The 91st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 27, 2007. It was the twelfth Indianapolis 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League and the fifth race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season. Hélio Castroneves started the race on the pole position. This would be the final Indy 500 held during the "Split" as the open wheel unification would take place in early 2008.
The race began at 1:11 p.m. EDT, and was televised in the United States on the ABC. The race was broadcast in high-definition for the first time. The race also was carried live on the IMS Radio Network and XM Satellite Radio.
On lap 113, the race underwent a lengthy rain delay, with Tony Kanaan tentatively sitting as the leader. After three hours, the rain ceased, the track was dried, and the race restarted shortly before 6:15 p.m. EDT. A crash on lap 162 between Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti brought out the yellow flag with Dario Franchitti leading. Under the caution, rain began falling again and officials halted the race on lap 166. Dario Franchitti was declared the winner after leading 34 laps during the race.
All entries utilized ethanol, after 42 years of utilizing methanol. As part of a two-year roll-out, the cars used a 10% ethanol blend in 2006, and for 2007, the cars utilized a full ethanol mixture. Although branded as "100% percent fuel-grade", the fuel was actually a denatured 98% ethanol/2% gasoline blend (E98). The 2007 race was also the final 500 to see the Panoz chassis in competition. Jim Nabors, who sang "Back Home Again in Indiana" during the pre-race festivities twenty-nine times from 1972 to 2006, missed the 2007 race due to an illness. The fans were asked to sing the song in his place.
Race schedule + Race schedule — May 2007SunMonTueWedThuFriSat 1 2 3 4 5Mini-Marathon 6ROP 7ROP 8Practice 9Practice10Practice11Practice12Pole Day13Time Trials14 15 16Practice17Practice18Practice19Time Trials20Bump Day21 22 23Comm. Day24 25Carb Day26Parade27Indy 50028Memorial Day29 30 31 Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity * Includes days where track activitywas significantly limited due to rain
ROP — denotes Rookie Orientation Program
Comm. Day — denotes 500 Festival Community Day
Practice (week 1) Unlike previous years, no testing took place prior to the start of official May activities. Private testing was banned for 2007, and no official open test was held. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was fined $25,000 for the use of an illegal fuel mixture, containing 27% methanol (no methanol is allowed) in one of its cars during pole day. Team officials claimed this was due to an inexperienced crew member using an old container of fuel and was not intentional. Indy Racing League chief administrator Brian Barnhart called this "at least plausible," noting that the presence of water in the fuel mixture supports the claim that the fuel was old. The illegal mixture was used only during practice, not for a qualification attempt. From 1974 to 2005, only methanol fuel was used in the Indianapolis 500; and from 1965 to 1973, the rules were crafted in such a way to encourage the use of methanol in order to be competitive. In 2006, a 10% ethanol-90% methanol mixture had been used in the IRL in transition to the ethanol fuel used in the IRL for the 2007 season.
The initial official entry list was released on April 10, 2007, featuring 69 cars, four former winners, and one rookie.
Sunday May 6, 2007 - A. J. Foyt Opening Day & Rookie Orientation Program Weather: Sunny, Practice summary: The first day of practice opened with a ceremonial lap celebrating A. J. Foyt's fiftieth year of participation at Indianapolis. Practice focused on the rookie tests of Milka Duno and Phil Giebler, as well as refresher tests by five veterans. Duno completed all four phases of her rookie test, and Giebler completed two. Michael Andretti posted the fastest speed of the day, while popular Davey Hamilton made his return to the cockpit, after a devastating 2001 crash at Texas. No incidents were reported.
+ May 6, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 139 Michael AndrettiAndretti Green219.871 212 Ryan BriscoeLuczo-Dragon Racing218.216 302 Davey HamiltonVision Racing218.022 421 Jaques LazierPlaya Del Racing216.467 523 Milka Duno SAMAX Motorsports214.128
Monday May 7, 2007 - Rookie Orientation Program Weather: Sunny, Practice summary: The second day of Rookie Orientation saw the same seven drivers from the previous day's practice without incident. Rookie Phil Giebler finished the final two phases of his rookie test. Rookie Milka Duno completed the most practice laps of the day (74), while Michael Andretti posted the fastest speed for the second day in a row.
+ May 7, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 139 Michael AndrettiAndretti Green221.579 212 Ryan BriscoeLuczo-Dragon Racing221.427 302 Davey HamiltonVision Racing220.214 421 Phil Giebler Playa Del Racing217.091 519 Jon HerbRacing Professionals216.763
Tuesday May 8, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice Weather: Sunny, Practice summary: The first full day of practice featured veterans on the track for the first time. Dan Wheldon led the speed chart as the first driver over . Jon Herb was involved in the first crash of the month, doing a half-spin at the exit of turn two and crashing into the outside wall. Herb was not injured.
+ May 8, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 110 Dan WheldonTarget Chip Ganassi225.074 23 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske224.996 32 Tomas ScheckterVision Racing224.783 411 Tony KanaanAndretti Green224.622 59 Scott DixonTarget Chip Ganassi224.564
Wednesday May 9, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice Weather: Morning rain, afternoon clouds, Practice summary: Rain in the morning and early afternoon delayed the start of practice until 4:00 p.m. The two-hours session saw heavy action, with Dan Wheldon leading the speed chart for the second day in a row. No incidents were reported.
+ May 9, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 110 Dan WheldonTarget Chip Ganassi226.391 23 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske225.820 39 Scott DixonTarget Chip Ganassi224.902 426 Marco AndrettiAndretti Green224.745 511 Tony KanaanAndretti Green224.112
Thursday May 10, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice Weather: Partly cloudy, Practice summary: The warmest day of the week thus far saw some of the fastest laps turned so far for the month. Scott Dixon set fast lap with two minutes remaining in the session. Danica Patrick was second fastest for the day. No incidents were reported
+ May 10, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 19 Scott DixonTarget Chip Ganassi226.473 27 Danica PatrickAndretti Green226.358 310 Dan WheldonTarget Chip Ganassi224.902 42 Tomas ScheckterVision Racing226.161 512 Ryan BriscoeLuczo-Dragon Racing225.995
Friday May 11, 2007 - "Fast" Friday IndyCar Series practice Weather: Partly cloudy, Practice summary: The final day of practice before pole qualifying saw Scott Dixon turn the fastest lap of the month. Rookie Milka Duno crashed in the exit of turn 1. She spun and hit the SAFER barrier hard with the rear of the car, but she was not injured.
+ May 11, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 19 Scott DixonTarget Chip Ganassi227.167 210 Dan WheldonTarget Chip Ganassi226.650 311 Tony KanaanAndretti Green226.236 426 Marco AndrettiAndretti Green226.230 527 Dario FranchittiAndretti Green226.189
Qualifying (first weekend)
Saturday May 12, 2007 - AAMCO Pole Day Weather: Sunny, high Qualifying summary: Pole day time trials were held under a new qualifying procedure, implemented in 2005, but not fully utilized in 2005 or 2006 due to rain delays. Only the top 11 cars would qualify on pole day, and the remaining would be "bumped" out. Each qualifying run consisted of four laps, and each car was allowed three attempts per day. Buddy Rice was the first out to qualify, but his speed ultimately did not make the top 11. During the first trip through the qualifying order, Team Penske pulled both Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. out of line, and decided to attempt to qualify later in the day, when the temperatures would be cooler. After the initial qualifying runs, Dario Franchitti qualified for the provisional pole position. Later in the afternoon, both Castroneves and Hornish completed qualifying runs, but neither were unable to knock Franchitti off the pole. Hornish's first attempt would have been fast enough to take the pole, but he nearly hit the outside wall in the southchute on his second lap. Even with this error, however, Hornish's run was only 0.0327 seconds slower than Franchitti's. Almost immediately, Hornish withdrew and tried a second attempt, and again nearly took the pole, but on his final lap, his car bobbled in the north chute, and his second attempt was slower than his first. This would cost him a spot on the starting grid when Scott Dixon later withdrew his qualifying run and made another attempt, this one faster than Hornish's second attempt. With eight minutes left in qualifying, Castroneves' car was withdrawn, and he made a second attempt. After nearly four hours, Franchitti was finally knocked off the pole position. With only three minutes left, Tony Kanaan withdrew his first attempt, made the final qualifying run of the day. While his first three laps were fast enough to take the pole away from Castroneves, his last lap fell short and qualified second. This was Hélio Castroneves' second Indy 500 pole position. He also won the pole in 2003.
+ May 12, 2007 - Pole Day Qualifying Results Rank CarNo. Driver Team Qual.Speed 13 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske225.817 211 Tony KanaanAndretti Green225.757 327 Dario FranchittiAndretti Green225.191 49 Scott DixonTarget Chip Ganassi225.122 56 Sam Hornish Jr.Team Penske225.109 610 Dan WheldonTarget Chip Ganassi224.641 712 Ryan BriscoeLuczo-Dragon Racing224.410 87 Danica PatrickAndretti Green224.076 926 Marco AndrettiAndretti Green223.299 102 Tomas ScheckterVision Racing222.877 1139 Michael AndrettiAndretti Green222.789
+ May 12, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds Rank CarNo. Driver Team BestSpeed 111 Tony KanaanAndretti Green226.827 27 Danica PatrickAndretti Green226.058 39 Scott DixonTarget Chip Ganassi225.968 43 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske225.920 510 Dan WheldonTarget Chip Ganassi225.917
Sunday May 13, 2007 - Second Day Qualifying Weather: Fair skies, high Qualifying summary: The second day of time trials filled positions 12–22 on the starting grid. The first hour saw heavy action, featuring strong runs from IndyCar Series regulars such as Scott Sharp (the first to qualify, and his 223.875 speed would hold up as the fastest of the day), Jeff Simmons and Darren Manning. Fan favorite Davey Hamilton also qualified with a solid speed. Later in the afternoon, Sarah Fisher became the second woman to qualify for the field. Bumping began with Marty Roth, Buddy Lazier and Jon Herb all being bumped. Herb went out later, and bumped himself back into the field, only to be bumped out a second time by Lazier. As time was running out, Jaques Lazier took to the track to try to bump himself into the top 22, and effectively bump his brother Buddy out. He was too slow and waved off the run. At the end of the day, two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was the most notable driver bumped for the day, and had to attempt to qualify on the second weekend.