2007 Indianapolis 500

91st Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	Indy Racing League
Season	2007 IndyCar season
Date	May 27, 2007
Winner	Dario Franchitti
Average speed	151.774
Pole position	Hélio Castroneves
Pole speed	225.817
Fastest qualifier	Hélio Castroneves
Rookie of the Year	Phil Giebler
Most laps led	Tony Kanaan (83)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Members of United States Armed Forces
"Back Home Again in Indiana"	Race fans & the Purdue Band
Starting Command	Mari Hulman George
Pace car	Chevrolet Corvette
Pace car driver	Patrick Dempsey
Honorary starter	Peyton Manning
Attendance	300,000+ (estimated)[1]
TV in the United States
Network	ESPN on ABC
Announcers	Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, and Rusty Wallace
Nielsen Ratings	4.3 / 12
Chronology
Previous Next 2006 2008

The 91st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 27, 2007. It was the twelfth Indy 500 sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, and marked the fifth race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season. Hélio Castroneves started the race on the pole position.

The race began at 1:11 p.m. EDT,^[2] and was televised in the United States on the ABC. The race was broadcast in high-definition for the first time. The race also was carried live on the IMS Radio Network and XM Satellite Radio.

On lap 113, the race underwent a lengthy rain delay, with Tony Kanaan tentatively sitting as the leader. After three hours, the rain ceased, the track was dried, and the race restarted shortly before 6:15 p.m. EDT. A crash on lap 162 between Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti brought out the yellow flag with Dario Franchitti leading. Under the caution, rain began falling again and officials halted the race on lap 166. Dario Franchitti was declared the winner after leading 34 laps during the race.

For the first time, all entries utilized a 100% percent fuel-grade Ethanol blend, after 42 years of utilizing methanol. The fuel was actually a denatured 98% ethanol / 2% gasoline blend (E98). The 2007 race was also the final 500 to see the Panoz chassis in the race

Race schedule

Race schedule — May 2007 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat     1   2   3   4   5 Mini-Marathon 6 ROP 7 ROP 8 Practice 9 Practice 10 Practice 11 Practice 12 Time Trials 13 Time Trials 14   15   16 Practice 17 Practice 18 Practice 19 Pole Day 20 Bump Day 21   22   23 Comm. Day 24   25 Carb Day 26 Parade 27 Indy 500 28 Memorial Day 29   30   31

Color Notes Green Practice Dark Blue Time trials Silver Race day Red Rained out* Blank No track activity * Includes days where track activity was significantly limited due to rain ROP — denotes Rookie Orientation Program Comm. Day — denotes 500 Festival Community Day

News

• The pace car for the 2007 Indy 500 was a Chevrolet Corvette.^[3] Patrick Dempsey was the driver.^[4]
• Kid Rock headlined the Miller Lite Carb Day concert.^[5] Other performers during the month included Daughtry, Saliva, Augustana, and Bräck (a band headed by the former Indy 500 champion).^[6]
• Indianapolis Colts quarterback and Super Bowl XLI MVP Peyton Manning served as the grand marshal of the IPL 500 Festival Parade on May 26, and waved the green flag to start the 2007 Indy 500.^[7]
• No testing took place prior to the start of official May activities.^[8]
• The initial official entry list was released on April 10, 2007 featuring 69 cars, four former winners, and one rookie.^[9]
• Davey Hamilton's 02 car marks the first time in which a car number beginning with the digit "0" has been entered in the 500.^[10]
• Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was fined $25,000 for the use of an illegal fuel mixture, containing 27% methanol (no methanol is allowed) in one of its cars during Pole day. Team officials claimed this was due to an inexperienced crew member using an old container of fuel and was not intentional. Indy Racing League chief administrator Brian Barnhart called this "at least plausible," noting that the presence of water in the fuel mixture supports the claim that the fuel was old. The illegal mixture was used only during practice, not for a qualification attempt.^[11] It should be noted that from 1965–2005, only methanol fuel was used in the Indianapolis 500; in 2006, a 10% ethanol-90% methanol mixture had been used in the IRL in transition to the ethanol fuel used in the IRL for the 2007 season.
• Jim Nabors, who sang "Back Home Again in Indiana" during the pre-race festivities twenty-nine times from 1972 to 2006, missed the 2007 race due to an illness. The fans were asked to sing the song in his place.^[12]

Practice (week 1)

Sunday May 6, 2007 - A.J. Foyt Opening Day & Rookie Orientation Program

• Weather: Sunny, 73 °F
• Practice summary: The first day of practice opened with a ceremonial lap celebrating A.J. Foyt's fiftieth year of participation at Indianapolis. Practice focused on the rookie tests of Milka Duno and Phil Giebler, as well as refresher tests by five veterans. Duno completed all four phases of her rookie test, and Giebler completed two. Michael Andretti posted the fastest speed of the day, while popular Davey Hamilton made his return to the cockpit, after a devastating 2001 crash at Texas. No incidents were reported.

May 6, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[13]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	39	Michael Andretti	Andretti Green	219.871
2	12	Ryan Briscoe	Luczo-Dragon Racing	218.216
3	02	Davey Hamilton	Vision Racing	218.022
4	21	Jaques Lazier	Playa Del Racing	216.467
5	23	Milka Duno (R)	SAMAX Motorsports	214.128

Monday May 7, 2007 - Rookie Orientation Program

• Weather: Sunny, 76 °F
• Practice summary: The second day of Rookie Orientation saw the same seven drivers from the previous day's practice without incident. Rookie Phil Giebler finished the final two phases of his rookie test. Rookie Milka Duno completed the most practice laps of the day (74), while Michael Andretti posted the fastest speed for the second day in a row.

May 7, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[14]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	39	Michael Andretti	Andretti Green	221.579
2	12	Ryan Briscoe	Luczo-Dragon Racing	221.427
3	02	Davey Hamilton	Vision Racing	220.214
4	21	Phil Giebler (R)	Playa Del Racing	217.091
5	19	Jon Herb	Racing Professionals	216.763

Tuesday May 8, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Sunny, 82 °F
• Practice summary: The first full day of practice featured veterans on the track for the first time. Dan Wheldon led the speed chart as the first driver over 225 mph (362 km/h). Jon Herb was involved in the first crash of the month, doing a half-spin at the exit of turn two and crashing into the outside wall. Herb was not injured.

May 8, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[15]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	225.074
2	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	224.996
3	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	224.783
4	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	224.622
5	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.564

Wednesday May 9, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Morning rain, afternoon clouds, 78 °F
• Practice summary: Rain in the morning and early afternoon delayed the start of practice until 4:00 p.m. The two-hours session saw heavy action, with Dan Wheldon leading the speed chart for the second day in a row. No incidents were reported.

May 9, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[16]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	226.391
2	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	225.820
3	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.902
4	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	224.745
5	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	224.112

Thursday May 10, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Partly cloudy, 86 °F
• Practice summary: The warmest day of the week thus far saw some of the fastest laps turned so far for the month. Scott Dixon set fast lap with two minutes remaining in the session. Danica Patrick was second fastest for the day. No incidents were reported

May 10, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[17]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	226.473
2	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green	226.358
3	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.902
4	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	226.161
5	12	Ryan Briscoe	Luczo-Dragon Racing	225.995

Friday May 11, 2007 - Fast Friday IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 °F
• Practice summary: The final day of practice before pole qualifying saw Scott Dixon turn the fastest lap of the month. Rookie Milka Duno crashed in the exit of turn 1. She spun and hit the SAFER barrier hard with the rear of the car, but she was not injured.

May 11, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[18]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	227.167
2	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	226.650
3	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	226.236
4	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	226.230
5	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	226.189

Qualifying (first weekend)

Saturday May 12, 2007 - AAMCO Pole Day

• Weather: Sunny, high 82 °F
• Qualifying summary: Pole day time trials were held under a new qualifying procedure, implemented in 2005, but not fully utilized in 2005 or 2006 due to rain delays. Only the top 11 cars would qualify on pole day, and the remaining would be "bumped" out. Each qualifying run consisted of four laps, and each car was allowed three attempts per day. Buddy Rice was the first out to qualify, but his speed ultimately did not make the top 11. During the first trip though the qualifying order, Team Penske pulled both Hélio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. out of line, and decided to attempt to qualify later in the day, when the temperatures would be cooler. After the initial qualifying runs, Dario Franchitti qualified for the provisional pole position. Later in the afternoon, both Castroneves and Hornish completed qualifying runs, but neither were unable to knock Franchitti off the pole. Hornish's first attempt would have been fast enough to take the pole, but he nearly hit the outside wall in the southchute on his second lap. Even with this error, however, Hornish's run was only 0.0327 seconds slower than Franchitti's. Almost immediately, Hornish withdrew and tried a second attempt, and again nearly took the pole, but on his final lap, his car bobbled in the northchute, and his second attempt was slower than his first. This would cost him a spot on the starting grid when Scott Dixon later withdrew his qualifying run and made another attempt, this one faster than Hornish's second attempt. With eight minutes left in qualifying, Castroneves' car was withdrawn, and he made a second attempt. After nearly four hours, Franchitti was finally knocked off the pole position. With only three minutes left, Tony Kanaan withdrew his first attempt, made the final qualifying run of the day. While his first three laps were fast enough to take the pole away from Castroneves, his last lap fell short and qualified second. This is Hélio Castroneves' second Indy 500 pole position. He also won the pole in 2003.

Sunday May 13, 2007 - Second Day Qualifying

• Weather: Fair skies, high 74 °F
• Qualifying summary: The second day of time trials filled positions 12-22 on the starting grid. The first hour saw heavy action, featuring strong runs from IndyCar Series regulars such as Scott Sharp (the first to qualify, and his 223.875 speed would hold up as the fastest of the day), Jeff Simmons and Darren Manning. Fan favorite Davey Hamilton also qualified with a solid speed. Later in the afternoon, Sarah Fisher became the second woman to qualify for the field. Bumping began with Marty Roth, Buddy Lazier and Jon Herb all being bumped. Herb went out later, and bumped himself back into the field, only to be bumped out a second time by Lazier. As time was running out, Jaques Lazier took to the track to try to bump himself into the top 22, and effectively bump his brother Buddy out. He was too slow and waved off the run. At the end of the day, two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser, Jr. was the most notable driver bumped for the day, and had to attempt to qualify on the second weekend.

Practice (week 2)

Wednesday May 16, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Mostly cloudy early, clearing late, high 62 °F, 18 mph (29 km/h) WNW winds
• Practice summary: The first day of practice for second-week deals. Only incident was a spin of Jimmy Kite's car when the gearbox casing of his PDM Racing Panoz cracked in turn 2, causing the left-rear suspension to fail. The car made moderate wall contact with the left-front corner and Kite was cleared to drive. Several teams that qualified during the first weekend tested race set ups and ran in packs, including Danica Patrick who set the fastest lap of the day. Jaques Lazier (217.159 mph) had the fastest lap among drivers who are not yet in the field.

May 16, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[21]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green	221.189
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	220.556
3	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	220.484
4	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	220.399
5	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	220.131

Thursday May 17, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Mostly cloudy early, clearing late, high 65 °F, 16 mph (26 km/h) North winds
• Practice summary: The second straight day of cold and windy weather resulted in fewer than 800 total laps being turned among 23 drivers. The only incident of the day resulted when Stephan Gregoire lost control on the exit of turn 1 and backed the car into the wall in the south short chute. Only light damage was sustained to the car, but Gregoire complained of back pain and was transported to Methodist Hospital where he was diagnosed with a fracture of the third vertebra endplate. John Andretti made his first appearance in an IndyCar since 1994 and completed his refresher test. Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap of the day while drafting with teammate Dan Wheldon. Gregoire (217.851 mph) turned the fastest lap among drivers yet to qualify before his encounter with the wall.

May 17, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[22]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	219.985
2	10	Dan Wheldon	Target Chip Ganassi	219.773
3	14	Darren Manning	A.J. Foyt Racing	219.116
4	2	Tomas Scheckter	Vision Racing	218.230
5	20	Ed Carpenter	Vision Racing	217.995

Friday May 18, 2007 - IndyCar Series practice

• Weather: Sunny, high 65 °F
• Practice summary: The final full day of practice went incident free as 31 cars took to the track. All the front runners were running in packs, learning how their cars performed in "dirty air." Sam Hornish, Jr. turned the fastest lap of the day during such a session. The non-qualified cars of John Andretti and Roger Yasukawa both turned laps over 222 mph (357 km/h) without drafting assistance as their teams trimmed their cars out to prepare for qualifying. Friday marked the last day of full practice; however, all cars will be permitted to practice on Saturday and Sunday during down periods when no cars are presenting to qualify.

May 18, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds[23]
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	225.006
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi	224.458
3	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	224.340
4	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	224.253
5	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Green	223.668

Qualifying (second weekend)

Saturday May 19, 2007 - Third Day Qualifying

• Weather: 72 degrees, sunny and fair skies
• Qualifying summary: The third day of time trials focused on positions 23-33. Rookie Milka Duno was the first car to make an attempt, and she became the third female (along with Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher) to qualify for the same race, an Indy 500 record, becoming the fifth female in Indy 500 history to start the race. Veterans Al Unser, Jr. and John Andretti qualified solidly, while second-week drivers Roger Yasukawa and Alex Barron also completed runs. In the final hour, Jon Herb finally made the field, after being bumped the weekend before, but rookie Phil Giebler crashed on his fourth and final lap. Roberto Moreno, just named to the ride Friday, along with Jimmy Kite, wrapped up the qualifying for the day. At the end of the day, the field stood with 32 qualified cars, one short of a full field. During the morning and afternoon, 32 cars made practice runs, most in preparations for race day. Since only 10 of the 11 allotted positions were filled, no bumping occurred Saturday.

Sunday May 20, 2007 - Bump Day Qualifying

• Weather: Sunny and warm
• Qualifying summary: The field filled to 33 cars just before 3 p.m. as Richie Hearn completed a qualifying attempt. Phil Giebler recovered from his crash the previous day and was able to put his car solidly in the field, bumping Jimmy Kite. Roberto Moreno withdrew his time from the previous day and improved his average by about 4 mph (6.4 km/h), putting Marty Roth on the bubble. P. J. Jones and Jimmy Kite spent the afternoon trying to get their cars up to speed. In the final hour, both Jones and Kite were running out of miles on their Honda engines leases, and neither had made much progress. Ultimately, Jones gave up. Meanwhile, Kite decided to go out and make last ditch qualifying effort, but his speed was not nearly fast enough to bump Roth. The 6 p.m. gun sounded, and Roth held on to qualify for his third Indy 500.

Carb Day

Friday May 25, 2007 - IndyCar Series final practice

• Weather: cloudy, humid, 82 °F
• Practice summary: All 33 qualified cars took to the track and turned in a complete hour-long final practice without incident. Later that evening at 3:30 the Miller Lite Concert started with headline act Kid Rock.

May 25, 2007 - Top Practice Speeds
Rank	Car No.	Driver	Team	Best Speed
1	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green	225.467
2	27	Dario Franchitti	Andretti Green	223.807
3	39	Michael Andretti	Andretti Green	223.575
4	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	223.527
5	21	Jaques Lazier	Playa Del Racing	223.468

Friday May 25, 2007 - Checkers/Rally's Pit Stop Challenge

Team Penske won the 31st annual pit stop contest, their record tenth overall victory in the event. The teams of Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. (both Penske entries) met in the finals with Castroneves and his chief mechanic Rick Rinaman winning the $100,000 first prize after an 8.335-second pit stop.

Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
				Helio Castroneves (Penske)	7.6770
Scott Sharp (RLR)	8.466			Scott Sharp (RLR)	stalled
Scott Dixon (Ganassi)	11.650							Helio Castroneves (Penske)	8.335
								Sam Hornish, Jr. (Penske)	8.888
				Sam Hornish, Jr. (Penske)	8.4471
Vitor Meira (Panther)	10.095			Vitor Meira (Panther)	11.7395
Dario Franchitti (AGR)	11.773

Qualifying Chronology

Pole Day - Saturday, May 12, 2007[26][27]
Attempt	Time	Day	Car No.	Driver	Laps	Total Time	Speed (mph)	Result	Position	Rank
1	12:03	1	15	Buddy Rice	4	2:42.3336	221.766	Qualified; bumped by Michael Andretti	—	—
2	12:08	1	9	Scott Dixon	4	2:40.4630	224.351	Qualified; withdrawn	—	—
3	12:12	1	12	Ryan Briscoe	4	2:40.4208	224.410	Qualified	7	7
4	12:18	1	8	Scott Sharp	4	2:41.7994	222.498	Qualified; bumped by Marco Andretti	—	—
5	12:21	1	10	Dan Wheldon	4	2:40.9401	223.686	Qualified; withdrawn	—	—
6	12:27	1	20	Ed Carpenter	4	2:41.6630	222.685	Qualified; bumped by Castroneves	—	—
7	12:31	1	22	A. J. Foyt, IV	4	2:42.5527	221.467	Qualified; bumped by Scheckter	—	—
8	12:36	1	55	Kosuke Matsuura	4	2:42.2603	221.866	Qualified; bumped by Simmons	—	—
9	12:40	1	7	Danica Patrick	4	2:40.6596	224.076	Qualified	8	8
10	12:45	1	4	Vitor Meira	2	1:21.4705	220.939	Waved off	—	—
11	12:48	1	11	Tony Kanaan	4	2:40.2719	224.618	Qualified; withdrawn	—	—
12	12:53	1	27	Dario Franchitti	4	2:39.8642	225.191	Qualified	3	3
13	12:58	1	2	Tomas Scheckter	4	2:41.5238	222.877	Qualified, bumping Foyt IV	10	14
14	1:03	1	39	Michael Andretti	4	2:41.5880	222.789	Qualified, bumping Rice	11	16
15	1:07	1	17	Jeff Simmons	4	2:41.6617	222.687	Qualified, bumping Matsuura; bumped by Hornish	—	—
16	1:11	1	26	Marco Andretti	4	2:41.2186	223.299	Qualified, bumping Sharp	9	13
17	4:12	1	3	Hélio Castroneves	4	2:40.0088	224.988	Qualified, bumping Carpenter; withdrawn	—	—
18	4:36	1	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	4	2:39.8969	225.145	Qualified, bumping Simmons; withdrawn	—	—
19	4:51	1	6	Sam Hornish, Jr.	4	2:39.9227	225.109	Qualified	5	5
20	5:23	1	9	Scott Dixon	4	2:39.9136	225.122	Qualified	4	4
21	5:28	1	8	Scott Sharp	4	2:41.6209	222.743	Failed to qualify	—	—
22	5:33	1	17	Jeff Simmons	4	2:41.8433	222.437	Failed to qualify	—	—
23	5:38	1	10	Dan Wheldon	4	2:40.2557	224.641	Qualified	6	6
24	5:42	1	20	Ed Carpenter	4	2:41.6871	222.652	Failed to qualify	—	—
25	5:48	1	14	Darren Manning	4	2:41.6844	222.656	Failed to qualify	—	—
26	5:52	1	3	Hélio Castroneves	4	2:39.4214	225.817	Qualified	1	1
27	5:57	1	11	Tony Kanaan	4	2:39.4634	225.757	Qualified	2	2
Sunday May 13, 2007[27][28]
Attempt	Time	Day	Car No.	Driver	Laps	Total Time	Speed (mph)	Result	Position	Rank
28	12:02	2	8	Scott Sharp	4	2:40.8041	223.875	Qualified	12	9
29	12:07	2	55	Kosuke Matsuura	4	2:41.7290	222.595	Qualified	17	18
30	12:11	2	99	Buddy Lazier	4	2:43.3010	220.452	Qualified; bumped by Rice	—	—
31	12:16	2	17	Jeff Simmons	4	2:40.9352	223.693	Qualified	13	10
32	12:20	2	25	Marty Roth	4	2:43.7193	219.889	Qualified; bumped by Foyt IV	—	—
33	12:25	2	14	Darren Manning	4	2:41.0950	223.471	Qualified	15	12
34	12:30	2	50	Al Unser, Jr.	4	2:42.9233	220.963	Qualified; bumped by Herb	—	—
35	12:35	2	19	Jon Herb	4	2:43.7065	219.906	Qualified; bumped by Fisher	—	—
36	12:39	2	02	Davey Hamilton	4	2:41.9238	222.327	Qualified	20	21
37	1:09	2	4	Vitor Meira	4	2:41.9196	222.333	Qualified	19	20
38	1:45	2	20	Ed Carpenter	4	2:41.0777	223.495	Qualified	14	11
39	2:24	2	22	A. J. Foyt, IV	4	2:41.8607	222.413	Qualified, bumping Roth	18	19
40	3:26	2	5	Sarah Fisher	4	2:42.1914	221.960	Qualified, bumping Herb	21	22
41	3:34	2	15	Buddy Rice	4	2:41.5612	222.826	Qualified, bumping B. Lazier	16	15
42	5:29	2	19	Jon Herb	4	2:42.8440	221.070	Qualified, bumping Unser Jr.; bumped by B. Lazier	—	—
43	5:53	2	99	Buddy Lazier	4	2:42.6165	221.380	Qualified, bumping Herb	22	24
44	5:58	2	21	Jaques Lazier	1	0:40.8700	220.210	Waved off	—	—
Saturday May 19, 2007[27][29]
Attempt	Time	Day	Car No.	Driver	Laps	Total Time	Speed (mph)	Result	Position	Rank
45	12:03	3	23	Milka Duno	4	2:44.2129	219.228	Qualified	29	32
46	12:07	3	24	Roger Yasukawa	4	2:41.6855	222.654	Qualified	23	17
47	12:12	3	19	Jon Herb	3	2:02.5974	220.233	Waved off	—	—
48	12:25	3	25	Marty Roth	4	2:44.4421	218.922	Qualified	30	33
49	12:59	3	33	John Andretti	4	2:42.3403	221.756	Qualified	24	23
50	2:20	3	50	Al Unser Jr.	4	2:42.9871	220.876	Qualified	25	25
51	5:14	3	98	Alex Barron	4	2:43.2871	220.471	Qualified	26	26
52	5:18	3	21	Jaques Lazier	4	2:44.0774	219.409	Qualified	28	31
53	5:23	3	19	Jon Herb	4	2:43.5561	220.108	Qualified	27	28
54	5:27	3	31	Phil Giebler	3	2:01.9724	221.362	Crashed in turn 2 on 4th lap	—	—
55	5:44	3	77	Roberto Moreno	4	2:46.4902	216.229	Qualified; withdrawn on bump day	—	—
56	5:54	3	18	Jimmy Kite	4	2:47.8104	214.528	Qualified; bumped by Giebler on bump day	—	—
Bump Day - Sunday May 20, 2007[27][30][31]
Attempt	Time	Day	Car No.	Driver	Laps	Total Time	Speed (mph)	Result	Position	Rank
57	2:39	4	91	Richie Hearn	4	2:43.7408	219.860	Qualified	32	29
58	3:52	4	31	Phil Giebler	4	2:43.9071	219.637	Qualified, bumping Kite	33	30
59	5:01	4	77	Roberto Moreno	4	2:43.4139	220.299	Qualified	31	27
60	5:57	4	18	Jimmy Kite	1	0:41.9103	214.744	Waved off	—	—

Starting Grid

Row	Inside		Middle		Outside
1	3	Hélio Castroneves (W)	11	Tony Kanaan	27	Dario Franchitti
2	9	Scott Dixon	6	Sam Hornish, Jr. (W)	10	Dan Wheldon (W)
3	12	Ryan Briscoe	7	Danica Patrick	26	Marco Andretti
4	2	Tomas Scheckter	39	Michael Andretti	8	Scott Sharp
5	17	Jeff Simmons	20	Ed Carpenter	14	Darren Manning
6	15	Buddy Rice (W)	55	Kosuke Matsuura	22	A. J. Foyt IV
7	4	Vitor Meira	02	Davey Hamilton	5	Sarah Fisher
8	99	Buddy Lazier (W)	24	Roger Yasukawa	33	John Andretti
9	50	Al Unser, Jr. (W)	98	Alex Barron	19	Jon Herb
10	21	Jaques Lazier	23	Milka Duno (R)	25	Marty Roth
11	77	Roberto Moreno	91	Richie Hearn	31	Phil Giebler (R)

(W) = Former Indianapolis 500 winner; (R) = Indianapolis 500 rookie

Failed to Qualify:
#40 P. J. Jones
#18 Jimmy Kite

Race summary

Pre-race

• Weather: 76 degrees, cloudy and rain, some patches of sunshine in the afternoon

Rain fell overnight, but stopped before the gates opened in the morning. At 7:45 a.m., rain began to fall again, and threatened to delay or wash out the race. Around 10:00 a.m., the rain stopped and maintenance crews began to dry the track. Despite the morning showers, Speedway chairperson Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines on time as scheduled at 1:05 p.m. EDT.

Start

During the pace lap, the race nearly took a dramatic turn as pole-sitter Helio Castroneves failed to start. After several attempts, his car finally fired, and he joined the field in turn 4. A rather ragged start saw Castroneves take the lead into the first turn, but Tony Kanaan slipped by to lead lap one. Green-flag racing continued until lap 11, when John Andretti lost a rear-view mirror, bringing out a debris caution yellow flag.

When racing resumed, Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, and Scott Dixon all took their turn at the lead. Roberto Moreno caused the 2nd caution when he slid high in turn 1, slapped the wall, and hit the wall again in turn 2 before coming to rest. Jon Herb was the next car to be in an accident after he slid in turn 2 and hit the wall, ending his day. Milka Duno also spun in turn 1 and backed her car into the wall, damaging and ending her day as well.

On the 74th lap, Dario Franchitti took the lead for the first time, and led until he pit on the 89th lap. Around that time, officials were warning that rain was approaching the area. After several drivers sequenced through green-flag pit stops, Tony Kanaan led Marco Andretti. Suddenly, on the 99th lap, John Andretti got high in turn two, and crashed into the outside wall, bringing out the caution. Jeff Simmons found himself unexpectedly in the lead, but pitted a lap later, giving Marco Andretti the lead. With rain only a few miles away, the ensuing lap 107 restart could decide the winner. As the green came out, Tony Kanaan got the jump on Andretti, and took the lead in turn 1. Moments later, Phil Giebler spun and crashed in turn 1, bringing the yellow out once again. Before safety crews could clear the track, heavy rain fell, and the race was red flagged.

Red flag

When the race was stopped, 113 laps were completed. A race is required to go a minimum of 101 laps before it can be official. If rain continued the rest of the afternoon, it could be declared over. Andretti Green Racing was scored 1st-2nd-3rd with Kanaan leading, Marco Andretti second, and Danica Patrick third. After nearly three hours, the rain stopped and the track was dry. Shortly after 6:00 p.m., the field lined up in the pits for a restart.

Restart

Tony Kanaan took over where he left off and pulled away from the field. Danica Patrick got by Marco Andretti and took over second place. Approximately 30 laps of uninterrupted intense green flag racing followed. Another sequence of green-flag pit stops saw all of the leaders head to the pits. Jaques Lazier stayed out a couple of extra laps, and led the race for the first time in his career. After the stops, Kanaan returned to the lead, followed by defending champion Sam Hornish Jr.

Finish

On the 151st lap, Marty Roth slid high in turn 1 and smacked the wall, and started an exciting sequence of events. The skies were darkening, and rain was fast approaching again, which would certainly end the race for good. Under the yellow, many leaders pit for tires and fuel, while some drivers, including Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, stayed out to gain track position. On the 156th lap, the field went back to green, however, in turn four, Tony Kanaan came up on the back of Jacques Lazier, sending Lazier into the wall, and sending Kanaan's car into a spin. He blew a tire and coasted into the pits. Moments later, the field assembled for what was expected to be the final restart before the rains came. Franchitti, working lap 163, held the lead into the backstretch. Behind him, Marco Andretti tangled with Dan Wheldon, and Andretti's car flipped down the backstretch. Buddy Rice was also involved. Before the track could be cleared, a heavy rainstorm fell on the track, and the race was called after 166 laps with Dario Franchitti declared the winner. A makeshift victory lane celebration was held indoors underneath the Pagoda, as had been done for Rice who also won in the rain in 2004.

As of the start of the 2017 race, this was the most recent "500" to be shortened by rain.

Full race results

Finish	Start	Change	Car No.	Driver	C*	Laps	Time/Retired	Team	Points
1	3	+2	27	Dario Franchitti	D	166	2:44:03.5608	Andretti Green	50
2	4	+2	9	Scott Dixon	D	166	+0.3610	Target Chip Ganassi	40
3	1	-2	3	Hélio Castroneves (W)	D	166	+1.8485	Team Penske	35
4	5	+1	6	Sam Hornish Jr. (W)	D	166	+4.6324	Team Penske	32
5	7	+2	12	Ryan Briscoe	D	166	+5.2109	Luczo-Dragon Racing	30
6	12	+6	8	Scott Sharp	D	166	+9.3470	Rahal Letterman	28
7	10	+3	2	Tomas Scheckter	D	166	+11.3823	Vision Racing	26
8	8	0	7	Danica Patrick	D	166	+12.1789	Andretti Green	24
9	20	+11	02	Davey Hamilton	D	166	+15.4116	Vision Racing	22
10	19	+9	4	Vitor Meira	D	166	+17.6991	Panther Racing	20
11	13	+2	17	Jeff Simmons	D	166	+19.7119	Rahal Letterman	19
12	2	-10	11	Tony Kanaan	D	166	+21.4339	Andretti Green	18+3
13	11	-2	39	Michael Andretti	D	166	+35.1235	Andretti Green	17
14	18	+4	22	A.J. Foyt IV	D	165	+1 Lap	Vision Racing	16
15	26	+11	98	Alex Barron	D	165	+1 Lap	CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports	15
16	17	+1	55	Kosuke Matsuura	D	165	+1 Lap	Panther Racing	14
17	14	-3	20	Ed Carpenter	D	164	+1 Lap	Vision Racing	13
18	21	+3	5	Sarah Fisher	D	164	+2 Laps	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	12
19	22	+3	99	Buddy Lazier (W)	D	164	+2 Laps	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	12
20	15	-5	14	Darren Manning	D	164	+2 Laps	A.J. Foyt Racing	12
21	23	+2	24	Roger Yasukawa	D	164	+2 Laps	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	12
22	6	-18	10	Dan Wheldon (W)	D	163	Collision	Target Chip Ganassi	12
23	32	+9	91	Richie Hearn	D	163	+3 Laps	Hemelgarn Racing/Racing Professionals	12
24	9	-15	26	Marco Andretti	D	162	Collision	Andretti Green	12
25	16	-9	15	Buddy Rice (W)	D	162	Collision	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	10
26	25	-1	50	Al Unser, Jr. (W)	D	161	+5 Laps	A.J. Foyt Racing	10
27	28	+1	21	Jaques Lazier	P	155	Accident	Playa Del Racing	10
28	30	+2	25	Marty Roth	D	148	Accident	Roth Racing	10
29	33	+4	31	Phil Giebler (R)	P	106	Accident	Playa Del Racing	10
30	24	-6	33	John Andretti	D	95	Accident	Panther Racing	10
31	29	-2	23	Milka Duno (R)	D	65	Accident	SAMAX Motorsport	10
32	27	-5	19	Jon Herb	D	51	Accident	Racing Professionals	10
33	31	-2	77	Roberto Moreno	P	36	Accident	Chastain Motorsports	10
Race average speed: 151.774 mph (244.257 km/h)
Official box score

^*C Chassis: D=Dallara; P=Panoz. All cars in the 2007 Indianapolis 500 used Honda engines and Firestone tires.

Race Leaders

Nine drivers led the race, with a total of twenty-three lead changes.^[32]

Laps Leader 1-2 Tony Kanaan 3 Hélio Castroneves 4-13 Tony Kanaan 14-17 Hélio Castroneves 18-26 Tony Kanaan 27-40 Hélio Castroneves 41-46 Marco Andretti 47-53 Scott Dixon 54-68 Tony Kanaan 69-71 Scott Dixon 72-73 Sam Hornish, Jr. 74-88 Dario Franchitti 89 Scott Dixon 90 Michael Andretti 91-100 Tony Kanaan 101 Jeff Simmons 102-107 Marco Andretti 108-116 Tony Kanaan 117 Marco Andretti 118-136 Tony Kanaan 137-143 Dario Franchitti 144-145 Jaques Lazier 146-154 Tony Kanaan 155-166 Dario Franchitti

Driver Laps led Tony Kanaan 83 Dario Franchitti 34 Hélio Castroneves 19 Marco Andretti 13 Scott Dixon 11 Sam Hornish, Jr. 2 Jaques Lazier 2 Michael Andretti 1 Jeff Simmons 1

Caution Periods

There were eleven caution periods during the race, with a total of fifty-five laps run under yellow, including the race's final lap.^[32]

Laps	Cause
11-15	Debris in turn 1 from John Andretti
38-43	Roberto Moreno crash, turn 1
52-59	Jon Herb crash, turn 2
66-70	Milka Duno crash, turn 1
99-106	John Andretti crash, turn 2
108-111	Phil Giebler crash, turn 1
112-113	rain (red flag after lap 113)
114-115	restart
151-156	Marty Roth crash, turn 1
157-161	Tony Kanaan/Jacques Lazier crash, turn 4
163-166	Marco Andretti/Dan Wheldon/Buddy Rice/Ed Carpenter crash, backstretch

Awards

The Victory Celebration was held Monday May 28, 2007.^[33] Some of the many awards handed out during the evening included:

• A record total purse of $10,668,815
• Race winner Dario Franchitti won $1,645,233
• Phil Giebler won the Rookie of the Year
• Tony Kanaan won the Scott Brayton Driver's Trophy

Broadcasting

Television

The race was broadcast in the United States on ABC for the 43rd consecutive year. Time trials were shown live on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. For the first time, the race would be aired in high definition.

This was the final 500 broadcast for Rusty Wallace as he was involved with ESPN on ABC NASCAR broadcasts.

For the second year in a row, the telecast utilized the Side-by-Side format for commercial breaks.

ABC Television
Booth Announcers	Pit/garage reporters
Host: Brent Musburger Announcer: Marty Reid Color: Scott Goodyear Color: Rusty Wallace	Jack Arute Vince Welch Brienne Pedigo Jamie Little

Radio

The race was broadcast on radio by the IMS Radio Network for the 55th consecutive year. Mike King served as anchor. Davey Hamilton, who previously served as the "driver expert" on the network, returned to cockpit for the first time since 2001. After six years recovery from his serious crash, he offered live in-car reporting to the broadcast during caution periods.

Making a popular return to the IMS Radio Network was former "Voice of the 500" Bob Jenkins. In 2006, Jenkins had worked on the Speedway public address system, but for 2007, he took over the turn two reporting location. Jenkins filled the spot previously held by Adam Alexander, who departed the network.

For the third year in a row, Kevin Olson conducted his annual pre-race interview with David Letterman. Olson served as a pit reporter in the center pits during the early stages of the race, then later moved to cover the garages and track hospital.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Booth Announcers	Turn Reporters	Pit/garage reporters
Chief Announcer: Mike King Driver expert: Johnny Parsons Color: Dave Wilson Historian: Donald Davidson Live in-car reports: Davey Hamilton Commentary: Chris Economaki	Turn 1: Jerry Baker Turn 2: Bob Jenkins Turn 3: Mark Jaynes Turn 4: Chris Denari	Jake Query (north pits) Dave Argabright (center pits) Kevin Lee (south pits) Kevin Olson (garages/hospital)

See also

• Indy Racing League
• 2007 IndyCar Series season

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2007 Indianapolis 500.

• 

  2007 Chevrolet Corvette pace cars

Notes

References

Works cited

• 2007 Indianapolis 500 Daily Trackside Report for the Media
• Indianapolis 500 History: Race & All-Time Stats - Official Site

2006 Indianapolis 500 Sam Hornish, Jr.

2007 Indianapolis 500 Dario Franchitti

2008 Indianapolis 500 Scott Dixon

Preceded by Kansas Lottery Indy 300	IRL IndyCar Series round 5 2007	Succeeded by ABC Supply Company A.J. Foyt 225