Sam Hornish Jr. passed Marco Andretti on the final lap of the 90th running, closing a May disrupted by rain, a single-engine field and a Bump Day that settled the last place.
The 2006 Indianapolis 500 was the 90th running of the race, held on 28 May 2006 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sam Hornish Jr. of Team Penske won by 0.0635 seconds over Marco Andretti after a slingshot pass on the final lap, with Honda supplying every engine.
The 2006 Indianapolis 500 was settled on the final lap of the 90th running, after a May disrupted by rain. Hornish Jr., driving for Team Penske, took the flag by 0.0635 seconds, a margin ranked among the tightest the race has produced, with a slingshot pass past Marco Andretti.
Why does the 2006 race still stand out?
The 2006 race is remembered for its tight finish, when Hornish Jr. passed Marco Andretti on the final lap. It was also the first season since 1960 in which the whole field used one engine make, and the first year all entries ran ethanol fuel.
It formed round four of the 2006 IndyCar Series and was the ninth race held under Indy Racing League sanctioning. Approximately 250,000 spectators attended the event in Speedway, Indiana, where the track is a 4.0 km (2.5 mi) asphalt oval with four turns.
The margin equated to about 4.6 m (15 ft), and the victory gave Roger Penske his 14th Indianapolis 500 win as an owner.
A last-lap slingshot, a winning margin of 0.0635 seconds and a month of rain before the flag.
What changed with engines and fuel for 2006?
Chevrolet and Toyota both left the series after 2005, leaving Honda as the only engine supplier for every team. Each car ran a Honda Indy V8, and all entries used E10, a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol, in the first year of a two-year roll-out.
The single-engine policy was designed to lower costs for teams that had to buy or lease an engine. Because Honda supplied the whole field, reliability became a shared story for the entire month rather than a question for individual teams.
Ethanol was not new to the race. A Miller driven by Leon Duray used ethyl alcohol in 1927, and Art Sparks said he ran ethanol in his machinery from 1937 to 1939. The 2006 entry was the first in which every car ran it.
Why did the Happy Hour tradition end?
The Happy Hour was the last hour of each practice and qualifying session, when the sun setting behind the grandstands cooled the track and produced faster laps. Indiana moved to daylight saving time a month before the 2006 race, the state's first use of it in more than three decades, and that change inadvertently ended the tradition.
Teams had typically scrambled to post their fastest laps in that final hour before time expired, so the change removed a familiar pattern from the month.
Who was on the 2006 entry list?
The entry list, released on 13 April 2006, featured sixty-six cars across 38 entries and 26 named drivers. By 7 May the list had been updated to 31 car-driver combinations, and six former winners and three race rookies were among the entrants.
Dan Wheldon was the biggest storyline. He had won the 2005 race and the IndyCar Series title with Andretti Green Racing, yet he switched to Target Chip Ganassi Racing for 2006. Marco Andretti, one of the three race rookies, took over the No. 26 entry that Wheldon left behind.
Michael Andretti announced a comeback from retirement to race beside his son, driving a No. 1 car for Andretti Green Racing for that race alone. Eddie Cheever returned to the series and the race for the first time since 2002, and Al Unser Jr., a two-time winner, also came back. He was paired with Buddy Lazier, the 1996 winner, in the No. 31 car prepared by Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.
Rahal Letterman Racing had filed three entries with Buddy Rice, Danica Patrick and rookie Paul Dana. Dana lost his life in practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway on 26 March, and team co-owner Bobby Rahal selected Jeff Simmons, a seven-time Indy Pro Series winner, to take over the No. 17 entry for the rest of the season.
How did the May practice and rookie tests go?
Rookie Orientation took place on 7 and 8 May and used four speed phases that every rookie had to pass. Rain disrupted much of the month, but Sam Hornish Jr. set the quickest time in all but one practice session before qualifying.
The open test on 5 April had 17 drivers, who completed 1,404 laps without incident. Scott Dixon was fastest at 363.731 km/h (226.012 mph), setting the benchmark for the early work on the Honda engines.
Rookie Orientation had four phases. The first ran at 314 to 322 km/h (195 to 200 mph), and the fourth began above 346 km/h (215 mph). Townsend Bell set the fastest lap of the second day at 356.278 km/h (221.381 mph).
Weather was the story of May. The session on 17 May ended early, the seventh rain-ended session of the month, and 18 May was the eighth consecutive day when poor weather hindered track activity.
Hornish Jr.'s laps tell the story. He posted 361.798 km/h (224.811 mph) on 9 May, 364.982 km/h (226.789 mph) on 11 May and 366.810 km/h (227.925 mph) on 19 May, and each was the quickest lap of its day. On Carb Day, 26 May, he set 355.179 km/h (220.698 mph), the fastest of the session.
How did qualifying set the grid?
Qualifying ran under the 11-11-11 format introduced in 2005, but rain cancelled the first two days. That meant all 33 starting positions were open on Saturday 20 May, and 32 were filled that day, leaving the final place for Bump Day.
Sam Hornish Jr. took pole with a four-lap average of 368.516 km/h (228.985 mph). It was his tenth IndyCar pole and his first in the Indianapolis 500, and it was the record-extending 13th race pole for Team Penske. Helio Castroneves took second at 366.943 km/h (228.008 mph), and Dan Wheldon third at 365.865 km/h (227.338 mph).
Not every run went smoothly. Dario Franchitti's engine failed after three laps, and a replacement let him make the grid three hours later. Townsend Bell withdrew his first attempt and improved from 16th to 15th on his second.
What happened on Bump Day?
Bump Day on 21 May decided the 33rd and final place. Thiago Medeiros qualified at 347.182 km/h (215.729 mph) in a car on lease, after Marty Roth crashed with 23 minutes left and cut short the late attempt of Ryan Briscoe. Medeiros was the last driver into the field.
Medeiros completed his attempt at 5:08 PM local time, and his four laps averaged 347.182 km/h (215.729 mph). He had crashed on the Thursday before, and the car came from Fernandez Racing on lease.
Hornish Jr. had led the speed charts in his back-up car at 364.124 km/h (226.256 mph) before crashing into the SAFER barrier on the exit of turn one. Roth then slid into the outside barrier in turn one during a practice run, and the caution that followed meant Briscoe, who was driving the A. J. Foyt Racing entry, never got back on track.
How did the race unfold?
The race started at 1:11 PM local time in heat of 32 degrees Celsius (89 degrees Fahrenheit), ranking among the hottest runnings of the event, fourth on record at the time. Wheldon took the lead on lap 10, led a race-high 148 laps, and was denied the win by a puncture late on.
Castroneves pulled ahead of Hornish Jr. entering the first turn. Wheldon finished the opening lap just behind Castroneves, and Hornish Jr. dropped to third behind him. Castroneves led until Wheldon overtook him, and Wheldon then led 25 consecutive laps early on.
Early yellow came when Jeff Bucknum spun in turn two and collected his teammate P. J. Chesson, and both drivers retired. The field was then disrupted again on lap 67, when Tomas Scheckter lost control and hit the outside wall, then the attenuator on pit lane. Scheckter's rear wing was struck by Jaques Lazier's car and flew into the grandstands, and five fans were injured, none seriously.
The second half was dominated by incidents. On lap 111 Helio Castroneves collided with Rice in turn three, ending his race and marking the first time he failed to finish the Indianapolis 500. Dixon briefly led, Wheldon passed him, and Hornish Jr. moved ahead on lap 130 and held the lead for 15 laps before Wheldon regained it.
Pit-road errors added to the drama. Hornish Jr. left his stall with the fuel hose still attached and struck a crew member, which earned him a drive-through penalty. Bell was penalised for the same offence, then struck a cone and retired.
Wheldon was himself caught out near the end. On lap 183, he was held up by a lapped car, which let Tony Kanaan take the lead on the inside. Wheldon fought back, but he slid onto the marbles in turn four and suffered a puncture, forcing an unscheduled stop that cost him the victory.
Dixon also received a pass-through penalty on lap 175 for a block on Kanaan that officials judged aggressive. When pit road reopened on lap 193, Kanaan and Franchitti gave up their first and second places to take on fuel, which handed the lead to Michael Andretti.
How did the final lap decide the winner?
Marco Andretti passed his father on lap 198 and held a 0.9454-second lead at the white flag. On the last lap, Hornish Jr. drew level by slipstreaming down the backstretch, then slingshot past on the inside in the final 140 m (450 ft) to win by 0.0635 seconds.
Michael Andretti had held the front for one lap under green, until Marco drove around him on the outside in turn one. Bryan Herta, who had been asked to block Hornish Jr., was passed easily on the front straight, and Michael's attempt to block in turn two failed.
Marco led by just over half a second in the closing stages. Hornish Jr. closed in by drafting down the backstretch, and Marco blocked him on the inside entering turn three before defending the outside line through turn four. Hornish Jr. then dived to the inside and crossed the line 0.0635 seconds ahead, about 4.6 m (15 ft).
Until that afternoon, no driver had won the race by passing for the lead on the last lap. Hornish Jr. later put his sudden burst of speed down to heavy fuel use on the final lap.
Who finished in the top ten?
Hornish Jr. finished first, followed by Marco Andretti and Michael Andretti. Dan Wheldon was fourth after leading 148 laps, Tony Kanaan fifth, and Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Danica Patrick, Sharp and Vitor Meira completed the top ten. Only the first two were separated by 0.0635 seconds at the line.
| Position | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Pole sitter, Team Penske, only Indianapolis 500 win |
| 2 | Marco Andretti | Rookie of the Year, 0.0635 seconds behind |
| 3 | Michael Andretti | Fifteenth attempt, his second-best finish in the race |
| 4 | Dan Wheldon | Led a race-high 148 laps |
| 5 | Tony Kanaan | Passed two cars on the final restart |
Michael Andretti finished third in his fifteenth attempt to win the race, his second-best result in the event. Five caution periods covered 44 laps, and the lead changed hands 14 times among seven different drivers.
What did the result do to the championship?
The win cut the Drivers' Championship lead that Helio Castroneves had carried into the race, leaving him 12 points behind Hornish Jr. Hornish Jr. later won his third and final title that year, the second straight driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the championship in the same season.
Before the race, Castroneves led the standings with 146 points, and Wheldon was 42 points behind him. After the 500, Wheldon dropped from second to third, while Dixon and Kanaan kept fourth and fifth.
What happened after the race?
Hornish Jr. received the Borg-Warner Trophy and $1,744,855 out of a record purse totalling $10,518,565. On 18 July he and Roger Penske visited the White House, where President George W. Bush congratulated him and praised IndyCar's use of ethanol fuel.
Marco Andretti said he was proud of second place but wanted to win, and his father praised his performance. His grandfather Mario called the month a steep learning curve that Marco had mastered, and Marco was named Rookie of the Year despite the close loss.
Honda had a remarkable race. All 33 cars were powered by Honda, and none encountered engine issues, which is believed to be the first time that has happened in the race's history.
Tom Carnegie, the public address announcer who had commentated every edition since 1946, announced his retirement on 9 June, citing health issues, particularly related to his legs.
