The Indianapolis 500 has taken a lot of different directions over the years.
It started out being predominately an event controlled by teams and manufacturers of United States origin. It was, almost from the beginning, and is still called, "The Great American Race."
We all know that The Great American Race is no longer entirely American. Most things in the good old U. S. of A. are intertwined with loads of foreign influences these days, and the Indy 500 is certainly no exception.
Gone is the rivalry between auto manufacturers, which used to claim that their engines were the best because they bested the competition in winning the Indy 500. Driven by avarice, the kingpins of the United States auto industry tightened the nooses around their necks, as the Asian auto manufacturers snuck in the back door as a result of political maneuvering in international trade.
As the Indy Racing League (IRL) was formed back in 1996 to extol the famous Indianapolis open wheel racing style, the American engine manufacturers began to lose ground to the Asians at a more rapid pace. Along with the IRL, a few other open wheel racing series gave the Asian engine builders more of a foothold.
All of this leads up to the fact that Honda completely controls the IRL's power plants this season. Honda inherited this distinction after rival Toyota dropped out of the picture at the end of the 2005 racing season, following Chevrolet's departure at the conclusion of the 2004 season.
In 2006 the IRL clearly became a "driver's series." With all of the engines in the series alike, team racing has been able to shine. As the 90th running of the Indy 500 came down to the wire, the drivers were in total control of the race and their destinies.
The 19 year-old rookie Marco Andretti, didn't stand a chance as the seasoned veteran Sam Hornish Jr. bore down on him in the final couple of laps. A lot of racers will tell you that the leader of an event is a mere sitting duck because the race cars in back of him will drop back and "get a run" on him which easily allows them to overtake the race leader and win the event. Actually, this is just a lot of hogwash. When it comes down to apples and oranges, it simply depends on who the leader of the race is.
Had Marco Andretti been a seasoned veteran, like Tony Stewart for instance, Sam Hornish Jr. would never have caught him. With just four or five laps remaining Stewart would have driven full throttle, driving his heart out and widening the gap between himself and his pursuer. Hornish would never have been able to pass him, if indeed, he was even able to catch him.
It all comes down to the coupling of desire and experience. Marco Andretti may have had the desire to win lurking in the back of his mind, but he just didn't have the experience to out drive the veteran Hornish. You can rest assured that Andretti's team leaders were telling him what to do over his in-car radio. But unfortunately, being in that position for the first time in his life, the young racer was overcome with excitement, and unable to grasp the meaning of what he was being told. At speeds well over 200 miles per hour, it was all over with in a couple of minutes, there was no time to think about it. A veteran draws on experience in those times and automatically heeds the instructions he receives from his team owner, as did Sam Hornish Jr. The rookie just didn't understand what to do, and became the proverbial "sitting duck" and, "The First Loser" of the ninetieth running of the Indianapolis 500.
Following the lead of some influential men of our times, General Douglas MacArthur and Arnold Schwarzenegger, "He'll be back!" You can expect to see the newest racing member of the famous Andretti family come back to Indianapolis and race his heart out, continuing the family quest to have their likenesses engraved on the Borge Warner trophy.
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