Indy 500 Delivers on Speed, Drama, Love

INDIANAPOLIS -- In the end, Dario didn't run out of gas, a bunch of his competitors nearly did, and Ashley couldn't stay in her shoes.

Everything else surrounding the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday prior to the final couple of laps was a blur -- sort of like Dario Franchitti's No. 10 car for most of the steamy afternoon.

This was fun. This also was scary.

With one lap remaining and his car threatening to gasp any moment courtesy of a sprinkling of gas left in his tank, Franchitti's likeness on the Borg-Warner Trophy was guaranteed for a second time in four Indy races after a crash in the north chute. It was a brutal one, but it wasn't fatal. It featured Mike Conway suffering just a leg injury despite his sparking, flipping and exploding ride flying high before slamming into the fence.

So this mostly was vintage Indy -- as in drama.

As in, it's about time.

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As in, this is what this place needed to continue its climb back from self-inflicted obscurity after Tony George (now, thankfully, the resigned Tony George) ruined the Indianapolis 500 with his silly split with CART 14 years ago. The Hulman family decided to choose business over bloodlines after last year's race by replacing George as CEO of its racing empire with Randy Bernard, who was splendid in bull riding.

It remains to be seen whether Bernard can become as prolific with things that zoom as he was with things that snort.

All I know is that the old days lived on Sunday at Indy, even beyond the playing of Taps and Jim Nabors sending tears to the corners of eyes with his annual rendition of "Back Home Again in Indiana."

The place was wonderfully vibrant -- from the (ahem) sanitized Snake Pit inside the first turn to the wine-and-cheese types who packed the expansive suites around the track. More impressively, there were more than 300,000 folks standing and yelling down the stretch with Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti among those battling their own fuel issues and Franchitti. Then, before long, Ashley Judd lost her shoes while she ran down pit lane like somebody in a movie -- say, like "De-Lovely" -- in search of her victorious husband.

Judd wore a floppy hat, a flowing purple and beige dress and a smile wider than the Brickyard's front straight.

"I'm as excited today as I was in 2007," said Judd, who works full-time as both an actress and Kentucky Wildcats basketball fan. She was referring to Franchitti's other Indy victory that came during a rain-shortened 166-lap race. It also featured Judd bare-footed and running on pit lane with Franchitti across the way. Added Ashley, still sweating from central Indiana's early summer, "I'm as wet now as I was back then [in 2007]. [Franchitti's] car was just in a league of its own."

Yes and no.

Yes, because Franchitti led 155 out of the 200 laps, which wasn't quite Billy Arnold (who spent the 1930 race as the leader for all but two laps), but it was pretty impressive. And, no, because Franchitti easily could have lost this race in agonizing fashion before winning under a caution flag due to that crash.

We're back to Franchitti's gas issues. Said Chip Ganassi, who became the first car owner to have a Daytona 500 winner (Jamie McMurray) and Indianapolis 500 winner in the same year, "It was a little dicey there at the end. We were trying to save fuel just to get to the end."

They weren't alone, which added to the drama.

Castroneves was within a highly probable spurt late in the race of joining A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as the only four-time Indy winners. Instead, Team Penske continued its afternoon of unusual gaffes. During one pit stop, Will Power even gunned his way back onto the track with a fuel hose dangling out of the gas tank.

Chip Ganassi Reflects on Racing History In other words, it wasn't surprising that with nearly 50 laps left, Castroneves had his car stall in the pits.

"Unfortunately, silly mistakes put us in the back," said Castroneves, whose only hope to catch Franchitti after his awful pit stop was to wish for a slew of yellow flags to help his fuel situation. The same went for Kanaan, who flirted with completing a miracle by going from starting last at No. 33 to reaching the checkered flag. It's just that, after rising as high as second during the final laps, he had to pit for fuel.

The same went for Andretti, who was in search of ending the dreaded Andretti Curse that has kept his family winless at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since Mario's winner in 1969.

Ganassi shook his head.

"We were lucky at the end to be able to spread out our lead by four or five seconds, because we needed them since we were confused listening to some of the other [drivers] about some of the numbers," Ganassi said, referring to their estimates down the stretch on how much gas their competitors had remaining. "I'm sure they're kicking themselves. I know we've been there, because they ended up with fuel left after the race."

That's enough fuel left for them to drive somewhere to buy Ashley a new pair of shoes. Then again, Franchitti can do that. He also has enough gas left -- and he also just won $3 million worth of shoe money.