The 2000's, in Review: Part 1

Everyday for the rest of the year, I will be making a Top 5 list of certain things that have occurred over the last decade.

The Top 5 races at IMS

5. 2000 United States Grand Prix


In 1998, Tony George made a pact to built a road course inside the World's Great Speedway, and millions of dollars, many hours of work and a fantastic new pagoda later, Formula 1 had arrived in Indianapolis. Crowds were estimated at 200,000, by far the largest ever for a Formula 1 event. The race itself was not too exciting as Michael Schumacher ran away with it from the get-go (which was common practice at the time), but for at least one weekend out of the year, Indianapolis had a true international flair. (Now if somebody could just kick Bernie off his throne and put those beautiful racecars back where they belong!)

4. 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard


Tony Stewart captured his second victory at 16th and Georgetown but he had to duel with Kevin Harvick to accomplish it. There was solid passing all day, a very scary crash involving Jimmie Johnson off a restart (I watched the whole thing, his tire blew out right in front of me). Unless NASCAR gets rid of the COT, this will probably be the last decent Brickyard that we see for a while.

3. 2005 Indianapolis 500



Danica-mania officially arrived as Danica Patrick led the race early, wrecked on a restart and suffered minor damage with 45 laps left, and somehow still managed to find herself with the lead with 10 laps to go. She ultimately wasn't able to hold on as Dan Wheldon passed her with 4 laps left en route to his first 500 victory (and first for a Brit since Graham Hill in 1966). Danica wound up 4th after losing two more spots in the last 3 laps. It was a fantastic race and the crowd was going crazy, without a doubt.

2. 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard



Tony Stewart finally, finally, finally got his victory in front of his hometown crowd. He'd fought so hard on the track (and with cameramen after the race) in the years before only to be denied several times, usually with handling issues late. Not only was it great to see Smoke finally accomplish what he'd always wanted to do but he was involved in a fantastic fight with Kasey Kahne in the latter stages of the race. How could you not be happy for Tony Stewart? He had finally won his Super Bowl.

1. 2006 Indianapolis 500



Really? Do I need to explain why this is number 1? This is probably one of the top 5 best Indy 500s of all-time. Who would have thought that you would have the Andrettis running 1-2 with 5 laps to go and neither would hoist the trophy? (ok, maybe you could have thought that, but you get my point, hopefully) I'm not even going to explain how it ended, just watch the video. I don't know how Hornish didn't put both of them in the wall going into Turn 3. I'll never forget standing in the garage with my dad listening to the finish on the radio and hearing "Marco is going to win the 500! The youngest winner ever! This is amazing! I can't believe it! Marco's gonna do it and he's coming to the line and Sam Hornish wins!" and we just looked at each other like 'wait, what the hell just happened?'. Unbelievable. That race is what first resparked my interest in Indycar. I wish I could have been there.

Tomorrow's Review: Top 5 worst races at IMS (I promise, other sports will be involved in this)