Naptown Buzz

Your source for all things Indy™

Auto Racing

2011 Indianapolis 500 Day 5 Top Ten Planks

by

Day Five of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway consisted of no track activity, but a lot of “planking”.

At first I was wondering if this was some sort of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides publicity stunt, but as it turns out, planking is laying flat with your arms to the side.

So since we don’t have any speeds to report today, here’s our top ten list (plus a few extras) of today’s plank photos.

#10 – John Andretti

John's Plank

#9 – Wade Cunningham

Planking on the Yard of Bricks

#8 – KV Racing: E.J. Viso, Takuma Sato, Tomas Scheckter, Tony Kanaan

KV Racing Plank

#7 – Raphael Matos

Matos Plank

#6 – Will Power and Ryan Briscoe

Penske Plank

#5 – Scott Dixon

Indy Plank

#4 – James Hinchcliffe

Pole Plank

Wheel Plank

#3 – Arie Luyendyk Jr.

Crazy Plank!

#2 – Tony Kanaan

Bike Plank

Drumroll please…

#1 – Tomas Scheckter

Helmet Plank

Let’s hope the rain holds off tomorrow so we can stop the planking and get to driving!

What are your thoughts on planking? Leave a message on the Buzzline at 317-891-4627 and we might just play it on the podcast!

And if you’re up for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, catch us at the Traders’ Point midnight showing Thursday night/Friday morning…and yes, we’ll be back out at the track for Fast Friday!

2011 Indianapolis 500 Drivers on Twitter

by

As I’ve been at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for practice this year, one thing is clear, Twitter is a major hit with the vast majority of the drivers. Almost all of them have Twitter accounts and many of them tweet quite frequently.

Here’s the current list of driver Twitter accounts. Be sure to follow along and join in the conversation. You never know, they just might tweet you back.

And be sure to follow @IMS & @IndyCar as well for updates.

2011 Indianapolis 500 Day 4 Top Two

by

Day Four of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway consisted of one car, two drivers and thirteen total laps turned due to very cool track conditions and the occasional misty rain.

Marco Andretti bested Mike Conway in Conway’s car, for a “slow” 220.656 mph.

  1. No. 27 – Marco Andretti @ 220.656 mph
  2. No.27 – Mike Conway @ 219.910 mph

Let’s hope the rain holds off tomorrow so we can get a few more cars out on the track as temperatures are supposed to be around 10 degrees warmer.

2011 Indianapolis 500 Day 3 Top Ten

by

After the washout of Day Two, Day Three of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway turned out to be a good one, and our first full day of practice.

Led by Alex Tagliani, here’s the complete top ten run down for the day.

  1. No. 77 – Alex Tagliani @ 225.8782 mph
  2. No.9 – Scott Dixon @ 225.1243 mph
  3. No.38 – Graham Rahal @ 225.0714 mph
  4. No.6 – Ryan Briscoe @ 225.0165 mph
  5. No.2 – Oriol Servia @ 224.9036 mph
  6. No.14 – Vitor Meira @ 224.8137 mph
  7. No.67T – Ed Carpenter @ 224.7868 mph
  8. No.9T – Scott Dixon @ 224.4919 mph
  9. No.4T – JR Hildebrand (R) @ 224.43310 mph
  10. No.10 – Dario Franchitti @ 224.406mph

    2011 Indianapolis 500 Day 2 Schedule

    by

    Day two of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 events has been a rainy one this morning out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but if you’re at the track, here are the other activities you can enjoy today:

    12:35-1:45pm
    Live music by the Psychodots, Coca-Cola Stage

    2:00-2:30pm
    Q&A Session with IMS Historian Donald Davidson,  Coca-Cola Stage, followed by an autograph session

    3:30-5:00pm
    Live Music by Here Come The Mummies, Coca-Cola Stage

    Also, don’t forget, if there’s a driver you’d like us to ask a specific question, please submit it to us. And if you’re on Twitter, drop @surgebucket, @naptownbuzz & @briangroce a tweet today.

    Day 1 Top 10

    And a quick recap of top ten speeds on opening day…

    1. Ed Carpenter, 224.786
    2. Scott Dixon, 224.491
    3. JR Hildebrand (R), 224.433
    4. Dario Franchitti, 224.107
    5. Marco Andretti, 223.927
    6. Ryan Briscoe, 223.811
    7. Vitor Meira, 223.192
    8. Graham Rahal, 222.764
    9. Helio Castroneves, 222.755
    10. Justin Wilson, 222.360

    2011 Indianapolis 500 Opening Day In Pictures

    by

    Here are some of our best shots from the 2011 Indianapolis 500 Opening Day.

    Helio Castroneves

    Will Power

    Will Power

    Jay Howard

    Fuel Tanks

    James Jakes

    John Andretti

    Pippa Mann

    Pippa Mann

    Ryan Hunter-Reay

    Willy T. Ribbs

    Sebastián Saavedra

    Simona De Silvestro

    Paul Tracy

    2011 Indianapolis 500 Schedule

    by

    Naptown Buzz will be covering the 2011 Indianapolis 500 events from start to finish this year.  If you’re out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month, be sure to drop @surgebucket, @naptownbuzz, @briangroce & @melmcmahon a tweet.  And we’re going to do our best to get @jeffstanger out at the track some to.

    Also, don’t forget, if there’s a driver you’d like us to ask a specific question, please submit it to us.

    Here’s the 2011 Indianapolis 500 Schedule

    Saturday, May 14
    Gate Open 9 AM – 6 PM
    Opening Day

    Sunday, May 15 Thru Thursday, May 19
    Gate Open 9 AM – 6 PM
    Indianapolis 500 Practice

    Friday, May 20
    Gate Open 8 AM – 6 PM
    Fast Friday Practice

    Saturday, May 21
    Gate Open 6 AM – 6 PM
    Indianapolis 500 Pole Day Qualifying

    Sunday, May 22
    Gate Open 8 AM – 6 PM
    Indianapolis 500 Bump Day / IMS Armed Forces Day

    Wednesday, May 25
    Gate Open 9 AM – 6 PM
    500 Festival Community Day

    Thursday, May 26
    Gate Open 9 AM – 6 PM
    Indy Lights Qualifying

    Friday, May 27
    Gate Open 8 AM – 6 PM
    Carb Day – Freedom 100

    Saturday, May 28
    Gate Open 8 AM – 6 PM
    A.J. Foyt Day

    Sunday, May 29
    Gate Open 6 AM – 6 PM
    The 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race at 12:00 p.m./ET