Simon Says!

May 14, 2019





Jerome, Mario Andretti and Kevin

Simon Pagenaud



Simon Says!

The 2019 Indy Grand Prix was one of the most thrilling of all the races held since it started back in 2014, the weather conditions keep the drama building as for the first time ever, I watched Indycars speeding around the track in the rain. Once again this year, I had the good fortune to spend the race weekend in the comfort of my friend Brent’s Suite located on the main straight just above the pit lane and this year, I invited my nephew Jerome who was in town to see my sister for Mother’s Day from his home in Chicago.

Jerome and Michele





Jerome

Jerome and I were joined by my friends Kevin and Ted for the race itself and as usual, we had pit passes that allowed us into the garage area, on the pit lane and on the grid prior to the start of the race. I always enjoy the grid at the Grand Prix because it is so much less crowded than the madness at the Indy 500.



Josef Newgarden

Sebastian Bourdais

Chip Ganassi

It was great seeing Jerome, who is no doubt the one of my four nephews that I have spent the least amount of time with in recent years. He is doing great and I really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with him. We went out to dinner with my sister Michele the evening prior to the race, checking out my friend Jonathan Brook’s well regarded restaurant Beholder. It did not disappoint.



David Letterman



Race day looked overcast and threatening, but we were able to enjoy all the prerace hoopla without any rain falling and the race got underway under clear but moisture laden skies that seemed ready to open up at any second.  None of that detracted from the grid walk, where we were able to get up close with the drivers, cars and teams as they prepared to start the race.







Then it was up to the comfort of the suite for the actual race, which got off to a great start before any rain arrived. Rosenqvist, Dixon and Ed Jones showing the way through the early laps. I think the knowledge that rain was approaching caused many of the drivers to try and get to the front as quickly as possible and the mid-pack was pretty chaotic as the race went on.



The rain eventually arrived, first as small drops dampening the track before a more substantial rainfall that required all of the teams to pit for rain tires which caused all sorts of chaos and varying strategies as the ever changing conditions played havoc with whatever preplanned strategy the teams may have had. It also made the race a heck of a lot more exciting, interesting and entertaining.

Felix Rosenqvist







The rain started about at the halfway point and with-in about ten laps it was a real factor as teams and drivers struggled to keep the cars from spinning off the track. Once the rain started and everyone was settled in, Scott Dixon had a pretty substantial lead.  He was leading Jack Harvey, who put in a terrific drive, by over 5 seconds with 10 laps to go and looked to have everything in hand.





Olivier

Simon Pagenaud had other thoughts and was busy charging his way forward from his sixth place position with 15 laps to go. He began an incredible charge up through the field in what were tricky conditions to say the least. Pagenaud passed Harvey for second in Turn 1 with five laps remaining, trailing Dixon by 3.9666 seconds as the rain intensified. The gap evaporated to 1.8388 seconds just one lap later. With three laps left, Pagenaud closed to within .5404 of a second and drove into the rooster tail of spray from Dixon’s car. 

Ed Carpenter

Takuma Sato

Marcus Ericcsson








Pagenaud closed the gap to .5167 of a second with two laps to go. On Lap 84, Dixon ran slightly wide in Turn 7 in his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, and Pagenaud dove under him in a bid for the lead. The cars made light contact, and Pagenaud drove past Dixon for the lead in Turn 9. It was a spectacular drive to victory for Pagenaud and easily the most exciting Indy Grand Prix held to date.

Simon Pagenaud





Bobby Rahal