The Indianapolis 500 is Sunday, but activities have been ongoing for a month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Qualifying occurred for the 33 drivers involved in the event last week which found Ed Carpenter with the top speed. He will start on the pole position the 98th running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”. This is the second consecutive time he’ll begin in the first position for the Indy 500.
Tim Sullivan, who works in the media department at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said the weekend fun starts with Carb Day on Friday.
“We’ll have the final practice for the Indy cars, the pit stop contest with eight of the Indy cars, the Indy Lights race, and the Freedom 100 which is 12 or 13 similar-type looking cars with a smaller engine. Finally, we’ll have a concert with Sammy Hagar.”
The race is Sunday, May 25 at Noon ET. Leann Rimes will be singing the National Anthem and Sullivan said this will be Jim Nabors’ last live visit to the track to sing “(Back Home Again in) Indiana”. Dario Franchitti will be the pace car driver for the race.
A driver to watch during this event is Kurt Busch who will be attempting the “double”. He will drive in the Indianapolis 500 during the day and then fly to Charlotte Motor Speedway to participate in NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600. He has a full-time ride with Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Sullivan said Busch’s attempt has generated a lot of excitement for the weekend.
“He tested here a year ago and he knew he couldn’t do it last year but he got everything in place this year so that could actually do that. He’s got the potential to run 1,100 miles in one day of racing.”
Other drivers to attempt the “double” include Robby Gordon, John Andretti and Tony Stewart.
It’ll be 200 laps of pure horsepower in the prestigious event that people from all over the world come to see. Average speeds last year got up to 187 mph and Sullivan believes that will be the case this year.
