Top 20 moments of 2013, #8: Four wide finish at Indianapolis

Every once in a while, one of the most exciting events in racing occur. The photo finish.

An even rarer happening is when three cars are involved in that photo finish.

But for the first time in history in 2013, four cars found themselves charging off of turn four of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a chance to take home the Freedom 100 crown.

Eleven cars took the green flag of the classic Indy Lights race at ‘Speedway. While the series struggled to attract teams, it never was short on exciting racing.

The race was a 40 lap sprint, and saw a total of one only caution that ate up 4 laps.

Two drivers dominated the race with the eventual season champion Sage Karam leading the first dozen laps, then Indy 500 runner up Carlos Munoz leading from lap 13-39, but it was that final lap that was the talking point.

Peter Dempsey, Belardi Auto Racing celebrates the win

Photo by: Jay Alley

The leaders went through the final two turns three abreast, which gave the Irishman the push he needed to move into striking distance.

As the group came of the fourth and final turn, Dempsey made his move to the outside, putting his car in a tiny hole left by the battling trio.

With such a long frontstretch, it was just enough for Dempsey to edge by Chaves, by a mere 0.0026 of a second to claim the most exciting win in racing history.

““The freedom 100 was the best moment of my season. It was a crazy finish, four wide, first time it happened at the speedway,” said Dempsey.

“I thought they were going to crash. They are three very fast drivers. They made such a huge hole in the air. I threw it in there thinking we could get a podium out of it. Fortunately the front stretch is so long we nipped them at the line.”

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