In a land that’s spawned perhaps more than its fair share of conspiracy theories – take your pick from JFK, the moon landings, 9/11 and what Donald Trump’s hair is made from – Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 produced a new one: It was fixed to allow track and series owner Roger Penske’s driver Josef Newgarden to win.
To countenance that belief, you’d have to completely discredit why Penske is in this sport and what the multi-billionaire gets out of it. He first came to the Indy 500 as a fan with his father in 1951, and saw Lee Wallard lead 159 of the 200 laps to win by almost two minutes. And he came to the 107th edition, 72 years later, to see a good and fair race as he did then (although the winning margin was a tad closer).
