The 2008 race took place three months after the "Open-wheel Unification" concluded a Split that had lasted from 1996 to 2007. For the first time since 1978, Indy Car racing was unified under one sanctioning body. The field featured IndyCar Series regulars alongside teams and drivers from the now-shuttered Champ Car World Series. Most former Champ Car teams struggled to adapt to the new equipment; the transitioning teams were provided a fleet of IRL chassis, many of which were used having been sold off by defunct teams. IRL/IndyCar Series-based teams swept the top ten finishing positions, with the best former Champ Car team finishing eleventh.
All 33 qualifiers utilized the Dallara IR-03/IR-05 chassis, which had first seen competition in the 2003 season. Phil Giebler failed to qualify with a Panoz chassis — the final appearance at Indianapolis for that brand, which had ceased supporting its chassis program in 2006. All full-time entries also began using semi-automatic paddle shifters in 2008; paddle shifters for part-time entries were optional due to cost.
IndyCar Series practice began May 4. Rookie orientation on the opening day included thirteen drivers eligible for the four-phase rookie test; among those who passed were Graham Rahal, Oriol Servià, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alex Lloyd, Hideki Mutoh, Will Power, Justin Wilson, Jaime Camara, E. J. Viso, and Jay Howard. Hunter-Reay, the 2007 IndyCar Series rookie of the year, remained eligible for the Rookie of the Year award at Indianapolis as he had not yet made a start there. Several former Champ Car drivers were individually evaluated and some were required only to take a refresher-level test.
Time trials were held over two weekends: May 10–11 and May 17–18. On Pole Day (May 10), Scott Dixon won his first Indianapolis 500 pole position with a speed that held through the session, securing Chip Ganassi Racing's third Indy pole. Dan Wheldon qualified second. Earlier in the session, Hideki Mutoh was initially disqualified after post-qualifying inspection revealed the housing for an on-board camera lacked the required ballast; he subsequently re-qualified successfully. Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed hard in turn 3 during his qualifying attempt. Rain cancelled the second day of qualifying, pushing the remaining field to the third day on May 17.
On the third qualifying day, Townsend Bell was fastest at 222.529 mph. Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, and Will Power all qualified. For the second time in Indianapolis history, three female drivers made the field after Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher completed runs alongside Danica Patrick. On Bump Day (May 18), A. J. Foyt IV bumped Marty Roth, who later re-entered by bumping Buddy Lazier. Phil Giebler crashed hard in turn one during practice on May 17 and was taken to Methodist Hospital. Mario Domínguez crashed attempting his final qualification run, ending his effort. The final practice before the race (Carb Day, May 23) was curtailed after just eleven minutes by rain; the McDonald's Pit Stop Challenge was cancelled for the first time in its 32-year history.
At 1:03 p.m., Mari Hulman George gave the command to start engines. Emerson Fittipaldi was booed during the parade laps in reference to his 1993 orange-juice incident. Scott Dixon took the lead into turn one and led the first two laps before teammate Dan Wheldon went ahead on lap three.
In the first half, Tony Kanaan charged into the lead on lap 94, setting a new all-time record by leading a lap in seven consecutive Indianapolis 500 races, breaking Rick Mears' record of six straight races led between 1979 and 1984. Eleven laps later, Kanaan lost control after battling with Dixon and Marco Andretti, brushing the wall and collecting the lapped car of Sarah Fisher; both cars were heavily damaged. Tomas Scheckter dropped out with a broken driveshaft after running among the leaders.
On the lap 159 restart, Vítor Meira went three-wide and stormed into the lead, with Dixon second and Marco Andretti third. On lap 171, during the final sequence of pit stops, Ryan Briscoe swung wide exiting the pits and clipped the right rear of Danica Patrick's car. Patrick spun around and Briscoe hit the pit wall; both were eliminated. Patrick walked toward the Team Penske pits before a security guard intervened. Patrick and Briscoe were called to the IndyCar hauler after the race and were each fined $100,000 and placed on probation through the end of the 2008 season.
While attention focused on that incident, Dixon's crew completed a seven-second pit stop and he emerged ahead of Meira. The race ran green the rest of the way; Dixon won his first Indianapolis 500.
The race was televised in high definition in the United States on ABC, the 44th consecutive year on that network. Time trials were shown live on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 at various timeslots. 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever joined the announcing crew for the first time. For the first time, two hours of pre-race coverage were aired — one hour on ESPN2, followed by one hour on ABC. For the third consecutive year, the telecast used the Side-by-Side format for commercial breaks.
The race was broadcast on radio by the IMS Radio Network for the 56th consecutive year, with Mike King as anchor. Davey Hamilton provided live in-car reporting during caution periods for the second consecutive year. Chris Economaki offered pre-race and post-race commentary for the final time, and former "voice" of the 500 Bob Jenkins served as a turn announcer for the last time.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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