So, who REALLY won the Indy 500?

[John Corn]

There's no doubt that Tracy had the faster car and would have passed Castroneves regardless. From what I can tell, Castroneves was ahead of Tracy when Redon hit the wall -- but that Tracy passed Castroneves before the yellow flag came out. It was a very close call. Castroneves claims that he backed out of the throttle when he saw the yellow and that's how Tracy passed him -- which, if you saw the replay, there is no way that you can buy. Apparently, Sam Hornisch Jr has also stated that Tracy was by Castroneves before the yellow flag, and ESPN showed a camera shot replay that also seems to support this. I was cheering when I saw the pass because I assumed that would make Tracy the winner of the race. I was wrong.

There's a hearing today for Tracy and Green to support their case. I don't hold out all that much hope, since Castroneves and Penske are now IRL and Tracy and Green are CART. Tracy had a great race though -- started from 29th and steadily climbed through the pack.

I work for the racing division of Bridgestone/Firestone, we supplied a little over 8,000 tires for that 1 race.

[BearsFan]

It's funny, ABC showed a "time-synced" side-by-side video, showing the yellow was out before Tracy passed Castreoneves.

Then, on SportsCenter, the differenent "time-synced" video apparently showed that Tracy passed BEFORE the yellow flag came out.

Huh?????!?!!!!?? :shrug:

I thought ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney, hence the same company. How can both channels show completely different footage?

I, too, was pulling for Paul Tracy. Nothing against Castreoneves, but I was pulling for the American driver.

I wonder which "truth" is the REAL "truth?" I've seen all the angles, and it's still so hard to tell.

--BearsFan

[Ray_Clum]

The problem is that the flag is irrelevant. There is an overriding yellow light ON THE STEERING WHEEL OF THE CAR. This is an IRL rule - the yellow light comes on, stop racing. CART has no such rule (or light for that matter). So Castreoneves (an IRL driver) saw the light and lifted, Tracy (a CART driver) didn't. Simple. Castreoneves won.