Scott Dixon of New Zealand led 115 laps and held off Vitor Meira and Marco Andretti to win the 92nd race, the first Indy 500 win for Chip Ganassi Racing since 2000.
Scott Dixon of New Zealand won the 2008 Indianapolis 500 from pole, leading 115 of 200 laps for Chip Ganassi Racing. He finished 1.7498 seconds ahead of Vitor Meira, with Marco Andretti third.
The 2008 Indianapolis 500 was the 92nd running of the race and the first held after IndyCar's open-wheel unification. Scott Dixon of New Zealand started from pole, led 115 of the 200 laps and held off Vitor Meira and Marco Andretti over the final 24 laps to win. It was the first Indy 500 victory for Chip Ganassi Racing since 2000.
When and where was the 2008 Indianapolis 500 held?
The race was run on Sunday 25 May 2008 around the oval at Speedway, Indiana, and it counted as the fifth round of the 2008 IndyCar Series. Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines at 1:03 p.m. The race was run over 200 laps.
The month of practice and qualifying was disrupted by rain. Practice began on 4 May, and the time trials were held over two weekends, on 10-11 May and 17-18 May. The final practice was on Friday 23 May, and it was cancelled after only eleven minutes because of a drenching rain.
Dixon led 115 of 200 laps, won by 1.7498 seconds and gave Chip Ganassi Racing its first Indy 500 since 2000.
What did the 2008 race mean for the sport?
The 2008 race came just three months after open-wheel racing was unified. An organisational split had lasted from 1996 to 2007, dividing participants and fracturing the sport. For the first time since 1978, Indy car racing was run under one sanctioning body, and the field combined the IndyCar Series regulars with teams and drivers from the closed Champ Car World Series.
The merger was expected to produce one of the most competitive races in years, but most of the former Champ Car teams struggled to adapt to the new equipment. They had been given a fleet of IRL chassis for the season, many of which had been sold off by defunct teams. IRL-based teams swept the top ten finishing positions, and the best former Champ Car team finished 11th.
Which cars and rules shaped the 2008 field?
All 33 qualifiers used the Dallara IR-03/IR-05 chassis, which had first raced in 2003. Phil Giebler failed to qualify with a Panoz, the last appearance at Indianapolis for that brand. Panoz had stopped supporting its chassis programme in 2006, which began a four-year spec era in which every car came from the same supplier.
Every full-time entry used semi-automatic paddle shifters for the first time in 2008. Part-time entries that ran only the Indy 500 could use them as an option, but cost was the reason they were not required.
The official entry list was released on 11 April and initially had 39 cars and 32 drivers. Extra drivers were added during practice and qualifying. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2007 IndyCar rookie of the year, was eligible for the Indy 500 rookie award, even though he had never started at Indianapolis. Some former Champ Car drivers were allowed a refresher test in place of the usual four-phase rookie test.
How did practice go in May 2008?
Rookie orientation opened on 4 May with thirteen drivers eligible, and several passed the four-phase test on the first day. Alex Lloyd set the fastest lap of the second day at just over 223 mph (359 km/h), which would have put him tenth in the 2007 field. On Tuesday 6 May, 33 car and driver combinations took to the track, with AGR teammates Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan leading the speed charts.
Rain then cut into the schedule. Wednesday's practice was delayed and the track was closed at 3:20 p.m., and Thursday's on-track activity was cancelled at about 1:45 p.m. when it was clear the track would not dry. On Friday 9 May, Mario Dominguez spun into the inside wall, Alex Lloyd crashed hard in turn one, and a pit area incident left a member of Mario Moraes' crew with a concussion. Rain halted the session at 3:15 p.m. with Scott Dixon fastest.
The second week opened late after misty drizzle delayed the start by almost five hours. On 14 May Dixon led the speed chart at 222.834 mph (359 km/h), and on 15 May 35 cars completed 2,628 laps, the most of any single practice day that month. Practice crashes reached six for the month by 16 May, with 37 drivers and 40 cars taking laps overall.
How was the pole decided on Pole Day?
Saturday 10 May began with a morning practice delayed by 45 minutes because of a damp track. Marco Andretti set the fastest lap of the month at 228.318 mph in the first session, but qualifying speeds were lower because of drafting. Ryan Briscoe made the first attempt at 224.883 mph, and Danica Patrick took the provisional pole with a run of more than 225 mph.
Dan Wheldon knocked Patrick from the provisional pole once the first 11 positions had been filled. In the afternoon, Hideki Mutoh had his qualifying disallowed after post-qualifying inspection found an on-board camera housing that lacked the required ballast. Briscoe withdrew his speed and re-qualified, taking the top spot from Wheldon before being knocked to second by Dixon.
The final hour belonged to the teams trying to bump their way into the top 11. Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed hard in turn three, and former Champ Car entries Graham Rahal, Will Power and Justin Wilson failed to make the top 11. The AGR and Penske entries gave up on the pole and pulled out of line, and Wheldon made a last run that gave him second. When the gun sounded at 6:00 p.m., Dixon had won his first Indianapolis 500 pole, and Chip Ganassi Racing had secured its third pole at the Speedway.
Who filled the field and who missed the race?
Rain washed out all track activity on Sunday 11 May, and the field remained incomplete. Saturday 17 May completed the grid at 33 cars, and Townsend Bell was the day's quickest at 222.529 mph. A 15-minute rain shower halted the session, and Oriol Servia was allowed to make an attempt without penalty when the track dried. Rahal, Wilson and Power all qualified safely.
Three female drivers made the field that year, which was only the second time that had happened in the race's history, as Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher completed runs alongside Danica Patrick. Phil Giebler crashed hard in turn one in his first significant laps of the event and was taken to hospital. Hideki Mutoh crashed his already-qualified car after brushing the wall at the exit of turn two.
A. J. Foyt IV had a gearbox failure on his warm-up lap, and Marty Roth filled the last qualifying spot as the slowest car in the field. On bump day, Sunday 18 May, Foyt bumped his way in and then crashed after a fuel cover broke off and a fire started. Roth and Buddy Lazier held on, while Mario Dominguez crashed on his final attempt after bumping Roger Yasukawa, who had missed a return by 0.046 seconds. Max Papis was left waiting in line when clutch problems stopped him from leaving the pits.
How did the race unfold?
Dixon took the lead into turn one from pole and led the first two laps, before Dan Wheldon took over on lap three. A mirror came off Bruno Junqueira's car on lap eight, and the first of a long run of cautions followed. Nearly the entire field pitted under that first caution, but Buddy Rice stayed out to lead, and Sarah Fisher stayed out as well. Fisher later spun in the north chute while warming her tyres and lost three laps.
When the green flag returned, Wheldon quickly regained the lead and kept it until lap 36, when Dixon passed him. Graham Rahal hit the wall exiting turn four around the same time. Marty Roth and Jaime Camara each brought out a yellow with single-car crashes, and Wheldon and Dixon traded the lead while others fell back.
On lap 94 Tony Kanaan charged into the lead. He set an all-time record by leading a lap in seven consecutive Indy 500s, breaking Rick Mears' six straight races led from 1979 to 1984. His bad luck returned 11 laps later. Marco Andretti dove low to pass, Kanaan went high into the marbles, lost control, brushed the wall and collected Fisher's lapped car. Both cars were heavily damaged, and Dixon took the lead back on lap 105.
Marco Andretti gained the lead on lap 122. Wheldon slipped deep into the order with handling problems, and Justin Wilson crashed in turn two on lap 133. Alex Lloyd crashed 20 laps later, and Tomas Scheckter dropped out with a broken driveshaft. On the lap 159 restart Vitor Meira went three-wide and took the lead, with Dixon second and Andretti third.
Around lap 169, Milka Duno went underneath Buddy Lazier at turn three, the two cars touched, and Duno ended up in the warm-up lane on a flat tyre. The leaders came in for what would be the final sequence of pit stops on lap 171. The closing laps were run under green.
What happened in the Briscoe and Patrick incident?
Leaving the pits, Ryan Briscoe drifted wide and made contact with the rear-right corner of Danica Patrick's car. Patrick spun, Briscoe struck the pit wall, and both cars were out. Patrick climbed out and began walking towards the Penske pits before a security guard intervened, and she walked back to her pit stall. After the race the pair were summoned to the IndyCar hauler.
Each was fined US$100,000 and given probation through the end of the 2008 season over the pit lane collision. While attention was on the incident, Dixon took over the lead.
Who won the 2008 Indianapolis 500?
Scott Dixon won, after leading 115 of the 200 laps and taking the lead for the last time on lap 172 during a sequence of yellow-flag pit stops. His crew completed a 7-second stop and beat Meira out of the pits, and the race finished under green. Dixon's margin was 1.7498 seconds, and it gave him his first Indianapolis 500 title.
He was the 19th driver to win from pole, and the first New Zealander to win the race. It was also the first Indy 500 win for Chip Ganassi Racing since 2000.
What were the key numbers of the race?
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pole and winner | Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing; first Indy pole and first win |
| Winning margin | 1.7498 seconds, over Vitor Meira |
| Laps led by Dixon | 115 of 200 |
| Podium | Dixon, Meira, Marco Andretti |
| Fastest practice lap | 228.318 mph, Marco Andretti, 10 May |
| Qualifying bump day | Dominguez crashed; Roth and Lazier held on |
| Penalties | Patrick and Briscoe fined US$100,000 each, probation to the end of 2008 |
| Carb Day | Practice cancelled after eleven minutes; Pit Stop Challenge cancelled for the first time |
What did the race mean for the drivers?
For Dixon the win came from pole and a race he controlled for most of the day, and it put the Ganassi team back in the winner's circle for the first time since 2000. For Kanaan the race brought a record for consecutive races led, although his crash ended his chances. Wheldon, who had led early and taken second in qualifying, faded with handling problems in the closing stages.
The race also showed how hard the transition had been for the former Champ Car squads. Meira's second place and Andretti's third completed the podium behind Dixon.
