May 2004 (5/30) - Buddy Rice, 28, won his first IRL race in none other than the Indianpolis 500. He was chosen by Rahal-Letterman Racing to replace the injured 1999 Indy 500 winner - Kenny Brack. Buddy Rice's team not only won the 500, but they qualified on the pole and won the Carb Day Pitstop Competition! Besides the $1.7 million Buddy won, he also got this neat chopper. (3/29) - I got interviewed by the Indianapolis Star newspaper. The article My website was also used for an article in ATA's Ambassadair magazine this year - The article I was interviewed by the Dallas News a few years ago - The article And I provided some interviews for some tv shows such as Elimidate and Wild About Chicago. 2004 INDY 500 UPDATES Buddy Rice and Rahal Letterman Racing won the Carb Day Pit Competition! Thiago Medeiros won the Infiniti Pro Series Freedom 100 race at the speedway Saturday 22nd. Live is the headliner for the Carb Day Concert (May 27th 3p.m.)! Jane Pauley is the grand marshall this year for the huge Indy 500 Festival Parade in downtwon Indianapolis. It will be held the day before the race - Saturday May 29th. You can get your tickets from Ticketmaster or call (800) 638-4296. A snazzy black-tie dance party will be held the night before the 500 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom (6 p.m.) Expect the celebrities in town to show up for the "Snakepit Ball". The Spinners will be performing. For tickets, call (317) 927-3378. Buddy Rice captures the coveted Pole Position for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500 with a average speed of 222.024 mph! Rice drives a Honda-powered G-Force Indycar for Rahal/Letterman Racing. Jessica Simpson will be singing the national anthem at the 500. Her husband Nick Lachey will be waving the green flag to start the race. Morgan Freeman will be the ceremonial pace car driver in the 500 this year. Indy 500 May Schedule Drivers who've crashed at Indy this month: Date Driver Description 4/29 Buddy Rice Hit Turn 1 wall during practice. He's ok. 4/29 Darren Manning Hit Turn 1 wall during practice. He's ok. 5/10 Robby Gordon Hit Turn 2 wall w/left side. He's ok. 5/11 Felipe Giaffone Scraped the Turn 4 wall. He's ok. 5/13 Scott Sharp Hit Turn 1 wall. He's ok. 5/13 Darren Manning Hit Turn 1 wall. He's ok. 5/14 Quals Bryan Herta Hit Turn 1 wall. Scraped foot/leg. 5/14 Quals Felipe Giaffone Hit Turn 1 wall. He's ok. 5/14 Quals Alex Barron Hit Turn 1 wall. He's ok. 5/19 Mark Taylor Hit Turn 1 wall. He's ok. 5/20 A.J. Foyt IV Spun in 3,bumped rear. He's Ok. 5/21 Quals Bryan Herta Wrecked in Turn 3. He's ok. Here are the daily fastest! Date Speed Driver Team Engine 5/9 219.760 mph Scott Dixon Ganassi Toyota 5/10 220.300 mph Helio Castroneves Penske Toyota 5/11 221.857 mph Kosuke Matsuura Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Honda 5/12 222.668 mph Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Honda 5/13 221.156 mph Helio Castroneves Penske Racing Toyota 5/14 Rain 212.616 mph Sarah Fisher Kelley Racing Toyota 5/15 Quals 222.024 mph Buddy Rice Rahal/Letterman Racing Honda 5/16 Quals 219.871 mph Bryan Herta Andretti-Green Racing Honda 5/19 220.576 mph Scott Dixon Ganassi Toyota 5/20 220.784 mph Kosuke Matsuura Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Honda 5/21 223.224 mph Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Honda 5/22 218.495 mph Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing Honda 5/23 216.641 mph Greg Ray Access Motorsports Honda Live Indycar Race Timing: >>> HTML >>> Flash Live Video From Yahoo. Indycar Complete Stats 88th Indianapolis 500 Starting Grid Driver Team Car# Sponsor Chassis/Engine Buddy Rice Rahal/Letterman Racing 15, 15T Argent/Pioneer G-Force/Honda Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing 26, 26T Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing 27, 27T Arca/Ex Dallara/Honda Bruno Junqueira Carl Haas Racing 36, 36T PacifiCare G-Force/Toyota Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 11, 11T Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing 5, 5T Quaker State Telmex G-Force/Honda Vitor Meira Rahal/Letterman Racing 17, 17T Centrix Financial G-Force/Honda Helio Castroneves Team Penske 3, 3T Marlboro Dallara/Toyota Kosuke Matsuura (R) Super Aguri Fernandez Racing 55, 55T Panasonic ARTA G-Force/Honda Tomas Scheckter Panther Racing 4, 4T Pennzoil Dallara/Chevy Sam Hornish Jr. Team Penske 6, 6T Marlboro Dallara/Toyota Roger Yasukawa Rahal/Letterman Racing 16, 16T Sammy G-Force/Honda Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1, 1T Target G-Force/Toyota Mark Taylor (R) Panther Racing 2, 2T Menards/Johns Manville Dallara/Chevy Darren Manning (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 10, 10T Target G-Force/Toyota Ed Carpenter (R) Cheever Racing 52, 52T Red Bull Dallara/Chevy Al Unser Jr. Patrick Racing 20, 20T TBA Dallara/Chevy Robby Gordon Team Gordon 70, 70T Meijer/Coca-Cola Dallara/Chevy Sarah Fisher Kelley Racing 39, 39T Bryant Heating and Cooling Dallara/Toyota Scott Sharp Kelley Racing 8, 8T Delphi Dallara/Toyota A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Enterprises 14, 14T Conseco Dallara/Toyota Larry Foyt A.J. Foyt Enterprises 41, 41T TBA Dallara/Toyota Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing 7, 7T XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda Alex Barron Cheever Racing 51, 51T Red Bull Dallara/Chevy Felipe Giaffone Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 24, 24T Purex Dallara/Chevy Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing 12 Pioneer Dallara/Toyota Greg Ray Access Motorsports 13, 13T TBA G-Force/Honda Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing 91 LifeFitness Dallara/Chevy Jeff Simmons Mo Nunn Racing 12T Dallara/Toyota Richie Hearn Sam Schmidt Mortorsports (Penske car) 33 TBA G-Force/Toyota PJ Jones Beck Motorsports 98 Curb Records Dallara/Chevy Marty Roth (R) Roth Racing 25 Roth Racing Dallara/Toyota Robby McGehee PDM Racing 18 TBA Dallara/Chevy (5/23) - The field for the 88th running of the Indy 500 was filled today. Greg Ray, PJ Jones, Marty Roth, Buddy Lazier, Jeff Simmons, Richie Hearn and Robby McGehee all qualified. Tony Stewart inexplicably showed up and ran some laps in one of Foyt's cars fueling speculation that he would qualify, but he says conctractually he cannot run the race. So why show up? Guess he wanted to lead AJ on and eliminate the ride for someone who could compete. (5/22) - John Popper of Blues Traveller is sick and they will not be appearing at Carb Day this year. Instead, the band "Live" will be the headliner. I have an album of theirs called "Throwing Copper" which is very good! (5/22) - F1's race in Monaco this weekend may not have the quantity of celebs as the Indy, but they do have Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and George Clooney. Meanwhile, the Nascar race has..umm... Lenny Kravitz. Doh. (5/22) - CELEBRITIES ANTICIPATED TO ATTEND 88TH INDIANAPOLIS 500 Jessica Simpson (singer) Morgan Freeman (actor) Nick Lachey (singer) Lee Ann Womack (singer) Jim Caviezel (actor) Jared Fogle (Subway restaurants front man) Mike Patrick (ESPN football anchor) Rupert Boneham (“Survivor”) Jane Pauley (NBC’s “Today” show) Maria Menounos (“Entertainment Tonight”) LeVar Burton (“Star Trek: The Next Generation) Judge Reinhold (actor) Neal McDonough (actor) Wolfgang Puck (celebrity chef) Charles Fazzino (artist) Florence Henderson (actress) Jim Nabors (actor, singer) Ruth Buzzi (comedian) Godsmack (rock band) Andrew Firestone (“The Bachelor”) Patrick Dempsey (actor) David Letterman (late-night TV icon) Naomi Judd (singer) Wynonna Judd (singer) Michael Madsen (actor) Peter Reckell (actor) Melissa Joan Hart (actress) Adam Mesh (“Average Joe”) James Garner (actor) Unfortunately, David Finkel has to be in San Diego this weekend! (5/22) - Most fans have been hoping the IRL would begin roadracing and this week IRL officials visited some tracks to assess them for future race dates. Portland International Raceway and Watkins Glen in N.Y. were examined. (5/20) - Buddy Lazier has not missed an Indy 500 since 1994. This year he did not have a ride. He is happy to land a ride in Dreyer Reinbolt's second car - a Chevy-powered Dallara. He will be teammates with Felipe Giaffone. (5/17) - Access Motorsports, along with driver Greg Ray, have not been able to find the money (sponsors) they need to compete in the Indy 500 this month. They have this week left to find it. (5/16) - PJ Jones lands ride with Beck Motorsports for the Indy 500. PJ broke a bone in his back in a practice crash at Indy in 2002. He's raced in CART and Nascar. (5/15) - That wacky kid, Buddy Rice, captured the pole for the Indianapolis 500 with a average speed of 222.024 mph on a cold day. The speeds are lower than they've been in years thanks to the introduction of the new engine rules which cuts displacement down to 3.0 litres and horsepower down 95. Rice drives a Honda-powered G-Force Indycar for Rahal/Letterman Racing. The young Rice drove for Cheever Racing last year and was let go during 2003 and replaced by Alex Barron (who incidentally wrecked during qualifying!) Rice was picked by Rahal to fill in this year for the injured Kenny Brack. Besides the trophy shown here, Rice also received the $100,000 MBNA pole award. Honda-powered cars captured the top 7 qualifying positions, 4 of which were G-Force chassis. Following Buddy Rice, the nearest American on the grid is Sam Hornish Jr in position 11. On a side note, wrecked Cheever Racing cars are becoming a trademark. At first, I thought Eddie was hiring careless drivers. Perhaps Scheckter, who now has no problems driving for Panther, simply became more experienced. But now we have an experienced driver like Barron crashing. I wonder if its just the team. Are they preparing inconsistent cars? Or is Cheever somehow screwing up the minds of their drivers? (5/14) - While Indy experienced unusually hot weather all week, Friday practice was rainded out after 5 minutes. (5/9) - Michael Schumacher won his 5th straight Formula One race, this time in Spain. He's broken about every record except Senna's pole record. Michael needs to capture 7 more poles to beat it. He had some engine difficulty during the race and was lucky it kept running. I still hear people claim that Michael Schumacher's dominance makes F1 boring. I feel that this year has been more interesting since McLaren and Williams are no longer guaranteed 2nd and 3rd. BAR and Renault continued to spank them again this week. (5/8) - The largest mini-marathon in the nation was held for the 28th time. A record 30,000 people from around the world showed up to compete. Three people suffered heart attacks during the race and one of them died - the first death in the mini. Also, some Indiana Reservist serving in Bosnia held their own Mini and had about 160 participants. (5/7) - Hemelgarn Racing and PDM Racing can't find enough money to run the Indy 500.