By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
The Speedway stood in near silence in the closing seconds Sunday afternoon during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. The only sound heard was the back-up engine ripping around the track from Kyle Kaiser, who only two days prior flipped his No. 32 in a violent Turn-3 accident.
Driving a back-up racecar that was re-built in an all-nighter, 23-year-old Kaiser shocked the world when he turned a four-lap average of 227.372 mph. In what was a last-ditch effort to make next Sunday’s race, the speed was good enough to earn their way into the Indy 500.
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Even before his vicious accident on Friday, Juncos Racing’s Month of May took a substantial hit when they lost out on multiple sponsors just weeks before the opening practice session. Seen driving an all-white chassis on Fast Friday, Kaiser’s green-and-orange back-up car pulled off the ultimate upset just 48 hours later.
“This team has been through so much adversity,” he said. “They never had the mentality of giving up,” Kaiser said. “They’ve shown that on the lower levels and we just showed it on the biggest stage in racing.
“Those guys were working during that rain the entire time scrubbing the car, getting it as slick as possible. Anything to get speed out of it.”
Even more shocking was who he beat: Fernando Alonso and McLaren, who were bumped by Kaiser by only 0.019 mph.
For Alonso, the polarizing Spaniard will not make his second start in the race after a troublesome month plagued the hig-profile team from start to end.
“We came here to race and to challenge ourselves, and we were not quick enough,” Alonso said. “You know, I congratulate all the other guys that did a better job, and hopefully we’ll see a nice show next Sunday, everyone safe, and enjoying from the TV unfortunately.”
Following the rash of issues, including a crash on Wednseday, Alonso knew he had his work cut out for him to be fast enough to make it.
“I drove with a loose car and didn’t lift off,” he said. “I drove with an understeer car; I didn’t lift off. I drove with a rear puncture; I only lift off in the last lap because I could not make the corner. And today we went out with an experiment that we did overnight.
“We were not maybe in the right philosophy to race next Sunday, and we went out not knowing what the car will do in Turn 1. But you’re still flat so, we tried.”
Sporting Director for McLaren Racing, Gil de Ferran offered a public apology to Alonso after the brutal loss.
“I want to apologize to you,” de Ferran said to Alonso sitting to his left. “We didn’t give you a car that was fast enough. You drove like the champion that we know you are. It’s been particularly these last three days, been incredibly tense and very difficult, and we couldn’t have asked anything more from you, Fernando. So I’m sorry, man.
“You’re an amazing driver. So you know, this is in my 35 years of racing — but this is the most painful experience I’ve ever had. There’s a mixture of emotions going on inside of me, but you know, we are racers. I want to come back tomorrow, you know. I want to fight. I want to come back tomorrow and fight. This is incredibly painful.”
Joining Alonso on “bumped” list is rookie Patricio O’Ward and Max Chilton, who each ran more than .180 mph off Kaiser’s speed. James Hinchcliffe and Sage Karam will join Kaiser in the race, each qualifying their ways into next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.