“It’s a dream come true,” said Tony Kanaan and race fans were ecstatic.  He is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and very popular with the media and the fans.  After 11 attempts to win in Indy, his time had finally arrived.  He recalled his father, who has passed, saying to him, “Never give up.”  He shared that comment and more to reporters at the Economaki press conference room.  My take is that everyone starts to race the last 20 laps and it’s anyone’s game at this point.  Though I was in the media room at the time, on lap 197, former Indy car champion Dario Franchitti hit the wall on turn four.  On the yellow, Tony Kanaan had taken the lead at this point. (There was a record 68 lead changes in yesterday’s race.)  In past experiences involving Tony’s finishes under the yellow flag, caution changed his fate, only this time he says, “It became my best friend.”  Andretti Autosport was dominant and the strongest to take the win this year. It is speculated by many, including myself, that one of the five drivers would have taken Sunday’s race if Dario had not hit the wall—such as Marco Andretti who finished fourth or the “fearless” rookie, Carlos Munoz, who placed second, or Ryan Hunter-Reay, who placed third.  Pole sitter, Ed Carpenter, a hometown favorite of race fans and favored also to win this year’s race said, “This was a tough race, so competitive.” He finished in the tenth position but said Sunday that he is looking forward to trying it again next year.

Learn more about the Izod Indy Car Series and  future development plans for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in our sports department upcoming summer issue written by our contributing business editor, Rick Richards.