500 Festival Parade: Celebrities & Photos
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.
Stars Garth Brooks and Gladys Knight Shine at Indy 500 Soiree
Last night, music-industry icons, Indianapolis 500 stars, and other big-name notables put their well-heeled feet forward at the Indy 500 Soiree to help raise money for Riley Children’s Hospital at IU Health. In attendance were country-music star Garth Brooks and Motown legend (and Dancing with the Stars contestant) Gladys Knight, as well as two-time Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti, 2008 winner Scott Dixon, and popular former Indianapolis Colt Dallas Clark. Lucas Oil owner Forrest Lucas and wife, Charlotte, graciously hosted the event at their 35-acre Hamilton County estate.
IM Intern Has First Carb Day, Hilarity Ensues
Editor's Note: We must be sadists. IM intern Myrydd Wells had never been to a Carb Day concert. So today, without mercy, we sent her—alone—to the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at IMS. When we cautioned that it might get rowdy, and asked if she was sure she wanted to go, she reassured us. "I went to IU," she said. "I've seen it all." This is what she brought back.
Preview: Indy Zoo's New Exotic Birds Exhibit
The eagerness of brilliantly hued lorikeets as they stretch their necks to reach nectar. Long, curly eyelashes that lend a touch of flirtatiousness to the otherwise formidable southern ground hornbill, a 13-pound meat-eater that uses its enormous beak to skewer prey.
Q&A: Rick Springfield, Snakepit Ball Headliner
Who: Rick Spingfield. Gig: Rock star/Soap hunk. Age: 62. Show-stopper: The ‘80s heartthrob (“Jessie’s Girl,” General Hospital) is back on TV and he's working on a new album, Love Songs for the End of the World. Tomorrow, he joins the 500 Festival Parade and headlines the annual Snakepit Ball. Today, he broke one his own song's rules: He talked to a stranger (IM).
Memorial Service Honors Veterans and the Fallen
"We are reminded of those who gave their young lives so that liberty might grow old."
—Daniel Wheeler, national adjutant of The American Legion
Rehagen on Wheldon: The Champ I Remember
Dan Wheldon was going to save IndyCar. That was the premise with which I set out to write an early-season profile of the Brit in the spring of 2005. He was 26, dapper, handsome, and quotable in a sneering, “like-it-or-lump-it” attitude that seemed about as sincere as his insistence that he only drank Red Bull and Jim Beam, his sponsor. He was coming off his first full season, having won three races and finished second in points, and sitting at a table in the back of his trailer for an interview the night before the first race in Homestead, hair spiked stiff, slacks immaculately pressed. He flashed a snaggle-toothed grin and agreed that, “Yeah, a good piece is exactly what the sport needs,” to get fans on board.
Hopelessly Devoted to Olivia Newton-John
Those in attendance at Saturday’s IPL 500 Festival Parade might experience Rydell High School flashbacks when grand marshal Olivia Newton-John makes her appearance on the parade route. “I’m going to need two flags to wave, and a ’50’s outfit, right?” jokes the pop legend best known—perhaps indelibly—for her role opposite John Travolta in 1978’s blockbuster musical Grease. “It’s been 35 years, and that movie is still popular,” Newton-John remarked in a telephone interview earlier this week. “People love it. I don’t know why, but I think it’s got a great energy in it. It’s fun, and the music is timeless.”
Dan Wheldon's Widow Receives His Winner's Ring
Nearly a year ago, Susie Wheldon was celebrating her husband's unlikely final-turn victory at the Indianapolis 500. Today, she thanked her departed mate's fans and friends.