ALEXANDER ROSSI
The American circus of racing did its Memorial Day bit. The race itself was kind of 'ho-hum' compared to other years, but its final moments were anything but a snoozer. All teams were running out of gas and had to make 'splash and go' stops close to the end. If you were a betting person the win paid 66 to 1 and was a shock to most. Winning in his rookie year was Alexander Rossi from California. Not the first rookie to do so, number nine, actually. Emotions were high and you could tell it in his voice when told that he had won. Back to the gas problem, his tteammate Carlos Munoz was in the lead, but had to stop for a splash. Rossi should probably have stopped for fuel too, but chose not to......he ran out of fuel right after crossing the finish line.
Second went to a very upset Carlos Munoz who has been second twice in the last four years. Josef Newgarden, from my favorite team Ed Carpenter Racing, came in thired. Tony Kanaan came in 4th, Takumo Sato came in 26th, Ed Carpenter 31st due to a crash and last year's winner, Juan Pablo Montoya, 33rd due to a crash on lap 63.
Years ago, when Rossi was in his mid-teens, I saw an interview with his mother about their choice to send him to England to train for Formula One. Rare for Americans. He did well in several series and became a test driver for Caterham and Marussia.....granted, the two bottom teams, but a start. Caterham went out of business and Marussia was sold to Manor. He had been considered for the U.S. team that was coming, but they didn't have enough funding. He is still listed as a relief driver for Manor, but with nothing in sight he jumped to Indycar and the rest will be history.
photo credit: © 2016 crash.net
