Indy 500: Drivers Seeking Good Luck
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May 21, 2008
Ron McQueeney/IMS
The 33-driver starting lineup for Sunday’s 92nd Indianapolis 500 made their annual trip to New York City with a few drivers hoping to get a little good luck in a most unusual way.
The drivers rubbed the nose, horns and other parts of the bronze Charging Bull statue on Broadway.
The 7,000-pound sculpture by Arturo Di Modica depicts a flared-nostril bull, the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity, ready to charge. It’s often rubbed by investors—and tourists—seeking good luck.
Now the statue—with a winner’s wreath around one of its horns—has the distinction of being rubbed by 33 IndyCar Series drivers seeking good luck in the 500-mile race.
“It was great,” said Viso, the IndyCar Series rookie who will start from the middle of Row 9. “To see all the people on the sidewalks take our picture was great. I rubbed the bull’s nose, so now I’ll have good luck for my first ‘500.’
“It’s part of all the things associated with the race, and I will definitely remember this.”
The event even stopped traffic in New York City and spectators on double-decker tour buses were also treated to close-up photo opportunity as a handful of drivers posed on the open-air second deck of a tour bus.
Two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who qualified fourth, was a crowd favourite.
