In sports where players are assigned numbers, the reason for it: it allows fans, officials, and the other team to quickly identify a player. When players get to pick their own number, there is a reason why they picked that number as well. It can be as generic as: it was assigned to them and they don’t really care what it is. Or that the number has some personal significance to them. When Formula 1 did away with car numbers based on points standing in favor of personalized driver numbers, there were stories behind those too.
For example, Lewis Hamilton picked #44 because he’d been racing with it his whole life. Former Manor F1 and current Andretti Autosport driver, Alexander Rossi, chose #53 while with Manor because he loved the movie Herbie growing up.
Rossi currently drives the #98 in the IndyCar Series. In 11 days his rookie team-mate, Fernando Alonso, will do battle with him and 31 others for a chance to be called an Indianapolis 500 winner. Alonso will do so in a single-car team carrying the #29.
My question is: why? Not why is the two-time F1 world champion driving in the Indy 500, but why #29?
I assumed that when the McLaren Honda Andretti team unveiled the livery on May 3; that there would be an explanation or story behind why Alonso was #29 for the Indy 500. Alonso cannot race with his F1 #14 because A.J. Foyt Enterprises driver Carlos Munoz is carrying that number.
I would have been happy with a simple one sentence explanation. Any explanation. It has been grating me since the launch. I contacted IndyCar, Andretti Autosport, McLaren F1, and McLaren Indy for an explanation, my communications have not been returned. I looked through press releases, news articles, checked other social media, and still came up empty.
Therefore, I did the only thing I could think of, I asked Twitter. And lo and behold, someone came up with a very plausible theory. Ready? That Andretti is simply trying to keep their cars in order. That it is more about team identification than driver.
Douglas Sardo on Twitter wrote, “I think it’s just the sequence of numbers on Andretti’s Team. Sato #26, Marco #27, Hunter-Reay #28, Alonso #29″.
Aha, I hear you say, that doesn’t explain Rossi‘s #98.
Well, Josh Shimizu on Twitter has an explanation for that.
Shizimu wrote, “Yeah, that would make sense for [Andretti Autosport]. Then, would [Alexander Rossi‘s] 98 come from [Bryan Herta Autosport] and Wheldon?”
BHA is Rossi’s title sponsor, it is included in Rossi‘s full team name, “Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian“. Of course, ‘Wheldon‘ refers to the late Dan Wheldon who drove for Andretti from 2003-05 and Bryan Herta in 2011. He had #98 on his Bryan Herta with Curb-Agajanian car in 2011.
If this is indeed the reason for the Spaniard’s #29 race number, why not just say so? When a driver is associated with one number for so long and suddenly switches (even if for one race and in a different series), there is a reason for it.
It could be generic as, keeping team numbers in order. Or as arbitrary as, a randomly assigned number. Or something more. A celebration of team history at the Brickyard; to honor an Indy 500-winning McLaren car (there are two), or something related to the driver. But there has to be a reason.
Personally, I think Sardo‘s theory is very solid, for two reasons. One, it’s arbitrary enough to keep fans (like me) guessing, but it is true since all Andretti cars, bar Rossi‘s are number sequenced. And two, it’s really the only explanation we have.
Until any IndyCar, McLaren, or Andretti official can confirm, it’s just a theory.
