The IndyCar Series was off this week, but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any news coming out of the series.

Ryan Hunter-Reay is on the move again. RHR keeps getting passed around the ICS like a bad penny, which frankly makes no sense, because as I’ve mentioned in this space on several occasions, he’s EVERYTHING the IndyCar Series needs.

Hunter-Reay moves to A.J. Foyt’s #14 car, from Vision Racing’s #21. The #21 team ceases to exist, so the car count drops by one, plus an outstanding American driver moves to his third different team in the last year.

It’s somehow being billed as a “win-win”. It’s certainly a win that RHR is still in the series, but losing a car from the grid is never a win in my mind.

I hope RHR can get the Foyt car back to the front. The #14 has been racy at times in the past couple of years, RHR is going to get everything out of the car there is.

In addition, Alex Lloyd has left Ganassi Racing. The talented Brit raced for Ganassi “satellite” teams in the past two Indianapolis 500’s, but as he mentioned when he joined us on SportsLocker Saturday, he didn’t want to be seen as an Indianapolis-only driver.

Lloyd now joins the racing unemployment line, which is frankly way too stocked with talented shoes who should have full-time rides in the ICS. I hope Alex finds a ride quickly, but unfortunately there are more drivers available than there are seats right now. Think about it, Paul Tracy doesn’t have a full-time gig, neither does Townsend Bell, and now add Alex Lloyd to the mix.

Lloyd was a great sport this past May when he donned a shocking pink firesuit to drive the “rose” colored HER ride for Sam Schmidt, here’s hoping he gets a deal done soon.

I have to give a shout-out to David Brabham. The son of the great World Champion Jack Brabham finally got his long-awaited win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend for Peugeot.

Brabham races with Highcroft Racing in the American LeMans Series. The last two years Brabham came on the late, great TrackTime program at my former station. He was a great guest, and is a great guy. Congrats David!

By the way, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is always a fun event, I caught some of it on television and the internet.

It’s a special race.

Of course, any race where there’s a giant Bibendum standing next to the track is worth my time.

While I’m on the subject, Bibendum, better known in the U.S. as the “Michelin Man”, has to be the best corporate mascot ever. Well done Bibendum.

This Thursday I will play host along with my colleague Debby Knox to a golf outing benefitting inner city kids here in Indianapolis. The golf outing is called the Horizons Classic. The money raised goes to Horizons which is a student enrichment program geared to help kids excel in academics. This is the 12th year of the golf outing, which will generate a lot of money for these kids.

It has been such an honor to help raise money for these students, because there’s nothing like seeing these kids get a great education. Thursday it will be nice watching men and women come out and play a round of golf at the prestigious Broadmoor Country Club.  But the biggest reward for me on Thursday will be knowing that we just helped 120 kids get one step closer to living out their dream.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a big IndyCar Series fan, IndyCar racing has been my favorite sport since I was a kid.

Of course, my favorite sporting event is the Indianapolis 500, but my second-favorite IndyCar race is the annual shootout in Texas.

I enjoy the race at Texas so much, it actually caused a breakup with a woman I was dating a few years back. It seemed she really wanted me to take her to a specific restaurant for a date on the night of the Texas race. I told her I’d be happy to take her to dinner, but we had to either go to a restaurant with a big screen TV, or be finished with dinner before the green flag.

When she decided that wasn’t for her, that was the end of that. If you’re wondering, I really wasn’t that broken up over this particular breakup, because she was actually fairly annoying, but I tell you that story, to illustrate how much I enjoy the Texas race.

Fast forward four years, and it was time for another Texas tussle.

Except this year’s race was a little like that former relationship, i couldn’t wait for it to end.

The side-by-side, nail-biting battles we’re used to seeing, were really nowhere to be found on this particular night. Ryan Briscoe ran off and hid, until a mysterious caution flag.

Any racing fan knows about the so-called “NASCAR cautions”. These are supposedly “engineered” cautions to bunch up the field if a driver gets too big of a lead. A writer I used to know in Toledo called these flags “Pierre DeBris”.  I don’t think the ICS threw a “NASCAR caution”, but unfortunately, there are going to be questions, because of the timing of the yellow.

Even after the caution flag, there really wasn’t too much side-by-side action until teammates Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti went at it late.  Helio Castroneves won the race, and celebrated on the fence, but something was missing.

After the race, the people looking for the old Texas started getting louder. The well-respected champion Scott Dixon sounded off, saying there needed to be some kind of rules change to make the racing better.

Ed Carpenter came out for change after the race. “I’m disappointed for the fans in particular because Texas is supposed to be exciting racing and unfortunately the cars are too similar now and it weakened the product. I’ve never seen this race turn into a one groove track before. We want to put on a good show and I’m afraid this was not it. You couldn’t pass and you couldn’t pass guys that were a lap down. It turned into a fuel strategy, track position, no passing race and no one wants that. Texas is usually the place you shouldn’t have to be playing fuel strategy gambles. This is a place you should be able to drive from the back to the front and unfortunately it is just not that way right now.”

Carpenter is of course, the stepson of IndyCar boss Tony George, so he’s in a unique position when he makes a statement like this one. But Carpenter’s right, the racing wasn’t as good as it had been in the past.

I am not an engineer, so I can’t solve the problem in this blog, but I hope this is just a blip on the radar for the IndyCar Series.  The IndyCar Series has a lot going for it, it’s easily the most fan friendly series in motorsports, and for years, it’s had the best on-track product.

Except for last Saturday.

I spent a wonderful afternoon down in Bloomington for the boys high school track and field. It was a lot of fun. It’s such a great event. You get running, jumping, shot putting, pole vaulting…a good mixture of events.

Ben Davis won the team event for the second straight year with Matt Terrell leading the way. Congrats to BD and to all the competitors.

Made me want to bust out the track shoes … or not.

Coach Jim Caldwell’s first Colts mini-camp as head coach has some interesting changes from the way Tony Dungy did things. Besides so many new faces on the staff, he’s got a seating chart when players are in meetings.

Some of the guys were joking about it, Reggie Wayne saying he’s up front and in the middle next to the “teacher” now, so close he can run the projector, while Joseph Addai and Dwight Freeney are a few rows back and on the ends.

Dungy let the guys sit where they wanted, but Caldwell wants to know who’s there and who isn’t, and will take account of it. Pretty amusing!

Meantime, Adam Vinatieri and Joseph Addai revealing leg surgeries that will slow them down, but should not affect their status for the regular season come September. Addai had a knee scoped and is taking it slow, while Vinatieri had hip problems corrected by the same Vail, Colorado doctor that operated on Yankee Alex Rodriguez’ hip. He’ll probably miss training camp, but with rookies Pat McAfee and Tim Masthay experienced in punting and place kicking, they’ll be ready to step in.

Say what? Nadal losing at the French Open? I couldn’t believe this when I saw it today. Here’s a guy who has owned the clay surface. I mean, he had never lost a match on clay..a perfect 31-0. I thought for sure he was headed to another French Open title…but Robin Soderling had something to say about that! But that’s what I love about sports anything can happen on any given day. I guess it’s Roger Federer’s tournament to lose…we’ll see…

I was entertained by today’s race at Milwaukee, another win for the IceMan, Scott Dixon.

Dixon may not have had the dominant car, (Ryan Briscoe did), but he played the traffic game just right, and showed once again why he is one of the best in the business.

It was a good day for drivers born in Australia, as they finished 1-2, and could have been 1-2-3, had Will Power been allowed to compete. I really hope Verizon Wireless takes some of the money they get from my cell phone bill, and give Power some additional races. A top 5 finish at the 500 showed just what a quality shoe Power is.

Graham Rahal has been knocking on the door for a big result on an oval, and he got one with a 4th place finish. Graham has been preaching patience to himself, and he delivered in a big way. Rahal 2.0 is a definite title contender, mark it down.

Danica Patrick has had a solid season, other than an accident at St. Pete (that wasn’t her fault), DP has been near the top of the scoring pylon each week. She’s a title contender as well, as long as she doesn’t hit another mid-summer cold streak.

I saw most of the Dover race in picture-in-picture. Sam Hornish Junior had another nice day, and I thought Tony Stewart was going to get his first points-paying win as an owner, until Jimmie Johnson stole it at the end.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today is the 44th anniversary of my hero Jim Clark winning the Indianapolis 500. Even though he won the race before I was born,  I can imagine how that beautiful Lotus looked when it crossed the finish line first. Happy anniversary to Jim Clark.

By the way, for all the people who sent me a kind note after my pneumonia bout of this week, thanks! I appreciate it.

Is the 94th Indianapolis 500. (It’s never too early to start the countdown)

I have gotten several e-mails wondering why I haven’t put up a blog this week. The reason is simple. I got hit with pneumonia on Race Eve, and have pretty much spent all week in bed.

It’s never fun getting sick. It’s really no fun getting sick on my favorite day of the year. I spent race day battling a 101-degree fever, but I am not going to complain.

That’s because, for the first time, when “Back Home Again In Indiana” was sung, I was a Hoosier.

I’ve waited my whole life to be an Indianapolis resident on race day, and as I told some co-workers, I’d have to be dead to miss the 500.

As always, the month of May went by way too fast for my tastes, it seems like opening day was just last week. But this year was different, I got to be at the track every day, and got to visit with a lot of friends.

Helio Castroneves is a deserving champion, he’s a truly good guy, who makes everyone around him jovial.

I was disappointed by the pit stop that sent Dario back, I really thought he was a possible winner.

I am glad that Vitor Meira is ok, it was just not his day, from the pit fire, to that savage crash. Vitor is a great guy who really “gets” Indy and its’ history, and so I wish him a speedy recovery.

My biggest disappointment, other than the race day fever, was Graham Rahal’s finish. My friend Graham WILL be an Indy 500 winner some day.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick look at Milwaukee, and a shout-out to May 31, 1965.

Wow … wasn’t it just April? Where did the month of May go? Okay, I know we still have a couple of more days of May but in Indianapolis, the month ends when the Indy 500 ends.

What a great a May it was. I couldn’t be happier for Helio Castroneves. He is one of the nicest people I know and I love it that he ALWAYS has a smile on his face I wouldn’t have been disappointed if Tony Kanaan won and I was so sad he crashed out… next year Tony!

And I have to give a shout out to my new friend from New Zealand, Tim Wilson!  He was there covering the race for the first time … Nice job Tim, your story on the basketball game was fantastic! Next year we’ll get you to understand IndyCar

I think a red and white car will probably win this year’s Indy 500. But you probably think I am referring to Team Penske….and yeah…how can you bet against them? Solid all month, they have the two top starting spots, and the KING of the 500 Roger Penske will be looking for his 15th 500 victory.

But I am going to go with Scott Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi Racing. I just feel it’s Dixon time to win AGAIN. A win would make him the first driver to win back to back since Helio Castroneves did in 2002. All month long all the talk has been about Team Penske…and Chip and his boys have just practiced, qualified, and worked on race set up with no problems…loving the fact all the attention is NOT on them…but on everybody else. I think Chip loves this situation. My prediction: Dixon wins AGAIN…we’ll see.