It is the biggest day of the year for Auto Racing. For those of you that are interested, here is the Indy 500 preview provided by one of our vendors, SportsTicker:

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SPORTSTICKER IRL SERIES
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#Indianapolis 500#
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May 29, 2005
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Race 5 of 17 in the IRL season

TV: ABC, Noon EDT

Laps: 200
Track length: 2 1/2 miles
Race length: 500 miles

Qualifying record: Arie Luyendyk, 236.986 mph, 1996
Race record: Arie Luyendyk, 185.981 mph, 1990


DRIVERS TO WATCH
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Kenny Brack - Won the Indy 500 when he was driving for team
owner A.J. Foyt in 1999, his final year in the IRL before
leaving for CART in 2000 with team owner Bobby Rahal; returned
to Indy in 2001 with Rahal and 2002 with Chip Ganassi before
re-uniting with Rahal in 2003 for a full-time IRL effort; was
seriously injured in a crash in the 2003 season finale at Texas
Motor Speedway and had not driven an Indy car until being called
upon to fill in for the injured Buddy Rice, who won this event
last year; was fastest driver in the field with a four-lap
average of 227.598 mph - faster than pole winner Tony Kanaan's
227.566; will start 23rd Sunday because his attempt came in the
third round of qualifications.

Patrick Carpentier - Looking to become the first French-Canadian
driver to win the Indy 500 since Jacques Villeneuve in 1995;
the former CART and Champ Car driver has struggled in his Indy
debut with Red Bull Cheever Racing and will start 25th in a
Dallara/Toyota after qualifying last Saturday at 222.803 mph;
after a seventh-place finish in the season opener at Homestead,
ran ninth at Phoenix, eighth at St. Petersburg and 13th in
Japan; is 10th in the points standings; cherishing his first
season in the league: "I wanted to do more oval racing. It's
something that I really enjoyed when I came to CART at first. It
kind of went away. I like road courses, don't get me wrong, but
I wanted to do more ovals. It's been in the back of my mind for
over a year. I was talking to a friend last year and said I
wanted to run more circles. That's how it came about. Of
course, the Indy 500 for me is a big race that I've never had
the opportunity to run and it's a very big race to be in. I
wanted to do it before I stopped. Everything came together and I
came over here."

Helio Castroneves - The two-time Indy 500 winner is always a
threat at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; after winning in his
first two attempts here, finished second to then-teammate Gil de
Ferran in 2003 and ninth last year; will start in the middle of
the second row after qualifying at 226.927 mph in a
Dallara/Toyota on Pole Day; fifth in the standings, 83 points
behind leader Dan Wheldon and three points ahead of sixth-place
Scott Sharp; hopes his third Indy 500 win is all in the numbers:
"If we believe in numbers, so far everything works to myself. I
turned 30, my car is number 3, and I'm going for my third. So
hopefully, it's gonna happen."

Dario Franchitti - The Andretti Green Racing driver hopes to
become the first Scotsman to win the Indianapolis 500 since Jim
Clark in 1965; ninth in the point standings after finishing 22nd
at Homestead, fourth at Phoenix, third at St. Petersburg and
17th in Japan; will start this event sixth - the outside of the
second row - after running a four-lap average of 226.873 mph in
a Dallara/Honda on Pole Day; finished 19th in the 500 in 2002
and 14th here last year: "You learn from every race you are in
here. I learned a lot in 2002 because we weren't in the best
setup. It was a one-off race. I learned a lot last year and I
think I'm more comfortable now with the cars. Hopefully, things
will go well for us here."

Bryan Herta - Celebrated 35th birthday on Monday; has posted
back-to-back top-fives to climb to fourth in the standings, 80
points off the pace; ran fourth in first career Indy 500 start
last year; will start 18th this year in search of his second IRL
victory; recorded first career IRL checkered flag in Kansas in
2003; had two wins in CART career that spanned from 1994-2003;
has over a decade of open-wheel experience to draw upon but is
hoping his car helps, too: "Experience does count here, no
question about it. If that plays a part in it and I can take
advantage of that, great. I'm not resting on that. This is a race
that a lot of times the fastest car wins this race."

Sam Hornish Jr. - Only two-time series champion in IRL history
will start second Sunday, his best position in six career
attempts here; recorded series-record 13th career checkered flag
in Phoenix on March 19 after running second to to Dan Wheldon
in season-opening event; is third in the series standings with
131 points, seven behind Tony Kanaan for second; the 25-year-old
Ohio native was married in Indianapolis six days after running
in this event last year; an accident relegated him to a
26th-place finish; best career Indy 500 finish was a 14th in
2001; set an IRL record with five wins in 2002 but managed just
a 25th in this event that year.

Tony Kanaan - Defending series champion won the pole for this
event with a four-lap average of 227.566 mph on May 15;
qualified second and finished third in 2003 and was runner-up to
Buddy Rice last year; second in the standings, 46 points behind
Andretti Green teammate Dan Wheldon; after winning three times
last year, is in search of his first checkered flag of 2005;
opened season with three straight top-three finishes before
running sixth in Japan on April 30; that result ended an IRL
record string of 18 consecutive top-fives dating to last year;
eager to make fourth career appearance here: "The Indianapolis
500 is the biggest race in the world. It's why we race. And to
be starting from pole position is unbelievable. But once the
green flag waves, that's all behind us and we have to race for
500 miles. We've had good results in the past, but it would
mean so much to put Team 7-Eleven in victory lane in
Indianapolis."

Vitor Meira - Native of Brazil is eighth in the standings on the
strength of two top-fives through the season's first four
events; led his only lap of this season in season-opening Toyota
Indy 300 and finished fourth; ran season-worst 15th in Japan on
April 30; ran sixth after qualifying seventh in this race last
year; making 33rd career start in search of his first checkered
flag; unconcerned about being overshadowed on Rahal Letterman
Racing team by Danica Patrick, Buddy Rice and now Brack: "It
actually doesn't bother me because on the team, everybody (is)
the same. I got the same stuff that Buddy and Danica have. Really,
my most concern is performance, its not going there and being on
the spotlight."

Danica Patrick - The talented rookie driver from Roscoe,
Illinois has dominated the headlines here this year; turned the
fastest lap in practice at 229.980 mph in a Panoz/Honda on May
15; a bobble in the first turn of her first lap of
qualifications kept her from starting on the pole as her three
successive laps were faster than Tony Kanaan's four-lap average;
will start fourth on the grid following a four-lap average of
227.004 mph; appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on
Monday night; Letterman is her team co-owner; crashed in her
first IRL race at Homestead on March 6, but finished a
season-high fourth at Twin-Ring Motegi in Japan on April 30 to
climb to 12th in IRL standings; trying to handle the spotlight
in addition to rookie status: "The most difficult thing about
being in the spotlight is how many different ways people can ask
me the same question."

Dan Wheldon - With wins in three of the season's first four
events, including the last two in a row, leads the series with
184 points; has a 46-point lead over Andretti Green teammate
Kanaan; he and Kanaan also were 1-2 in the standings entering
this race last year; will start 16th here after recording a
disappointing four-lap average of 224.308 mph on Pole Day;
started from the middle of the front row for this event last
year and ran third; finished in the top three in each of the
first three races last year and closed the season with seven
straight results of fourth or better; while in early position
for a title this year, winning this race takes top priority:
"The Indy 500 means a lot more to me than the championship. I'm
desperate to win it, and I'd love to have my face on that trophy
one day."


2004 Top 10
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1. Buddy Rice (15), G/H/F, 180 laps, running
2. Tony Kanaan (11), D/H/F, 180, running
3. Dan Wheldon (26), D/H/F, 180, running
4. Bryan Herta (7), D/H/F, 180, running
5. Bruno Junqueira (36), G/H/F, 180, running
6. Vitor Meira (17), G/H/F, 180, running
7. Adrian Fernandez (5), G/H/F, 180, running
8. Scott Dixon (1), G/T/F, 180, running
9. Helio Castroneves (3), D/T/F, 180, running
10. Roger Yasukawa (16), G/H/F, 180, running

Average Speed: 138.518 miles per hour
Time of Race: 3 hours, 14 minutes, 55 seconds
Margin of Victory: under caution
Caution Flags: 8 for 56 laps
Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers

Chassis: D=Dallara: G=Panoz G Force
Engine: C=Chevrolet: H=Honda: T=Toyota
Tire: F=Firestone