Speed Read: Indy 500 By the Numbers
See what car number has been most victorious over the year, plus how many gallons
IndyCar star and Bachelorette heartthrob Arie Luyendyk, Jr. was in town recently for a celebrity cook-off benefiting the Children’s Bureau. He stopped by Indianapolis Monthly beforehand to reveal some his favorite local date spots for our Best Of Indy issue, coming up in December. You’ll have to pick up the magazine to find out what they are—but we got him to stick around long enough to offer a few other nuggets.
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is dancing his way back to reality TV. ABC announced today that Castroneves will join the cast of Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars for the show’s 15th season. Castroneves, the season-five champion, will compete against other past celebrity favorites of various ilk and levels of fame for the chance to hoist the Mirror Ball trophy. Among his competitors: Bristol Palin, Drew Lachey, Joey Fatone, Kirstie Alley, Apolo Anton Ohno, and Pamela Anderson.
The stars aligned for the 500 Festival parade, which promised a fairly high celebrity quotient and did not disappoint. Floats and cars, bands and marchers—they all moved swimmingly along the route that started on Pennsylvania Street downtown, wounded around Washington Street and Monument Circle, and then proceeded up Meridian Street.
Speedway big-timers Johnny Rutherford, Helio Castrovenes, and Arie Luyendyk, Sr. came out last night for the 13th-annual Racing to Recovery Gala at the Dallara IndyCar Factory in Speedway, to help raise money for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation. If we’re honest, the term “gala” seems a little too fancy—it felt more like a friendly family reunion, as smiling Indy drivers (including Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, and Davey Hamilton) mingled easily with the avid racing fans and foundation supporters in attendance.
