INDIANAPOLIS -- Al Unser Jr. called them "Indy Angels" during the days leading up to the 87th Indianapolis 500. On the 94th lap Sunday, a 30-year-old "Andretti Curse" sent the son of Mario into retirement. By the end of 200 laps, enough things went wrong for 31 other drivers to allow "Penske Luck" to strike once again.

Just another typical day at the Brickyard, huh?

A driver's skill can allow him to overcome fear at 225 mph. A team's preparation during the month of May can allow him to drive to the front of the field. But so often at Indy, it's not who's in control or what's powering the winning car that matters most.

Even two-time champion Helio Castroneves talked about what went wrong in his quest to make history ... and he finished a fairly close second.

The only driver who didn't have a bad thing to say about Sunday was, of course, Gil de Ferran. But one only need look back two years to see how quickly things can change when winning and losing is the difference between one yellow flag, or an extra tenth of a second spent in the pits.

"All I can tell you is when I finished second to (Castroneves) in 2001, for me it was a mixture of happiness and sadness because you are so close and yet so far," said de Ferran, a winner in his fourth Indy start.

It's clear: What matters on this day in May before the world's largest gathering of open-wheel race fans is who has good fortune chosen to cozy up to over 500 miles?

"Same song, different story," said Mario Andretti.

Yes, when your name is Andretti, Memorial Day Weekend might as well be Groundhog Day.

"For whatever reason, it wasn't supposed to happen," said Andretti, who wound up 27th and leaves the seat after 14 failed attempts at Indy. Since his father Mario's win in 1969, the Andretti name is 0-for-48 at Indy. "It was a numb feeling (getting out of the car).

"The throttle linkage broke. It was a wierd deal. That always seems to happen to me. There are time when I've loved this place. There have been times when it has been tough. That is what makes Indy, Indy."

Words that couldn't have been spoken any better by so many others not named Andretti, or driving a Penske.

But, creating a competitive car is the easy part when the name is as big as Andretti. Creating your own good fortune simply isn't part of the winning formula, at least not at Indy, no matter what the name on the helmet says.

Ask any athlete and he'll say luck plays a role. Some even say it's better to be lucky than good. Injuries can turn a team's championship fortunes upside down. The ball can bounce the other way. But no athlete is at the mercy of his equipment more than the auto racer.

How else can one explain Michael Andretti's final trip around Indy starting with so much promise (he led 28 laps) and ending before the midway point? And the teammate he employs, Tony Kanaan, kept up with the Penskes in the exact same car for a third-place finish.

In some cruel way, the driver is just along for the ride -- however long it lasts. And with Sunday's field full of drivers with cars capable of winning, frustration seemed to come at every turn.

Just eight laps after Andretti climbed out of his car on pit road, fellow Indy foil Jimmy Vasser followed when his Team Rahal machine quit cooperating with the operator. Vasser, who boasted all week he was behind the wheel of the best car he'd driven in seven previous Indy 500s, was running in the top 10 when his gearbox simply "broke."

"I am still having a hard time believing that I am standing here right now," said Vasser, who finished 26th. "Team Rahal did a great job and gave me a car that was capable of winning. It's unfortunate that it has to end like this."

Robby Gordon, who started on the outside of Row 1, was bidding for his first Indy 500 victory when his Team Andretti car suddenly couldn't get out of the warm-up lane. Another faulty gearbox was the culprit on Lap 179. Instead of challenging the leaders, Gordon (22nd) caught an earlier flight to Charlotte to race another 600 miles in Winston Cup.

Scott Sharp, running in the top 10 with 18 laps remaining, didn't see Lap 182 when he hit the wall in Turn 1. Sharp (20th), who didn't finish a lap as the 2001 pole-sitter, has now crashed three straight years at Indy. And while each car that retired after challenging came unexpectedly, none was as unexplainable as Scott Dixon's front-stretch spin and brush with the wall while warming up his tires under caution on Lap 191.

Former winners also found their share of trouble. Kenny Brack, the 1999 Indy 500 champion, was another gearbox victim on Lap 128 and spent four laps in the pits before returning and finishing 16th. Engine woes took 1996 champion Buddy Lazier (21st) out on Lap 171. With each challenger's misfortune, Team Penske's fortunes improved as de Ferran and Castroneves ran 1-2 over the final 30 laps. They just didn't improve enough for Castroneves.

"My car was very, very good. I was just taking it easy, and unfortunately, I took it too easy and one of the back markers kind of got in the way," said Castroneves, who had won his only two previous Indy 500 starts. "Hey, you can't slip at all in this place. And this place always gives you a surprise."

When all you've know is winning at Indy, second just doesn't cut it.

But, remember, Penske knows first-hand how cruel Indy can be. It was as recently as 1995 when Team Penske failed to qualify a car into field. But since his return to the Speedway in 2001, nobody has been as fortunate on race day.

And, whatever the cause of each driver's misfortune this year, the effect was another Penske victory.

A "lucky" 13th victory, no less.

Ron Buck is an editor at ESPN.com.