Carlos Muñoz’s initiation to Indianapolis went relatively smoothly; Conor Daly’s was a little rougher.
Either way, the two 21-year-olds will find themselves on the 2.5-mile oval Sunday, starting their engines for the biggest race in the IndyCar Series.
“It doesn’t really matter where you qualify, it’s still cool to be here,” Daly said Tuesday before the annual rookie luncheon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
All four rookies — Muñoz, Daly, AJ Allmendinger and Tristan Vautier — would agree.
But there’s almost nothing that compares to starting on the front row as a rookie, which is what Muñoz will do at the 97th running of the 500.
The last rookie driver to start on the front row was another Colombian, Juan Pablo Montoya, who qualified second in 2000 and dominated the race en route to his only Indy win.
Muñoz remembers it well. Back then, he was just a kid watching his childhood racing idol on TV and savoring every precious moment of a memorable victory that sent Colombians pouring into the streets. It was enough to convince Muñoz then that he could one day follow in Montoya’s footsteps. He just never dreamed their paths would be so similar.
