Final practice, air demonstrations and music acts round out schedule Friday, May 24 at IMS. Read More>
Two departure times provide more flexibility for fans who want to commute to the track on their bike on Race Day. Read More>
This partnership represents the first time a major athlete's sponsorship has been decided by a vote using blockchain technology. Read More>
View images from the shortened first day of the Indianapolis 500 Open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. View Photos>
View images from the once-in-a-lifetime Total Solar Eclipse event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. View Photos>
Josef Newgarden unveils the 2024 Indianapolis 500 Ticket View Photos>
On this episode of Doug and Drivers, 2022 Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson sits down with Doug Boles to talk about the pain of coming so close to scoring back-to-back wins, how he wanted to compete on ovals after his Formula 1 career and the transition to Andretti Global. Watch Video>
Why does Scott McLaughlin move his hands around so much in the car? What "button" is he pushing? What's the pressure of the iconic Yellow Submarine like? We cover that and so much more with Scott McLaughlin on the latest Doug and Drivers. Watch Video>
On this episode of Behind the Bricks, IMS President Doug Boles truly goes behind the bricks of the IMS Museum and checks in on the renovation progress. He also gets an exclusive look at the vision of the refreshed Museum, which opens a year from this week. The Museum is a separate entity from IMS and is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Consider supporting the Museum by visiting imsmuseum.org Watch Video>
May 24, 2013 | By Dave Lewandowski
Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports’ Simon Pagenaud surged to the top of the speed chart in the waning moments of the one-hour final practice session for the 97th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race with a best lap of 225.827 mph. Up and down pit lane, Honda Performance Development engineers and engine support personnel were privately celebrating. With Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine sweeping the first three rows for the 200-lap race May 26, Honda’s top performer in qualifications May 18-19 was Alex Tagliani in 11th in the No. 98 Barracuda Racing car. In this one-hour session on the 2.5-mile oval, Honda-powered cars occupied six of the 10 spots. In a similar scenario last May in the first season of the chassis-engine package, Honda drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon finished 1-2 in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” "The car is really good in race trim,” said Pagenaud, who will start 21st in his second Indianapolis 500. “Honda has done a lot of work before qualifying and after qualifying and Honda's racing mentality is to go racing and that's exactly what they're doing. They provided us with an engine that is clearly a lot better so it's a good sign for the race. “The car is up there. It's good for HP, and it's good for Honda. I'm really happy for my guys. For them it's great to go into a race with such a positive note. "The goal was obviously to do an out and in just to check that everything was running normally. Then afterwards everyone pretty much practiced pit stops, get the guys up to speed, stretching them a little bit. And then it was good for us to get our marks. When you are going 230 mph and all of a sudden you have to go into pit lane it's actually difficult when you put it into pit lane with the car that speed, so it's important to get into a routine for Sunday." Thirty-three drivers logged 1,305 laps, with Sebastien Bourdais recording the most at 52. Pole sitter Ed Carpenter posted 18 laps in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka car with a best of 223.771 mph to place 17th overall. “We were going to run 20 to 25 laps today. The car felt good so we did a couple of pit stops and parked the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet after 18 laps,” Carpenter said. “It would have been fun to go out and play longer but it isn’t necessary. The smart thing to do is just put the car away and prepare for Sunday.” Andretti Autosport teammates E.J Viso (225.304 mph) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (225.053) were second and third, respectively. Dixon (224.870) was fourth and Bourdais (224.848) finished fifth. Ana Beatriz brought out a yellow flag when she was caught out by a slow-moving Carlos Munoz while trying to enter the pits and ran into the back of the Andretti Autosport car, receiving enough damage to the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing car to keep her in pit lane for the remainder of the one-hour session (31 total laps).