Last year, in my recap of the Indy 500, I talked about how much I loved seeing 86-year-old Roger Penske jump for joy when his team’s driver, Josef Newgarden, took the checkered flag. This year was much the same, with Penske celebrating as Newgarden again triumphed in a nail-biter of a race. Only the man known as “The Captain” is now 87. Talk about thriving in one’s golden years!

Truth is, everyone who saw the race felt excited, because it featured what every spectator wants to see: dramatic passes. Today’s IndyCars are so heavily regulated that there is little speed difference between them. The cars run in tight packs, and the drivers use the draft of the car ahead to slingshot past each other. That means lots of passing. So when Newgarden was leading in the second to last lap, I figured he was just a sitting duck because the second-place driver could swing by just before the checkered flag. And, indeed, Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward passed Newgarden during last lap. Only he did so right at the beginning, which seemed too early to me. O’Ward’s the pro, however—not me—and down the long straight leading to the final two turns, his move seemed to be the right one. He pulled to the inside of the track leading into turn three and thus blocked Newgarden’s most obvious path back into the lead.

At this point, I should note that there is a wall that lines the track and that both Newgarden and O’Ward were traveling at some 220 mph. I also need to mention that the outside of a turn is treacherously slipperier than the preferred inside line, because rubber thrown off tires over the course of the race accumulates into little rubber balls called “marbles.” Imagine driving over a bunch of mini ball bearings. That’s why you rarely see drivers pass on the right. Except Newgarden did just that, pulling off an incredibly courageous—and dangerous—pass on the outside of turn three. Announcer Leigh Diffey exclaimed, “This is mind blowing!” After the finish, O’Ward was in tears—surely mourning his loss but also, I imagine, feeling totally gutted by how it happened. He never thought Newgarden would attempt that kamikaze move and succeed. None of us did. The Indy 500 certainly delivered drama and heroics this year. Watch that final pass here.

It was a face-saving win for a Penske team mired in a cheating scandal. On April 24, IndyCar announced that Penske drivers had illegally used a push-to-pass system (a brief burst of increased power) during the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Florida, which Newgarden had won. The infraction was considered so severe that IndyCar took the unusual step of disqualifying Newgarden and retroactively declaring the second-place driver, O’Ward, the rightful winner. In response, Penske conducted an internal review, admitted fault, and on May 7 suspended four senior team members for two races, including the Indy 500. One of those suspended was Team President Tim Cindric. They won Indy anyway.

Meanwhile, over in Monaco, Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc won a Formula 1 race that was expected to be a boring affair… and absolutely was, with the top 10 drivers finishing in the same order they started. Today’s wide F1 cars and the narrow Monaco streets leave almost no opportunity for passing. When a rare chance to make a move opens, drivers then take huge risks with often catastrophic results. That happened twice in the opening laps. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen saw a tiny lane alongside Sergio Perez, went for the pass, and caused a collision instead. Perez’s Red Bull was destroyed. Alpine driver Esteban Ocon enraged his team when he tried an optimistic move on his teammate Pierre Gasly, taking them both out of the race. The total damage cost several million dollars.

Still, can you really blame those drivers for trying? They’re athletes, born with a hunger to go for it and an unshakable confidence that they’ll succeed. That’s what got them to the pinnacle of motorsports. Sometimes it works, like it did for Newgarden. Sometimes it doesn’t.  

Fun aside: The Autopian ran a Monaco piece with this headline: The Most Exciting Part Of The Monaco Grand Prix Might Be This Out-Of-Control Boat Hitting A Yacht On ‘Billionaire’s Row’.

This weekend, IndyCar heads to the streets of Detroit, which is, umm, not Monaco. Hagerty will be there, of course, covering all the action. Be sure to follow us on social if you don’t already. And if last weekend’s racing smorgasbord has you filled-up with motorsports for the moment, don’t worry, we’ve been busy off the track, as well. Below you’ll find a short list of the latest from Hagerty Media. I hope you’ll give these pieces a look and also consider supporting us by joining the Hagerty Drivers Club.

• Aussies also run their vintage hot rods on the sand.
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