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How Indy's road course gamble paid off

Some felt the idea of racing Indycars on the Indianapolis road course was unwise, and that to do it in May was sacrilege. But, as MARK GLENDENNING explains, the debut event silenced the doubters

Last Friday afternoon in Indianapolis, it began to rain - and Twitter went briefly mad.

Qualifying for IndyCar's inaugural race on the IMS road course had just started, but if the burst of fan-generated images that appeared on the track's official Twitter feed was any guide then the sporting spectacle had taken a back seat to a more tangible one: the huge rooster tails pluming out behind the cars as they hammered down a soaked main straight.

The long history of the Indianapolis 500 is a source of immense pride in its home city, but that passion doesn't necessarily spill over to the rest of the IndyCar schedule.

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