Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.
Southern Nevadans were more prevalent at this year's Indianapolis 500 than marginal celebrities in the pit lane suites. Here is a recap of how they did, according to finishing position:
Patron Racing: The Las Vegas tequila company, with headquarters on South Valley View Boulevard, this year is serving as the primary sponsor on Scott Sharp's car , fielded by the Rahal-Letterman race team (as in Bobby Rahal, the 1986 Indy 500 winner, and David Letterman, purveyor of Stupid Pet Tricks and a longtime racing enthusiast). The Patron car slogged to a sixth-place finish, but no word yet on which crew member swallowed the worm.
Davey Hamilton: It took all the king's horses and all the king's men to put the former Las Vegas resident back together again after a terrible crash in 2001 that required 21 surgeries to fuse Hamilton's feet and legs so he could use them again. The veteran driver marked his return to the Brickyard with an overachieving ninth-place finish, which more than made up for Brett Musburger identifying his hometown of Nampa, Idaho, as "Nampa, Ind.," during driver introductions.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports: Schmidt, the longtime Henderson resident and owner of a successful team in the developmental Indy Pro Series, put together an Indy 500 program for 1996 race winner Buddy Lazier, who started 22nd and finished 19th. At least by using the Buddy system, Schmidt was able to put his car back in mothballs in one piece.
Richie Hearn: After starting the race somewhere near Lafayette, the Henderson resident steered a noncompetitive car from 32nd at the start to 23rd at the finish. Hearn ran around in circles all day and managed not to hit anything - which is more than can be said for the other cars in the back of the pack. He was the only driver in the last two rows who didn't crash.
Al Unser Jr.: The aging veteran, a two-time winner of the 500, agreed to help fellow legend A.J. Foyt celebrate his 50th year at Indy by strapping himself into Foyt's backup car. The Henderson resident would have been better off strapping into a Ford Country Squire instead. Unser finished 26th after starting 25th and was lapped five times.
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