IRL: Indy Practice Rained Out

[Joe Starr]

RAIN CANCELS PRACTICE FOR 100th ANNIVERSARY INDIANAPOLIS 500

INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, May 18, 2011) - Rain washed out practice for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500.

Rain fell steadily on the Speedway throughout the day, and IZOD IndyCar Series officials canceled the day's track activities shortly after 4 p.m. (ET).

The last time two entire days of Indianapolis 500 practice were washed out in one week was May 12-13, 2006.

Since veteran practice opened Saturday, May 14, 17 hours and 58 minutes of the scheduled 30 hours of track time have been lost due to rain.

[Joe Starr]

Some fun with Indianapolis 500 numbers, provided by Sam Schmidt Motorsports:

Not only has car number 77 never won the Indianapolis 500, no car with a number between 70 and 79 has ever been to victory lane in the race. Perhaps more interesting is that cars carrying single-digit numbers and numbers in the teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's 80's and 90's all have been to Victory Lane with only the 70s left out. Alex Tagliani, driver of the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara/Honda Firestone for SSM, is certainly hoping to change that in 2011.

[Joe Starr]

1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal talked about the effect of rain delays this month. Rahal co-owns Rahal Letterman Lanigan LLC, which is fielded a car for Bertrand Baguette.

BOBBY RAHAL: "Well, it's the same for everybody. I think we've had time to get these cars prepared pretty well for this month. We've had some good practice so far, but it's like I said, it's the same for everybody, and we'll just have to find a way to deal with it. There are a lot of little things you can do. You get more time to look the car over, go through all of the data, find ways to make it better and really dig deeper."

[Joe Starr]

The time trials to qualify teams for the remaining slots in the IZOD Indy 500 Pit Stop Challenge were rained out today. They will take place Thursday morning.

[Joe Starr]

2005 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon will team up with the Alzheimer's Association at this year's 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 to raise awareness for the disease. Wheldon will carry the Alzheimer's Association logo on his No. 98 William Rast-Curb/Big Machine entry fielded by Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/Agajanian.

According to the 2011 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures, Alzheimer's disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, and today as many as 5.4 million Americans are living with the disease. Every 69 seconds, someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease, and by mid-century someone will develop Alzheimer's every 33 seconds.

To learn more, visit alz.org.

DAN WHELDON: "I'm honored to announce my partnership with the Alzheimer's Association at the Indianapolis 500. My mother was recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease at the age of 55. You can imagine the impact this news has had on me and my family. This is a cause very dear to my heart, and I hope that by teaming up with the Alzheimer's Association, I can help raise awareness on the toll this devastating disease has on individuals with the disease and their families as well as how important early diagnosis is for this population."