For the Danica Patrick fans out there, she got knocked out in a minor crash in pit row, when Ryan Briscoe tapped her backside a little too hard, causing her to spin and break her rear suspension. That's certainly no way to finish a race, or a date for that matter.

That's all until Tuesday. Enjoy your Memorial Day burger binge, everyone.

Apologies to race fans, but I'm really only interested if a female wins (three are in the field, Danica Patrick, Milka Duno, and Sarah Fisher), and even then I'll probably just say, "Hey, way to go, lady," and go on about my day. The highlight for me was Peyton Manning waving the green flag to start the race, after which some track announcer guy said, "Bless our drivers and Peyton." Especially Peyton.

There's been rain in the forecast, and there's still a chance that we'll see some showers before this thing is over. Well, you might see them. I probably won't be watching. But feel free to tell me all about it in the comments.

Indy 500 race gets a big weather break [IndyStar]

Now, of course, the Indy 500 is an IRL curiosity while NASCAR runs everything else on the planet, including matters of perfume, heatable meals and romance novels. The only reason anyone pays attention to the Indianapolis 500 anymore? The name, the weekend and the fact that, one of these days, an attractive woman is going to win it. (Side note: We continue to be amused by IRL drivers who complain that women do well in their sport because they're smaller and can therefore go faster. Alas: We've finally found a physical athletic advantage women might have over men, and men are all bitching about it. Figures.)

But yeah, it's Memorial Day Weekend, and we have so many memories of falling asleep on the porch while the Indianapolis 500 buzzed pleasantly behind us that we had to mention it.

What Happened To You, Indianapolis 500? [Rumors And Rants]
Hugo Chavez On Indy 500 [Lion In Oil]
Carol Brady As You Never Knew Her [Randball]

As for the Jalopnik boys, you can see above their effort to spread the Berman/Leather love. That's the sign right there, behind Lance Armstrong. A valiant attempt, I think you'd have to agree. They did themselves proud this weekend, and their coverage continues. Enjoy it here.

Anyway, as for the race itself, nineteen-year-old Marco Andretti was leading the thing for most of the final lap, and Hornish passed him on the inside at the last possible second. Marco, just a few laps prior, had passed his father Michael to take the lead. American racers finished first, second, and third.

Also, five fans were injured earlier in the race when some debris from a car flew into the stands. Everyone walked away, and thankfully, no one was hurt seriously. I don't know how any sort of car part goes hurling through the air and hits someone in the head and doesn't hurt them, but thankfully, it's possible.

Oh, and for those of you who are curious, Danica Patrick finished 8th.

I Am Indy: Trying To Make Lance With Us, Leather [Jalopnik]

Fan 'all right' after being struck in head by track debris [ESPN.com]

Austin: It actually takes a fair amount of attention to figure out what's going on, because we can't hear the PA play-by-play here in the suite
Wert: What about on those fancy yellow headsets ya got on?
Austin: And the TV here isn't the ABC feed so it doesn't have all the information graphics
Wert: ABC's not with us today, Leather.
Austin: Wheldon: "Get fucking lyundke off the track, he's fucking terrible." At leadst I htink it was Wheldon
Austin: Yeah we're with scanners so we can listen in on all the pit-to-car communications
Austin: So the first series of pit stops has occured, or is occurring. That's when they stop for more gas, Ray
Austin: Now stop talking to me, I'm trying to watch.
Wert: Fair enough — they just brought fried biscuits in and I totally wanna get me some of that!

I encourage you to keep checking in with them. Oh, and the quote in the headline refers to a pit row accident, when Sam Hornish attempted to drive his car with the fuel nozzle still stuck in his car. He drove away, it popped out, a crew guy got covered in fuel and jolted away from the car. And Hornish cost himself a few seconds.

Hey, he tried to pull out too soon. It's sometimes hard to judge. Better too soon than too late, I guess. We'll check back in after the race.

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Mike Austin from Jalopnik here...and let's be honest, I am a bit of what ya'd call a drinker. When midnight rolls around and the wise option of an early evening comes up, I become the king of bad decisions and decide to roll out for a nightcap, which actually means drink until close. Which is 3 am in Indy.

But I still try to maintain some semblance of professionalism, so I will report to you on the Indianapolis bar scene on the night right before the big race. I won't lie to you. It is grim. I did hear reports this evening that the bars near the speedway are both divey and packed, two excellent things that make a bar good. But here in downtown, it is dead. Really dead. I asked bartenders and patrons both, and the general theory seems to be that people partied too hard last night and are kind of serious about watching the race tomorrow. The race starts at 1, so this makes no sense to me, especially since I'm going to be dealing with less than four hours of sleep as of this writing.

Continued after the jump...

There is one lively area of downtown, and if I remember correctly it is called Meridian Street. But honestly, it's not worth the trouble. Last night Team Jalopnik had the fortune of being at a VIP party in the suburbs, and both the VIP and general section had enough scenery to keep us happy. In downtown Indy, things don't look so good. In fact, they probably look worse than our usual Michigan haunts, which is to say it's actually terrible. On top of that, bouncers are still asking $5-6 cover at 1:30 AM and that is a situation that we consider unacceptable. Anywhere without a cover is either closed or dead. So fair warning, if you're in town for the greatest racing spectacle in the world, don't expect a good bar night downtown on the night before the race.

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More later. The boys will be liveblogging the race from a corporate tent on the infield, which just has to be a first. Stay tuned...

The winners (one each for Deadspin and Jalopnik) are going to receive a collection of swag that the Jalopnik fellas pick up at Indy this weekend. I can't tell you exactly what all that will entail, but I'm guessing that those guys are pretty skilled in the art of picking up stuff that is either free or awesome. I can't promise you anything, but you might even win a date with Al Unser Jr.

Get the necessary design templates here, and then check out some examples here. Let's go, Deadspinners. We gotta represent. And when you're done, e-mail them to me at mjd@deadspin.com by tomorrow at 1 p.m., and I'll get them in the right hands. Best of luck.

It's Indy 500 weekend, as I'm sure you're aware. This is a huge event, and I know that because Cold Pizza sent Woody Paige and Skip Bayless there to do the show this week. Not to be outdone, though, our pals at Jalopnik are also live at the speedway. We're going to be leaning heavily on them for coverage of the race, and they seem to be having a hell of a lot of fun.

And in case you aren't familiar with Jalopnik, the above sample and the one below should let you know immediately that they are not only our friends, but people to be respected and admired.

I Am Indy [Jalopnik]

It's Memorial Day weekend, so that means it's time for the Indianapolis 500, which isn't as cool as it used to be, though it helps to have attractive women racing. Growing up where we did, the Indy 500 was pretty much the most awesomest thing on earth when we were a kid, so we're glad to see it coming back.

We're also proud to note that our gasket-obsessed cousin over at Jalopnik will be covering the bejeezuses out of the race, on site, all weekend long right here. They may even drop by and play with us for a bit. Check 'em out all weekend. Vroom vroom!

I Am Indy [Jalopnik]