Sports

At Indy 500, risk can be worth the reward

INDIANAPOLIS -- During the few seconds when Helio Castroneves' car was airborne and upside-down during practice for the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 there was a worldwide intake of breath.

The three-time winner of "The Greatest Spectacle In Racing" walked away from his May 13 crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway injury-free, but the incident was a scary reminder that driving a car 230 mph is never going to be as safe as a stroll to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread.

The Brazilian driver who turned 40 three days before the crash has as solid a chance as any of the 33 drivers who will start their engines on command Sunday. Castroneves is seeking one more triumph to join those who have won the most famous automobile race in the world four times.

"It's the 500," Castroneves said this week. "You're going to do everything you can to win. You're going to go all in, but you've always got to make sure you finish. You've got to have a chance to be battling. I'd always rather have the opportunity to win than put myself at the risk and not finish the race."

A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser Sr. are the Indy drivers with four victories.

"This is the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the World Cup, so if you're going to win one race, this is the one," Castroneves said.

Maybe it is the Curse of Jim Nabors, but the month of practice and qualifying this year has been spooky. Nabors retired from singing "Back Home Indiana" after doing it every year with few exceptions from 1972 to 2014. Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden also soared through the air in frightening circumstances. They escaped injury and will compete. Not as fortunate is James Hinchcliffe.

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"I've hit the wall hard, but I've never hit the wall that hard," said veteran driver Townsend Bell of Hinchcliffe's crash last week. "I cannot even imagine what it feels like, other than it was twice as hard as I hit the wall last year where I wish I was knocked out. That's how bad it hurt. You hate it. You don't want to see it. It's disturbing. But it would be incredibly naïve, ignorant…I would be living in a fantasyland if I was surprised. It's part of the deal."

Hinchcliffe hit the wall coming out of turn three. A broken piece of the suspension tore through his leg and caused massive bleeding. Hinchcliffe, frantically treated at the track before being moved to hospital intensive care, nearly died.

"Hinchcliffe's deal is a little bit different," said driver JR Hildebrand. "He got unlucky. It's not like that can't happen. Again, that's racing. We always have these types of deals. All of these drivers know that's a possibility when you get in the race car. Wrecking race cars is normal. You're never going to get away from wrecking race cars."

Drivers have died at Indy since the beginning in 1909. So have bystanders, pit crew members, photographers and spectators. Safer track and wall conditions dropped the fatality rates and drivers keep returning.

"It's the most important race of the year," Hildebrand said. "You'd be a liar if you said it wasn't an important day. It's a big day. You show up and you'd better be ready to do battle all day long."

The regular crowd at Indianapolis has diminished from around 400,000 to 200,000 recently, but the race's import to drivers has not shrunk at all.

"It's an American tradition," said defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay of Dallas, who in 2014 became the first American winner since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006. "Winning on home turf like that, it definitely has an impact. It's quite amazing."

The lure of Indianapolis remains irresistible, with its tradition and reputation.

"Indy is Indy," said Marco Andretti, who called race day at the Speedway his favorite day of the year. "It's just this place, the magnitude of what this event brings."

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