INDIANAPOLIS—Tony Kanaan spent the final practice before the Indianapolis 500 talking to the race track.
He wanted to be kind to the old lady, to land in her good graces before the historic 100th running of “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing.”
“I think this track will pick the winner. Whatever she picks, it’s going to be a very lucky guy,” Kanaan said Friday after landing atop the leaderboard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I’m trying to massage the track a little bit, talk to her nicely and then see if she will pick me on Sunday.”
Kanaan has led a total of 715 miles around the sprawling speedway, but it took him 12 tries to win the checkered flag. That 2013 victory was the most important of his career and the Brazilian is eager to try for another in front of the first capacity crowd in the history of a race that was first run in 1911. There could be more than 350,000 people on hand on what is expected to be a warm, sunny day that will be marked by celebration.
