Indianapolis, IN
‘We’re a bunch of psychos’: Crashing is part of the job for Indy 500 drivers
Alexander Rossi shares update on injuries sustained at practice
ECR’s Alexander Rossi shares an update on injuries sustained during Monday’s crash.
INDIANAPOLIS – Putting a revolving panel of 33 race car drivers in front of dozens of reporters on and off over a couple of weeks might be as good a metaphor for the Indianapolis 500 as there is.
Every lap takes us closer to the finish, and although not every one is exciting there’s usually some captivating entertainment along the way.
Here’s a collection of some of the insightful and interesting comments – and some silliness – from media day ahead of the 110th running May 24 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Perspective on crashing from three drivers
After crashing during practice May 18 and undergoing a small outpatient procedure on his right ankle, front-row qualifier Alexander Rossi has been cleared to drive.
Not that there was a doubt in his mind.
“Unfortunately I’ve crashed twice here. Both times have been turn two,” Rossi said. “I recovered from that. I don’t see this being any different.
“We crash race cars. That’s part of the job description.”
Rossi needs crutches to get around because he can’t put weight on the ankle, but he was able to get in and out of his car, drive on the simulator and react to situations to the satisfaction of IndyCar medical officials. Rossi will have a brace on his foot, but was able to wear his usual shoe.
Before knowing for certain Rossi had been cleared, Conor Daly was asked about the drivers’ mindset in regard to injuries.
“We’re a bunch of psychos, honestly,” Daly said. “If you have this job, you’re very lucky to have this job, so you don’t want to let that go away at all.
“You’d have to rip his limbs off to have him not in that car.”
Pato O’Ward was caught up in Rossi’s crash and also will race a backup car.
At Indy, where qualifying laps average more than 230 mph, a high percentage of crashes are brutal, O’Ward said, and yet there cannot be any second-guessing.
“But after you have that first shunt, one, you definitely feel more like a man when you get back in it, and two, I feel like it just puts some reality into your head,” O’Ward said. “Like dude, you’re moving. You need to be aware of your surroundings, be careful who you’re running [around]. You do grow quite a bit. At least I did.
“I way much rather would be doing this than doing something else. … We are kind of risking our lives, but this is straight-up badass.”
The Penske-fication of Andretti Global
For the first time since 2009, two-time IndyCar series champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power is at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a team not named Penske.
Andretti Global is happy to have that experience at its disposal.
“There’s a lot of things that we’ve been able to kind of bounce off him to figure out exactly what we need,” said Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood, who is again a title contender. “Fortunately with him coming in with his experience and his work ethic, it’s been a big push for our team because he’s like, well, these were the expectations when I was driving at the other place and we were winning races, so these are now the expectations now.
“I think it’s kind of pushed people along really, really nicely, and it’s been a really good atmosphere among the team with him involved and kind of pushing us. There’s been a lot of positives out of his tenure so far.”
During Power’s time at Penske, the organization has collected six of its 20 Indianapolis victories and five of its 17 series titles while Andretti won three 500s and one championship.
Don’t say the ‘r’ word
The weather forecast for the weekend and beyond leaves a bit to be desired.
After a long two weeks, most drivers and teams are ready to move on come late Sunday afternoon. In fact the full-time teams have to turn the page quickly. They’re on track in Detroit five days later. But not everyone.
“I’ll do it on Thursday, I don’t care,” said 33rd starter Jack Harvey, who has no more races on his 2026 driving schedule. “We have to extend this month as long as we can.”
Pick a finger
Times change. So do the gestures from angry drivers.
“The thumbs-up has become the new middle finger,” second-year starter Louis Foster said. “’I feel like maybe we’ve become a bit more politically correct over the years and gone to a thumbs-up.
“Which I think is even worse. If someone cuts me off when I’m driving, I don’t middle finger them, I thumbs-up them, ‘You’re a great driver, man.’ I haven’t seen anyone flip me off recently.”
That brings us back to Rossi and his injuries from his crash. In addition to the procedure he had on his right ankle, he suffered an injury to a finger on his left hand.
Which finger?
“I can’t show you that one,” he said. “I’ll get in a lot of trouble.”
Those other racing sausages
The “Weenie 500” featuring the six Oscar Meyer Wienermobiles was an instant hit in 2025, so naturally it is back. Last-row starter Sting Ray Robb is among the IndyCar drivers scheduled to serve as crew chiefs.
“I think the jokes write themselves,” he said. And indeed they do.
“You want to relish that opportunity, I guess,” responded IndyCar’s Dave Furst, the moderator.
“It’s good that you mustered the courage to get that pun out,” preceded the next question.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Checkout time came early Tuesday night for Drake Edwards at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Edwards drove from the fourth starting spot to the lead on lap 7 and never trailed thereafter to win the 30-lap Stoops Star Spangled Showdown feature in his No. 40D Chase McDermand Racing/GR8 Company – Rexroad Racing/Spike/Speedway Toyota machine.
It was the second career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship victory for Edwards, from Peoria, Arizona.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Edwards said. “Very cool to be standing here. I knew there was a shot coming to the smaller tracks, but I felt pretty solid all night long. So, I think it’s really cool.”
Kevin Thomas Jr. finished a distant second in the No. 14 4 Kings Racing car on the 1/5-mile dirt oval, followed by pole sitter Gavin Miller in the No. 97 Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports entry. Zach Wigal was fourth in the No. 1 Pat O’Dell car, with BC39 rookie Jake Swanson rounding out the top five in the No. 14K 4 Kings Racing entry.
The 30-lap feature was the climax of the opening night of the two-night BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors, which will culminate in a 39-lap feature paying $20,039 to win Wednesday night on the track inside turn three of the storied IMS asphalt oval.
There were only two suspenseful moments for Edwards, 23, the 2024 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year.
The first came on lap six when Edwards, charging toward the front, drove into the rear of teammate Briggs Danner in the No. 40x Chase McDermand Racing car in a duel for second place behind Miller. Edwards continued, but Danner spun and triggered a caution period.
“First and foremost, I want to apologize to Briggs,” Edwards said.
On the lap-seven restart, Edwards drove under Miller in turns three and four to take a lead he never surrendered despite multiple caution periods.
Edwards stretched the lead to 4.2 seconds over Thomas – a huge gap on a short track – by lap 22 as he could place his car on any spot of the dirt oval and find speed almost at will.
“I was just watching him up there,” Thomas said of Edwards. “Honestly, I was enjoying the show. I know he’s pretty talented, but I was like, ‘There ain’t no way he makes 30 laps without a crash.’ It’s pretty remarkable, and they had a great race car. He did a phenomenal job.”
Leading by approximately four seconds, Edwards rocketed around thick lapped traffic on the high line of the oval in the last 10 laps. But Thomas’ prediction of possible calamity for Edwards almost came true with three laps to go in the second dramatic moment on his drive to victory lane.
Edwards approached a lapped car that changed lines in turn three and four, and he had to slow quickly to avoid a collision. But Edwards safely avoided that near-miss and cruised to the victory in a car owned by McDermand, who picked up his only career USAC National Midget win during a 2024 BC39 preliminary feature, but cruelly lost a BC39 championship night victory with less than two laps remaining that same weekend when his car got hung up in ruts in turn four while leading.
“I didn’t know where to go half the time,” Edwards said. “But luckily, we made it through there pretty good, and I felt like I got through them all right.”
Edwards took over the lead from Miller with a turn three slider on lap seven, and it was all Edwards from there as he led the final 24 circuits of the 30-lap feature to earn the K & N Filters Clean Air award.
It’s been quite some time since you could last call Jake Swanson a Rookie. But tonight, in his first career BC39 appearance, he raced to a superb fifth-place result.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship, The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana, June 30, 2026
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#14 4 Kings) (3), 2. Drake Edwards (#40D McDermand) (6), 3. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built) (1), 4. Kaylee Bryson (#11 Abacus) (5), 5. Alex Midkiff (#05 Midkiff) (4), 6. Joel Myers Jr. (#19H Hayward) (7), 7. Adam Taylor (#7T ATM) (2). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (1), 2. Justin Grant (#87 CBI) (6), 3. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood) (7), 4. Logan Julien (#3N O’Dell) (4), 5. Alex Sewell (#32A Tessier) (5), 6. Jake Robinson (#5u Trifecta) (2), 7. Devon Dobie (#23 Dobie) (3), 8. Austin Wood (#27 Horn) (8).
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kale Drake (#4 RMS) (2), 2. Gavin Miller (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (8), 3. Brecken Reese (#20Q Reese) (1), 4. Drew Sherman (#19 Reinbold-Underwood) (3), 5. Frank Flud (#81F Rosenboom) (5), 6. Jeffrey Abbey (#8B Miller) (6), 7. Cameron Hagin (#33 RayPro) (4), 8. Jason Tessier (#32J Tessier) (7). 1:42.351
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bradley Cox (#45 Mason) (3), 2. Briggs Danner (#40x McDermand) (7), 3. Wesley Smith (#5p Rossi-Petty) (1), 4. Adyn Schmidt (#19x Cox) (5), 5. Gunnar Setser (#43 Arnold) (8), 6. Karter Sarff (#7u Trifecta) (4), 7. Brandon Carr (#98K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (6), 8. Matt Lux (#5L Lunsford-Lux) (2). 1:43.029
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Steven Snyder Jr. (#89 CBI) (2), 2. Jake Swanson (#14K 4 Kings) (5), 3. J.J. Yeley (#3J Rossi-Petty) (3), 4. Colton Robinson (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (6), 5. Jonathan Beason (#36 Rosenboom) (8), 6. Josh Hodge (#35 Hodge) (7), 7. Tyler Watkins (#7w Watkins) (1), 8. Mack Leopard (#40L McDermand) (4). 1:44.058
TJ FORGED SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (1), 2. Ricky Thornton Jr. (#1R Rossi-Petty) (8), 3. Kade Taylor (#T21 Mounce-Stout) (2), 4. Daison Pursley (#86 CBI) (6), 5. Cody Weisensel (#20w Burrington) (7), 6. Eric Heydenreich (#32 OMR-Rase) (5), 7. Christian Miller (#8XL Miller) (4), 8. Robert Carson (#99K Carson) (3).
K & N FILTERS SEVENTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (#63 Dooling/Curb-Agajanian) (2), 2. Jakeb Boxell (#54 4 Kings) (3), 3. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres) (6), 4. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus) (8), 5. Rylan Gray (#22H Gray) (7), 6. Riley Kreisel (#19K Cox) (5), 7. Cooper Miller (#8L Miller) (4), 8. Kyle Jones (#7TX Engler) (1). 1:44.150
INDY POWERSPORTS EIGHTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Peck (#3p Rossi-Petty) (2), 2. Zach Wigal (#1 O’Dell) (6), 3. Zach Daum (#5D Taylor) (5), 4. Wout Hoffmans (#14J Rosenboom) (3), 5. Dodge Carlbert (#1m Montgomery) (4), 6. Cord Kisthardt (#21K Kisthardt) (7), 7. Chris Hartman (#35s Hodge) (1). 1:46.835
C MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semis, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brandon Carr (1), 2. Cooper Miller (4), 3. Mack Leopard (9), 4. Kyle Jones (11), 5. Adam Taylor (5), 6. Cameron Hagin (2), 7. Christian Miller (3), 8. Tyler Watkins (7), 9. Jason Tessier (6), 10. Chris Hartman (8), 11. Matt Lux (10), 12 Austin Wood (12). 2:10.762
FIRST FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. J.J. Yeley (5), 2. Kyle Cummins (1), 3. Gunnar Setser (4), 4. Kaylee Bryson (6), 5. Drew Sherman (10), 6. Colton Robinson (3), 7. Karter Sarff (16), 8. Brandon Carr (17), 9. Wesley Smith (8), 10. Alex Sewell (11), 11. Joel Myers Jr. (13), 12. Alex Midkiff (12), 13. Mack Leopard (18), 14. Rylan Gray (9), 15. Ethan Mitchell (7), 16. Eric Heydenreich (15), 17. Cord Kisthardt (14), 18. Jakeb Boxell (2).
SECOND FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Daum (2), 2. Jonathan Beason (4), 3. Logan Seavey (1), 4. Brecken Reese (7), 5. Daison Pursley (3), 6. Wout Hoffmans (10), 7. Adyn Schmidt (6), 8. Frank Flud (11), 9. Riley Kreisel (15), 10. Kyle Jones (18), 11. Cody Weisensel (8), 12. Logan Julien (9), 13. Dodge Carlbert (12), 14. Kade Taylor (5), 15. Cooper Miller (17), 16. Jeffrey Abbey (14), 17. Josh Hodge (13), 18. Jake Robinson (16).
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Drake Edwards (4), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 3. Gavin Miller (1), 4. Zach Wigal (6), 5. Jake Swanson (9), 6. Justin Peck (14), 7. Hayden Reinbold (10), 8. Cannon McIntosh (16), 9. Zach Daum (18), 10. Jacob Denney (15), 11. Gunnar Setser (21), 12. Justin Grant (5), 13. Kale Drake (11), 14. Briggs Danner (3), 15. Jonathan Beason (20), 16. Steven Snyder Jr. (12), 17. Kaylee Bryson (23), 18. Colton Robinson (26-P), 19. J.J. Yeley (17), 20. Brecken Reese (24), 21. Cale Coons (13), 22. Jakeb Boxell (25-P), 23. Bradley Cox (8), 24. Ricky Thornton Jr. (2), 25. Logan Seavey (22), 26. Kyle Cummins (19).
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — If it’s hot and uncomfortable for us, it is for them, too. Keeping your pets cool and safe amid the Indiana heatwave is just as important as keeping ourselves cool.
With dangerous heat settling over much of the region, veterinarians are urging pet owners to take extra precautions to prevent heat-related illness in animals. Experts recommend keeping pets in shaded, well-ventilated areas with constant access to cool, fresh water and limiting exercise during peak heat, typically between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Hot pavement can burn paw pads; owners are advised to test surfaces with a hand for several seconds and opt for grass, booties, or early morning and late evening walks. Indoors, air conditioning, fans, and cooling mats can help.
Sometimes, it can be hard for pets to get the appropriate amount of water that they need to stay hydrated. Adding water to meals or offering pet-safe frozen treats may support hydration.
For outdoor setups, veterinarians recommend movable shade, kiddie pools with shallow water, misting hoses, and avoiding restrictive muzzles that impede panting. Groomers caution against shaving double-coated breeds to the skin; regular brushing improves airflow without removing natural insulation.
Pets should never be left in parked cars, where temperatures can become deadly within minutes, even with windows cracked.
With a little planning, your best friend can keep wagging through the worst of the heat.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Fever head coach Stephanie White said Fever star guard Caitlin Clark will not practice on Tuesday, adding that Clark will be doing an individual workout.
Clark (back) did not play in the Fever’s game on Saturday against the Los Angeles Sparks.
“We want her to be healthy, physically, mentally and emotionally, all the things,” White said on Friday ahead of the game against the Sparks. “I think it’s important to remember, again, when you’ve gone through injury and the traumatic aspect of injury, especially that she had last year, it’s ups and downs, physically, mentally, emotionally, and making sure that she’s 100% ready to go is the most important thing. Her taking care of that is priority for us.”
Clark left the Fever’s game against the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday in the third quarter and did not return.
Clark has missed two games this season, both due to a back injury. The first game she missed was on May 20 against the Portland Fire.
Clark is averaging 21.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and and 8.2 assists per game this season.
The Fever have a long break before their next game, when they travel to Las Vegas to play the Aces on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
-
Los Angeles, Ca60 minutes agoMan dies after violent solo crash in Sherman Oaks
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoPriority Waste CEO shares progress on plan to fix disruptions, delays across Metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoThe San Francisco Church That Holds America’s Secrets
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoCrews battle large fire at Pilates studio in Uptown Dallas, officials say
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoalaïa clads first miami boutique in pink mosaic tiles, from interior to facade
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoLooking for a lodging adventure? Beat the heat at a floating B&B. – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoLavender festival, Tennyson Street Fair and more free and cheap things to do in July
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoSeattle’s solution for the middle-class housing squeeze: government housing | CNN Business
