By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
By virtue of finishing seventh in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, Santino Ferrucci was the top-finishing rookie in the NTT IndyCar Series.
And judging by the hurdles cleared by the 20-year-old throughout the day, the result was particularly special.
“The spotter comes on the radio and says, ‘All right, just don’t go high, don’t go high,'” said Ferrucci. “Then I see everybody starting to wreck.”
This was a split second before a six-car crash sparked in Turn 3 of Indianapolis Motor Speedway with 22 laps to go. Ferrucci was found directly in the eye of the whole mess as Zach Veach, Felix Rosenqvist and others around him found the wall.
Somehow, Ferrucci zig-zagged his way through the grass and out of harm’s way.
“I floored it because I thought that was the smart thing to do,” he said. “Then I saw the grass, which to me was the only hole, and that looked like the most intelligent place to go. So, we mowed the lawn in retrospect, and we came out just fine.”
Running around the edge of the top 10 most of the 500-mile event, the Dale Coyne Racing rookie improved from his 23rd-place qualifying effort to cross the yard of bricks in seventh place. The result was a career-high through 10 IndyCar starts.
“The race was — it’s surprisingly longer than it looks,” he said. “Racing with other drivers was actually a lot more fun than I had ever hoped it to be. I got to battle it out almost the entire race with [Ryan] Hunter-Reay, who’s a champion here. I can’t thank him enough because the experience that you get racing someone like that and the enjoyment and excitement of racing around other competitors like him, it was just a blast.
“I think that was probably some of the best parts. It feels like a victory.”
Completing his first Indy 500 in front of an estimated crowd of more than 300,000 people, Ferrucci said he almost became a fan as well as competitor.
“You’re here to be a part of the event as much as compete in it,” he said. “Being a fan and a competitor, it was one of those things where you get to be in awe of what’s around you. It’s still overwhelming. I’ve never been in front of 300,000 people. I’ve never seen what that looks like, either. I can tell you it was probably one of the coolest days of my life.”
With now three top-10 finishes through six races in 2019, Ferrucci is happy to have come consistency align with the season’s progression.
“It’s nice to have a rolling consistency being in the top 10,” he said. “Going into Detroit will be the first time I’m back in a track that I actually know on the calendar. I’m very much looking forward to the duels.
“I kind of wish there was another 500 tomorrow to be perfectly honest with you.”