The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page C2

C2 1ST THEINDIANAPOLISSTAR INDYSTAR.COM E-mail: jim.lefko@indystar.com» Mainnumber: Faxline: (317)444-6500 justdesperateenough tobelievetheyhavemore togainbyshuttingdown. Ithinkthe(NBAPA)isgoing togetrolled.There’s toomanyownerslosing toomuchmoney.IntheNFL, ForbesexecutiveeditorMikeOzanian onpendingNBAlaborstrife. Thecurrentcollectivebargaining agreementbetweentheleague andtheNBAPAexpiresJune30. THEYSAIDIT sportsonthego 05.31.11 Indians Fever Today7p.m.vs.Minnesota* Saturday7p.m.vs.Chicago June107p.m.vs.NewYork NEXTTHREE Homegamesinbold Baseball 7p.m.NL:GiantsatCardinalsESPN 7p.m.IL:Scranton/Wilkes-BarreatIndians NBAFinals 9p.m.MavericksatHeatWRTV-6 Tennis ONTHEAIR therewasnoquestionWheldon hadeveryrighttopassadisabled carandnoquestionhewaspast Hildebrandwhenthelight flashed. Thereasonthepostracere- viewtooksolongwassoofficials couldlookattherestofthefield anddeterminewheredrivers werewhenthecautionlight flashed.

Tracykeptinsistinghewonthe writingaboutDanicaPatrick. criticswouldbehailingheras oneofthemostaccomplished driversonthecircuit.Andshe findmuchspeedallmonth. (when)sheheadstoNASCAR blowtotheIzodIndyCarSeries. liketheotherracesarepulling bediminishedbyherabsence. Todouble-filerestartornot eternalquestionnowforseries officials.

Sunday. Somedriversabsolutelyloved mind.OtherslikeMarcoAndret- tihadstrongwordsofprotest. itarace-to-raceproposition. onhowtouseitinthefuture. TonyKanaannavigatetheearly- morningrace-daytrafficon30th Street.Inatrolleycar.

basedonmyownexperience andconversationswithlongtime seemedlikethebiggestsince TheSplit. monthandtheracehavenever hadthisgrandandepicfeel. hasalsobeenreinvigoratedby re-unificationandthecompres- sionoftheschedule. TheIndianapolis500isfine, thankyou.Nowit’samatterof helpingalongalltheotherraces intheseries. teamsenjoyedtheheckoutof gotthebestofGanassiand Andretti.

Becausewiththenewcars goingtoenjoyahugeadvantage. Whathappenedthismonthwas afunctionofeverybodydriving teamsalreadyhaddrawnevery- thingtheycouldfromthecars, andthesmallerteamsfinally caughtup. watchaone-offDanWheldon teamwintheBorg-WarnerTro- phy.ButthedaysofPenske-Ga- nassidominancearecoming back. CrawfordsvilleRoadopendur- ingtheracemonth? SimonadeSilvestrohada waysberememberedaround hereforherqualifyingrun.She whatseparatesracedriversfrom therestofushumans. Thisshouldbereallyeasy forRandyBernardandIndyCar prohibitscarownersfromsell- ingspotsinqualifiedcarsto driversfromotherteams queiraandAlexTaglianiafew checkbookbumpingcannothap- penagain.

Theintegrityofqualifying weekendisatstake. think? BobKravitzisacolumnist forTheIndianapolisStar. Callhimat(317)444-6643oremail bob.kravitz@indystar.com. Kravitz top-10talentonceagain. FromC1 DallasMorningNews challengeofguardingLeBronJamesis likethesun.It’llblindyou.

Thinkabouttheenormityofhavingto hurry.It’ssomethingtheMavericksare tryingtotreatwithequalamountsofre- spectandconfidence. reallynosecretformulatoguardthe mostdangeroustalentintheNBA. score.You’vegottojustmakeittoughon them.Ifthey’remakingtoughshots, MaverickscoachRickCarlislesaidthe ticesleadinguptotheFinalshavebeen andoffensiveconcepts.Butmorethan havetobeextremelysolidatbothends, andefficiencyisanabsolutemustonof- intobasketsbetterthananybodyin thebestplayerintheNBA.Wadeiscer- tainlyamongthetop10. Buttherehavebeengamesthisseason inwhichbothplayerswereslowed. Maverickshavegoneintoaserieswith everybodythinkingtheyareover- matchedincertainareas.

guys.Welovethem.Ourchemistryisa bigpartofwhoweare.Onpaper,we weplaythegamesandseehowwedo. ourgame.Therearegoingtobematchup challenges.Butoursystemisbuiltaround ateamdefenseandateamoffenseand yoursystemhasgottohelpgetyou throughperiodswherethematchups togothroughthatagainsteveryteam lenge.Andtheeyesoftheworldwillbe focusedinonthematchup. Mavshavematchupissues wasoutoffuel. finish. Thedifferencebetweenthetwowas emonyattheJWMarriott.Wheldonand BryanHertaAutosportreceivedacheck HildebrandandPantherreceived yeardriver.Hildebrandalsowasnamed Wheldonsaidthiswinfeelsdifferent thantheonehegotin2005.

Henowhasawifeandtwosons. Wheldonhasgonethroughadifficult threeyearsthatbeganwithbeingof- triedtolandTonyKanaantoreplacehim. WheldonleftGanassiRacingafterthe theyhadtheirtryingmoments.Lastsum- Indy. Wheldonsaidhehasregainedtheconfi- denceinhimself. Wheldonhadeveryrighttotoutthe facthepassedthecarofaformerteam, HertasaidWheldonhasgrownupcon- siderablysincehisearlydaysintheseries.

Hegotamid-racescarefromKanaan andlate-racecontactfromadriverhe neversaw. wasconcernedtheremightbesome swervingathim.Hecalledit“abitofa WhenKanaantriedtomakeupforitby infieldingtheNo.98caragainthisseason unlesstherightopportunitycomesalong. MotorSpeedway. tothesportthatseriesbossRandyBer- intrigueofthe500winnerparticipating willcreatebuzz. beexcitingtoseeifhecouldwinthat, Bernardplanstoannouncethefive chosenparticipantsthissummer.

program. CallStarreporterCurtCavinat(317)444-6409. Wheldon onracingagainthisseason. FromC1 FeverfaceLynxtoday TheIndianaFeverfacetheMinnesota LynxintheirfinalWNBApreseasongame at7p.m.todayatConsecoFieldhouse. FormerIndianapolisStarIndianaMiss Basketball AmberHarris (NorthCentral, 2006)had10pointsand10reboundsto leadtheLynxpasttheFever71-66last TuesdayinapreseasongameinSt.Paul, Minn.HarriswastheNo.4overallpickin theWNBAdraftoutofXavier.

MayaMoore KatieDouglas due)ledtheFeverwith11points. ButlerqualifiedtwoathletesandNotre DameandIndianaStatethreeeachfor theNCAAOutdoorChampionships(June PreliminariesovertheweekendatIndi- anaUniversity. QualifyingforButlerwere KrisGauson Kirsty Legg QualifyingforNotreDamewere Jer- emyRae JonathanShawel JackHoward QualifyingforIndianaStatewere FelishaJohnson (LawrenceNorth)inthe 3 4 inches)andham- merthrow(199-8), KelseyHanley inthe discus(168-0)and MajorClay inthehigh jump(7-0 1 4 HOOSIERDIGEST INDIANAPOLIS500 EARNINGS RacewinnerDanWheldonearned Totalmoney 1.DanWheldon$2,567,255 2.JRHildebrand $1,064,895 3.GrahamRahal$646,945 4.TonyKanaan $438,745 5.ScottDixon$519,345 6.OriolServia $364,845 7.BertrandBaguette$256,255 8.TomasScheckter $253,805 9.MarcoAndretti$311,245 10.DanicaPatrick $321,745 11.EdCarpenter$251,655 12.DarioFranchitti $369,695 13.CharlieKimball$251,555 14.WillPower $318,745 15.VitorMeira$306,745 16.JustinWilson $309,995 17.HelioCastroneves$320,245 18.BuddyRice $252,805 19.AlexLloyd$254,805 20.PippaMann $251,555 21.AnaBeatriz$306,745 22.JohnAndretti $251,305 23.RyanHunter-Reay$252,805 24.DaveyHamilton $251,305 25.PaulTracy$252,805 26.TownsendBell $252,805 27.RyanBriscoe$356,745 28.AlexTagliani $492,245 29.JamesHinchcliffe$256,305 30.JayHoward $251,555 31.SimonadeSilvestro$311,745 32.EJViso $306,745 33.TakumaSato$310,245 Totalpurse $13,509,485 NEXTRACE: severalnationalplayeroftheyear theIndianaPacerstodayatConseco Fieldhouse. recentlyhasbeenplayingprofessionally inTokyo. TheNBAdraftisJune23.

FredettetoworkoutforPacers MAVERICKSATHEAT 9p.m.todayI TV: WRTV-6 JimmerFre- guardfrom workoutfor thePacers today.The Pacershave the15th pickinthe firstround oftheJune 23draft..