The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 49

BridgeE2 Let It OutE5 MoviesE5 TelevisionE7 The Indianapolis Thursday, May 23, 2002 Section InfoUne: 624-INFO (4636) Star www.lndyStar.com J4 Sparkle and shine attract tweensE3 'Sopranos' aren't squealing about fourth seasonE7 Famous faces may be seen in town Party will spotlight Last Row drivers Annual 500 celebrity guessing game begins I THE MONTH OF MAY Race Day: May 26 ft Hi By Susan Guyett susan.guyettindystar.com The big checks doled out by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pale in comparison to the paltry sums presented to the three drivers who qualified for the race from Row 11. But every year, the drivers holding down the back of the pack show up to collect. The Indianapolis Press Club will serve as host for its 30th annual Last Row Party tonight to toast drivers Greg Ray, George Mack and Mark Dis-more with a few jokes, specially embroidered jackets and checks for 31, 32 and 33 cents. More than 500 guests are expected at the sold-out event at the Brickyard Crossing Inn and Resort Pavilion, where Bob Jenkins will do the emcee honors. The drivers are good natured and will hang around to autograph T-shirts featuring their caricatures drawn by Indianapolis Star cartoonist Gary Var-veL Gerry LaFollette, former political writer for The Indianapolis News, helped organize the first Last Row Party in 1972.

Pole sitters and front runners See Last Row, Page E2 By Susan Guyett susan.guyettdindystar.com Race car drivers won't be the only big names in town this weekend. A bevy of celebrities are slated to show up for the Indianapolis 500, providing fans a chance to spot a star out and about Keep your eyes open, and remember that even though Hollywood types look different in real life, at least they won't be wearing helmets. The final crop of celebrities expected at various 500 activities is still percolating with the possibility of last-minute guests showing up and others dropping out. Here's the latest buzz, along with the odds of them showing: fry, For sures Actor Jim Caviezel will be everywhere. This year's pace car driver, he's also grand marshal of Saturday's 500 Festival Parade.

You may not know his name, but if you are a movie fan, you've seen him. He was the guy in the garage in "Pay It Forward," co-starred with Jennifer See 500, Page E2 Maybes Wynonna and Naomi Judd, Ashley's sister and mama; "24" good guy Carlos Bernard; Noah Wyle, Dr. John Carter on "ER" and Anthony Edward's buddy. Definites Clockwise from top: Dario Franchitti he's in the race and wife, actress Ashley Judd; basketball legend Julius Erving; Jim Caviezel, actor and pace car driver. li 1 ivy Sports match made for talk radio SI V7 ESPN's 'Mike and Mijte in the Morning' will broadcast live Friday from Indianapolis.

John Sevorson staff photo Treat time: Carolyn and Tracy Hittle of Rushville enjoy a break with their daughter McKenzie, 2, and son Cole, 8, and Carolyn's son, Daniel Herbert, 12. Carolyn Hittle, who also has a stepdaughter, is helping to organize a retreat for stepmothers. want to bring Long's doughnuts to the show, we will be accepting." Guests on Friday's show are scheduled to include Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Po-lian (8 am), Al Unser Jr. and Al Unser Sr. (8:10 a.m.) and Sarah Fisher (8:25 a.m.).

As usual for "The Mike and Mike Show," it promises to be straightforward sports talk by two intelligent, opinionated, amusing and completely different guys. Golic, 39, is the ex-athlete, a 1985 University of Notre Dame graduate and a nine-year NFL veteran who played defensive tackle for Houston, Philadelphia and Miami Greenberg, 34 "Greenie," as he's known to Golic and the listeners is the non-athlete, a Northwestern University graduate and an 11-year veteran of sportswriting and broadcasting. In an interview this week, the duo talked about some subjects near and dear to Indianapolis sports fans. How much do you know about auto racing, and how much do you care? Greenberg: I know enough about it to be conversant and cover it. But I bring the same perspective that most of our listeners nationally probably See Radio, Page E5 By Marc D.

Allan marc.allanindystar.com After Tony Bruno left the ESPN Radio morning show in late 1999, Mike Golic went through 13 guest hosts before being teamed with Mike Greenberg. Although they didn't know each other, they clicked immediately. "My wife actually called me after the first segment, and she said, 'That's the Golic says. "I don't know anything about him he seems pretty geeky but that's the guy." They're now 22 years into "Mike and Mike in the Morning" and having a great time. You can hear that for yourself from 5 a.m.

to 9 a-m. on WNDE-AM (1260) and on more than 130 stations across the country. Or you can see it Friday when they'll be broadcasting live from the Ram Restaurant, 140 S. Illinois where they will have sports and doughnuts on their minds. "We have been e-mailed overwhelmingly by listeners in Indianapolis telling us that we've got to have doughnuts from Long's Bakery," Greenberg says.

"If they Winning team: Mike Greenberg (left) and Mike Golic are hosts of an ESPN radio show featuring straightforward sports talk. Positive steD-Darentm Retreat aims to help women seeking to cope with the problems of merging two families. By Courtenay Edelhart courtenay.edelhartindystar.com arolyn Hittle knows what can go right in a stepfamily, and what can go wrong. In addition to the two children they have together, the Rushville homemaker and her husband worker who specializes in counseling stepfamilies. "The first, or biological family starts out with a very high feeling of connection, and as time goes on, the parents become unhappy and divorce," she said.

"With stepfamilies, it's just the opposite. They start out with an immense amount of stress and then get stronger, if they make it" By definition, stepfamilies are born of loss the death of the previous marriage, said Murray-Bowles, keynote speaker at next month's retreat. Consequently, it's unrealistic to expect everything to go smoothly right away. See Positive, Page E8 Helping families work through such tensions is the goal of an upcoming retreat sponsored by StepTogether.org, an Internet-only chapter of the American Stepfamily Association. The retreat, for stepmothers, will take place June 8 and 9 at the Quality Inn Suites North in Indianapolis.

As stepfamilies become increasingly common, more couples than ever before are facing the jealousy, split loyalties and confusion that tears many apart. Nearly half of all first marriages end in divorce. Remarriages fail at an even higher rate. The good news is, families that survive the rocky years after a new marriage are usually stronger afterward, said Robin Murray-Bowles, an Indianapolis social each has a child bv a previous snouse. Hittle is friends with her husband's 14-year-old daughter, and her husband gets along with her 12-year-old soa But that wasn't always the case.

"It took a while for us to come to where we are now," she said. etc Chew on this: Bubble-blowing contest is shot at fame off' in July. Finalists will get five minutes to blow whopper bubbles, and the contestant with the largest recorded bubble wins. The champ will receive a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond and will present a $5,000 donation in his or Listen up, kids.

Your chance at fame and fortune awaits, and all you have to do is something that seems to be second nature to most of you: Chew some gum and blow a bubble. Mike Redmond at once, I can also tell you that it is quite a workout for your jaw muscles, not to mention your manners. You should also know that when you blow a bubble with five pieces of gum and it explodes, you are going to spend the next two hours picking bits of gum out of your hair (again, peanut butter helps). So there you have it, kids. Three pieces of gum, at a Wal-Mart, June 1, for a shot at fame and fortune.

You, too, may be king or queen of a beloved kid-hood pastime if you just remember the advice: Chew thoroughly and inflate slowly. In other words, don't blow it. Contact Mike Redmond at 1-317-444-6388 or via e-mail at mike.redmondindystar.com. lndyStar.com: Click on Indiana Living to access Mike Redmond's columns. she blew a 13-incher to win (although that was rather puny compared to her personal best, a 22-inch behemoth).

It's all in the timing, you see. "Bubble champions know the right point in time to begin blowing," Cherrie said. "It's a fairly small window, between getting all the sugar out and the gum turning hard. I've seen kids take the gum out of their mouths and hold it, waiting, until the right moment to start blowing." Now, for purposes of competition, contestants are limited to a measly three pieces of gum. I say measly because the Dubble Bubble Web site (www.dubble bubble.com) recommends five pieces for truly magnificent bubbles, along with a teaspoon of peanut butter for elasticity.

Be careful, though. As one who recently tried to chew five pieces of gum bles with whales" in "What I Did On My Summer Vacation." So what's the secret? Let's ask Paul Cherrie, the senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Concord Confections of Toronto, which makes Dubble Bubble, and a man who plainly loves his job and chews the product shudder to think how much. I have a happy His expert advice? Lots of gum. "The kids have their own little tricks," he says, "but at the end of the day, you need to have a fair bit of mass in your mouth for a big honkin' bubble." One trick recommended by Anna Hansen is to chew the gum until all the sugar is gone, or you won't get a smooth, elastic piece of gum. "And blow slowly," she added.

That's what worked last year when her honor to the Children's Miracle Network hospital in the champ's hometown (in Indianapolis, that's Riley Hospital for Children), plus all the fame such a landmark kid achievement warrants. Last year's champ, Anna Hansen, blew bubbles on the "Today" show, with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball team, and with the Beluga whales at Sea World. How cool is that? I guarantee you no other kid in your class wrote "blew bub We're talking about the -third annual Dubble Bubble National Bubble Blowing Contest, taking place June 1 at Wal-Mart (also known as Wally World) stores nationwide, for kids 12 and younger. At the end of the one-day national contest, the stores will submit their biggest bubbles to a third-party judging organization, which will determine the top six national contest finalists. The six finalists will meet for a "blow.