Indy 500: Could the Winner be a Santa Monica Resident?

Oriol Servia spends most race weekends in a polo shirt driving a pace car for the NTT IndyCar Series. But this Memorial Day weekend, Servia is in a firesuit and helmet at the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

He’ll be making a one-off attempt to win the Indy 500 as pilot of the No. 77 MotoGator Team Stange with Arrow SPM Honda.

Servia is the oldest driver in the field. As a one-off entry, he’s also a longshot to win the world’s biggest race. But longshots occasionally pay off. After all, we’re less than a week removed from Kyle Kaiser and Juncos Racing knocking Fernando Alonso and McLaren out of the race in a thrilling Las Row Shootout in qualifying that was comparable to the biggest upsets in sports history.

Servia’s hair may be thinning in back and he’s closer to AARP membership than rookie status. He not only drives the pace car on most race weekends, he’s diversified into restaurant ownership with PoKing Poke, King of Poke, at 2307 Main Street in Santa Monica. But he’s also in the fittest shape of his life and was one of only two drivers last season who actually passed cars with any regularity (along with 2016 winner Alexander Rossi).

• Pre-race, 6 a.m., NBCSN
• Race, 8 a.m., NBC (green flag 9:45)
• Post-race, 1 p.m., NBCSN

“I’m 44, I’m not 20,” he said. “I would love to go after a full season championship again, but I’m lucky that the way Indycar works, you can just show up for the Super Bowl of the series, the Indy 500, and I can do that for 10 more years. And if I put a good team around me, I have as good a shot as anyone. That makes my year in every way.”

Servia will be starting 19th, on the inside of Row 7, when Simon Pagenaud leads a field of 33 cars to the green flag. At 227.991 mph, Servia qualified directly behind five-time series champion Scott Dixon.

As far as the Spanish driver is concerned, he’s got a legitimate chance.

“It’s probably the hardest race to win, but at the same time it’s also the one race you can show up and win,” Servia says, crediting the structure of the Month of May for giving drivers like himself a fighting opportunity, unlike a one-off attempt at someplace like Long Beach where there’s three 45-minute practice sessions and qualifying before the race.

“At Indy, it’s 2 1/2 weeks, you’re running every day from 11 a.m. to 6, so you have two or three days to just get used to the speed again, get used to the car, the team, the tires. … It’s all about putting a good crew around you and being sharp.

“I wouldn’t say a rookie coming just to the 500 has a good chance of winning because it’s a very difficult race. But someone like J.R. Hildebrand or myself -- I’ve done the race 10 times. I have a lot of experience at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I know what the car needs, I know how to race it. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to make mistakes, but I have good knowledge and still have the speed and motivation to win, so a one-off can definitely have as good a shot as anyone.”

The longshots had everyone holding their breath last year. Leading a group that included Stefan Wilson and Jack Harvey, Servia led 16 of the final 24 laps. He gave up the lead with eight to go and pitted with four to go, which relegated him to 17th after starting 26th.

The 1999 Indy Lights champion says that if he had another two gallons of fuel, he might have won the race. Or if IndyCar hadn’t been so quick to clean up after the crash of Tony Kanaan he might have saved enough fuel to win for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. But Indy also crushes dreams.

He made 46 on-track passes and called it the best driving in his career. As he tries to match that performance Sunday, Servia says he’s in the best shape of his life. And from a confidence standpoint, he has been able to surround himself with people from his past that make him the most comfortable, similar to what Sebastien Bourdais did at Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan to revitalize that program.

“I’ve been able to suggest some key people to be hired that’s going to give me a chance to win,” said Servia, who finished fourth in 2012. “IndyCar has a very demanding schedule, demanding intensity. In my opinion, it’s the pinnacle of U.S. competition. There’s a lot of good people out there who do Indycar but after 10 years they just want to spend time with their families and can’t commit to a full schedule anymore.

“But they will commit to three weeks if they feel they have a shot at winning. That’s why you can show up at Indy with a program that can win, because you can pull from people who have the experience of working with (17-time winning team owner Roger) Penske for 20 years and they don’t want to do it fulltime anymore. Honestly, I’m super excited.”

His top-level career began in 2000 Rancho Santa Margarita in Orange County where Servia drove for Cal Wells III’s PPI Motorsports. In 12 of his 19 seasons he had 12 starts or more, the last time in 2013. He has the reputation of being a Super Sub. His legacy might be better defined as Old Reliable. He knows how to set up a car and is unselfish with his feedback. He doesn’t tear up equipment. Graham Rahal has called him the best kind of teammate. When Will Power was unable to start Long Beach a few years ago, Penske called on Servia as a replacement. When Justin Wilson was killed at Pocono, team owner Michael Andretti called on Servia as a replacement. When INDYCAR developed a new aero kit for 2018, it called on Servia to be a test driver. Comparably, the other test driver was two-time Indy 500 and 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya (who also raced in Formula One and NASCAR), which speaks volumes about the regard in which Servia is held.

People trust Oriol Servia with their million dollar investments.

He has certainly had his moments. He finished second to Bourdais -- ahead of Wilson, Paul Tracy and A.J. Allmendinger -- in the 2005 CART championship, the year he won at Montreal for his only career victory.

Servia is under no illusion that good fortune plays a role in winning. “Everything has to go your way, the pit stops, the car, and you have to be inspired because there are 32 other guys who are extremely good,” he said.

But the Indy 500 is special for drivers like him and Hildebrand, for Helio Castroneves and Conor Daly, for Sage Karam and Jordan King, for Pippa Mann and James Davison, for Ben Hanley and the giant-killer Kaiser.

“The most accomplished driver in the series the last 20 years, maybe ever, is Scott Dixon,” Servia explained. “He’s been at Chip Ganassi Racing, on the top one or two teams in history, and he’s won championships, races, and he’s only won one Indy 500. You’re talking about the best guy, the best team, and he’s won one. Michael Andretti never won at Indy.

“But at the same time, someone like me with good preparation could show up and win. Fernando Alonso could have won two years ago. He had a lot to learn, but he had a great team with great teammates, a lot of info, so all he had to learn to do was learn the track, learn how these cars race, and he had 2 1/2 weeks to do that because you run so much. That’s the magic of the Indy 500.”

No doubt, Servia will be looking for a little magic himself.