Dear Mark,

Each year you briefly mention your betting the Indianapolis 500. I didn't see you saying anything about it before or since Memorial Day. What happened? did your luck finally run out?

Sherman T.

Because I have had a penchant for open wheel racing since I was knee high to a coke bottle, the aroma of Gasoline Alley on Memorial weekend in Indianapolis ushers in my favorite sporting event, both to view and wager on.

As a rule, Sherman, I bet on up to six drivers based on the driver's team, the engine/chassis package, qualifying times, pit crews, and the one intangible that helps me eliminate a good number of competitors in the field; "the brave factor". This formula has allowed me to be successful in handicapping the race for umpteen years.

This year I altered my formula and went "all in," betting on just one driver that I thought capable of winning the Indy 500: Danica Patrick.

Even when the country caught Danicamania, dropping her odds from 20-1 to 5-1 (always bet early for better odds), I bounced both frenzy and gender from the equation, and still saw Patrick as having the complete package necessary to win, including the brave factor; the ability to "put her foot into it".

This breakout athlete is the real deal, and she belonged at the Indianapolis 500. She gave the boys all they could handle until she had to back off in the final stages of the race for lack of fuel. Her luck ran out, Sherman, not mine. To witness history, to see the first female in the lead with six laps remaining, until being passed by eventual winner Dan Wheldon, was the best bet I ever lost.

Next year I'll be betting on her again, because I believe Danica can win, and will win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. You can bet on it!

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