And another thing...

Indy postscript

Back home from the Speedway, and I've had a few hours to mull over the first unified Indianapolis 500 in 13 years. Some thoughts:

* In their heart of hearts, the open-wheel honchos' hearts must have sunk a little bit when Scott Dixon held off Vitor Meira to win. Dixon's a great guy with obvious skills and was clearly the best of the best yesterday, but he doesn't exactly move the excitement needle. He is, in fact, pretty bland.

The best stories in this race finished second (Meira) and third (Marco Andretti). Or even fourth (Helio Castroneves) or sixth (rookie of the year and uber-quote Ryan Hunter-Reay). Dixon richly deserved his win, but how does IndyCar market him?

* Couldn't help thinking, as I watched Sam Hornish Jr. struggle again at Charlotte on Sunday night, if maybe he isn't kicking himself for jumping to NASCAR. I understand why he did it, and it made sense at the time, but with IndyCar back together again and ascendant, I wouldn't blame him for having second thoughts.

No matter how huge it is, it's a demonstrative fact that NASCAR has flat-lined. IndyCar, on the other hand, has new life. Check out which one's TV and attendance numbers are on the rise.

* Speaking of which (and I'll say more about this in our Old School Journalism version tomorrow), the first unified 500 yesterday was a smashing success attendance wise. Those of us who've been around for awhile agreed unanimously that the crowd was the biggest we've seen since before the split. And as anecdotal evidence, we all sat in traffic in places and at times that we haven't in at least a decade.

* Going back to Hornish and NASCAR, one last thought. I think if Indy really wants to get back to the old days, it should move the 500 off Sunday and back to Memorial Day, or maybe to Saturday. That way it's not going head-to-head with Charlotte, which means some of the NASCAR guys who might want to run both would have a chance to do so again.

The 500 gained added juice back in the late '60s and early '70s when some of the NASCAR boys, like Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough and Donnie and Bobby Allison, came to Indy. Can you imagine the buzz if Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart or Dale Earnhardt Jr. did the same? Or Ryan Newman, a Hoosier native? Or Kasey Kahne, who came up through the open-wheel ranks?

Love to see those guys at Indy.

-- Ben Smith   

Tony Ka-not

INDIANAPOLIS -- We're almost three-quarters through this thing now, and I want to know something: Does anyone have worse luck here than Tony Kanaan?

For the second straight year here he led at the halfway mark, he's now led a record seven straight Indianapolis 500s -- and he's gone again. This time he was in front when he entered turn three too high on lap 105, and when he tried to move down, teammate Marco Andretti was going underneath him (perhaps prematurely) on the inside.

And so he got up in the marbles, spun and slid right into the path of Sarah Fisher. End of race for both of them.

Kanaan was clearly miffed and clearly thought his teammate should not have been where he was.

"As usual, I'm in the lead and something happens," Kanaan said.

Ain't it the truth.

--  Ben Smith

And they're off ...

INDIANAPOLIS ... and surprise, surprise, no mayhem at the start.

It was clean, it was fast and the first yellow at Lap 8 in the 92nd Indianapolis 500 was because -- get this -- Bruno Junqueira's mirror fell off the car.

Considering the mayhem everyone was predicting, it was almost mundane.

-- Ben Smith

Stop the madness

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sitting here waiting for the race to start (and waiting, and waiting ... why did I get here at 8 a.m. again?), and I see that NFL commish Roger "The Hammer" Goodell is ready to crack down on the epidemic of drunken fan violence.

This is a good thing, by and large. No one wants the NFL to turn into English soccer. Or German soccer, for that matter. Or Italian soccer, or South American soccer, or ... well, you get the idea.

I did notice, however, that most of the examples of fan outrage cited in the aforementioned piece involved  either Oakland or Philadelphia.  Big surprise. Raider fans are and always have been insane; Philadelphia fans are and always have been gaping you-know-whats.

Here's what I recommend:

1. The next time Oakland fans go into biker-gang mode, dynamite the Golden Gate bridge and throw up an electrified fence for good measure. Just keep 'em away from the rest of us.

2. The next time Philly fans behave like rabid Dobermans -- sometime in the next five minutes would be my guess -- crop-dust the entire city with Prozac. They'll still throw junk at their own players, but maybe it'll be softer junk, like couch cushions and cute fluffy stuffed animals.

-- Ben Smith

Indy, a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Rolled into the Speedway today at 8 a.m., and here's a sign the sport might be returning to its roots in more ways than one: I've already seen one "Show Us Your (Body Part)" sign.

It was hand-scrawled on a huge piece of poster board in front of one of the many campers crowding the Coke lot along 25th Street, where the breakfast fires were burning and the beer was already flowing at 7:45 or so.

Here's another good sign: We actually hit some traffic coming in, five hours before they drop the green. Not much, but some.

On the other hand, some things are irretrievably different. As I walked into Gasoline Alley this morning, a yellow shirt asked to see my garage pass. And when I turned it over, he said, "Thanks, bro."

"Thanks, bro"?

It's a new day at Indy indeed.

-- Ben Smith

Big wheels

Just in time for the Indianapolis 500, ESPN has come out with its list of the top 25 race drivers of all time, and A.J. Foyt sits at the top of it.

The rest of the top five, in order, are Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

Can't say I have a problem with A.J. as No. 1 -- no one won longer in more types of cars -- but you can make a case for flip-flopping him and Andretti. Mainly because Mario is the only driver in history to win the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and the Formula One world driving championship.

I also wouldn't have put Dale Earnhardt nearly as high as No. 3, unless it's No. 3 alltime in NASCAR. Even there he's behind David Pearson, hands down the top NASCAR driver in history.

So, my top five:

1. Mario Andretti.

2. A.J. Foyt.

3. Jim Clark.

4. Ayrton Senna.

5. David Pearson.

With Schumi, Earnhardt, Petty, Dan Gurney and Jeff Gordon in my second five.

-- Ben Smith   

Hiatus, or ...

The news that the Rod Woodson Football Camp -- the football camp part, anyway -- will not be conducted this year is disconcerting news.

It's a been a summertime staple since 1994, but ongoing reorganization and scheduling conflicts for the camp's namesake have put it on hold. I only hope it's not the beginning of the end for an event that's been a huge positive for this city.

-- Ben Smith 

Weather break?

I'm heading to Indianapolis tomorrow to cover the race on Sunday, and so far the weather forecast looks great. Which is welcome news to those of us who suffered through the 24 Hours of Indy last year, when a three-hour rain delay and then more rain stretched the abbreviated finish to nearly 7 p.m.

All I've got to say about that is one thing.

Apparently Tony Hulman and God have patched things up.

-- Ben Smith    

Another departure

Tom Crean has turned another Hoosier into an ex-Hoosier, dismissing Brandon McGee from the program for "academic and team guideline negligence," which I presume to mean the kid wasn't going to class.

That leaves Crean with Kyle Taber and Jordan Crawford as the only meaningful holdovers from the Kelvin Sampson era. And, again, it points out what enormous damage to the program, in virtually every way, that Sampson did in his less than two seasons in Bloomington.

Can Indiana fire Rick Greenspan now?

Or hire Adam Herbert back just so it can fire him?

-- Ben Smith    

Kudos to the Knights

If you haven't seen it already, check out this week's edition of Sports Illustrated. SI listed its top high school sports programs in the country, and Bishop Luers was named as Indiana's best and No. 24 nationally.

Congrats to AD Matt Lindsay and everyone out there on Paulding Road. Well deserved.

-- Ben Smith