A first for women at the Indy 500

Today I'm celebrating the Indy 500 and the history being made today!

For the first time in history a woman will drop the green flag to start the Indy 500. Kristi Yamaguchi, reigning winner of Dancing with the Stars and Olympic champion, will have that honor. She is not the only representative of Dancing with the Stars at this event. Helio Castroneves, the prior winner of Dancing with the Stars, has won the Indy 500 twice and is starting in the fourth position. His professional dance partner in that competition, Julianne Hough, has recently transitioned into the country music industry and will be singing the National Anthem at today's race.

I'm very excited about the race. I'm really not cheering for a single driver -- I have several favorites. I'm most excited that Indy Car and Champ Car series have finally united and are both represented in this race. I think it will take a little while for the Champ Car guys to really make their presence known in this crowd. I have favorites from the Indy Car series but I have favorites from Champ Car too. I'm especially fond of Will Power --- who would not be fond of a driver with that name? He was actually the Champ Car rookie of the year in 2006. In April of this year he won the final race of the Champ Car series in Long Beach. He's starting in position 20. Let's see if he has the willpower to race his way up through the crowd. I also have my eyes on the Rahal-Letterman Racing team. Graham Rahal's dad is an Indy 500 winner and is now an owner. Graham is the youngest winning driver in a US open wheel racing event. Graham Rahal is starting in the thirteenth position. I'm also looking at Ryan Hunter-Reay who is also on the Rahal-Letterman team. I must cheer for the hometown guy -- he was born in Dallas but now resides in Florida. Ryan was the 2007 rookie of the year in the Champ Car series.

When you saw this blogpost title, you probably thought the topic was Danica Patrick. There's been so much media hype about her recently, partially due to her first win in Japan. She's actually the US citizen with the fastest qualifying time in the Indy 500. She's accomplished a lot, being the first woman to lead this race. However, I'm not a fan because her antics and what's she marketed as she's gained her positions to the pole. Many think that she's turned back time for women -- and it's hard to think of her as a serious race car driver while looking at all those racey pics of her. What would she think if she saw her racey pics in her competitions' garages with a target drawn on top? I'm instead crossing my fingers for Sarah Fisher, who was the third woman to race in the Indy 500 (behind Janet Guthrie and Lynn St James) and is now a car owner. She's had some challenges financially in getting and staying in the race. I'm also keeping my eye on Milka Duna -- she makes me nervous on the track!

Driver introductions are now in progress. It's less than a half-hour to the start of the best known race in the world! I hope it's a safe race, especially since there were so many crashes during qualifying, when only one car is on the track at a time. When thirty-three cars try to race their way to the front to be the first to cross that famous finish line, it will become much more dangerous. Regardless of the events of the day and the outcome, this year will be an Indy 500 race for the history books.

Image credits: 1st turn at Indy (SPEED channel) and Yamaguchi (Starpulse)