She Should Have Been a Lead-Pipe Cinch for It

In honor of the Fourth of July, SI.com named 25 “American Revolutionary Athletes” who changed sports. At the top of the list, in order, are Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King, Babe Ruth and Arthur Ashe. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are an entry at No. 20.

Oddly enough, Tonya Harding didn’t make the list. Apparently, the folks at SI.com haven’t seen Harding’s website, which declares: “For good or bad, Tonya Harding has been the most influential person in figure skating history, and in all sports history, second only to Mohammad [sic] Ali.”

Trivia time: Kurt Busch, the NASCAR Nextel Cup champion in 2004, drives car No. 97. Why else is that number meaningful to Busch?

Late-night thrills: Last Saturday night’s Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, delayed by more than 2 1/2 hours by rain, went well into the wee hours. When winner Tony Stewart climbed the fence at the start/finish line to celebrate, NBC’s Bill Weber said, “If you hang around the racetrack until 1:45 in the morning, you never know how much excitement you might enjoy.”

Wait a minute: Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times is not impressed by Danica Patrick.

“Here we are, five weeks and three races since her Sports Illustrated cover, and the media sensation/creation is performing like a struggling rookie,” Mariotti wrote. “I could be mean and say she’s Anna Kournikova with a gearbox.”

Isn’t it a little early to be writing off Patrick?

Heaven on earth: James Henry Smith, 55, who died of prostate cancer last week, was a passionate Pittsburgh Steeler fan. So his family arranged an unusual viewing Tuesday night. Smith’s body was placed on a recliner with his feet crossed and a remote in his hand. He wore black and gold silk pajamas, slippers and a robe. A beer was at his side as a high-definition TV showed continuous Steeler highlights.

All that was missing was a Steel Curtain.

A different language: A news release from the Moscow 2012 Olympic Games Bid Committee arrived via e-mail with this quote from Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhov: “We want to offer our warm and sincere congratulations to London. We are confident that they will stage memorable Games of the ??? Olympiad.”

No, nothing was lost in translation. The ??? was simply a typo. A press representative said it should have read XXX.

Looking back: On this day in 1990, Martina Navratilova defeated Zina Garrison, 6-4, 6-1, to win a record ninth Wimbledon women’s singles title, breaking a tie with Helen Wills Moody.

Trivia answer: Busch was attending Arizona in 1997 when the Wildcats won the national basketball championship.

And finally: Reader Bill Littlejohn, after Takeru Kobayashi won the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating contest for a fifth consecutive year by downing 49 in 12 minutes: “I hear the Milwaukee Sausage has filed a restraining order.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.