Scott Dixon blazes past the competition for his 3rd Indy 500 pole! “Ice in His Veins”

When everything had settled after Sunday’s “Fast Nine” qualifying, Indycar’s “Iceman” Scott Dixon had taken the pole at Indianapolis for the 3rd time in his career. As a surprise to many at the track Dixon had been consistent all month, but not as strong as his counterparts at Andretti Autosport.

Dixon’s pole broke Penske Racing’s five race consecutive streak at pole position which is one of the most dominant runs in recent history. Dixon always very calm and calculated was even surprised at the times that he was recording on Sunday evening.

Dixon said,“I thought maybe the dash had broken on the steering wheel and brought up a fake number. We seriously didn’t expect to see the speed that we did. Big day for us. Today we managed to get it done and we’re starting in the right place. The hard part now is to keep it there.”

After yesterday’s horrific qualifying crash, it was announced that Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais had suffered a fractured pelvis and hip. He underwent surgery on his injuries late Saturday night and will miss the 101st Indianapolis 500 next Sunday. In a statement Bourdais was thankful for all of the support.

“I want to thank everybody for the support and the messages,” Bourdais said in a statement. “Quite a few drivers have already dropped by. It’s going to take time, but I’m feeling pretty good since the surgery. I’ll be back at some point. Just don’t know when yet.” Bourdais will be replaced by James Davidson next Sunday.

Formula one driver Fernando Alonso qualified 5th in his Andretti Autosport McLaren Honda. He will be joined in the second row by teammate Takuma Sato and Ed Carpenter racing’s J.R. Hilderbrand

Alonso has been very fast all month and barring a problem he had on the second lap of his qualifying run. He was trending towards the top spot of the scoring pylon. He experienced a slight “overboost” which actually slows the car down for a short period of time.

“It was like hitting the brakes,” Alonso said. “I went one gear down and started again picking up the speed, and I crossed the line and it was (230.7 mph) or something like that. When I thought it was 225 or something, I nearly came to the pit lane because (I thought), this qualifying run is over with this problem.’ Still running, still putting the laps together and then I was happily surprised with the total time.”

With qualifying over, horsepower will now be reduced and so will the speeds. Drivers will turn their focus from a fast four laps to a fast 200 laps. The next few days in practice expect to see a lot of cars going in groups preparing for race conditions for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.