88th Indy Pole Position Set


Buddy Rice won the pole position for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500. The substitute driver for the injured Kenny Brack guided the No. 15 Honda powered Rahal-Letterman owned racer to a four lap average of 222.024 miles per hour.

The pole position win garnered Rice a check for $100k for his efforts. His run surprised everyone at the 2.5 mile stored racing facility, including Rice himself. He wasn't a favorite and his times in practice were mediocre to say the least.

Andretti Green teammates Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon won the other two front row positions. Wheldon qualified second with a cumulative speed of 221.524 while his teammate Franchitti won the third front row starting position with a speed of 221.471 miles per hour.

It isn't really odd that some of the big names in IRL racing aren't on the front row, although there are some regular fan favorites in the top ten. Tony Kanaan qualified fifth with a speed of 221.200, and is positioned in the middle of the second row with the No. 11 Andretti Green Honda. Fan favorite and fence climber Helio Castroneves is in the middle of the third row in the eighth position with the No. 3 Team Penske Toyota after qualifying with a speed of 220.882. Tomas Scheckter rounds out the top ten with the No. 4 Panther Racing's Chevy with a 220.418. The driver Scheckter replaced at Panther Racing, Sam Hornish Jr., is in 11th position with the No. 6 Team Penske Toyota with a speed of 220.180.

Scheckter's tenth place position is the highest placed Chevy. Rookie Mark Taylor qualified in 15th with the No. 2 Panther Racing Chevy with a speed of 219.282. Chevy's took positions 15 thru 18 with rookie Ed Carpenter (218.590), previous winner Al Unser Jr. (217.966), and Robby Gordon (216.397) in the drivers seats.

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The copyright of the article 88th Indy Pole Position Set in Indy Racing League is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish 88th Indy Pole Position Set in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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