rpm.espn.com: Goodyear fractures back in wreck

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Sunday, May 27
Indianapolis 500

Goodyear fractures back in wreck
ESPN.com news services

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indy 500 got off to a shaky start on Sunday when pole-sitter Scott Sharp crashed on the first turn and several more cars crashed in the early going in cold conditions.

On a restart on lap 23, Greg Ray, last year's pole-winner, took the lead from Robby Gordon.

Sharp, driving a Dallara Oldsmobile, drove below the white line ringing the 2.5-mile oval and lost control. He was not injured.

The green flag came out on lap seven and on the restart Sarah Fisher, 20, the only woman in the race, spun, collecting Canadian Scott Goodyear. She was not injured.

Goodyear limped when helped out of his car. He was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital for x-rays after complaining of back pain. The hospital said he had suffered a fracture of the lower back.

Fisher said: "It's just really, really, really loose. It's kind of cold out here and everybody's having kind of the same problems. I've never been that loose here at Indianapolis, it was something I was unprepared for.

"I was just hanging on for dear life and finally I couldn't hold on any more."

The spinning continued when, on the second restart on lap 18, Sam Hornish, the 21-year-old Indy Racing League points leader, spun coming out of turn four. Like Sharp, he appeared to go low, below the white line, and spun.

He collected twice Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr., who had nowhere to go to avoid Hornish, who was able to bring his car into the pits and re-start his engine.

Unser had to retire but he appeared uninjured.

Rick Galles, owner of Unser's car, was disconsolate. "We really thought we had a shot at it today," he said.

"He said we had a hot rod on the radio. It's just unfortunate because we had a good car. I just wanted this for him."

John Barnes, owner of Hornish's car, said: "It looks like the cars, a lot of them, are loose because of how cold it is and how hard the tire is."

In 1992 Roberto Guerrero, then the pole-sitter, spun and crashed on the warm-up lap.

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	Indy 500 Scott Sharp finds trouble in Turn 1 on the opening lap and crashes into the wall (Courtesy: ABC Sports). avi: 2849 k Real: 56.6 \| ISDN \| T1 Indy 500 Sarah Fisher gets loose in Turn 2 and eliminated both herself and Scott Goodyear (Courtesy: ABC Sports). avi: 1536 k Real: 56.6 \| ISDN \| T1 Indy 500 Sam Hornish Jr. forces Al Unser Jr. into the wall and out of the race (Courtesy: ABC Sports). avi: 1897 k Real: 56.6 \| ISDN \| T1 I'm Sorry Scott Sharp feels disappointed about crashing his car on the opening lap (Courtesy: ABC Sports). wav: 232 k Real: 14.4 \| 28.8 \| 56.6 Fishtail Sarah Fisher just couldn't hang on as her car became too loose in the turns (Courtesy: ABC Sports). wav: 464 k Real: 14.4 \| 28.8 \| 56.6 Tough luck Al Unser Jr. talks about being a victim of circumstance causing an early exit for Indy (Courtesy: ABC Sports). wav: 480 k Real: 14.4 \| 28.8 \| 56.6