In 11th 500 Start (Really), Andretti Has Another Shot at Reversing the Curse
May 27, 2016 | By Phillip B. Wilson
One of the Miller Lite Carb Day routines in the Andretti Autosport garage is for a note to be placed on the desktop of the engineer for Marco Andretti’s car.
The note reads: “Don’t panic.”
“Last year, I think we did,” Andretti said Thursday. “Last year, I was like 29th on Carb Day. We didn’t touch the car, but we were still one of the ones to beat in the race.”
Translation: The Carb Day speed chart can be misleading when sizing up the strongest contenders for Sunday’s 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. Friday’s final one hour of practice is just to make sure everything is working properly.
Andretti’s No. 27 Snapple Honda ranked 21st on the Carb Day speed chart. His fastest speed of 222.821 mph was well off the pace of his former teammate, 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, whose No. 10 NTT Date Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet led the field at 226.280 mph.
“You can’t really chase it on Carb Day,” Andretti said. “It’s about the guys, pit stops, testing the water bottle, testing the spotters, the final leak check.”
The top five laps were turned by Kanaan, Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz, 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing, 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power of Team Penske and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.
“Everybody is eager to feel how the car behaves in traffic,” Kanaan said of the drivers turning 1,368 laps on Carb Day. “It was a race out there today, that’s for sure.”
Other notables included three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves of Team Penske in 10th, pole sitter James Hinchcliffe of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 12th, defending Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya of Team Penske in 13th and series points leader Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske in 22nd.
Kanaan qualified 18th, but sounds confident he will be in the hunt.
“Obviously, I have to pass 17 people before I get really happy with my car,” the Brazilian said.
Starting just in front of him in the middle of Row 5 is Andretti.
“I know I’ll have a shot, for sure,” Andretti said.
It might come as somewhat of a surprise that Marco Andretti is 29 years old. The son of Michael Andretti and grandson of 1969 Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti has seemingly grown up quickly. Hard to believe, but it’s been a decade since Marco arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and almost won his first Indy 500 start as he was overtaken on the final straightaway by Sam Hornish Jr.
Since that memorable debut, Marco Andretti has been among the serious “500” contenders more often than not. He’s placed third in 2008, 2010 and 2014, as well as fourth, sixth and ninth in 10 starts.
Each year, he returns and restates the obvious about the importance of this race. Each year, someone mentions the “Andretti Curse,” the family’s supposed history of bad luck at this track.
Mario is second on the all-time Indy car wins list at 52, but has only the one Indy 500 victory despite driving dominant cars so many times. Michael ranks third on the wins list at 42, but never drove to victory at IMS and holds the dubious distinction of leading the most laps (431) without a win.
A decade of chances might qualify as more than a career for most drivers, but not Marco, who suggests he could be at the midway point of his Indy 500 career.
“In an ideal world, I have another 10 to 12 shots at this thing,” he said. “We could do some special things in the future.”
One former competitor who is convinced Andretti can break through is Hornish.
“Why not? Why wouldn’t you be able to get one?” he said. “Like that first year, all these things played out to give him an opportunity. He was a rookie and had more downforce, that kept him in all day long. But the last four laps, the added downforce hurt him as far as being able to have outright speed.
“If it had been anyone other than me to beat him, I’d probably feel bad. That’s one of the greatest rivalries in racing, Andrettis vs. the Speedway. Even the year that Mario won, it wasn’t a cakewalk. It was a painful Month of May.”
Andretti shrugs when asked if the topic of 2006 gets broached much: “Oh yeah, all the time.”
He says he usually responds with the same statement.
“My stock answer is I don’t know where the hell the speed came from in the closing laps,” Andretti said of Hornish.