The 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place this Sunday in what looks to be the least anticipated race by its fans among their 89 previous events. Once an institution and a part of Memorial Day weekend festivities in America for generations of families, the Indy 500 has become a shadow of its former self.



Just what was it that made Indy must see TV for all of us growing up? We all remember watching at least parts of it at all stages of our lives whether it was as kid at the Grandparents for a barbeque or much later when becoming a parent and introducing your children to the great event. One of the main things that have changed from our earlier memories of this race to how it is now is name recognition.



We grew up with recognized names like Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, and Al Unser. They were the best of the best and could jump into any car in any series and beat anyone. The average medium of motor sports fans know a few names, but they don’t drive Indy cars, they now drive stock cars.



Right about the time that NASCAR took off in ratings and public interest, the Indy cars had the misfortune of breaking their sports up into two un-unified divisions, the Indy Racing League and CART. The combination of those two occurrences happening almost simultaneous is why the Indy 500 isn’t regarded by many as “The Greatest Spectacle in racing” anymore.



The race will still always have the luster of being a major event, one of the longest running sporting events in the world. Because of the history and its importance throughout time as an intricate part of American entertainment, this race will always have a spot on my television set on the last weekend in May.



There will be plenty of wagering opportunities available for the fans and non-fans alike to make the race a little more appealing. The first piece of advice I can offer is that there are two cars that are a notch above everyone else. The Penske racing cars driven by Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio CastroNeves are virtually untouchable when comparing against the rest.



The level below the Penske squad goes to the Ganassi duo of Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon. Wheldon won the Indy 500 last season while driving for Andretti-Team Green.



After skipping a level, the next tier of drivers belong to Michael Andretti and team Green led by Brazilian Tony Kanaan. After skipping a few tiers you are left with the best of the rest which equates to 27 drivers. There are five drivers that have a possible chance at winning the Indy 500, but in reality there are only two with the benefit of the doubt given to Kanaan, Wheldon, and Dixon.



Level 1 Grade A: CastroNeves & Hornish

Level 2: Wheldon, Kanaan, & Dixon

Level 3: Team Andretti-Green, Vitor Meira, & Tomas Scheckter

Level 4: Buddy Rice, Danica Patrick

Level 5: No One

Level 6: all the rest (I do like Ed Carpenter in some match-ups against worse cars)



The team that won the Indy 500 two seasons ago, Rahal-Letterman, has been struggling and are not even close to showcasing the lap times from the last two seasons. Buddy Rice won the ’04 Indy 500 for the team and last season Danica Patrick stole all the headlines coming into the race.



Patrick wasn’t given much of a chance whether it was because of being a rookie or being a woman. We liked her chances last season just because of the ability of her car. She ran a great race and surprised a lot of people by being in the lead late in the race. This season, I turn my thumbs down to Danica simply based on what her car has produced. She isn’t any better of a driver, and her car certainly doesn’t give her a chance to win. For bettors looking to wager on an over-under finish position on her, I am looking for her to finish no better than 14th.



To keep 14th in prospective, that is almost like finishing last among the good cars. Half of the field is garbage. It’s probably the worst lineup ever. Really, I’m not just saying that. From a competition standpoint, the field is very weak and only the 1996 Indy 500 can say it had a worse lineup. That was the first year after the split when the majority of the participating drivers were what we call minor leaguers.



We’re going to support the Brazilian brigade this week and choose CastroNeves to win the Indy 500 for the 3rd time in his career. Tony Kanaan, from Brazil, will do well and if there are any drivers out that can step up against the top three teams in Indy racing, it may be Vitor Meira from Panther Racing, who also is from Brazil. There is a prop out there available asking the question of where the winning driver of this years Indy 500 hails from. Your choice is Brazil versus the Rest of the World. Brazil is +180 and the World is -220. On paper, there are only 6 Brazilians racing in a 33 car field making the favored number appear very light. We think only 5 cars are capable of winning the race and of those 5, two are Brazilian, which makes the plus money side seem very fair.



If CastroNeves is 3 to 1 to win the race, then 9 to 5 seems like a better deal because you get Tony Kanaan and Meira with a few other scrubs in the deal. Essentially, you have to beat Wheldon, Dixon, and Hornish.



Another prop I really like is the one that asks which driver will have the better finish in their race, Jimmie Johnson in the Coca-Cola or CastroNeves in the Indy 500. CastroNeves is a -200 favorite which seems a bit high, but you must go back to the same logic that we discussed in reference to Danica Patrick. Half the field is garbage. Even if CastroNeves were to finish dead last in his race, he’ll still have a 10 spot advantage over Jimmie Johnson before the Coca-Cola even started since NASCAR starts 43 and Indy has 33. If CastroNeves runs decent, he should finish no worse than 5th. Johnson has so many variables going against him in the tough NASCAR race, except one………..He doesn’t finish worse than 1st. That’s tough to beat and tough to pass up on at +170 considering he’s no better than 5 to 1 just to win the race. Theoretically, CastroNeves should win this one, but Jimmie has swept him the last 3 seasons in a row head to head in this matchup.



Enjoy the race and may all your wagers be profitable adventures.



TOP 5 Indy 500 Finish Prediction:



1) #3 Helio CastroNeves – Penske (3/1)

2) #6 Sam Hornish Jr. – Penske (7/2)

3) #10 Dan Wheldon – Ganassi (5/1)

4) #11 Tony Kanaan – Andretti-Green (10/1)

5) #4 Vitor Meira – Panther (15/1)



There is a little race called the Coca-Cola 600 run this Sunday night in Charlotte that will get more action around the Las Vegas books than the Indy 500. Last weeks All-Star Challenge shed light on some interesting info………Jimmie Johnson in his Lowe’s Chevrolet is pretty good at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. It’s hard to bet against Jimmie Johnson in this race since he’s won 5 of the last 6 point races at Charlotte, but how can you settle on a driver to win a NASCAR race at 4 to 1, which is exactly what JJ should be this week.



The teams that look to have the ability to take JJ out of the winners circle this week are at Roush, all of them, with the exception of Jamie McMurray. Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, and JJ’s teammate, Jeff Gordon will all be right there competing for what has now become the Jimmie Johnson trophy.



Top 5 Coca-Cola 600 finish Prediction:



1) #24 Jeff Gordon (9/1)

2) #20 Tony Stewart (10/1)

3) #48 Jimmie Johnson (4/1)

4) #9 Kasey Kahne (10/1)

5) #16 Greg Biffle (10/1)



We’ll update more on the Coca-Cola later in the week. They have early practice and qualifying on Thursday night, one practice on Friday, and then two sessions on Saturday to get things all settled in nice Sunday’s race. There will be all kinds of data to sort through. Can’t wait.