Winless Veterans Take Varied Mental Approaches toward Elusive Indy Victory
May 26, 2018 | By Phillip B. Wilson, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
History suggests the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil will be an unpredictable ride for drivers Sunday.
In reality, expect the race to be so much more than that.
As someone who conquered “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 2013, Tony Kanaan says the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can play mind games with a driver over the course of 200 laps on the 2.5-mile oval. Such mind games can also linger over years, too, as competitors keep coming back in hopes of finally solving the mystery to this most challenging pursuit of glory.
Take Will Power, who will start his 11th Indy 500 from the outside of Row 1 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. The 37-year-old Australian has been in this position as one of the race favorites too many times in the past, qualifying sixth or better eight times. He came agonizingly close to victory once, finishing second in 2015.
As a result, Power has changed his mental approach toward the Indy 500 more times than he can remember.
“You’ve just got to think about not winning it, honestly,” he said. “You’ve got to think about a lap at a time, getting it right with your engineer, all the stuff you need to do to make that happen.”
Before, Power had uttered the oft-repeated emphasis that this is the most important race he must win to solidify his resume. Then he’s said that winning a Verizon IndyCar Series championship is most important. After he celebrated a series title in 2014, he reiterated the Indy 500 was his No. 1 goal, that proverbial hole in a successful resume that has him ninth on the all-time win list with 33 victories. But last year, he reverted to saying his focus was on winning a championship first.
So which mindset is it?
“I try not to overthink things,” said Graham Rahal, who will start his 11th “500” from the 30th position in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. “I’m pretty basic-minded in a lot of ways. For sure, every year we come back is a great opportunity, and I don’t want to miss it, I don’t want to throw it away.
“Over time, that’s changed. In the early years when you came here, you didn’t give a damn. You drove 110 percent every lap, and I made my mistakes. Now, it’s certainly different.”
Rahal, whose team co-owner and father Bobby won this race in 1986, hasn’t changed his belief that one day he, too, will find his way to Victory Lane at IMS.
“I truly think my time will come,” said Graham, 29, who has six career series wins. “I think I’ll win this race.”
Marco Andretti thought he had this race won in his rookie debut in 2006. He led coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap but was overtaken by Sam Hornish Jr. in the final 200 yards.
Since then, the 31-year-old son of Andretti Autosport co-owner Michael Andretti has seen his father celebrate five Indy 500 wins, including three of the past four as an owner. Marco has continually come close with five career top-four Indy 500 finishes, just as Michael had so many near-misses when he drove to 42 career victories but didn’t prevail in this race.
This time, Marco will start his 13th “500” from the 12th position in the No. 98 U.S. Concrete/Curb Honda for Andretti-Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian.
“Well, obviously it is very important to win the race, but the month is a roller coaster,” Marco said. “If there’s one thing I've learned in my 13 years here, you just have to be prepared for the roller coaster. You look at Graham, he's No. 1 (in practice one day), he's struggling (the next).
“That’s the way it works. We just need to maximize every time out there, take it corner by corner and hopefully make the right decision at the right time. This place, it always helps to catch the circumstances right, as well. Not only in qualifying but over the course of the 500 miles, it picks the winner, right? We seem to have enough speed to play, so we just need the rest to work out.”
Kanaan has also maintained that this track inevitably chooses the winner based on the circumstances at the end.
Simon Pagenaud sounds like his Team Penske teammate Power used to years ago. Since winning the 2016 series title for Team Penske, Pagenaud has insisted an Indy 500 victory is his top priority.
Pagenaud, a 34-year-old Frenchman, will start his seventh “500” from a career-best second position on the front row in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. He said he had the car in 2016 but blames himself for blowing it and hasn’t yet forgiven himself. His best finish in this race was eighth in 2013 while driving for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports.
“It’s my dream,” Pagenaud said. “I’ve won the championship, and Indy is my goal. It’s my No. 1 goal for the season and my career.”
Hall of Fame owner Roger Penske has celebrated a record 16 Indy 500 wins.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of effort put in,” Pagenaud said. “I’ve studied how I can get that done and the team also is very hungry for another win at Indy. Hopefully it’s the year.
“It’s one of those races where it decides who’s going to win. It’s that Lady Luck we’ve talked about. I’m just going to do everything I can and make sure that if I don’t win I’m not disappointed that I left something on the table.”
Pagenaud is trying to keep a simple perspective and not let any of those so-called mind games deter him from his dream.
“You can always overthink things,” he said. “Just do your best.”