Finally, a Dry Run at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS: Two rain delays, 11 caution flags, and a generous helping of crashes after its scheduled Sunday start, the 81st Indianapolis 500 is finally over. And despite all the chaos, this year's winner was easy to spot. Arie Luyendyk led every practice session in which he ran this month, won the pole position, and was less than a second out of the lead on Monday when the race was stopped due to rain. Tuesday, the Flying Dutchman led for 62 of the race's 200 laps and took the lead for the final time when he drove past teammate Scott Goodyear on the first turn of a restart on lap 194. As is nearly always the case at the Brickyard, the race ended on a bit of controversy. A yellow caution light, indicating no passing, came on after Tony Stewart banged off the fourth turn wall as he tried to catch the two leaders three laps from the end. With one lap to go, the starter waved the green flag that signals it's ok to race -- and pass other drivers. But the lights mounted on the track wall remained yellow. After the race, Goodyear was furious, maintaining he slowed down because he thought the caution light was still on. Luyendyk, facing conflicting signals, simply drove on. "I just kept going," the 43-year-old Luyendyk said. "I said, 'What the hell, they better know what they're doing. I better just keep doing what I've been doing.' " Tuesday, that was enough to win.