INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Hornish made an appearance for Indianapolis 500 practice on Thursday, but it was Sam the father, not Sam the 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner.
The elder Hornish arrived in Gasoline Alley late in the day and headed straight to the Team Penske garage, where Sam Hornish, Jr. achieved his greatest race victory two years ago.
After winning three IndyCar Series titles and the Indy 500, young Hornish switched to Roger Penske’s NASCAR Sprint Cup team at the end of last season.
As for a return to Indy, “Big Sam” Hornish enjoyed the stress-free situation.
“All I can say is this is the most relaxed I’ve been here for eight years,” said Hornish, who will miss his first Indianapolis 500 since 1968 because he will be at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. “I might be able to come on race day if Roger Penske lets me fly back to Charlotte on his plane.”

• Dan Wheldon, the 2005 Indianapolis 500 winner from Emberton, England, appeared at a media conference with fellow Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon of Auckland, New Zealand, on Thursday morning.
Afterwards, he implored the media to convince IndyCar Series President of Competition Brian Barnhart to put some flexibility into future Indy 500 practice schedules.
With two-and-a-half days of practice lost to rain last week, Barnhart went ahead and gave the teams May 12 and 13 off this week. The weather for both off days was sunny and warmer.
So when the teams returned to the track May 14, heavy rain and track- drying gave the teams just 30 minutes of green-flag practice.
It was supposed to rain on Thursday, but somehow, a full day of practice took place.
“Because of the weather this year, I think all of you should push Brian Barnhart on opening the track on the days it is off, Monday and Tuesday,” Wheldon said. “We (the drivers) vote you should keep the track open.”

• Ernesto Viso is one of the new drivers to the IndyCar Series this year, but has already stood out to many of the veterans for his erratic driving style.
“The craziest by far is Ernesto Viso,” Wheldon said. “Dude, he looks nuts. You can tell he hasn’t hit the wall yet. When he hits the wall, you will know because he will pull out slowly from the car in front and move back nicely. You can tell he hasn’t hit yet. You can tell the guys that haven’t hit hard.
“In 2003, I came out of the box swinging. Then you hit the wall and you just start to calm down a little bit. Then you start to hit the wall a bit more, and then you really start to calm down because you realize it’s not a nice feeling.”

• It was “Crash Friday” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with three drivers hitting the wall, including front-row starter Ryan Briscoe.
Luckily for the driver from Sydney, Australia, it was his backup car that he slammed hard into the outside wall in the first turn with about two hours left in Friday’s six-hour practice.
“It felt big. I hope it looked big,” Briscoe said of the crash.

• Danny Sullivan, the 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner, returned to the Speedway Saturday.
“It’s always good to be here,” Sullivan said. “The Old Timer’s Club honored Penske Racing. I went to the dinner downtown last night, and I just came in to see some people and say hello. It’s been a while since I’ve been here. It’s just kind of good to be back and hang out.
“I think it’s great that they’re back together, but I don’t think it will be an overnight fix. It will take time, and hopefully the sponsors will come back in. Obviously, the racing’s competitive, but it’s just going to take time. They’ve been apart for 12 years. I think the way the field looks and the group of drivers, and the teams and the competitiveness of it, I think you’re going to have a good race Memorial Day weekend. When they do that, it will draw a lot of people to it, as well.”

• At the beginning of May, Larry Curry was released from his role as team manager at Vision Racing. He was hired as chief engineer at Roth Racing a few days later.
On Sunday, Curry was in tears after both of Roth’s cars made the race with owner/driver Marty Roth joining John Andretti in the Indy 500 lineup.
“Well you know, this place is so special…Let’s just say I have been through a lot this month,” Curry said. “I’m happy that Marty got into the race. It’s just been a tough month. I’m so happy for Roth Racing that John Andretti and Marty are both in the greatest race in the world.
“I’ve always told everybody in all the years I have been here, the race is really easy compared to (qualifying).” 

• After missing the Indianapolis 500 when Mario Dominguez crashed as the 6 p.m. gun sounded, Pacific Coast Motorsports may be in jeopardy of competing in any more races this season. The team announced it would run the entire schedule beginning at Indy.
“It’s disappointing,” said owner Tyler Tadevic. “It’s our first event in the IndyCar Series, and we just went ahead and picked the Indy 500 as our first event. It’s the biggest show on earth, and we didn’t get to make it this year.
“But it’s just another race just like all the other races we do, and we’ll be in Milwaukee, and we’ll represent Mexico City and Mario’s still our guy. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Mario is OK. The car’s OK. We’ll be all right. We’ll be back in Milwaukee. We’ve had this car all of three weeks. To get here and make rookie orientation, then get out there and be the last car; we were qualified if we could finish those last laps. That’s how it goes.”