2001 Indianapolis 500

85th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Date	May 27, 2001
Winner	Hélio Castroneves
Average speed	141.574 mph (228 km/h)
Pole position	Scott Sharp
Pole speed	226.037 mph (364 km/h)
Fastest qualifier	Scott Sharp
Rookie of the Year	Castroneves
Most laps led	Castroneves (52)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Steven Tyler
"Back Home Again in Indiana"	Jim Nabors
Starting command	Mari Hulman George
Pace car	Oldsmobile Bravada
Pace car driver	Elaine Irwin Mellencamp
Honorary starter	none
Estimated attendance	400,000
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Larry Rice, Jason Priestly
Nielsen ratings	5.8 / 17
Chronology
Previous Next 2000 2002

The 85th Indianapolis 500 was held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 27, 2001. Race rookie Hélio Castroneves led the final 52 laps and won his first Indy 500.

Changes for 2001

In the seventh year of the IRL/CART split, Team Penske and Andretti Green Racing break ranks and return to Indianapolis. Ganassi, who returned in 2000, returned as well. After one year of retirement, two-time winner Arie Luyendyk returned to the cockpit.

After an expirimental two-week schedule was used from 1998-2000, the Speedway reverted back to the more traditional three-week schedule for practice, time trials, and the race. Rookie orientation was held April 13-14. Time trials was set at three days.

Practice

IRL regular Greg Ray led practice speeds for four of the first six days. Casey Mears, Eliseo Salazar, and Stan Wattles suffered crashes during the week. On Fast Friday, Indy 500 rookie Hélio Castroneves brushed the wall in turn one, but continued. The car suffered minor damage. Later that evening, Castroneves joked around with track workers, and helped them repaint the retaining wall which he had hit.

Time trials

Tony Stewart led the speed chart for morning practice on pole day, but IRL regular Scott Sharp won the battle for the pole position. Greg Ray, who had been among the fastest carsd all week, qualified second. Robby Gordon, driving an Indy-only entry for Team Menard, rounded out the front row.

The highest of the CART qualifiers was Gil de Ferran (5th). Former Indy 500 winners Arie Luyendyk, Buddy Lazier, and Al Unser, Jr. also made the field on pole day.

On the second day of qualifying, veterans Michael Andretti and Eddie Cheever made the field, while rookie Bruno Junqueira was the fastest of the day.

On bump day, Billy Boat was the first car to complete a qualifying attempt, and the field was subsequently filled to 33 cars. Six cars were bumped during the afternoon, and Boat dropped to the bubble spot as of 5:07 p.m. Over the final 53 minutes Boat survived 12 attempts to be bumped from the field. Eight cars waved off, and four were too slow. With 10 seconds to go before the 6 o'clock gun, Memo Gidley was the final driver to make a qualifying attempt. He missed bumping his way into the field by 0.242 seconds.

Race Recap

Team Penske was among several CART teams to break ranks and race at Indianapolis. Rain played a role on race day, halting the event twice, once under lengthy yellow, and again for a red flag. When the race restarted, rookie Hélio Castroneves broke away for the win, marking the third occasion of consecutive rookie victories, and then proceeded to engage in his CART-career customary celebration of climbing the catchfence, an action which then began to be emulated throughout American stock car racing.

Tony Stewart and the Double

Tony Stewart attempted the Indy/Charlotte "Double" for the second time in his racing career. Criticized by members of the media as being overweight and unfit for the grueling task, Stewart undertook a month-long fitness and dietary program with a personal trainer. Stewart, still driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in NASCAR, signed with Chip Ganassi Racing, part of a four driver effort at Indy.

He qualified 7th at Indy and 12th at Charlotte. Due to the new television package on FOX, the start of the Coca-Cola 600 was moved up. A strict schedule was put into place, and regardless if the race was not over at Indy, Stewart was allegedly required to get out of the car at 4:00 p.m. to fly to Charlotte on time. During a 16-minute red flag, he had to visit first aid for a cramping leg. Relief driver Richie Hearn almost took over, but Stewart got back in the car. The race was eventually resumed, and Stewart continued. The race was completed, and he finished 6th, on the lead lap. Immediately he flew to Lowe's Motor Speedway, and made the start of the race on time. He was moved to the back of the pack during the pace lap for missing the drivers' meeting. On the second lap, Stewart spun while running last, in an incident he claimed was unrelated to fatigue. As the race wore on, he steadily climbed the standings, and finished 3rd on the lead lap. He became the first driver ever to complete all 1,100 miles, and finish in the top five for both races in the same day. Feeling that he proved his critics wrong, Stewart called them "idiots."

National anthem controversey

For the pre-race ceremonies, the Speedway invited Steven Tyler of Aerosmith to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner." At the time, Aerosmith was kicking off their Just Push Play Tour, and in the days leading up to the race, struck a deal with Heritage Motorsports to sponsor Jeff Ward's car during the race. The performance was widely regarded by observers as one of the worst and most controversial renditions of the U.S. national anthem ever.

The national anthem performer at the Indianapolis 500 is normally backed-up by the Purdue All-American Marching Band, however, the band was only allowed to play the opening chorus. Tyler began the song with a harmonica solo, then tossed the instrument into the crowd. He finished the song a cappella. Tyler took artistic license to the extreme, and altered the the last line of the song from "...the home of the brave" to "...the home of the Indianapolis 500.". The crowd, television and radio commentators, along with military Medal of Honor recipients in attendance due to the Memorial Day holiday, had a largely negative response to the performance. Tyler apologized and stated he meant no disrespect. Said Tyler, "I'm very proud to be an American, and live in the home of the brave."

Speedway president Tony George released a statement the following Tuesday citing "While we are certainly sorry that some were offended, it was neither our intention nor that of Mr. Tyler to be disrespectful. All of us have the utmost respect for the sacrifice our veterans have made for us."

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	C	E	Laps	Led	Status	Entrant
1	11	68	Hélio Castroneves (R)	224.142	13	D	O	200	52	Running	Team Penske
2	5	66	Gil de Ferran	224.406	6	D	O	200	27	Running	Team Penske
3	21	39	Michael Andretti	223.441	16	D	O	200	16	Running	Team Green
4	12	44	Jimmy Vasser	223.455	15	G	O	200	0	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	20	50	Bruno Junqueira (R)	224.209	11	G	O	200	0	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	7	33	Tony Stewart	224.248	8	G	O	200	13	Running	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	28	14	Eliseo Salazar	223.740	14	D	O	199	0	Running	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
8	30	88	Airton Daré	222.236	25	G	O	199	0	Running	TeamXtreme
9	32	98	Billy Boat	221.528	33	D	O	199	0	Running	CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports
10	33	21	Felipe Giaffone (R)	221.879	G	O	29	199	0	Running	Treadway Racing
11	14	10	Robby McGehee	222.607	21	D	O	199	0	Running	Cahill Racing
12	24	12	Buzz Calkins	222.467	24	D	O	198	0	Running	Bradley Motorsports
13	6	5	Arie Luyendyk (W)	224.257	7	G	O	198	1	Running	Treadway Racing
14	13	4	Sam Hornish, Jr.	223.333	17	D	O	196	0	Running	Panther Racing
15	9	24	Robbie Buhl	224.213	10	G	I	196	0	Running	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
16	4	28	Mark Dismore	224.964	4	D	O	195	29	Running	Kelley Racing
17	2	2	Greg Ray	225.194	D	O	2	192	40	Running	Team Menard
18	10	91	Buddy Lazier (W)	224.190	12	D	O	192	0	Running	Hemelgarn Racing
19	31	16	Cory Witherill (R)	221.621	31	G	O	187	0	Running	Indy Regency Racing
20	23	9	Jeret Schroeder	222.785	20	D	O	187	0	Running	PDM Racing
21	3	41	Robby Gordon	224.994	3	D	O	184	22	Running	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
22	17	77	Jaques Lazier	222.145	27	G	O	183	0	Running	Johanthan Byrd/TeamXtreme
23	26	99	Davey Hamilton	221.696	30	D	O	182	0	Engine	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
24	8	35	Jeff Ward	224.222	9	G	O	168	0	Running	Heritage Motorsports
25	27	84	Donnie Beechler	224.449	5	D	O	160	0	Running	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
26	25	51	Eddie Cheever (W)	222.152	26	D	I	108	0	Electrical	Team Cheever
27	18	6	Jon Herb (R)	222.015	28	D	O	104	0	Accident	Tri-Star Racing
28	29	36	Stéphan Grégoire	222.888	19	G	O	86	0	Oil Leak	Heritage Motorsports
29	22	49	Nicolas Minassian (R)	223.006	18	G	O	74	0	Gearbox	Chip Ganassi Racing
30	19	3	Al Unser, Jr. (W)	221.615	32	G	O	16	0	Accident	Galles Racing
31	15	15	Sarah Fisher	222.548	D	O	22	7	0	Accident	Walker Racing
32	16	52	Scott Goodyear	222.529	23	D	I	7	0	Accident	Team Cheever
33	1	8	Scott Sharp	226.037	1	D	O	0	0	Accident	Kelley Racing

(W) = Former Indianapolis 500 winner; (R) = Indianapolis 500 rookie

*C Chassis: D=Dallara, G=G-Force

*E Engine: O=Oldsmobile, I=Infiniti

Failed to Qualify: Roberto Guerrero (#7), Didier Andre (#32), Stan Wattles (#94), Tyce Carlson (#60), Jimmy Kite (#30), Shigeaki Hattori (#55), Casey Mears (#25), Memo Gidley (#37)