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Unlucky Sam
Sam Hornish Jr. couldn’t avoid more bad luck Sunday.
Hornish, a former two-time IRL series champion, crashed on Lap 147 Sunday. It’s the third time in six starts Hornish has crashed at Indianapolis, and he still has not completed 200 laps on the 2 1/2-mile oval.
“I felt I moved up off the corner and it was one of those things,” Hornish said. “I tried to give the guy below me plenty of room and got moved up coming off a corner, which the car pushed pretty bad. I don’t know what to think about it.”
Hornish has crossed the finish line only twice — in 2001 and 2002 when he completed 196 and 186 laps, respectively.
It appeared Hornish was going to change course Sunday when he took the lead on the first lap and a race-high 77. But on Lap 147, Hornish went into the first turn too high as he tried to avoid hitting another car and slammed into the outside wall, damaging the right side of the car.
New chapter
Kenny Brack’s comeback bid didn’t have the storybook ending he wanted.
In his first race in an Indy car since October 2003, Brack completed just 92 laps before dropping out with a mechanical problem.
“It’s something you don’t expect,” he said. “The nut came loose on the wishbone. It is tough for this team.”
Brack was trying to return from serious injuries sustained in a crash at Texas. Buddy Rice replaced Brack in the cockpit of the No. 15 car last year and won his first Indy title.
So when Rice was injured in a practice crash earlier this month, Brack took over for Rice and hoped to duplicate the feat.
Brack said earlier this month the reason he returned to racing was that he wanted to write his own last chapter.
Quick recovery
Former Indy champion Buddy Lazier and his Panther Racing team showed their mettle Sunday.
Lazier, who won the 1996 race, crashed in practice Friday, but his crew managed to put together a solid race car that didn’t get to take another lap before the green flag waved.
Lazier started ninth and managed a fifth-place finish in his 13th Indy start. Lazier now has five career Indy finishes in the top five.
“It’s a testament to my team,” Lazier said. “All these guys worked together for two nights to get that car back together.”
Lazier had more trouble late in the race, making contact with Scott Sharp in the last 10 laps but did not pit. Lazier said the contact prevented him from making a run at the race leaders in the final laps.
Black day
Canada’s Marty Roth struggled all month to find speed and Sunday was no different.
Only this time, Roth was penalized for it: He was black-flagged twice for running too slowly, forcing him out of the race.
“We got some garbage on our tires, we brought it in, put a new set of tires on,” Roth said. “Unfortunately, when I got back around, we came out right where the leaders were. I was just trying to be courteous and got up in the gray and it started washing out on me.”
Driver Jimmy Kite also was black-flagged early but was able to adjust the car and get it back up to speed. He later dropped out of the race because of a handling problem.
Sharp also was penalized late in the race for blocking. Track officials made Sharp drive through pit road at the proper speed.
Pit stops
This was the last year at Indy for Chevrolet, which is pulling its engines out of the series. ... The highest-finishing American was Bryan Herta, a teammate of Dan Wheldon’s. ... Wheldon became the first British driver to win the race since Graham Hill in 1966. ... Fifteen cars were running at the end of the race, the fewest since 1997. ... The 27 lead changes were tied for second-most in Indy history. There were also 27 lead changes in 1923. The record is 29, set in 1960.
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