Indy 500 Just Around the Corner

With the racing season officially underway after Kevin Harvick’s Daytona 500 win, it is time to start counting down the days until the 2007 Indianapolis 500 (92 days).

It will be hard for this year’s race to live up to last year’s spectacle when Sam Hornish nipped Marco Andretti at the finish line as the elder Andretti, Michael, watched from a close third place.

Last year’s race created a buzz that should increase momentum the 500 generated before the near-fatal split of 1996.

Roger Penske won his 14th Indy 500 as a car owner when Hornish won his first Indy 500. Michael Andretti was leading the race with 3 laps to go, only to relinquish the race lead to his son, Marco, who failed to hold off Hornish on the final straightaway.

All of those stories will headline this year’s race, along with a few new ones.

Helio Castroneves, a 2-time winner, is always a threat on Memorial Day weekend. Despite his crash with 2004 winner Buddy Rice, he will be a favorite to tie Louis Meyer, Johnny Rutherford, Wilbur Shaw and Bobby Unser with three likenesses on the Borg Warner Trophy.

Danica-mania has slowed since her remarkable fourth-place finish in the 2005 Indy 500, but that should pick up as the IRL season officially kicks off March 24 from Homestead when Danica Patrick begins her first season with Andretti-Green Racing.

Patrick will have plenty of experience and resources as she will team with last year’s runner-up Marco Andretti, 2004 runner-up Tony Kanaan, and former front-row starter Dario Franchitti.

And don’t forget about the elder Andretti, who will lace up his driving suit once again and tackle the race that has eluded him 15 times.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s tandem of 2005 Indy 500 champ Dan Weldon and Scott Dixon hope to regain the dominant form of last year when they led for a combined 154 of the 200 laps.

Weldon had the entire field covered midway through the race, but luck was not with Ganassi as Weldon had to settle for a fourth-place finish and Dixon for sixth.

Nevertheless, Ganassi’s cars and teams are consistently primed and ready for May, and this year should be no different.

Rounding out the list of big stories heading into May is the return of Sarah Fisher, who will compete in her fifth Indy 500 and first since 2004. She will team with 2005 Indy 500 champ Buddy Rice and drive for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

There is still the possibility of a third woman to join Patrick and Fisher on the starting grid.

Milka Duno of Venezuela is rumored to be driving for Cahill Racing, but a formal announcement has yet to be made. Duno already has Danica-ish looks and could steal some of Patrick’s thunder come May.

So what does all this mean? The anticipation for the Indy 500 is underway with a talented pool of hungry drivers eager to drink the milk in victory lane.

Fresher Vision’s Official Pick: I started attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1991, and in the 16, a Penske driver has won seven. To make Penske an even more odds-on-favorite, his cars have won 7 of the last 11 races in which they have competed in (Penske skipped out on the race from 1996-2000 due to the IRL-Cart split).

Hornish or Castroneves would be a safe pick, but I am not going the safe route this year.

My prediction is always fast and consistently competitive, and that is why I believe Tony Kanaan will be drinking the milk on May 27 as he will capture his first Indianapolis 500 win. Kanaan was runner-up to Buddy Rice in 2004, and could have given Rice a run for his money had rain not shortened the race by 20 laps. Kanaan followed up his 2004 runner-up finish with the pole in 2005.

In his five previous Indy 500 starts, he has led for 119 laps and four top-10 finishes. The only time he failed to finish was his rookie year of 2002 when he crashed on the 89th lap when he crashed while leading.

Barring another freak accident, the 2007 Indy 500 will be Kanaan’s to lose.