It’s No Father-Son Picnic

Michael Andretti couldn’t believe his eyes. With only three laps left in the 90th Indianapolis 500, his 19-year-old son, Marco, was leading the race in his first try -- with Michael right behind him.

“It was a fairly tale,” said Michael, who came out of retirement to race with Marco at least once at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “It was the dream we talked about.”

But it’s still a dream because of high drama provided by Sam Hornish Jr., a tenacious driver from Ohio who was on his own mission to win his first 500 after failed attempts in six previous years and an early setback Sunday.

Hornish, a two-time Indy Racing League champion, first ran down Michael and eventually shot past Marco near the finish line to win the second-closest 500 in history before more than 300,000 sunbaked fans.

“It’s tough to put it all into words,” said Hornish, 26, who choked back tears after drinking the traditional glass of milk in Victory Lane. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Hornish swept inside Marco about 300 yards from the finish to beat him by half a car length, or 0.064 of a second, with Michael Andretti finishing third. The only closer finish occurred in 1992, when Al Unser Jr. edged Scott Goodyear by 0.043 of a second.

It also was the first time in Indy 500 history that the winner took the lead on the final lap of the race.

Marco was still burning with the Andretti competitiveness after climbing out of his No. 26 Andretti Green Racing car. Despite one of the best rookie showings in race history, he was nearly sullen with disappointment.

“I’m happy with myself, but you’ve got to take advantage of every shot,” he said, noting that his 43-year-old father never won the Indy 500 despite a stellar career in open-wheel racing.

“I thought that I had won it,” Marco said.

Hornish, who drives for Marlboro Team Penske, “just had the speed” at the finish “and I don’t know where it came from,” Marco said.

“It’s a bummer,” he added. “I don’t want to wait until next year.”

But Michael, who gave Marco a hug when they met for a post-race news conference, said it “was a storybook finish” at the 2.5-mile speedway.

“What are the odds of a father and son coming down like that” to the finish? he said.

And grandfather Mario Andretti, who won the Indy 500 in 1969, said of Marco: “I’m proud of him. I thought he did a phenomenal job.”

Defending champion Dan Wheldon -- who at one point appeared to be cruising to a repeat victory -- finished fourth for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. He was followed by Andretti driver Tony Kanaan.

Last year’s rookie sensation, Danica Patrick, finished eighth for Rahal Letterman Racing. She was consistently in the top 10 during the 200-lap race but never seriously challenged for the lead.

“I didn’t make any mistakes,” said Patrick, 24, who last year nearly became the first woman to win the race before surrendering the lead to Wheldon in the final laps. “We just haven’t been the fastest car all month, and that was the case today.”

Hornish, with his trademark sideburns, is known as a master at winning tight finishes. In March 2002, for instance, he passed Jaques Lazier on the final turn to win an IRL race at California Speedway in Fontana.

This year, Hornish was fastest in practice for most of May, qualified on the pole and vowed that if he could last 500 miles at Indianapolis -- he had never completed the race because of accidents and equipment problems -- he would have a shot at winning.

“That’s what I said I wanted to do all month long,” he said. “Today I’m unbelievably happy.”

It was a record 14th Indy 500 win for team owner Roger Penske. “What a great finish,” Penske said. Hornish “kept his speed until the end. He is a fantastic oval [track] racer.”

But it appeared Hornish would be snake-bitten again after a miscue in the pits with 50 laps remaining.

Hornish started to peel out of the pits before a crew member could remove his car’s fuel hose. The hose was torn off, and Hornish abruptly stopped and then started again. That cost him a “drive-through” penalty in which he was ordered to drive slowly through the pits while the field went by, costing him several positions.

“It was my mistake,” said Penske, who was overseeing the stop. “I told him to ‘go!’ ” before realizing the hose was stuck, he said.

No matter. Hornish doggedly climbed back through the field, putting himself in position to challenge the Andrettis after a late caution flag forced a shootout finish with five laps remaining.

Hornish first tried to pass Marco on Lap 199. Marco blocked him, and Hornish fell several car-lengths back before mounting his charge again on the final lap.

As he came off Turn 4 for the final time, Hornish said he never doubted he would get to Marco and hoped it wouldn’t cause a collision.

“I had a giant head of steam on him,” Hornish said. “I was either going to pancake the right side of the car or I was going to win the race, one of the two. I was going to drive over him if I had to.”

Another famous Indy driver, Al Unser Jr., ran in the middle of the 33-car field until Lap 145, when he spun out in Turn 3. The 44-year-old Unser, a two-time Indy 500 winner, also came out of retirement to drive the race once more.

Two other former winners, Hornish teammate Helio Castroneves and Buddy Rice of Rahal Letterman, collided on Lap 109 and failed to finish.

For much of the race, it appeared Wheldon was in control. The 27-year-old Englishman had lapped two-thirds of the field and, at Lap 65, held a lead of nearly 20 seconds.

That lead evaporated with later caution periods, and with 16 laps left, “we got a [tire] puncture and had to pit off sequence,” which shuffled him back a few positions, Wheldon said. “It’s just tough. I had a very good car. It was good all day long, and we didn’t win.”

Marco’s second-place finish was the best ever for an Andretti in his rookie year. Michael finished fifth in his first 500 in 1984, and Mario finished third in 1965.

For Michael, it was another bittersweet day at the Brickyard.

Despite nearly winning the race and sharing Marco’s strong run, Michael again came away without the Borg-Warner trophy in his 15th attempt. He now has led 430 laps in the Indy 500 -- the most of any driver who has never won the race.

“Right now it’s feeling like ... the heartbreak, another one,” Michael said. “But I think in another couple of days we’re going to sit back and think, ‘Oh, wow, who would have ever thought it would come down to that?’

“I literally put my hand in the air thinking he [Marco] won the race, and I couldn’t believe it,” Michael said. “Then I’m calling on the radio, ‘Did he win? Did Hornish pass him?’ I’m like, ‘No.’ So it was disappointing.”

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Disappointments and close calls

Some of the disappointments the Andretti family has endured in the Indianapolis 500 since Mario gave the family its only victory in 1969. Also, the closest margins between first and second place in the race:

* 1981 -- Mario was declared the winner a day after the race when Bobby Unser was penalized for passing a line of cars during a yellow caution period. Four months later, a USAC appeals panel overturned the penalty and gave the victory to Unser.

* 1985 -- Mario leads a race-high five times for 107 laps but finishes second to Danny Sullivan.

* 1987 -- Mario starts from the pole and dominates for 170 laps before his car goes dead with bad ignition 20 laps from the finish.

* 1991 -- Michael leads 97 laps but is passed by Rick Mears with 13 laps to go and finishes second.

* 1992 -- Michael leads 160 laps and is 11 laps from victory when his car goes out with bad fuel pressure.

* 1994 -- Mario, in his final race at Indianapolis, lasts 23 laps before a problem in his car’s fuel system knocks him out.

* 1995 -- Michael leads for 45 laps before he brushes the wall and goes out 25th because of a bad suspension.

* 2001 -- Michael leads 16 laps, but a punctured tire and a collision on pit lane drop him to third at the finish.

* 2006 -- Michael and Marco exchange the lead in the final laps before Sam Hornish Jr. passes Marco to win by 0.064 of a second, second-closest margin in Indy history.

WINNING BY THE SMALLEST OF MARGINS AT INDY

0.043 of a second...Al Unser Jr. over Scott Goodyear, 1992

0.064...Sam Hornish Jr. over Marco Andretti, 2006

0.160...Gordon Johncock over Rick Mears, 1982

0.299...Gil de Ferran over Helio Castroneves, 2003

0.570...Arie Luyendyk over Scott Goodyear, 1997

Source: Associated Press