New Indy 500 Qualification/Points Procedure

[DanicaFan]

Im not sure if I like this or not. The IRL keeps messing with tradition. They already took the Month of May away from the 500 and made the race basically a 2 week format.

But I will give it a fair shot and see how it plays out. I hope I get this information right and that it makes sense.

Here I go..

There will be a new qualification procedure for the Indianapolis 500 this year as well as how they distribute the points for the championship standings..

On pole day (May 22)they will qualify the top 24 spots for the 33 car field. They will still do the traditional 4 lap attempts. These attempts will be made between 11am-4pm. Each car will have 3 attempts during this time. After 4pm, the top 9 drivers in speed will have thier times erased. They call this the "FAST NINE ".These drivers will start no worse than 9th in the race. These 9 drivers will then make at least one 4 lap qualifying attempt between 4:30-6pm and possibly another attempt if time permits. The starting positions will be determined by thier speed. Then, the pole winner will be declared. If the weather is bad, the times from thier original qualifying session will determine thier starting position. Drivers from 10-24 will fall in position by speed.

On Bump Day (May23), the remaining 9 spots from position 25-33 will be filled(12-6pm). These spots will be determined by speed with the same 4 lap qualifying attempts. Once the 33 spots have been filled, the bumping will begin until 6pm and the field will be set.

As for points for the championship standings, this will be different for this race only. These points rewarded are as follows..

Pole Sitter - 15 points
P2 - 13 points, P3 - 12 points (front row)
Rows 2 & 3 will receive 11-6 points depending on starting position.
(Example - P4 (row 2) gets 11 points, P5 - 10 points. etc..
Positions 10-24 - 4 bonus points
Positions 25-33 - 3 bonus points

The Peak Performance Award Prize money will go up as well. Here is how it will break down..

Pole Sitter - $175,000
Position 2 - $75,000
Position 3 - $50,000

[SarahFan]

My take:

whatever! It will play out just fine..... But ya gotta ask? Why keep messing with tradition!?!?!

[Mark in Oshawa]

The only thing I don't like is giving points out for qualifying. As it has been seen in most forms of racing, and certainly at Indy, you can win from the back in a 500 mile race. By adding the pressure for the pole in the terms of putting out significant points for poles and good qualifying positions; you have now rewarded people for being fast for 4 laps. We call it racing, not qualifying. A point for the pole I get....maybe 5 for Indy, but 15?

All you are doing is pretty much handing one of the top teams free points for one of their drivers....

[Chris R]

Anything that is that complicated cannot be good.... If the average person on the street says "huh?" you have a problem....

[harvick#1]

The points thing is a joke, points should only be awarded for race, qualifying on pole give you no guarantee that you automatically win the race. I dont understand why some are mad. the pole is gonna come from a driver from Penske or Ganassi

[gm99]

So you get three times as many points for qualifying last for the Indy 500 than you would get for qualifying on pole for any other race? Ridiculous points scheme IMO...

[chuck34]

Don't like this at all. The old way worked, why mess with it?

[Mark in Oshawa]

Anything that is that complicated cannot be good.... If the average person on the street says "huh?" you have a problem....

I don't know whose idea this was, but if this was Bernard's idea, that is one strike against him. I suspect tho this is a Brian Barnhart idea, and Bernard didn't have that the sense or common sense to say no to the idea. On paper, to a layperson, it isn't a big deal. To those of us who understand racing, it is a bad idea.

[DanicaFan]

The only thing I don't like is giving points out for qualifying. As it has been seen in most forms of racing, and certainly at Indy, you can win from the back in a 500 mile race. By adding the pressure for the pole in the terms of putting out significant points for poles and good qualifying positions; you have now rewarded people for being fast for 4 laps. We call it racing, not qualifying. A point for the pole I get....maybe 5 for Indy, but 15?

All you are doing is pretty much handing one of the top teams free points for one of their drivers....

Good point Mark. Yeah, I wasnt hip about this when I first read it.

[Easy Drifter]

I do not like it at all.
I do understand the reasoning behind it.
It is to try and make the 500 that much more important in the eyes of the average person, although not for the real fans.
The Powers that Be are not concerned about us. They are pretty sure we will keep following the sport.
It is quite possible the impetus for this came from the track, not the IC itself.
Remember the Hulman family always had different rules for Indy no matter what group had a series. AAA, USAC or CART, the Hulman Family had different rules for the 500.
Tony just wanted to carry that a step further.