[Pavement Dave]

POLE DAY LITTLE 500 NEWS & NOTES
Courtesy Of Pavement Pounders

MAY 23, 2024- Anderson, IN – The following news was gathered today from pole day for the 76th Little 500. Lest see what happened.

***In a very bizarre scenario, of the 44 entries announced by Anderson Speedway early in the week, there have been several withdrawals for various reasons. There were 33 cars on speedway grounds today. 32 took time and Nathan Byrd blew his Legacy Autosport engine before time trials began. That leaves us 1 car short of filling the 33-car starting field for Saturday night’s event. There appeared to be no more available cars at the end of Thursdays Round 1 qualifying.

After talking to the Legacy Autosport team, they indicated they would be back tomorrow. But you have to wonder if that really will be the case. They are competing in the Hoosier 100 tomorrow night and fielding 2 cars in the process. An engine change, qualifying attempt, and trying to get to IRP for that night’s race makes us wonder if they will reconsider their plans at some point tonight. It’s a bit much to pull off.

But it is, after all, the Little 500 and some of the strangest scenarios seem to occur on ‘Bump Day’ and it appears that is exactly what is happening late Thursday night. Tampa, Florida driver John Inman has worked a deal out to drive the Scotty Adema back-up car. As of late Thursday night, he was in Tampa trying to catch a ‘Red Eye’ to get to Anderson to make a qualifying run Friday afternoon. With the addition of Inman, and if Legacy Autosport returns, we will have ‘bumping’ during qualifications Friday afternoon. At the very least we will now have 33 cars taking the green flag.

***Kody Swanson debuted a new Diablo Chassis and wasn’t at all happy with his qualifying result. He currently will start eight. Eyewitnesses told Pavement Pounders that the team’s BEAST Chassis was unloaded at the end of day. This could be a coincidence or perhaps his Doran team is considering withdrawing the Diablo and will attempt to qualify the BEAST. The top 15 are locked in so the best Swanson could start would be 16th.

***Veteran Jeff Bloom’s quest to start his 43rd Little 500 seems to be closer to reality. He currently sits 30th. With the shortage of cars, it would appear he could be safe. He indicated to Pavement Pounders he wasn’t happy with his qualifying time. He could be one of many who withdraw their time and attempt to requalify Friday, hoping for a better starting position.

***Logan Seavey and CJ Leary were the final 2 cars to qualify Thursday afternoon. They quickly got out of their cars and began to make their way to Circle City Raceway to compete in a USAC Sprint Car Series event Thursday night. Circle City Raceway is less than an hour from Anderson.

***Emerson Axsom picked up the pole position for this year’s Little 500 in his Nolen Racing V-6. It is the first pole position for the team since Kody Swanson put the team’s car on the pole in 2019-20. It is also the first time a V-6 has paced the field since 2020.

***Local Alexandria driver Rob Keesling returned to the Little 500 for the first time since his violent 2022 Little 500 qualifying accident. He is in an Eagle Chassis that Tanner Swanson raced early in his career with USAC Western States and CASA in California. He currently sits 31st ahead of Friday’s Round 2 qualifying.

***As we already mentioned, several teams unhappy with their qualifying times will likely requalify tomorrow afternoon. Despite a low car count, there will be plenty of action during Round 2 qualifying.

**Bump Day has historically been a day full of surprises. One of the most dramatic Bump Days occurred in 2002. It appeared that all the cars on the grounds had exhausted their qualifying attempts, and no more cars were left. But due to qualifying rules, qualifying isn’t final until the clock expires. With approximately an hour left, Riverton, Utah’s Rick Pardee breathed a sigh of relief. He had survived his bubble ride, or so he thought.

Just then Larry Fritz pulled onto the speedway grounds and quickly unloaded. He was gonna attempt to bump his way into the race despite having not turned any laps all week. At the same time another car owned by Thomas Briggs also pulled into the speedway pits that had not been there all week. Stan Butler was quicky rounded up to try to put the Briggs car in the show. This had to be a bad dream for Pardee.

Since both cars had missed practice, they were allowed no practice laps. The best they could do was take a warmup lap and quickly pull into the infield to avoid taking the green until they could warm up their tires enough to make a qualifying run. The duo continued to do this for several minutes before eventually making qualifying runs. They both exhausted their qualifying attempts to no avail. Pardee survived the bubble in the wildest ‘Bump Day’ in Little 500 history.

***Friday’s weather for qualifying looks good. As of late Thursday night, a high of 85 degrees and only a 20% chance of rain is forecasted.

[Charles Nungester]

LITTLE 500 ROUND 2 QUALIFYING UPDATE
John Inman has arrived and is on Anderson Speedway grounds. He is our 33rd and final car. He will attempt to qualify into the race today to set the field. This will be the first time in Little 500 history that there was no bumping unless someone shows up before the end of the day. We do anticipate a few cars requalifying to get a better time.