After being bumped out of the top 11 in Saturday’s Pole Day qualifications for the 92nd Indianapolis 500, 19-year-old Graham Rahal had his helmet on and was ready to climb back into his Indy car in an attempt to lock in a starting position for the May 25 race.
But in the closing moments of qualifications, Rahal’s Newman/Haas/Lanigan team decided to pull the car out of the staging area, ending any hopes of making a final attempt on Saturday because they didn’t put a set of new Firestone tires on Rahal’s ride.
Oops.

“It makes me mad because I really did feel like we could have made it. I’m frustrated because we had a good car today and I definitely had the speed to do that. It’s basically like shooting yourself in the foot. You need to be prepared for any situation even if it doesn’t look realistic like it is going to happen, you need to be there, you need to have your stuff there, you need to be ready to go and we weren’t.”

— Graham Rahal

Without new tires, there was no chance Rahal would be able to build up a four-lap average speed fast enough to knock Tomas Scheckter out of the starting lineup. Scheckter had just run a four-lap average of 223.496 miles per hour.
So after qualifying his way into the race early in Saturday’s six-hour session, then getting bumped out, Rahal was unable to bump his way back into the starting lineup, which left the youngest driver ever to win an IndyCar Series race fuming at his team.
“I was excited to go back out,” Rahal said. “Scheckter lowered the bump speed so much by going back out it was realistic that we could have made it. I think we were at that speed anyway on our last run.
“It’s pretty sad because when I pulled up I told the team to have tires ready, just in case. It didn’t happen.”
The team told Rahal that there wasn’t enough time to get through the qualifying line to make an attempt, but as cars began to pull out of line, Rahal could have made another attempt before the gun was fired at 6 p.m. to end the session.
“We made a mistake with the gearing on the last run,” Rahal said. “If we had pulled the gear lower, I’m pretty positive we could have run that speed. In practice, we did 223.999 by ourselves with the same setup.
“They should have told me before I got my helmet on. They waited until I got ready and they were like, ‘Oh, by the way, we don’t have tires.’”
Rahal’s mental attitude was frustrated, but at his team, not at himself.
“It makes me mad because I really did feel like we could have made it,” Rahal said. “I’m frustrated because we had a good car today and I definitely had the speed to do that. It’s basically like shooting yourself in the foot. You need to be prepared for any situation even if it doesn’t look realistic like it is going to happen, you need to be there, you need to have your stuff there, you need to be ready to go and we weren’t.”
Sunday’s second round of qualifications was rained out, so Rahal has to wait a week to get back into the race when qualifications resume on Saturday.
“We were so close today,” Rahal said. “That’s what is disappointing about it.”
Scheckter made a gamble by withdrawing his car from the 11-car starting lineup assuming he would be bumped out later in the session. But he actually went out and went slower on his second attempt. The good news for Scheckter and his Luczo Dragon Racing team was none of the other drivers trying to get in the top 11 could go any faster.
Scheckter’s first qualification run was four laps at 223.779 miles per hour.
That’s the speed that his team withdrew and on the second attempt, Scheckter’s four-lap average dropped to 223.496 mph.
“I’m just so happy,” a relieved Scheckter said. “To be honest, it feels like I’ve got the pole just to survive that top 11. We just struggled and struggled. Every time that car went out, it went a bit slower and slower. Then we saw people behind us coming.
“That lap I was completely sideways in (turn) three. I had a big save in (turn) three on the second lap. On the third lap going into three it was, to say, a little bit exciting.
“I’m just very thankful that we made it into the top 11.”
Scheckter said the reason that the speeds didn’t increase at the end of the day, as many expected, was the wind picked up.
“When we are running such low downforce on the car, even going down the straight in the car, it would shove left and right, moving all about,” Scheckter explained. “Really, you are sometimes dictated by where the wind goes. I think that is what you were really seeing is that with that first lap being good is that with that first lap, the tires are good. They can avoid some of the wind.
“Then the wind starts throwing the car around. Then the times just drop off and drop off.”
Scheckter was able to gamble and even though it didn’t pay off, he didn’t get bounced out of the top 11.
Rahal would have loved to have had one final chance, however, and believes he was denied by his own team.
“This isn’t a frustration with the joint; it’s a frustration with something else,” Rahal said. “It makes me mad because we could have made it.”