Tony Borroz is attending the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500, scheduled for Sunday, May 28th, 2017. This series, Bricks And Bones, explores the cultural significance, endearing legacy, and the nitty-gritty phenomenon of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The prologue of this series here.

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Due to scheduling issues, I am unable to make it to Speedway, Indiana for qualifying for the 500. Qualifying for this race is, in a lot of ways, overly complex and more convoluted than it needs to be. It also makes for one of the hardest things a race car driver can do.
Unlike other series, or other races for that matter, that require you to qualify by doing one lap, making it into the field of The Indy 500 obliges you to do four contiguous laps. All four, back to back, and the average speed over those four laps determines where you start on Memorial Day. Mess up one lap, shoot, mess up one corner, and the rest of your qualifying run is ruined. Drivers universally say it is the most nerve wracking thing they are asked to do. Lots of the crazy-brave can hang it out over the edge for a single lap; grit their teeth and hand over trust to luck/skill/bravery and be okay.
Having to roll the dice four times when your life is on the line, well, that’s a different calculation.
Go Green
So, as usual, here I sit on a rather fine Sunday spring morning, watching race cars on TV. Qualifying is run in reverse order, with each succeedin...