Dennis Reinbold was so shaken by how Indianapolis 500 qualifications ended Sunday that he sat on the pit wall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and cried as his driver, John Andretti, earned a last-minute starting spot.
At the south end of pit road sat Alex Tagliani in a different set of tears. A veteran driver trying to make the race for the first time, he got knocked out by Ryan Hunter-Reay with the day’s final attempt.
Chief steward Brian Barnhart was the one to tell Tagliani that time had expired on his dream.
Click Here For Indianapolis 500 Photos
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to tell a driver,” Barnhart said. “It was devastating.”
Said Tagliani, whose car was pulled out of line three times in the final 19 minutes: “Right now I’m wondering why we didn’t go out and just run to protect our position, but it’s done.”
It is the most evenly matched field by time in race history, with just 3.0967 seconds between the top qualifier (Helio Castroneves) from the 33rd. Indianapolis Star
“I’m glad the race isn’t tomorrow,” said Andretti, who didn’t wrap up his 10th Indy start until his third and final qualifying attempt of the day. “I couldn’t do it. I don’t think I could get in the car. I’m physically, mentally, just totally exhausted.
“I just can’t even believe it. I know that I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and realize I’m back in the Indy 500.”
Click Here For Indianapolis 500 Photos
Andretti and Hunter-Reay, whose successful qualifying effort was underway as the gun went off ending the six-hour final session of time trials, both had to find more speed after being bumped out of the lineup earlier in the day.
Hunter-Reay said he just considered himself lucky to make the race after bumping Indy rookie Alex Tagliani out with the Canadian driver sitting in his car, waiting and hoping to get one more chance.
“That was a timing issue there,” Hunter-Reay said. “I think Tagliani was pretty fast and we were lucky we went out last. I’ve never been so happy to take last place.”
The field was filled on Saturday, but poor weather conditions, including gusty wind, kept the speeds of the slowest qualifiers low enough to make them vulnerable to bumping by faster drivers on Sunday. The Associated Press
“I don’t want to do this any more,” Andretti said after the run. “Took the spring set-up from my teammate Mike Conway’s car and ran some laps and made adjustments. The crew deserves all the credit.”
Hunter-Reay then took to the track for the final run of the day and bumped Alex Tagliani from the field with a four-lap average of 220.597 mph. Tagliani was next in line when the final gun sounded.
Click Here For Indianapolis 500 Photos
Five other drivers Sunday withdrew qualified times, and then proceeded to post better four-lap qualifying times. Those drivers took advantage of ideal weather conditions with the temperatures in the mid-60s and light winds. Anderson Herald Bulletin
| 
|