Rookie Wins Indianapolis 500

The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 featured 54 lead changes, 13 different leaders, a total of 850 passes and in the end it was a relative unknown, 24-year old rookie Alexander Rossi who was the winner.  The margin of victory was nearly four and a half seconds over second-place Carlos Munoz.

Rossi found himself in first place with three laps to go as one by one the leaders ahead of him peeled off into the pits for a splash of fuel.  Rossi took the white flag 13 seconds ahead of Munoz and from there it was a matter of keeping the engine running.

As Rossi was conserving fuel to reach the finish line his final lap was just under 180 mph, 45 mph slower than the fastest lap of the day which Rossi also set.  Obviously it was not an exciting finish, but more a question of which car would have enough gas to finish.

Rossi becomes the ninth rookie driver to win the world's biggest race and the first since Helio Castroneves in 2001.  It was just his sixth Indy-car race.  Before Sunday his best finish was 10th two weeks ago.

The Tennessee driver who visited WYRK on Tuesday, Josef Newgarden finished third with Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball completing the Top 5.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ontario who started from the pole finished seventh.