Kallmann: A new curse, an important change, an emotional goodbye (maybe) and more from the 2022 Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS – How will the 106th Indianapolis 500 be remembered?

Well … Marcus Ericsson’s face will grace the Borg-Warner Trophy for as long as it exists, just the same as Mario Andretti’s and Scott Dixon’s do.

Ultimately that’s what matters.

But especially in comparison to a year ago, when Helio Castroneves joined the four-time winner’s club and then set the standard for celebration, Sunday’s strange race had so many other facets to it.

Individually they don’t necessarily overshadow the winner – trophy, payday and all – but collectively they linger. Also, coincidentally, many of them involve other members of Ericsson’s team.

The expectations. The disappointment. The sentiment.

Among them:

The Scott Dixon Curse

Dixon’s connection with Andretti’s legacy strengthened on a day he both moved to the top of the all-time lap leaders list and let victory slip through his grasp.

Andretti won 52 races and four titles on the various Indy-car circuits that existed in his era. Dixon has won 51 races and six championships in his. Andretti won the 500 in 1969 in his fifth try and went 24 years without another before his retirement at age 54. The 41-year-old Dixon won in 2008, his sixth attempt, and has gone 0-for-14 since.

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Fans who remember the 1980s and ’90s can still hear the booming voice of public address announcer Tom Carnegie telling a third of a million people, “Mario is slowing down,” as a race he had controlled ended in a parts failure.

Those who watched Sunday saw Dixon make one mistake – locking up his brakes and speeding on his final pit stop – and leaving the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a finish of 21st after he had led 95 laps.

Ericsson’s victory was a victory for Chip Ganassi Racing, but a near miss for the team’s longest-tenured driver was heart-breaking, no matter the happy face anyone put on the day.

Not how we used to do it

Considering a DJ now starts a set in the infield a couple of minutes after the race begins, it’s clear this isn’t your father’s Indy 500. Even at a place that embraces history and tradition the way IMS does, things do change.

After Jimmie Johnson crashed seven laps short of the finish, IndyCar officials were left with a choice: Let Ericsson and the rest of the field tool around behind the pace car under the yellow flag until 200 laps are done, or throw the red flag and stop the race.

They chose the latter. A cheer went up from the crowd, even as Ericsson’s heart sunk.

“They came here to see a race, green-flag and checkered-flag race,” third-place finisher Tony Kanaan said. “That was the right call.

“If I was Marcus, did I like that? No. If it had not gone red, if they had gone red flag in my year, would I have won that race? I don't know. That's all the things that we've learned trying to put a good show for the fans.”

The decision is mostly consistent with rulings of the recent past. One exception would be 2020, when Dixon let Takuma Sato go, certain that Sato didn’t have enough fuel to get to the end. Spencer Pigot crashed with five laps to go, but that race wasn’t stopped. At caution speed, Sato did make it to the checkered in front of a grandstand void of fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ultimately Sunday’s race did end with Ericsson passing under simultaneous yellow and checkered flags anyway after Sage Karam’s crash three corners short of the finish.

“First I was angry,” said Ericsson, who briefly feared another red, “then I just realized that won me the race.”

A Tony Kanaan farewell?

There aren’t many drivers of this generation more beloved by fans than the 2013 winner Kanaan, who missed four years during the Indy-car split and finally won in his 12th try.

Although he has not been a full-time IndyCar driver since 2019 – and has won just one IndyCar race since Indy ’13 – he has come back for at least the 500 and at a fit-and-healthy 47 Kanaan is always a threat.

A master of the restart, Kanaan had a chance, sitting third when the final green flag flew with two laps to go, but he couldn’t advance. The significance of his cool-down lap along the fence while waving to the crowd was not lost on fans who consider him the unofficial mayor of Indianapolis.

“I know my days are numbered,” Kanaan said. “I have a plan. … I think next year will be probably, if I can make it happen, will be really the last one.

“As of right now, this was the last one.”

Expectations unfulfilled for Jimmie Johnson

In the days leading up to the race, numerous drivers were talking up the prospects of Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR champion and Indy 500 rookie.

His oval experience would make him the threat in the race in a way he wasn’t in his road- and street-course schedule last season, they said. Johnson had been fast in practice, and he had grown comfortable in his IndyCar overall debut at Texas, where he finished sixth. He was driving a Ganassi car.

Dixon touted him. Two-time Indy winner Juan Pablo Montoya touted him.

It’s hard to root against one of the most successful racers in history who put aside his past triumphs to immerse himself in an unfamiliar world as an underdog. And, face it, although it’s easy to envy Johnson it’s difficult to dislike him. Most people want to believe.

The record will show Johnson led two laps Sunday, but those came during the cycle of green-flag pit stops and were essentially meaningless. He gained experience in sometimes difficult racing conditions but wasn’t a threat for a top-10 finish, much less a victory. And then he crashed by himself six laps short of the finish.

Conspicuous in their absence

Roger Penske first owned the 500 figuratively, with his team winning a record 18 times, and then literally, after he purchased IMS and the IndyCar Series from the Hulman George family.

But Penske Racing’s drivers were all but invisible Sunday.

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden finished a team-best 13th, behind Penske castoffs Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud and even JR Hildebrand in A.J. Foyt’s third entry.

Andretti Autosport has struggled all month, so the fact none of its drivers contended was less conspicuous.

Romain Grosjean was one of three rookies to snap-spin and crash by himself. Colton Herta couldn’t keep pace in the backup car that replaced the one he flipped Friday. Marco Andretti stalled in the pits and finished 22nd in his one-off start. First-timer Devlin DeFrancesco ran a harmless 20th. And the best of the bunch was 2016 winner Alexander Rossi, solid in fifth in what presumably was his final 500 before leaving the team that brought him into the series.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Jimmie Johnson among 2022 Indy storylines