Of the 33 drivers who will start the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500, 29 will have a teammate on the track -- and only four will drive alone.
While the Indianapolis 500 has always been a team event, the dynamics of team racing are changing as technology improves.
Roger Penske is the perfect example of a team-racing-minded car owner. Penske, who has won 13 Indianapolis 500s as a team owner and has regularly placed multiple cars in the field, has drivers will who start second and fifth in the this year's 500.
"We probably have over 800 years of experience on our team this year as you add up each one of us that have been to the track and competed in the past," Penske said.
Penske won his first Indy 500 in 1972 and has been back nearly every year since, except between 1995 and 2001 when he failed to quaify in 1995 and then didn't return due to the split between CART and the IRL.
The idea of a team has changed, however. At the beginning of the 500, it was an oligarchy because only a few people had the resources, connections and funds to run in the 500. However, as the racing became more competitive, teams have become more important because they can share information and help each other both on and off the track.
It has even evolved over the past few years, switching from being a pooling of resources to being a "one-team" effort.
"I think one thing that we emphasize more than anything else is it's a team," Penske team president Tim Cindric said. "It's Team Penske. It's not two individuals competing under the same banner, but it's a team.
"The only one who's not working completely against you out there is your teammate."
This year, Marlboro's Team Penske features two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves and two-time IndyCar champion Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish joined the team last season, but it wasn't until recently that the team began to meld.
"[With] Sam coming into our organization, being from a one-car team, not really knowing how to adjust for a teammate," Cindric said. "It took a while to really learn how to work together."
Castroneves and his previous partner, Gil de Ferran -- who retired and was replaced by Hornish -- finished back-to-back in the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 2001 and 2003, making them one of only six sets of teammates to have finished back-to-back. But while Castroneves and de Ferran may have been model teammates on and off the track, they didn't start that way.
"People forget, the only thing that Gil and Helio had in common when they came in was they were both Brazilian and they both drove race cars," Cindric said. "They weren't big buddies before that. It took a while."
This year, Penske is among the top four teams at Indianapolis, along with Andretti Green Racing, Fernandez Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing. These four teams claim eight of the first nine cars in the 500, and the four teams combined have 13 cars in the race.
Perhaps the most dominate team in IndyCar racing is Andretti Green Racing, which has won three of the first four races and three of the five pole positions (including the Indy 500) and has the defending series champion with Tony Kanaan.
However, the team has struggled for consistency between its four cars. While Kanaan and Dario Franchitti start in the first two rows, Dan Wheldon and Bryan Herta will start from the sixth row.
Co-owner Michael Andretti admits that the inconsistency may be frustrating, but he believes it would be worse if it weren't for the team being able to help Wheldon and Herta get up to speed.
"I think it would be even more of a lost feeling if you were the only one on your team," he said. "At least [with teammates], you have information to go by from the other guys to hopefully improve."
"They get all my data; I get all their data. We put it together," Kanaan said.
The team's other co-owner, Kim Green, suggests that teammates can also work together off the racetrack.
"I think, right now, in fact, [Kanaan's] three teammates are probably looking for a giant cake that may end up in his face," he said, following Kanaan's pole run. "They're probably not working on their race cars at all. They're probably looking to do something to Mr. Kanaan when he gets back to the garage."
Fernandez Racing features Scott Sharp, Kosuke Matsuura and Adrian Fernanzez, who also co-owns the team. While the teammates' speeds may not be equal, Fernandez Racing has regularly been among the top teams, with two experienced veterans on the team, Sharp and Fernandez, and last year's 500 Rookie of the Year, Matsuura.
The top Chevrolet team, and one of the other top teams in the 500, features 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier, series veteran Tomas Scheckter and rookie Tomas Enge, who will start ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively, and will all work together on race day.
"They are great to work with," Enge said. "It helps us to improve our car even more. Buddy and Tomas are very knowledgeable. "
Target Chip Ganassi Racing and A.J. Foyt Enterprises will both field three cars, while Newman Haas Racing, Dryer/Reinbold Racing, Red Bull Cheever Racing and Vision Racing will each have two cars in the starting lineup.
Foyt added its third driver, Felipe Giaffone, to the team on the final day of qualifying and, despite being added to the team so late, Giaffone may be its most important member.
"Giaffone's been around the league a few years," driver A.J. Foyt IV said. "[He] has proved to be a really good driver. I'm glad to have him on my team. Maybe I can learn something from him."
Of the four drivers who do not have teammates for this year's race, only Richie Hearn qualified on the first day, and he will start 20th in the No. 70 Meijer/CocaCola Chevrolet. The other three -- Jaques Lazier, Marty Roth and Jimmy Kite -- will start 27th, 29th and 32nd, respectively.
The last time someone won the Indianapolis 500 without a teammate in the race was in 1995 when Jaques Villenuve was the lone car owned by Barry Green's Team Green racing.
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