What a beautiful Bump Day
In Indiana, the Indianapolis 500 is a big deal. A very big deal. So big that it engulfs the whole month of May. Hoosiers get it. Others may not. I grew up in Indiana and first visited the track when I was a kid. Started regularly going in high school, and have been ever since with few exceptions. If I can’t attend the race, I try to get there sometime in May – I always have. The sound of the engines screaming by, the smell of the methanol (now ethanol) fuel, lugging in the coolers, Jim Neighbors, the fly-overs, the enormous crowds, etc. – these are the things Hoosiers think of in May. Now the race may not be for everyone, and I can accept that. But for those of us who love it, it is a very cool thing.
Today was Bump Day, where dreams and bankrolls are shattered in an instant. Drivers who qualify on the second day of time trials line up behind the first-day qualifiers. Third day qualifiers line up behind the second day qualifiers, followed by the fourth day (nicknamed “Bump day”) qualifiers. Once the field is filled to 33, the slowest car, regardless of the day it qualified, is “on the bubble.” If another car qualifies faster, he/she will bump the slowest driver out of the field.
Since 2005, the four days of qualifying have been split up to generate bumping on all four days:
- On pole day, positions 1-11 are open for qualifying
- On the second day, positions 12-22 are open for qualifying
- On the third day, positions 23-33 are open for qualifying
- On bump day, bumping begins immediately once the field is filled to 33 cars.
You can check out the 2009 Indianapolis 500 Starting Grid here.