The Most Mercurial Race

All top-three qualifiers at this year's Indianapolis 500 lost the race in an instant. First was Ed Carpenter Racing's Rinus Veekay: Qualified third with a 233.385 mph, lost his car in Turn 2 while running second on lap 38. Next was Alex Palou: Qualified second with a 233.499, came into the pits just as a caution came out on lap 67, forcing him to drive through pit lane without stopping and needing to stop again on the next lap. Perhaps most heartbreaking was Scott Dixon: Qualified first with a record-setting 234.06 mph, locked all four tires on pit entry on lap 175, and got a drive-through penalty for violating the pit speed limit…by 1 mph. This allowed his Ganassi teammate Marcus Ericsson to take a maiden victory at the 500.

For Dixon, the most successful driver in the IndyCar series, it was a familiar bout of misfortune. Twenty Indy 500 appearances, five pole positions, and more laps led than anyone else—during the race, he raised his tally to 665, overtaking the late Al Unser Sr.'s 644—have only translated to one win. This looked like Dixon's year. He ran a beautiful race, swapping positions with teammate Palou to save fuel in the early stages, and once Palou's race was ruined, he either led, or stayed well in touch with the leader. But, that tiny little mistake, that lapse in judgment, was all that did it.

Given his record at the Speedway, it feels like Dixon has a curse. He's not the only one. The Andretti Curse is well documented. Despite being a force at Indy for decades, only Mario managed a win, in 1969. His sons Michael and Jeff, nephew John, and grandson Marco have never managed to accomplish the same feat, and not for lack of trying.

That's just the nature of the Speedway—it gives and it takes, and you could be forgiven for thinking it mostly takes. That has a lot to do with the track itself.

"It's never the same," 2016 winner Alexander Rossi told Road & Track in a pre-race interview at a Tag Heuer event. "I found this out this week. If you look at Scott's pole run, that's 10 miles that he did in two-and-a-half minutes. Ours was 10 miles in 2:30.7. When we talk about 'Oh yeah, the track temp picked up 8 degrees,' or, 'The wind gust picked up 4 mph,' it's small numbers, but over 10 miles you're talking about seven-tenths of a second. Even though it feels like it's a big gap in terms of miles per hour, it's not."

Rossi managed to convert 20th in qualifying into 5th at the checkered thanks to his typically excellent racecraft, well-executed pit stops, and smart strategy. But that Rossi, a 500 winner and a standout talent in IndyCar qualified 20th at all speaks volumes.

I offer that a racer can never get comfortable or complacent at Indy. "Correct," Rossi says. "If you do that, you'll either be very slow or you'll hit something. There's zero margin, and you have to have the respect for it every time you go out, it's very weird and wild from that standpoint. You can crash leaving pit lane. Every moment, you have to be on it. "

Rossi also says that May is the toughest month of the year mentally for an IndyCar driver. There are so many media- and sponsor-related responsibilities outside of the car beyond, you know, having to put yourself right on the edge in qualifying, that it's easy to be already exhausted before you get in the car. "My favorite part of the month is getting in the car before the race because you're done talking about it," Rossi says. "You can go to work and do what you've been talking about for the past three weeks." Unless, of course, you win.

Only Scott Dixon knows what was going through Scott Dixon's mind when he locked up on pit entry. At the traditional Monday post-race banquet, Dixon reportedly showed up late, per NBC Sports, but did speak to a local NBC affiliate before taking the stage that night. "You can’t imagine how I feel, mate," he said. "It was a tough pill to swallow and something I didn’t expect, honestly," Dixon continued. "It was a real bummer. It was really close. Looking back at what really happened makes it even worse."

The whole crowd, an estimated 325,000, felt the heartbreak. (Well, maybe not those partying in the infamous Snakepit or outside the Speedway gates, but you get what I mean.) Arguably, it's the heartbreak that makes winning such a big deal. So many drivers come back year after year for another chance at glory. Dixon's record of five poles and one win is extraordinary, and it isn't.

The reality is that there is no curse on any driver racing the 500, not Scott Dixon, not Rinus Veekay, not Alex Palou, not scores of Andrettis. The Speedway is a demanding and fickle track, a living thing more than any other in the world. Winning here requires a lot, and the 2022 Indy 500 is proof.

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