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Friday, February 27, 2009

19 Indy Winners On Hand For Program Unveiling

(Photo Courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

Tonight at the Indiana Convention Center 19 of the 27 living Indianapolis 500 winners were on hand for the unveiling of the 2009 Indy 500 program. The cover which was done by world renowned artist Thomas Kinkade, depicts Indy style race cars flying by the Pagoda on the front stretch. The Indianapolis 500 champions that were at the gala include:


  • Rick Mears,

  • Al Unser Jr.

  • Al Unser

  • Bobby Unser

  • Dario Franchitti

  • Mario Andretti

  • Eddie Cheever

  • Kenny Brack

  • Bobby Rahal

  • Jim Rathmann

  • Parnelli Jones

  • Johnny Rutherford

  • Gil de Ferran

  • Gordon Johncock

  • Scott Dixon

  • A.J. Foyt

  • Buddy lazier

  • Tom Sneva

  • Arie Luyendyk


Indy winners Sam Hornish and Juan Montoya were busy qualifying for the stock car race while Helio Castroneves had his hands tied getting ready for his trial that starts on Monday. Other Champions that were not present include: Buddy Rice, Dan Wheldon, Jacques Villenueve, Emerson Fittipaldi and Danny Sullivan.

3 comments:

The former winners were on hand for the IMS Centennial Era Gala, a black-tie fundraising event that officially kicks off the 3-year Centennial Era...the event just happened to feature the unveiling of Kinkade's '09 500 program cover artwork (and not the program itself, which won't be released until early May) -- it was a very minor part of the evening's festivities, however.

Johnnie Rutherford? I'm familiar with a Johnny Rutherford. Is that the same guy? Johnnie Parsons Sr. won the 500 and would have been at the gala, except he passed away (I think) in 1984.

ooops, I have no idea how that happend, I must of spelled his name a thousand times..... fixed

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