The Indy 500 and the Grand Prix of Monaco always run on the same Sunday in May, during the Memorial Day long weekend, the equivalent of the Victoria Day long weekend in Canada. While this might seem like a minor inconvenience, it can cause major problems. Back when Demaras Racing was in karts, there was always a race on the long weekend.
I am still mad a ta certain karting teammate for spoiling the outcome of the 2017 Indianapolis 500. While the rest of us were wrenching on karts (and recording the race at home) he was watching the race in an RV parked trackside, then came out yelling that Takuma Sato just won the Indy 500 There should be laws against spoiling a race like that!
We had to stay off social media all Sunday and away from the news until Monday night when we finally finished watching all the big races we’d recorded.
Indianapolis 500
Josef Newgarden took back-to-back wins at the Indianapolis 500, adding his name to the list of racing royalty like Wilbur Shaw, Bill Vukovich and Al Unser who’ve also won consecutive races. Team Penske driver Newgarden started on the front row, and was competitive all day long. He lost the lead to McLaren driver Pato O’Ward late in the race and had to make a brave outside pass at Turn 3 on the final lap to take the win. While it was crushing to see O’Ward finish second (again) the Indy 500 win will hopefully silence Newgarden’s critics.
Monaco Grand Prix
Over in Formula 1, Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc took pole position and the win at his home race in Monaco. No. 16 has started on pole before, and even lead the race in the late stages, but never managed to seal the deal. He famously took pole position in 2021 but his race car broke on the way to the starting line, a DNS (Did Not Start). Some in the paddock took to calling it a ‘curse’ claiming that Leclerc would never win Monaco. But the hometown boy crossed the finish line 0.154 seconds in front of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and 0.248 clear of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.
Félicitations to Charles and the Scuderia Ferrari. Congratulations to Joseph and Team Penske. And to poor Patricio O’Ward… keep your chin up. Your time will come.
~ Chris #16 Demaras ~