Following a gruelling Freedom 100 race, racing driver Peter Dempsey in the Belardi Auto Racing Indy Lights machine managed to earn the top step of the podium by the smallest of margins-- nothing more than 0.0026 seconds ahead of Gabby Chavez.
Not only was Dempsey's win the closest finish in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history, the top four drivers including Gabby Chavez, Carlos Munoz, and Sage Karam, all finished within thousandths of a second from one another, producing the most thrilling four-wide photo finish Indy has ever seen.
Coming out of the last corner on the last lap of the 2013 Freedom 100, Peter Dempsey trailed a three-car drag race between Gabby Chavez, Sage Karam, and Carlos Munoz. Drafting in a nice pocket of air behind the leaders, Dempsey made a bold move to the outside of Chavez on the front straight, enough to just slingshot ahead as the four cars rocketed towards the checkered flag.
"I am at a loss for words," said Dempsey in victory lane. "What a finish, that's what the fans come to see. It's the perfect was to finish the Indy Lights race here at Indianapolis."
A roller coaster of emotions, the race win was anybody's game in the last hundred feet of the Freedom 100.
"I am happy, but I feel like crying. If only the finish line was a couple of feet back," said Gabby Chavez. "I did everything I could until the last moment.
Maybe it's not my year, but maybe another year in the future it will be mine."
"The whole race I put myself in a position to win it," said Karam, who led every lap of the race except the last. "He just kicked us at the line. It was a great race. It was a great finish."
For Andretti Autosport driver Carlos Munoz, the excitement doesn't end there. Munoz is slated to start Sunday's Indianapolis 500.
Be sure to watch the staggering race finish of the Freedom 100 in the video below:
