We’ve seen some heated racing action over the years, but nothing we’ve seen to date can match the finish line at the Freedom 100 this past weekend.
The event is part of Indy Lights, a feeder series for IndyCar at the top of the Road to Indy program that gives up-and-coming open-wheel racers the chance to hone and showcase their skills. The Freedom 100 serves as a support race for the Indy 500, held on the same Indianapolis Motor Speedway on “Carb Day” – the Friday of the same Memorial Day weekend as the main event – and has been every year since 2003. But none have resulted in a photo finish like this year’s.
The 100-mile race was dominated largely by two drivers: Dean Stoneman of Andretti Autosport and Carlin’s Ed Jones. The caution flag was waved after Heamin Choi scrubbed the wall towards the end of the race, gathering the field together and setting Stoneman and Jones up for a last-lap sprint to the finish. And sprint they did.
Jones took advantage of a near collision between Stoneman and rival Juan Piedrahita to take the lead, but Stoneman pulled back alongside through turns 3 and 4 to drag-race Jones to the the checkered flag and strip of bricks marking the start/finish line. They crossed the line side-by-side, with only 0.0022 seconds between them. But ultimately it was Stoneman who edged out his rival, taking the race win.
While that makes this the closest finish, it wasn’t the only close call in Indy Lights history. The 2013 running of the same race saw Peter Dempsey finish 0.0024 seconds ahead of Gabby Chaves. All of which tells us that the Indy Lights series offers some of the closest racing action in all of motorsports. So like college football that can often outshine the NFL for sheer athleticism, if you want to see real wheel-to-wheel racing, look to the feeder series.