After successful road race, transition to oval

Via IndyCar.com

Less than two hours after celebrating Will Power’s victory in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis victory, the crew had stripped the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske chassis to its framework in the garage at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“There’s another coming quickly,” said Team Penske competition director Kyle Moyer, referring to preparations for the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 24.

Similarly, IMS crews were in transition mode. Activity switches from the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course to the 2.5-mile oval May 11 with practice scheduled from 2-7 p.m. (ET). Qualifications are May 16-17.

Power led 65 of the 82 laps and went on to finish 1.5023 seconds ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal, who recorded his second consecutive runner-up placing in the No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Honda in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

Spectators enjoyed the sprint, which had only one caution for two laps, from viewing mounds lining the infield portion of the road course and grandstands. Minutes after the race, fans were walking the circuit and grabbing selfies on the Yard of Bricks in the Speedway’s first-ever “Track Invasion.” Fans, Verizon IndyCar Series drivers and IMS and INDYCAR officials said the three-day race weekend, which include free admission for practice May 7 and an open pit walk, was a great way to continue the Month of May activities at the venerable venue. On May 3, 28 driver/car combinations had their first opportunity to test the new superspeedway aerodynamic bodywork platforms by Chevrolet and Honda.

“A year ago, before the first road course race, our aspiration was that it was such a resounding success that nobody would be thinking about whether we should be doing it again,” said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., the parent of INDYCAR and IMS. “That was our view as to what came out of it and now people are really excited about it. Then we got to this year and we almost insidiously created the fourth weekend.

“With the 500 Festival you have the Mini Marathon and it made a lot of sense to have Rev, this second-year fundraiser for the IU and Methodist Hospital Foundations and INDYCAR needed to test superspeedway aero kits so we had cars on the track. All of a sudden we had a weekend and it just felt so right that it was May and so the track was alive. My inclination, having experienced that weekend, is that we don’t want to give it back. Four weekends in May is right for this place, and we simply need to be smart about creating great content for those fans and give them every reason to be out here.”

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