[imported_Melissa]

First day of qualifying was Saturday.

I felt so bad for Dario Franchitti - he had that pole practically all day and got bumped off of it at less than 5 till 6! And it was Helio's second try, I think that sucks.

 

[talleyJudy]

We're not really "into it" but do watch all the Indy 500 telecasts leading up to and and do watch the race. But at heart we're "old time NA$CAR fans.

But HEY.... racin' is racin', well, except for Formula I....

 

[imported_Melissa]

That's like us. We watched qualification for quite a while though on Saturday while we were waiting on someone.

I still can't get over how they qualify that race. It's nuts!

 

[BudGirl8]

I didn't watch any of the qualifying but heard about it later. That whole process is just bizarre. I just read where back in the day they used to have well over 100k people in the stands for QUALIFYING! Now they're lucky to get 20k. The suggestion has been made to have qualifying on one weekend instead of two and maybe people would show up...

This years race should be berry berry interesting...

 

[imported_bearsdad]

I watched Sunday for a while and heard they changed the qualifying rules again, but did not hear how.

 

[IzzyLucyWillie]

My SU and boys are into to it in a big way.
They watch everything they can. They are going to the race and are so excited.
We have a guy who lives in our area who they have gotten to be friends with. He has raced at Indy before and is going to try to qualify again this week (Jimmy Kite) .

 

[imported_Melissa]

I watched Sunday for a while and heard they changed the qualifying rules again, but did not hear how.

Here's how *I* understand it. Keep in mind, we're just bystanders to the 500, so I may not have it exactly right.

4 days of qualifying:

Day 1 - set spots 1 through 11
Day 2 - 12 through 22
Day 3 - 23 through 33
Day 4 - Bump Day

Each day you get three attempts to qualify. Jason was telling me how they used to have strikes - if you waved off your qualifying run, you got a strike and after 3 were pulled from competition - they don't have that anymore.

So, everyone who is qualifying that day draws for spots. Once everyone gets through once, you can get back in line for your second and third attempts. Drivers keep taking the track until 6. Once you take the track for an additional attempt, you've given up your original qualifying spot.

Bump Day - the person with the slowest qualifying time in the field can get bumped out - no matter what spot they are qualified in. (Since spots are set on different days, it's possible that the person in 15th place could have a faster qualifying speed than the person in 8th.)

I may be missing something. But that's what I've put together so far.