219.396	33	14	Crash T2	A.J. Foyt Enterprises

Failed to qualify: Paul Dana (#91 - injured), Arie Luyendyk, Jr. (#98), Scott Mayer (#41 - failed rookie orientation), Buddy Rice (#15 - injured)

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

^*C Chassis: D=Dallara; P=Panoz.

^*E Engine: C=Chevrolet; H=Honda; T=Toyota.

All cars in the 2005 Indianapolis 500 used Firestone tires.

Race leaders

Seven drivers led the race, with a total of twenty-seven lead changes.

Laps Leader 1-2 Sam Hornish, Jr. 3 Tony Kanaan 4-7 Sam Hornish, Jr. 8-25 Tony Kanaan 26 Dario Franchitti 27-37 Tony Kanaan 38-54 Sam Hornish, Jr. 55 Dario Franchitti 56 Danica Patrick 57-58 Bruno Junqueira 59-97 Sam Hornish, Jr. 98-100 Tony Kanaan 101-111 Sam Hornish, Jr. 112-115 Tony Kanaan 116-119 Sam Hornish, Jr. 120-122 Tony Kanaan 123 Dario Franchitti 124-135 Tony Kanaan 136-143 Dario Franchitti 144-145 Tony Kanaan 146-149 Dario Franchitti 150-161 Dan Wheldon 162-164 Vitor Meira 165-171 Dan Wheldon 172-185 Danica Patrick 186-189 Dan Wheldon 190-193 Danica Patrick 194-200 Dan Wheldon

Driver Laps led Sam Hornish, Jr. 77 Tony Kanaan 54 Dan Wheldon 30 Danica Patrick 19 Dario Franchitti 15 Vitor Meira 3 Bruno Junqueira 2

Caution periods

There were 8 caution periods during the race, with a total of forty-six laps run under yellow, including the race's final lap.

Laps	Cause
18-24	Larry Foyt crash
77-86	Bruno Junqueira crash and A.J. Foyt IV incident
114-119	Scott Dixon/Richie Hearn crash
147-154	Sam Hornish, Jr. crash
155-161	Tomáš Enge/Tomas Scheckter/Danica Patrick/Jeff Bucknum crash (Patrick received minimal damage and was able to remain in the race)
171-173	Roger Yasukawa car smoking
187-189	Kosuke Matsuura crash
199-200	Sébastien Bourdais crash

ABC's television coverage controversy

ABC Sports and in particular first-time lead IRL announcer Todd Harris (having taken over for veteran announcer Paul Page) were widely criticized by sportswriters after the race for their alleged bias in coverage. Harris, from World's Strongest Man was largely inexperienced calling live auto racing, and used to pre-recorded, highlight-style reporting.

One of the most significant stories of the race was that female racer Danica Patrick, who started 4th and finished 4th, became the first woman ever to lead the race (leading 19 laps total). Even when Patrick was running mid-pack, as she had through the middle portion of the race, ABC and Harris focused significant attention on her. This angered several columnists, who thought the front-runners deserved more coverage than they received.

When Patrick took the race lead for the first time on lap 59, during a sequence of pit stops by the leaders, Harris said, "50 years from now, you will remember where you were." Orlando Sentinel sportswriter Jerry Greene disputed this, writing the next day, "I seriously doubt it, Todd." Greene also wrote that Harris "said many stupid things Sunday because of Ms. Patrick's efforts."

Houston Chronicle writer David Barron said during the pre-race show and the race's first 90 minutes, he "counted an average of one Patrick reference every five minutes, and each reference went on for some time."

Toronto Star writer Richard Sandomir wrote that Harris and his analyst, former two-time Indy 500 runner-up Scott Goodyear, failed to note that Wheldon had overtaken Patrick on lap 193, seven from the finish, until 20 seconds after it happened. Sandomir also wrote that it took Harris thirty seconds to note Patrick had drifted back to fourth place, behind Vitor Meira and Bryan Herta.

Jerry Lundquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch mentioned Page in his review, saying, "Viewers lose. [Page's] professionalism was missed. Harris' enthusiasm for the event was over the edge." Lundquist also wrote, "Either [Harris] was told to or took it on himself to become Patrick's personal flack."

Newsday writer Steve Zipay said that in the final laps, Harris "raised the volume in what seemed suspiciously like rooting for Patrick." Two days later, on May 31, Zipay appeared on sportscaster Tim Brando's radio show on The Sporting News' radio network, and wondered if ABC seemed like too much of a cheerleader for Patrick.

The television broadcast of the race concluded with The Finn Brothers song "Luckiest Man Alive" being played during the credits. It is not known whether ABC Sports would have chosen a different song had Patrick had won the race.