Story & Photos: Emily Wicklund
Through rain, sleet, slush, and dirt, history was made more than once at the 52rd annual I-500 race. For the first time ever, a female took the green flag to start the race. The record for the warmest start of the 500 lap race was also broken with it being 35 degrees at the drop of the green flag. The previous record was 33 degrees set in 1987.
Starting on the pole was the defending I-500 championship team of Cadarette Collision Racing with Troy Dewald at the controls. Earlier in the week, Dewald won the inaugural formula lll class and the inaugural Meijer Pro Shootout. Other Midwest favorites started further back in the pack. Faust Racing of Ryan and Travis Faust and Alex Hetteen started third. Bunke Racing with Gabe Bunke, Aaron Christensen, and Taylor Bunke started sixth. H.C. racing featuring Zach Herfindahl, Wes Selby, and David Brown started ninth. The Nelson Racing team, Justin Tate and Andy Wenzlaff started 30th (second to last).
By lap 100, which was the first plow brake, Christensen was in the front running spot. In this race yellow flag pace laps are counted towards the 500 laps so you have to have a strategy to your fuel stop. After talking to some teams in the pits I was told the Bunke and Faust teams have got pitting figured out. They are known to not loose any laps due to fueling so a lot of teams follow their lead when it comes to pulling off the track to fuel.
On lap 400 Alex Hetteen came off the track to switch drivers and Ryan Faust hopped back in the saddle. Taylor Bunke now had the lead and did all he could to keep it. During a caution in the last 100 laps Faust stayed on the track while Bunke pulled off for a rider change and a splash of fuel. At this point Christensen was still on the lead lap and just had to get around Faust. Christensen had a bit of an advantage over Faust since he was fresh for the last 60 or so laps. Soon enough the 74 sled of Christensen got around Faust and ran away with it. There was no catching the 74 sled at this point with Christensen having clean air and a fresh start.
I asked Taylor Bunke what their pitting strategy was for the last 100 laps was. “We had it planned out to get Aaron on around 450 to close, when I went out around 390 the plan was to save the sled and keep everything fresh for AC but once Ryan pulled up on the inside of me on our first green flag after lap 400 went both Ryan and I went for it, we had an awsome battle going and we were pushing hard!! Once he got around me I let him run and knew I just had to save it for Aaron. The pace Ryan had was FAST and to keep it that fast for 100 miles takes something special. Kinda like sprinting in a marathon, haha!” Sprinting a marathon is just what they did. Bunke’s fastest lap of the race was lap 134 at 43:223 and their last lap was 47:588 only slowing down 3 seconds over a 500 lap race.
Bunke racing went on to win which makes it the 6th time in the past 9 years (8 times total). Gabe Bunke is now tied for the most I-500 wins with Corey Davidson at eight. Aaron Christensen earned his 6th win tied for the 3rd most wins by a driver. Taylor Bunke claimed his 3rd I-500 which is tied for 5th most wins. Taylor still hold the record for the youngest driver to win an I-500 in 2016 when he was only 20. Faust racing came across the line 2nd with a little under 7 second margin. With a late race pass by Justin Tate over Corey Davidson, Nelson racing #28 (Justin Tate and Andy Wenzlaff) finished 3rd.
The other Nelson Racing team of Dan and Charlie Revering, were running in the top five, but blew a chain in the last 100 laps. They changed the chain in 4 minutes and got back out but ended up blowing another chain with only a few to go. Polaris sleds dominated the weekend with nine teams in the top 10.
Bunke Racing, Faust Racing, and Cadarette Collision Racing were the only three teams to lead the 500 mile race in 2020.
