The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page C4

C4 2ND THEINDIANAPOLISSTAR INDYSTAR.COM indianapolis500 owneris A.J.Foyt willdrivethepacecar tostartthe100thanni- versaryIndianapolis500.Ormaybe erageshastoeventuallyevenout. Whateverthereason, VitorMeira race. beenthinkingaboutwhatitwould meantowinhereevenmorethis ThursdayatIndianapolisMotor tohavepaybackonthosedueshere thisyear. takeittothenextlevel.There’sa reasonhewaspickedtodrivethe pacecar.Tobetheretogetherwith himwouldbereallycool.I’vebeen thatofhisIzodIndyCarSeriesca- ner.Countedamonghis118career startsareeightatIndianapolisthat includerunner-upfinishesin2008 top10.It’sarecordtobeenviedif notforthegooseegginthewincol- umn. onethatgotaway.Heledlaps160to 171beforebeingpassedbyeventual winner ScottDixon withhisseveralnear-missesinother nation.

servetobehere.Idon’thaveto proveIcanwin.Everybodyknowsit. Ifpeoplewanttobenegativebe- Thefalloutfromthelostpractice timethisweekbecauseofpoor Tom Anderson racingoperationsatAndrettiAuto- sport. havespentmostofthefirstfive practicedaysgettingtheircarsdialed poleday. centrateonqualifyingnow.There’s nouseworryingaboutracesetupsif acrossthespeedchartThursday, toppedby DanicaPatrick in10that 226.267mphandbottomedby Mike Conway in36that222.359. Kanaanheadedforthedirt IndyCarveteran TonyKanaan ac- ceptedaninvitationtodrivein NASCARstar TonyStewart all-stardirt-trackraceJune8atEl- Kanaanmadehisstockcardebut inthePreludetotheDreamcharity eventlastyearwithlimitedsuccess.

offun.Ican’tdescribeit.” Besidescompetingagainsteach racingforvariouscharities.Kanaan willjoinStewart, MattKenseth BrianVickers MarcosAmbrose AricAlmirola and DaveBlaney rac- Dallas. Etc. TheresignationThursdayof Dick Ebersol aspresidentofNBCSports, apositionhehadheldsince1989, robsIndyCarofastrongadvocate. ThemajorityofIndyCarracesareon Sportscarstandout JoeyHand memberofthewinning24Hoursof BobbyRahal CEO RandyBernard onThursday regardingpossibleinclusioninIndy- gressionalMedalofHonorrecipient BruceP.Crandall wasnamedhonor- arystarterandwillwavethegreen flagtobegintherace.RetiredCol. Crandallflewmorethan900mis- sionsasahelicopterpilotduringthe DaveCalabro CurtCavin talkabout weekendforecast.At6:20p.m.,Pat- ricktellsCalabroaboutherhopesfor poleday.

CallStarreporterSteveBallardat(317) Meiralikeshischances SteveBallard PITPASS SPEEDWAYSPEEDCHART ThetopspeedsfromThursdayandfortheweekforcarsat IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.Theweek’stopspeedliststhe topspeedthedriverobtainedinthatcar.AllcarsareDallara/ HondawithFirestonetires.DNR:Didnotrun.(W-racewin- PRACTICESPEEDS No. Driver TopSpeed TopSpeed 12WillPower227.778227.778 77 AlexTagliani 227.652 227.652 6 RyanBriscoe 227.217 227.217 3 HelioCastroneves(W) 226.927 226.927 99 TownsendBell 226.741 226.741 4 JRHildebrand(R) 226.527 226.527 2 OriolServia 226.471 226.471 9 ScottDixon(W) 226.453 226.453 67 EdCarpenter 226.376 226.376 7 DanicaPatrick 226.267 226.267 38 GrahamRahal 226.142 226.142 23 PaulTracy 225.906 225.906 82TonyKanaan225.802225.802 98 DanWheldon(W) 225.716 225.716 22JustinWilson225.648225.648 10 DarioFranchitti(W) 225.603 225.603 14 VitorMeira 225.450 225.450 5 TakumaSato 225.308 225.308 44 BuddyRice(W) 225.184 225.184 36 PippaMann(R) 225.092 225.092 26 MarcoAndretti 224.954 224.954 28 RyanHunter-Reay 224.873 224.873 43 JohnAndretti 224.684 224.684 41 BrunoJunqueira 224.644 224.644 07 TomasScheckter 224.632 224.632 30BertrandBaguette224.617224.617 19 AlexLloyd 224.525 224.525 9T ScottDixon(W) DNR 224.491 4T JRHildebrand(R) DNR 224.433 83 CharlieKimball(R) 224.433 224.433 06 JamesHinchcliffe(R) 224.333 224.333 24 AnaBeatriz 224.123 224.123 10T DarioFranchitti(W) DNR 224.107 59 EJViso 224.056 224.056 26T MarcoAndretti DNR 223.927 11 DaveyHamilton 223.889 223.889 6T RyanBriscoe DNR 223.811 17 RaphaelMatos 223.349 223.655 8 Ho-PinTung(R) 223.348 223.348 3T HelioCastroneves(W) DNR 222.755 27 MikeConway 222.359 222.359 7T DanicaPatrick DNR 222.232 78 SimonaDeSilvestro 222.192 222.192 20 ScottSpeed(R) 222.177 222.177 12T WillPower DNR 221.837 34 SebastienSaavedra 221.268 221.268 27T MikeConway DNR 220.160 78T SimonaDeSilvestro DNR 219.522 18T JamesJakes(R) DNR 219.095 1.12,WillPower,227.778mph;2.77,AlexTagliani,227.652; 3.6,RyanBriscoe,227.217;4.3,HelioCastroneves,226.927; 5.99,TownsendBell,226.741;6.4,JRHildebrand,226.527; 7.2,OriolServia,226.471;8.9,ScottDixon,226.453; 9.67,EdCarpenter,226.376;10.7,DanicaPatrick,226.267. burnedknuckles. harnessdumpedherintothefire. driverTownsendBellsaid.

oughttobeatLittleLeaguepractice withmykids.WhatamIdoingout AfterbeingreleasedfromMethod- drivermadeaquicktriptoGasoline Alleytovisithercrew. DeSilvestrodidnotmeetwithre- portersbutplanstothismorningat IMS. HVMdidmorethanloseDeSilves- troforsomeperiodoftime.The crashedcarwasanewonepurchased piecesthatweredamagedbeyondre- pair. ginssaid. ThatmeansthesmallIndianapolis- basedteammustrebuildoneofthe Itwasusedlastweekendforpractice, theequivalentoftheprimarycar.The thecaris15to20poundsheavier.

sitionofacarfromanotherteamfor HVMtomaketherace. QualifyingisSaturdayandSunday, weatherpermitting.DeSilvestro theMay29race.Rulespermitasub- tatesstartingatthebackofthe33-car field. DeSilvestroisoneofthemost promisingyoungdriversintheIzod teamhad165sponsorguestsatthe trackThursday. DeSilvestrocompletedonlysix Thatwas37thamongthe40car-and- drivercombinationsthatcombinedto WillPowerofTeamPenskeledthe waywithalapof227.778mph.His SecondandfifthwereSamSchmidt MotorsportsteammatesAlexTagliani andTownsendBell.Sixthwasrookie JRHildebrandofPantherRacing. OriolServia(Newman-HaasRacing), penter(SarahFisherRacing)and DanicaPatrick(AndrettiAutosport).

difficulttojudgehowmanylapswere aidedbythedraft. FastFridayistypicallyoneofthe mostexcitingdaysinMay.Itwillbe thelastfulldayofpracticebeforethe 100thanniversaryrace.Twodaysof qualifyingandCarburetionDayon May27willputthefinaltoucheson thepre-racepreparations. CallStarreporterCurtCavinat(317) 444-6409. 1.Putthehammerdown InpreparationforpoledaySaturday, teamswilltrimouttheircarsformaxi- mumspeedandgoseewhattheyhave. 2.Playingitcoy endoftheday.Hemightbelying intheweedssavinghisbest forwhenitcounts.

3.Fastbutnottoofast Todayisallaboutteamspushingtothe edgewhilebeingcarefulnottogoover it.Worsethanhavingaslowcar thedaybeforepoledayishaving awreckedcar. IS-5808615 for all Erectile Dysfunction or Premature Issues! SATURDAYINTHESTAR TODAYATTHETRACK Gatesopen8a.m.-6p.m.;practicenoon-6p.m.;admission$10. Indy oneoftheoldeststillinuse. FromC1 AssociatedPress KevinDurantscored24pointsand visitingOklahomaCityThundertoa 106-100victoryovertheDallasMa- theWesternConferencefinalsatone gameeach. Durantwasastoughtoguardas Hardenandthebenchcomingupbig, especiallydownthestretch.

hadafour-pointplayinthefinalsec- ondsofthethirdquarterthatput OklahomaCityupbyone.Thenhe andfellowreservesEricMaynor, NickCollisonandDaequanCook teamedwithDuranttooutplayDal- Theybrokeopenthegamewitha 14-5stretchcappedbyatough jumperbyHardennearthefoulline; itputOklahomaCityupby10with pointstherestoftheway. OklahomaCitycontinueditsstreak ofavoidingconsecutivelossesthis postseason.Theseriesshiftstothe urdaynight. nearlyasmuchashedidinthe enoughasDallassawitsseven-game winningstreakendanddroppedto 6-1athomeintheplayoffs. Nowitzkitookonly10freethrows, downfrom24intheopener.Heeven ofaseriesofthreeshotswith 36.7secondsleft.Itcouldhaveput theMaverickswithinthree. TysonChandlerhad15pointsand pointsandsevenassistsforDallas.

toitsusualscoringpunch.J.J.Barea PejaStojakovicbothhadeight. andCollisonsix.RussellWestbrook bouncedbackfromatoughopenerto fourthquarterfromthebench. HaslemsparksHeat firstbasketsinceNov.20—tobegin thefinalmarginWednesdayinvisit- cagoBullsthattiedtheEasternCon- ferencefinalsatagameapiece. game.Noquestionaboutit.” HaslemwillbeintherotationSun- daywhenMiamihostsGame3ofthe turedtheLisfrancligamentinhisleft footNov.20. said.

Etc. DukePG KyrieIrving wasinChi- cagofortheNBACombine.Hewill havepre-draftmedicalevaluations drills.Irving—whoaveraged17.5 pointsinanabbreviatedBlueDevils YaoMing saidhissurgicallyrepairedleftankle ishealingproperlyandhewantsto staywiththeRockets.Yaosaidhe wo becomesarestrictedfreeagentJuly1. NBA.