Category Archives: Racing

Sports: Avoiding a Sweep, Getting Out of Jail, and Surprise Winners on the Track

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BASEBALL)—The Kansas City Royals missed getting their first sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals at home in 25 years, but they still won the three-game series.  The final game, Sunday, was great for the spectators even though the Royals lost it.

St. Louis 12, Kansas City 10.

Eight home runs. 28 hits. Neither starting pitcher made it to the third inning. A combined dozen relievers followed them to the mound.

Cardinals rookie J. J. Wetherholt had two of the home runs, drove in three runs and scored three times. With one of his two home runs Wetherholt tied an obscure record by a largely forgotten Redbird. His third leadoff home run tied a rookie record set by Bo Hart 24 years ago.

Who?

Bo Hart had a roaring start to his big league career in 2003 when he broke Kirby Puckett’s record by hitting .460 in his first ten games. He finished the season with four homers, to leading off. But  a month into the 2004 season he was sent down and never came back to the bigs.

The Cardinals had lost four in a row. The Royals had a three-game winning streak.

(CHIEFS)—Rashee Rice has finished his thirty-jail sentence that started shortly after his knee surgery.  His time in jail meant his rehabilitation program could not be fully implemented. He also missed the voluntary offseason workouts and the mandatory minicamp practices.

Rice is in the last year of his four-year, $6.5 million rookie contract. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next March unless the Chief slap a “franchise” tag on him to keep him through ’27.

(HARDY)—Latest word on Tiger running back Ahmad Hardy is that he’s been hard at work on a Stairmaster in the Tiger Training facility rebuilding the strength in his left thigh after a gunshot wound requiring emergency surgery.  Coach Drinkwitz says he’s making good progress but it’s too early to determine if he’ll be in playing condition for the season opener in a little more than a month.

(NFL)—It has been seven years since the NFL has held a supplemental draft. Players have to make themselves available for it—Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsbey has announced he’ll turn pro instead of wrestling opponents about his eligibility after a gambling conviction.

The draft allows teams to submit bids and choose the rounds they want to enter. The first round of bidding is open to non-playoff teams with six or fewer wins.  If no team enters from that category, non-playoff teams with more than six wins go next.  Playoff teams are last, based on their most recent records. If a team wins a player, the team forfeits the equivalent pick in the next year’s draft.

The supplemental draft is kind of an auction. It’s held only when eligible players have put themselves on the market. This will be the fiftieth year since the draft began and only 46 players have been taken.

Jalen Thompson, chosen by the Cardinals in the 2019 draft, is the last player was taken.

—-On the Road Where Mistakes Make Losers and Surprise Winners—

(INDYCAR)—-IndyCar defending champion Alex Palou started from the pole at Road America and was running second when he was caught speeding on pit road and forced to do a drive-through penalty that set him back far enough to take him out of contention. He was able to salvage fifth.

The bigger story was Christian Lundgaard, who started 12th and whose left front wing was damaged in a first lap tangle with Scott Dixon incident that forced him to the pits for repairs and dropped him to last place, 25th.  He made it to the lead on the 43rd of the race’s 55 laps before gibing way to Josef Newgarden for four laps and Marcus Amstrong for 18.  But Lundgaard got past Armstrong to lead the last seven laps including a final lap shootout coming out of caution. Davis Malukas finished second for the third time this year.

The last time an IndyCar driver went last-to first was in 2024 when Alexander won the Grand Prix of Monterey.

(NASCAR)—A unique NASCAR Race Sunday produced a special result and seemingly provide a positive answer about whether the series can run a street-course race on a military base.

The cars snaked through the 3.4-mile naval base course in San Diego, California with part-time driver Corey Heim getting his first Cup victory.  Bubba Wallace, who lost a wheel early in the race rallied back to second.

Road racing ace Shane Van Gisbergen, who had the fastest qualifying run, was taken out in a multi-car crash about halfway through the race.

Heim, 23, who was running only his sixth Cup race of the year and only the 13th in his young career. He’ll move into a fulltime ride next year as a teammate of Tyler Reddick, the current points leader, and Wallace.

(Picture credits:Heim—Instagram;  Hart—Fanatics Collect; Rice—KMBC TV; Lundgaard at Indy—Rick Gevers)

 

Sports: Catching up on Some Missourians; Smith, Anonube, Porters in Brooklyn, Seattle; and other sports

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(WHEREARETHEYNOW)—Aldon Smith, one of the University of Missouri’s greatest linebackers, died Saturday in a friend’s truck.  The cause of his death has not been disclosed. He was 36 and had dealt with various legal problems that cost him his career.

Smith reportedly had blown his NFL millions and was delivering pizzas with a friend when he died. When he was straight he was one of the best defensive backs in the NFL—his first two years with the 49ers. But drug tests in 2014 led to a nine-game ban. The team dumped him after several DUI arrests. He was picked up by the Raiders who kept him for nine games before cutting him.  He was out of football before the Cowboys brought him back in 2020. He was in all sixteen games but did not return in 2021.

Former Missouri Tiger Tucker McCann has been released by the Battlehawks. He had kicked well (10 for 11 in field goals with some beyond fifty yards and a long one of 58) and 6 for 7 on PATS. But he was sidelined by a pre-game injury in week five. There is some speculation that his release from the IR might be because he’s caught the eye of an NFL team.

Jontay Porter, whose possible NBA career was ended after just 37 games in The Show and a career largely in the development league by his gambling, played a couple of games for the United Basketball Leagues Seattle Superhawks this spring.  The team won the league championship with only one loss but without Porter except for the brief appearance.

Porter was convicted in the gambling case and had been scheduled for sentencing last December 10 but the sentencing was delayed. As far as we know he is in federal custody and still is awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors want him to go to prison for 41-51 months although he could get much more. The Los Angeles Times reports his case remains part of a multi-million dollar investigation of NBA players and gambling.

He had a triple-double in his debut with the Superhawks in which he set a league rebounding record. But he played only one other game finished averaging 26.5 points, 18.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game.

Older brother Michael Porter has wrapped up his first season with the Brooklyn Nets, making it the best year of his seven-year career, one of the few bright spots for a team that finished 20-62.  In 52 games, he averaged 24.2 points on 46% shooting from the field, 7.1 rebounds and three assists. Porter suffered a left hamstring injury that cut short his year after 52 games.

And then there’s Ogugua Anunoby,  or “O.G.” as everybody knows him, the Jefferson City High School product who is part of the NBA champion New York Knicks and who will forever be the hero for tipping in the winning basket in the Knicks’ epic comeback in game for the the NBA finals. That basket overshadowed the other 31 points he scored that night to put New York up 3-1 against the Spurs, who wrapped things up Saturday with another comeback win in San Antonio.

Anunoby is one of the great misses for the University of Missouri. He graduated from Jefferson City High School in 2014 and received scholarship offers from Indian, Georgia, Iowa, George Mason and Ole Miss, but not from the Tigers, coached then by Kim Anderson. He chose Indiana, played a couple of years there and went to the NBA.

In 2014, while a senior at Jefferson City High School in Missouri, Anunoby received scholarship offers from several schools, including Indiana, Georgia, Iowa, George Mason, and Ole Miss Wikipedia. Missouri was among the schools that contacted him, but he ultimately chose Indiana University over them. In 2017, he was the 23rd overall choice in the NBA draft, taken by the Toronto Raptors.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs are comfortable with their draft choices and other personnel that they could let tackle Wanya Morris go to the Atlanta Falcons for a sixth-round 2027 draft pick. The Chief also are giving the Falcons a seventh-round pick. The general feeling is that the Chiefs are not giving up much but they’re not getting much either.

Morris started only 16 games in three years for Kansas City and posted below-average numbers for a starter.

(UFL)—The United Football League has crowned the Louisville Kings their 2026 champion.  The Kings, who defeated the St. Louis Battlehawks to make it to the United Bowl, beat the DC Defenders 27-20.  They finish the season 7-4. DC United finishes 6-5. The Kings lost their first three games of the year but won seven of the remaining eight games.

(BUTLER)—Battlehawks receiver Hakeem Butler has earned another shot at an NFL career.  The UFL’s Offensive Player of the Year has signed a contract with the Denver Broncos.

Butler has been the UFL Offensive Player of the Year twice in three seasons. He missed a game and the team changed quarterbacks twice but he still let the league with 641 yards receiving with an eye-opening average of 22.1 yards per catch, a league record, this year.

He finished just eleven yards short of his team record, with nine catches for 30 or more yards including a 75-yard touchdown bomb against the Defenders in the third week of the season.

Butler is 30, stands 6’5” went to school at Iowa State where, as a junior he had 60 receptions for a school record 1,318 yards. He opted out of his senior season and was a 2019 fourth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals.  He also had brief stints with the Panthers, Eagles, Steelers, and Bengals and also played in the CFL.

BASEBALL

(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals finished their week winning seven of their last ten and being in a playoff position if the season ended now. They’re five games behind the Brewers in their division and seven games above .500.

But they’re not standing pat.

In the last ten days, they’ve sent Victor Scott II to Memphis and activated Nathan Church. They finally sent Nolan Gorman and Hunter Dobbins down while moving first baseman Blaze Jordan to the big league roster along with right hander Chris Roycroft. They made roster sace for Jordan by moving third baseman Ramon Urias to the 60-day DL. He has problems with his right elbow. And they’ve added left hander Nathan Shinn to their system. He had been with the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League.

(MONDAY)—Dustin May settled for a one-hit complete game against the Padres last night. The Redbirds won the game 3-0.  May didn’t allow a base runner until he issued a walk in the seventh inning.  It’s his first complete major league game in 71 starts. He’s now 5-6.

May is the first Cardinals starter since June 27, last year when Sonny Gray one-hit the Guardians.

In all of Major League Baseball this year, there have been only nine complete games and six individual shutouts.

(RECORD)—One of Albert Pujols’ records with the Cardinals has been broken. Ivan Herrera’s two home runs against the Twins on Saturday five him 21 pinch-hit homers by a Cardinals designated hitter. Pujols had 19.

(TROUBLE DOWN ON THE FARM)—The city council in Memphis is arguing about whether the city should put five-million dollars into the stadium where the Cardinals top minor league team plays.  A city council budget committee has refused to commit the five million the team wants for “mandatory essential life-safety overhauls, HVAC requirements, and…MLB facility compliance.

The city is involved because it bought the stadium twelve years ago to keep the Cardinals from moving the franchise and in doing so assumed the obligation to cover major improvements.  The team pays the bills for all operating expenses including utilities.  The Cardinals pay the city only $30,000 in rent but tourist experts say the city benefits in total economic activity because of the stadium to the tune of almost $120 million.

There are five years left on the lease.

(ROYALS)—The Royals and the Angels are tied for the worst record in the American League—29-43. The Royals are ten games out in their division. The Angels are in a better position because they’re in a division in which only one team is above water—the Mariners who are only 37-36.

The Royals ended their latest losing streak at four by beating the Astros Sunday. They’ve had three six-game losing streaks and the season isn’t half done.

The Royals are generally punchless and have had inconsistent bullpen all season.

Sam McDowell, who covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star, has noted the team that was 26th in the league in scoring last year is scoring the fewest runs this year in all of major league baseball, that in their last 223 games (all of last year and so far this year), the Royals have scored three or more runs in an inning only 74 times. Four guys the team counts on for offense, Bobby Witt Jr., Salvatore Perez, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Maikel Garcia are hitting well below their averages from 2025.

On top of that, Pasquantino has been put on the ten-day DL with a broken wrist bone. Seth Lugo is due off the list this week after taking a line drive off his forehead last week. Outfielder Kyle Isbell is on the ten day DL with a foot injury.

The “good” news is that Kris Bubic has started his rehab at Omaha. Second baseman Jonathan India has been moved from the ten-day to the sixty-day disabled list with left shoulder problems.

The Royals start a series tomorrow night against the Washington Nationals.

Now: Cars

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar heads to its longest race track to start the second half of its season next weekend.  Driver and crews finally got a little off-track time since the race a week ago near St. Louis, but they’re headed to Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the first of the nine remaining races on the schedule—three more ovals and six more road courses including the inaugural race through the D.C. Mall on the July 4th weekend.

The circuit is four miles, with fourteen turns, and held its first race 71 years ago. The race will be 55 laps, about 221 miles.

Alex Palou, who leads the series points chase, has won three of the last four events there.  Starting near the front is almost mandatory for anyone hoping for a win. Nobody who has started 14th or lower has won an IndyCar race at Road America.

The championship this year would be Palou’s fourth, third in a row. It’s his to lose as he heads into the last half of the season up on Kyle Kirkwood by 49 points and 68 more than David Malukas.

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IndyCar is mourning the loss of Paul Reinbol, half of the Dreyer & Reinbold racing team. He was 65.  He had built on his success as a car dealer in Indianapolis to run cars in the 500 for a quarter century. Oriol Servia had he team’s best finish in the 500 when he came home fourth in 2012. Drivers for the team have led laps in four of the last six races and the team has had entries.  Last year, Ryan Hunter Ray had the lead in a D&R car with 31 laps left when he ran out of gas chasing his second 500 title.

(NASCAR)—For the first time in his two-decade career, Denny Hamlin has won three races in a row.  Sunday’s win at Pocono was his eighth at the track and the 64th of his career, breaking a tie with Kyle Busch.

Christopher Bell and his crew gambled on fuel and lost, big time, when Bell had to pit with five laps left. Bell, racing with a wrist broken in a crash last week, wound up 266h.

Points leader Tyler Reddick, who won five races early in the season but who has struggled to find podium finishes since, finished second to Hamlin but sawhis early-season 100 point lead shrink to only a dozen.

NASCAR takes to a road course next weekend on a naval base in California.

(FORMULA 1—Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won his first race since joining the Ferrari team at the start of 2025. His win pulls him to within 41 points of Kimi Antonelli, a teenage F1 sensation who car dropped out with mechanical problems.  Hamilton wants to become the first F1 driver to win eight world championships.

Sports: Re-nesting the Birds; Bring Home a Chief; The Four-Point Field Goal; Consequential Track Wins.

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BYE REDBIRDS BYE)—The Cardinals have welcomed back Noot and Nathan to the big nest and have kicked Victor Scott II down to Memphis after low-offensive production in the first couple of months of the season. Nathan Church came off the DL for last night’s game. Lars Nootbar had a solid outing in his return after months of recovery from heel surgery.

The moves can set up an outfield of Church in left, Jordan Walker in center and Nootbar in right. That leaves Nelson Velasquez to rotate in on offense and provide power off the bench.

Scott still isn’t showing he can consistently hit big league pitching. He was sent down with a .194 average, two homers and nine RBIs. Church, on the other hand, has played 45 games with five homers, 18 RBIs and a .247 average.

Nootbar returned Sunday with a two-run game-winning homer against the Reds.

(ROYAL PAINS)—Two key members of the Kansas City Royals are hurting and as this is written, their reappearance in the lineup is uncertain.

Bobby Witt has a right knee that is giving him more trouble as the season wears on. He left the field om the Seventh inning Sunday. Manager Matt Quatraro says its “nothing acute” but it got worse as the game wore on.  Witt has not missed a game this year.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez has missed the last couple of game after getting hit by a pitch on his right thumb. Outfielder Jac Caglianone left the game with a sore shoulder after hitting the wall. Maikel Garcia will move to shortstop if Witt spend some time off the field. The Royals have rookie Carter Jensen ready to go behind the plate if needed.  He’s played 34 games there this year, five more than Perez, who has spent some time at first base.

Although Perez’s overall batting performance is down this year, he and Witt are tied for the team lead in homers with nine. He’s also just five home runs behind the team record for career homers, now held by George Brette, who had 317.

On the good news side, there’s Kris Bubic who began his rehab assignment today in Omaha. He’s been on the 15-day DL with left elbow soreness. He had Tommy John surgery three years ago and missed the last half of last year with a rotator cuff strain.  He had a pretty good season going with a 4.11 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 50.1 innings. He had four quality starts in nine outings.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs are bring back a former teammate who might be able to help a young cornerback corps.  NFL Insider reports the chiefs have signed L’Jarrius Snead to a one-year, potential five-million dollar contract.

The Chiefs cornerback group going into fall camp is their number eight overall draftee Mansoor DeLane, holdover Nohl Williams, and free agent Kader Kahou

The Chiefs traded Snead to the Tennessee Titans in 2024. The Titans signed him for four years, $76 million but he was in only a dozen games in the two seans there and was released in the offseason. He intercepted ten passes in his four years with the Chiefs and was on two Super Bowl winning teams.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks have fallen out of the UFL playoffs in the first round, falling to the Louisville Kings, arguably the hottest team in the league, or one of them.  Louisville lost its first three games and has won seven of eight since then, the latest being 29-20.

The win puts the Kings in the United Bowl, the league championship game, against the DC Defenders.  Louisville blasted one of the league’s best defenses with two touchdown runs of 50 yards or more. It is the third straight year the Battlehawks have lost a chance to play for the league championship.

St. Louis won the statistical game, with double the Louisville first downs (22-11), ran 75 plays to the Louisville’s 42.  But their offense, one of the league’s weakest, didn’t get the ball across the goal line enough.  They led 20-18 going into the last quarter.

But Louisville got the touchdown and then kicker Tanner Brown nailed down the win with a 63 yard field goal. The UFL gives field goals longer than 60 yards four points.

St. Louis finishes the year 6-5.

A different kind of running game:

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar reached the halfway mark of its18-race season and the halfway point of its six-race schedule for ovals just before midnight at World Wide Raceway, just across the river from St. Louis.  The race was delayed twice—almost an hour, total,  for brief sprinkles of rain.

The Track is a friendly place for Penske driver Josef Newgarden, who won there for the sixth time in eleven races at the track Sunday night. It’s his second win this year.

Newgarden is IndyCar’s ovalmeister, with fifteen of his 34 career wins coming on ovals, two of them at the Indianapolis 500.  He still wears a fiberglass boot because of a leg injury suffered in this year’s 500, although he takes it off for driving.

He finished about seven-tenths of a second ahead of Marcus Ericsson (on the left on the podium) and almost two seconds ahead of Christian Rasmussen (right). The finishes by Ericsson and Rasmussen are their bests this year.

Ericsson led more than twice as many laps as any other driver—Newgarden—114-53 of the 260 laps on the mile and a half track. But it was Rasmussen that Newgarden had to get past after close racing for several laps after the last stoppage.

McLaughlin made a spirited charge toward the front on the restart on Lap 234, climbing from ninth to fifth in just four laps. But the Kiwi and the other cars that pitted for tires didn’t have enough traction from the fresher rubber or speed to challenge the top four down the stretch.

The race was hotly contested all night long with 268 passes for position in he 260 laps, a track record.

Points leader Alex Palou started on pole for the fourth straight race but tried to stretch his fuel one lap too far. He coasted into his pits with a dead engine that then refused to re-fire. He finished 17th, two laps down but he still has a substantial lead on Kyle Kirkwood, who finished sixth.

Newgarden’s win puts him into a ninth-place tie with Al Unser Jr., on the all-time Indycar wins list.  A. J. Foyt is number one with 67, eight more than Scott Dixon, who finished 12th Sunday night.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin’s 63rd career win—the second time in two weeks that he’s gone from last to first—was emotional one because it lifted him into a ninth place on the all-times Cup wins list with Kyle Busch.  His fourth win of the year ended with him turning a victory lap while holding a black flag with the number 18 on it—-Busch’s number for most of his racing career before his death a couple of weeks ago. Hamlin and Busch had been teammates at one time.

Hamlin had the top qualifying speed but had to start last among the 37 cars because his team made some adjustments in his car after qualifying.

Points leader Tyler Reddick failed to finish and leads Hamlin by only 52 points now.

The race had eleven caution flags, a race record.

(Photo credit: Bob Priddy)

 

Sports: I Got the Fever; Going Opposite Baseball Directions; Playoff Football; Detroit and Nashville for Speed

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BEFORE WE GET STARTED):   There is the NBA and then there is basketball and it is being played by women.

We took in our second Indiana Fever game when we were in Indianapolis recently, chance to watch Sophie and Caitlin play—Sophie is kind of considered Caitlin’s enforcer—and again were greatly impressed by the intensity of the women’s game and the fact that people of normal height but extraordinary skill worked the ball, set up plays, had tremendous assists, fierce blocks, and ran up 90 points in four ten-minute quarters.

And the pregame!  Tiger fans, get a load of this (anytime you see someone wearing number 8, it’s former Tiger Sophie Cunningham)

Now, on to regular business

(BASEBALL)—Neither of our major league baseball teams was much to talk about this week.  The Cardinals muddled along and the Royals sank deeper into mediocrity. In fact, the Royals dropped to a season-worst 15 games under .500 with their sweep by the Rangers, making Kansas City losers of 16 of their last 19 including two straight sweeps and four overall. Manager Matt Quartaro was at least honest when he said, manager Matt Quatraro said Sunday. “I mean, we didn’t play well enough to win a game.”

The Royals were 10-18 in May. Four of their pitchers are out with injuries and the the offense isn’t showing much spark heading into June.  They began the new week with the second-worst record in the American League (Detroit is a half-game behind them.)

The Cardinals took the rubber game of the series with the Cubs Sunday night to hold onto second place in a division in which every team is playing better than break-even ball. They’re five games over .500 but trail the Brewers by four and a half at the start of a new week.

They opened a series last night against the Texas Rangers who are managed by Cardinals fan favorite Skip Schumaker, who played in St. Louis 2005=2012.

(DOWN ON THE FARM)—-A rarity, maybe it’s history—for minor league baseball happened in Springfield Saturday afternoon when Jurrangelo Cinintje, obtained in a winter trade and now the number for player in the Cardinals pipeline, started for the Springfield Cardinals.

He struck out Wichita Wind Surge outfielder Garrett Spain twice.

He did it once throwing right-handed and once throwing left-handed. He wasn’t too spectacular otherwise—three runs, three hits and a walk.

He’s 23, has made ten starts this year and is 3-2 with a 5.21 ERA

(BATTLEHAWKS)—-The St. Battlehawks go into the first round of the UFL playoffs at 6-4 after Friday night’s upset by the Dallas. 20-16.  They had clinched a home field first round playoff spot a week earlier.

Dallas had lost six in a row before finishing the regular season with the victory. St. Louis helped he Renegades get the win by turning the ball over four times in eleven possessions (1 fumble, two interceptions and a 3-and-out).

The Orlando Storm go into the playoffs 8-2 with the Battlehawks at 6-4. The Louisville Kings are 5-4, and the DC Defenders are the four-seed with a 5-5 record.

The first round playoffs next weekend will match Orlando and DC and St. Louis against Louisville in the Battledome, as it’s now called. The ‘Hawks beat the Kings 16-3 earlier.

The Kings started the season 0-3

On the track—

(INDYCAR)—The streets of Detroit hosted IndyCar one week after the spectacular Indianapolis 500  and this this time, the driver who started P1 finished in the same position

—a familiar face: Alex Palou.  If he pulls off a win next weekend at World Wide Technology Speedway, he will have won half of the last 26 IndyCar events.  He’s four out of eight this year. He’s well on the way to his fourth straight series title, up by 62 points over Kyle Kirkwood, the runner up, three seconds behind.

He led 71 of the 100 laps and took the lead for the final time on lap 69 when Kirkwood pitted.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe were three-wide at the start of the last lap at Nashville but, as one long-ago broadcaster put it, “it was a wreck that didn’t happen….and Hamlin had the momentum coming off of the last turn.

Hamlin began the race on the pole but jumped the start and was sent to the back of the 38-car field. He fought his way back for the 62nd victory of his career. He is now only one win behind Kyle Busch, who ranks ninth on the all-time Cup list.

(picture credits: Palou at Indianapolis—Bob Priddy; Battlehawks—Instagram; Pitcher—Springfield Daily Citizen)

 

Reflections on Memorial Day, Part three  (5/30/26)

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Sunday, things got very serious.

And incredibly intense.

And scary.

The 350,000 fans who would watch the Indianapolis 500 (or just have a big party) had started arriving days earlier, many setting up their tents and mobile homes in the numerous parking lots around the track, some spending the night before the race in their cars on 16th Street.

They began surging through the gates when they opened at 6 a.m., many wearing shirts for their favorite drivers, shirts for cars’ sponsors, and shirts commemorating the event about to unfold before them. The souvenir facilities quickly were swarming with people wanting to buy memories of what they were about to witness.

The grandstands were filling by the time the Borg-Warner trophy was moved to the start-finish line for the race about 9 a.m.

The cars were rolled to their starting spots at 10:30, drivers soon to follow, passing through a few thousand reporters, guests, sponsor representatives and car crews.

Pulses start to quicken with each step of the opening ceremonies saluting veterans and first responders with the presentation of colors, a prayer by Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson, a fourteen-gun salute and taps. Indiana composer, singer, and band leader Emphraim Owens did “America,” and Grammy Nominee Jordin Sparks performed the Start Spangled banner ending with a flyby over the main straightaway by F-16s from the South Dakota National guard.

And then comes the goosebumps moment for thousands—Jim Carnelison’s annual performance of the state song, “Back Home Again in Indiana,” punctuated by a return, east to west by one of the F-16s.

And at last, Roger Penske’s order, “Drivers, Start Your Engines.”

Should you want to share the entire opening ceremonies:

2026 Indy 500 Opening Ceremony | INDYCAR

Weather forecasters for several days had warned that rain could interrupt or even shorten the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.  The race would become official after 101 of the 200 laps. The pressure was on from the drop of the green flag for drivers to get everything them could get before the rain ended the race. The rain generally stayed away although enough drops fell to pause the race for a few minutes before the intense race against rain resumes.

More than one-fourth of the race was run under caution, the cars circulating at 90-95 mph while crash debris and car remnants were removed from the track. The green flag was out for 149 laps.  The intensity of the competition is reflected in these statistics:

There were seventy lead changes, a record.  Even more telling is this:

One-hundred and thirty seven of the 149 full-throttle laps produced a margin between first and second place of less than one second.  Cars lapped at better than 220 miles an hour, weaving in and out of lines, passing and re-passing.  Thirty-three started; 24 were still challenging one another at the end of the race. Eighteen were on the leader’s lap, the top four within four-tenths of a second of each other.

If you have the endurance, here is the entire race as seen from Rosenqvist’s car—and hear his spotter and his conversations with his crew chief (be prepared to be seated for more than three hours):

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rosenqvist+cockpit+video&view=detail&mid=3BB33C474F5056FF64F83BB33C474F5056FF64F8&

Marcus Amstrong took the lead at the start of the last lap with contenders  David Malukas and  teammates Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas tightly behind racing at speeds forty miles an hour faster than the takeoff speed of my son’s Southwest Airlines 737.

The race evolved into a 23-second duel between Malukas and Rosenqvist. Want to take a white-knuckle ride with Rosenqvist on that last lap?

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=felix+onboard+for+the+last+lap+of+the+500&refig=6a18ca50d02f4504805071

Malukas led out of the fourth turn but Rosenqvist had the momentum.

Rosenqvist by 0.0223 second, the smallest victory margin in Speedway history.

The win was worth $4.3 million of the record $30 million purse.  By the time Rosenqvist took the ceremonial last lap around the track, in the back of a pickup truck, so the crowd could appreciate what he had done, and he and his crew knelt at the start/finish line for the traditional kissing of the bricks, a light rain was falling.

The finish was bitter for Malukas, who wept when he stepped out of his car. He had finished second to Alex Palou last year by 1.142 seconds, meaning he has been separated from two straight wins in the Indianapolis 500 by a combined 1.7 seconds. But he wasn’t the only one disappointed.

 

Santino Ferrucci, whose uniform reflected the nation’s patriotic 250th anniversary theme of the day, finished in the top ten for the eighth straight year. Pato O’Ward, racked up his fifth straight top five including two runner ups.  O’Ward was only 0.4271 seconds behind Scott McLaughlin, finishing fourth. Ferrucci was 8th, 1.571 behind.

Will their time come for Malukas, Fdrrucci, and O’Ward?  Or will they join the long list of men who year after year were within reach of being immortalized on the trophy but never made it.

They’re all yet young and God willing, there will be more chances for their faces to join those of Rosenqvist and 76 others on the big trophy.

Shortly after the 500 ended, the longest race of the NASCAR season was helping Charlotte, North Carolina, observe Memorial Day.  In a few weeks, those cars will roar around the first race track in the world to use the word “Speedway” to describe itself. The cars will be bigger and one-third slower but the fans will be as devoted to them as IndyCar fans are devoted to their cars and drivers, and the competition for a prestigious Brickyard 400 victory at the greatest race track in the world will be equally fierce.

The great track is silent now. But in a few weeks a new roar of engines will be heard as the great track once again knows he heat of racing cars being driven by people doing heroic things.

For me, it was time for a long, quiet ride home, hoping I could make it back to Missouri before having to buy more of that awfully expensive Illinois gas. I found myself thinking of the era that gave us this holiday. After all, I was going to spend the day in the land of the man who was the central figure in it all.

Join me in that ride, if you wish, on Monday.

(picture credits—Bob Priddy and Rick Gevers; Borg-Warner; Finish—The Guardian)

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Notes From a Quiet Hill 

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In case you are wondering—-

Triple-A says the highest recorded price for regular unleaded fuel in Missouri was $4.683 on June 16, 2022. The record for diesel was set just nine days later at $5.375.

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We either are still in Indianapolis or on the way home after witnessing two races—one of which we hope to have more about later (and we don’t mean tomorrow). We took this picture last year of the starting field—only six cars, if you want to call them that.

This year was the second annual Wiener 500.  All six of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile raced for two laps, each with a two-person crew (both college students who have spent a year touring the country promoting Oscar-Mayer products.  It was so much fun they decided to do it again Saturday, weather permitting (we are writing this on Wednesday night before heading to the Circle City Friday morning).  We’ll have a full report.  Last we knew, two young women from the MU Journalism school had been part of the traveling show. If one of them drives one of these machines to victory, she will be the first woman to win a race in the 117-year history of the Speedway.

Last year, the 500 broadcast crew had fun with their straight-faced coverage:

Inaugural Oscar Mayer Wienie 500 🌭 Full Race | INDYCAR on FOX

Unofficially, the last 2.5 mile lap was turned in 3:17.5, about 65.2 mph.

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Another example of the political amateur hour in Washington crossed our desk a few days ago when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the House Natural Resources Committee advocates for solar energy are wrong because, “”All of these projects …in Nevada have one thing in common. When the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity….The whole machine doesn’t work when the sun goes down. And there’s examples from around the world of this happening.”  He suggested committee members have secret briefings about how solar energy doesn’t work.

California Congressman Jared Huffman couldn’t resist a response, asserting there is an “amazing new technology that apparently the secretary is unaware of, it’s a battery.” And solar system batteries hold the day’s electricity for use at night.  Burgum seems to have been in the dark about that. Ignorance such as this in this administration stopped being a surprise a long time ago.

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I’m an immensely popular guy. Or maybe a lot of people are interested in my welfare. My phone is ringing from sunup to sundown from people wanting to make sure my Medicare program is good enough. Even when my caller identity says they’re call from some town in Missouri (and other places nationwide) it turns out that they’re not calling from those places at all.

And many voices sound as if they’re coming from places without Medicare.

A dozen calls a day probably is below average. I answer the calls because I don’t want to fill up the answering machine with non-messages. The thing beeps and drives me crazy.

One day our caller ID told us we were calling ourselves. But we recognize our own voices and the voice calling us was neither of us.

It’s time we re-examined the Attorney General’s no-call list to see if we can have a law (maybe it has to be federal) that says any call originating from someplace other than where the caller ID says it’s coming from is a crime.   It has been many years since we heard of the Attorney General racking up a big fine against a robocall company.

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Here’s something that is really, really serious in our country’s politics.  There are conspiracy theorists who claim that President Trump faked his assassination attempts. While there is no Christmas card exchange between his mailbox and ours, we can’t see how that assertion is true. If it is true, it means that Donald Trump planned for the death of one or more onlookers—Corey Comperatore, who did get fatally shot, and two other people on the platform who were wounded in Pennsylvania. There are those floating the idea that he somehow convinced some guy from California to give up the rest of his life as a free citizen to go to Washington and do something at the correspondents’ dinner to justify tearing down part of the White House and building a ballroom that is more secure than the Washington hotel ballroom where the dinner was scheduled this year.

All of that is rubbish. Perhaps the discussion we should be having is about what Trump does and/or says that has encouraged three unbalanced people to try to get him in their gunsights.

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Here’s a way to end Mr. Trump’s war with Iran.  We buy all of its enriched uranium and make an exclusive contract with Iran to be our exclusive supplier, with American management involved. Payments for the uranium would come from the funds this country has confiscated from Iran not only to pay for the uranium but to constitute reparations for our bombings. Turn management of the Strait of Hormuz to the United Nations which could charge reasonable fees that would finance programs in the world’s poorest countries.

Maybe we could make Iran our 51st state. Or the 52nd.  Or the 52rd.  Or 53rd.  We almost need a scorecard to keep track of the possibilities.

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Sports: Hardy Update;  Winning and Losing Streaks end in Same Game; Biggest Weekend for Speed.    

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(AHMED)—A suspect in the shooting of Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy has been caught in Paducah, Kentucky.  Rashodrick Harris is being extradited to Mississippi to face two charges of aggravated assault. Authorities say additional charges might be added.

Three people taken into custody at the shooting site have been released.

Hardy has moved to a Columbia hospital after surgery in Mississippi on leg wound. He already has started physical therapy and could be released from the hospital this week. Coach Drinkwitz says Hardy’s status for the 2026 remains uncertain.

(MIZZPORT)—South Dakota guard Jordan Crawford is the fifth, and likely last, portal player to join the Missouri Tigers for next season.  He’s 6-3, spent two years at College of Charleston then a year at Eastern Kentucky and was at South Dakota for the last season. He’s listed as a redshirt senior. He averaged 14.4 pointa game for the Coyotes last year and shot 37% from three.

Three Tigers last year are still without a new home court for the next season: Sebastian Mack, Jacob Crews, and Jevon Porter.  Porter and Crews need hardship permits that will let them play.

(BILLSPORT)—The St. Louis University Billikens have restocked after losing most of their team that finished with the best record in school history.  Several players have stayed and they’ll be joined by 6-7 guard Yousaf Ahmad, who comes south from Canada. Others players coming to St. Louis through the portal are Alon Michaeli, moving east from Colorado, and Elijah Stron, who’s moving west from South Carolina.

The Billikens lost Bobby Availa, their big mane in the middle. They’re hoping 6-11 freshman Sheek Pearson can step in. He was red shirted with Marquette last year.

They’re also picked up home town guy Jamison White, a 6=7  high school recruit from Vashon High in St. Louis.

Baseball:

(ROYALS/CARDINALS)—The Kansas City Royals broke their six-game losing streak Sunday against the Cardinals

The Royals are struggling with several injuries, perhaps the biggest one is starting pitcher Cole Ragans, who was put on the 15-day disabled list with a left elbow problem May 8. His return is uncertain although Kansas City Star reporter Jaylon Thompson says Ragans threw thirty pitches in the bullpen Sunday and felt good. But the teams is still deciding its next steps in his return.

Stephen Kolek shut down the Cardinal Sunday to end the Royals’ six-game streak. The Cardinals’s Masyn Wynn left the game in the seventh inning. He’s listed as day-to-day after tweaking his knee running to first base to avoid a double play.

The Royals have lost seven of their last ten games and have fallen out of a challenging position in their division. In fact, at 29-27, they’re last.  Only two teams have fewer wins.

The Cardinals are eight games over .500 and only a game and a half behind the Cubs.

Football:

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The clock ran out on the St. Louis Battlehawks with the ‘Hawks two years away from tying the score against the Houston Gamblers.  The 23-16 loss is the first home loss for St. Louis since the third game of last year and keeps them from locking up a playoff spot.

There are two games left in the UFL season before the top four teams go into a playoff. The Battlehawks are tied with the DC Defenders for second place in the league at 5-3. Orlando leads at 6-2.

The teams will face each other again on Thursday night in Houston.

The Big Motorsports Weekend:

Indianapolis 500 plus 600 miles and Charlotte and F1 in the picturesque streets of Monte Carlo.

(INDIANAPOLIS)—Alex Palou will start next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 in the same place that he finished last year’s race—first.   But the starting field behind him is less settled than it appeared to be Sunday.

Palou finished a tense Sunday with a run of 232.248 to win his second pole at  the 500.  He was the only driver to top 232 mph in the last round of qualifying, edging another former winner, Alexander Rossi, by .1726 of a second for the four-lap run.  David Malukis, in his first 500 as member of the team owned by Speedway owner Roger Penske, starts from the outside of row one.

Felix Rosenqvist, who had led the qualifiers through the earlier rounds, was disappointed by his final run, which will start him fourth.

Then things changed.

The 33-car lineup for the race start was changed hours after the Palou’s qualifying run when post-qualifying inspections found unauthorized modifications to the cars of rookie Caio Collet and Jack Harvey.

Collet, who had qualified tenth and Harvey, who would have started 20th, have been sent to the back of the field to 32nd and 33rd place for the start of the race.

A three-car crash yesterday as drivers adjusted their cars for racing trim destroyed one car and badly damaged another.

Rossi spun on the second turn and demolished the car he had qualified for the second starting position.  He was taken to a hospital a short distance from the track but he was reported to be awake and in “good spirits” when removed from his wrecked car.  Pato O’Ward, who was following Rossi, spun into Rossi’s car and badly damaged the car he had qualified for sixth starting position. A third driver, Romain Grosjean, scheduled to start 24th, also spun trying to avoid the other two.

Multiple Contenders Crash in Indy 500 Practice

Two-time winners Josef Newgarden (who will start a disappointing 23rd) and Takuma Sato (starting 12th) had the top laps during the practice session that was shortened because of the crsh and because of rain.

Rossi, O’Ward, and Grosjean will have a chance to get their cars into racing trim one more time. The last practice before the race will be Friday.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin won NASCAR’s annual all-start race, a non-points contest that means one-million dollars to him and his crew.

He and the other Cup driver will run NASCR’s longest race Sunday evening, 400 laps, 600 miles on the Charlotte oval.

One member of the starting field will be Katherine Legge, the only woman driving in the Cup series this year, although she’s a part-time entrant.  She will start 26 in the Indianapolis 500 that afternoon and fly to Charlotte for the race that night. She’ll be the first woman to try “the double.”  She will be the sixth driver to try to run 1100 miles on Memorial Day Sunday. Tony Stewart is the only driver to finish both races on the same day—in 2001 when he was sixth at Indianapolis and third at Charlotte. Other drivers who’ve tried are John Andretti, Robby Gordon (who tried five times), Kurt Busch, and Kyle Larson.

(FORMULA 1)—Formula One’s race will be through the glamorous streets of Monte Carlo on the same general circuit as the one used in 1929 for the first race.

(Photo credit:  Palou—IMS)

 

Sports: Ahmad Hardy Shot; NCAA Tournament Greed, and More 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(HARDY)—Missouri’s  record=breaking running back Ahmad Hardy was shot in the left leg at a concert at a biker club in Laurel, Mississippi early Sunday morning. He’s undergone emergency surgery and is in stable condition.

Missouri is three months away from opening the 2026 football season. ESPN reports there is “optimism” that he will be able to play football again although it’s too early to establish a timetable for his return to strength.

Police say another man also was shot. Three people are in custody. Hardy is 20, a Mississippi native. He set a new Tiger rushing record last year.

Laurel police say the shooting took place during a “melee” after a rap concert. Reports n Laurel say the cause of the shooting is still being investigated.

The Tigers had been looking forward to a 2026 season with the return of its one-two backfield punch from ’25 of Hardy and Jamal Roberts.  Roberts ran for 753 yards on 124 carries last season and scored six touchdowns.  Hardy went for 1,649 yards, a new school record, with 16 TDs and was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award.

Hardy and Roberts made Missouri the only team in the  SEC with two running backs in the top ten in yardage last season. Coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters last season that Roberts “is as good a back as there is in the country.” Hardy had been expected to go high in the 2027 NFL draft after staying out of the transfer portal. Roberts did the same thing and has two more years of eligibility remaining.

Missouri does have some depth at running back if Hardy isn’t ready by the start of the season. The Tigers picked up a couple of portal transfers in Hawaii native Va’aimalae Fonoti III, who moves over from Montana, an FCS school. He’s 5-11, 207 pounds with three years of eligibility left. He was 84/418 rushing with five touchdowns. Last season.

Also coming in is Houston Christian;s Xai’Shaun Edwards, who averaged five yard a carry for 1,019 yards last year for another FCS team. He scored a dozen touchdowns.

Missouri also will have true freshman Maxwell Warner on the roster.  Warner is from Chicago and went to the same high school that Mizzou basketball coach Dennis Gates attended. He was considered the top running back in Illinois. He also played defensive back.

(NCAA)—It’s going to be easier for our Missouri teams to get into the NCAA tournament in the future. The men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are being expanded by eight teams to 76 teams.  The plan has come under some harsh criticism but an association spokesman says none of the 32 conferences in the NCAA opposed the plan.

Ben Portnoy of the Sports Business Journal thinks the new plan gives the Power Four Conferences and their “increasingly bloated size” more dominance in college sports. In the pas five year’s tournaments, twenty teams were listed in the “first four out.” Thirteen of them were frm those four conferences.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, this is being done, at least on some level, to appease the richest and most powerful leagues in the country.” The new format opens dozens of new sponsorship opportunities and a subsequent jump in association and school revenues.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have finished their toughest part of the season so far—going 9-7 in seventeen days against the Dodgers, Mariners, Pirates, Padres, and Brewers.  All of those teams are playing better than break-even ball and all are considered playoff contenders.

The Cardinals finished the week 23-17, three and a half games behind the Cubs, tied with the Brewers for second place in a division in which all five teams are playing better than .500 ball.

(WHERE ARE THEY NOW?)—Where are the major names that left the Cardinals in the last couple of years and how are they doing.

Nolan Arenado is hitting .273 with six homers and 18 RBIs for the Diamondbacks.

Sonny Gray is 3-1 with a 3.54 Era for the Red Sox

Willson Contreras, also with Boston, is batting .259 with eight homers and 23 ribbies.

Paul Goldschmidt, in his second year with the Yankees, is batting 200 with two homers and seven runs batted in.

Brendan Donovan is hitting .295 with 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in.

Miles Mikolas is 1-3, 7.44 in eight games, five of them starts.

(ROYALS)—The Royals continue working back to break even after their eight-game losing streak. They finished the week wining seven of their last ten and pulling to 19-22. The Tigers ended Kansas City’s five-game wining streak Sunday.

(FIFA)—Arrowhead Stadium as a name doesn’t mean much to the millions of people worldwide who will be watching the World Cup Soccer Tournament (or as the official soccer folks call it “football.”)  So the place will just be Kansas City Stadium when FIFA brings six pool play tournament games next month along with a match in the round of 32 and a quarterfinal contest.

The AP’s Dave Skiretta reports the Hunt family has spent millions of dollars reconfiguring the football field into a soccer field’s dimensions. The first teams to play on the redesigned field will be Argentina, the defending World Cup champion, against Algeria on June 16.  The final contest is scheduled for July 11, giving the Chiefs a month turn Kansas City Stadium back into Arrowhead.

Tickets for those games aren’t cheap. For the first four games, ticket prices will range from $140  to $410. Some seats in the nosebleed section can be had for as little as $60 but don’t expect any kind of intimate viewing experience. Round of 32 matches range from $160 to $440.

If you want to take in the quarterfinal match, be prepared to cough up $485 to $1,125. If you buy previously=sold tickets through the FIFA World cup platform, be prepared to pay a 15% resale fee.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs invited 76 undrafted free agents to their rookie camp this year.  Only three were signed to contracts:  WR Xavier Loyd, DB Marlen Sewell, and OT Kahlil Benson.

Lloyd in a Kansas City native who played at K-State, Illinois State and at Missouri. He was in 12 games for the Tigers. Sewell spent five years at Vanderbilt, had 52 tackles in 45 games.

Benson played 12 of the 16 games Indiana played on the way to last season’s national championship. He allowed only 24 quarterback pressures on 382 pass-blocking snaps last season.

They’ll be part of the squad for the offseason training program that starts later this month.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks head into the last weeks of the UFL season in a three way tie for their division lead.  St. Louis, DC, and Orlando all are 5-2.  Jarveon Howard of the Battlehawks leads the league in rushing with 354 yards.  The ‘Hawks have the league’s best defense, giving up 247 yards a game, which they need because they’re last in total offense. But they’re pretty efficient. They are second in scoring average behind the DC Defenders, 30-23.

St. Louis beat Columbus 31-20 last week. There are three games left in the regular schedule, two against Houston and one against Dallas. Houston is 2-5. Dallas is 3-4.

(REMEMBER?)—Kansas Center Greg Ostertag, who played for the Jayhawks 1991-95 and then had an eleven-year NBA career, has been elected mayor of Mount Vernon, Texas, a town of about 2,500 about 100 miles northeast of Dallas.  At 7-2, he is now the world’s tallest public official.

Now: Where the rubber meets the road:

(INDYCAR)===It’s been a long time between wins for Chistian Lundgaard—47 races, in fact—but he heads into IndyCar’s biggest race as a winner.

Lundgaard finished almost five seconds ahead of David Malukas on the road course at Indianapolis, his first win since July of 2023

The race had its chaotic moments beginning as the field surged into the first turn and things got too crowded and the cars of Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward, and Caio Collett tangled, triggering a full course caution.

Rosenqvist was able to run eight more laps before retiring in 23rd place.  Dixon rallied back to fifth at the end. O’Ward and Collett finished on the leader lap but were 18th and 19th.

The race turned for many competitors when Alexander Rossi’s car quit because its hybrid power system failed and he rolled to a stop on the main straightaway. He fumed, ““It’s pretty annoying to have failures on the car because of a product we didn’t ask for that doesn’t improve the racing.”

Rossi sat in the safety of his stalled car as competitors roared past at racing speeds before a full=course caution came out.  He finally climbed out and walked across pit lane where he told an interviewer, “The fact that it took that long to throw a full-course caution when the cars on the front straight were going by at 170 miles an hour also seems insane when they don’t let us drive in the wet yesterday.” Qualifying had been called off  the day before the race because of unsafe conditions caused by rain, although IndyCar has run races in the rain several times.

David Malukis finished second after leading the most laps but giving up the lead to Lundgaard        and Graham Rahal claimed the last podium slot.”

Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 will be next weekend. The race will be on the Sunday of Memorial day weekend, May 24th.

(NASCAR)—Shane Van Gisbergen’s historic drive to the win on the Watkins Glen board course already is considered an epic.

The acknowledged master of NASCAR road courses (he’s 7-1 in the last three years) came out of his last pit stop in 26th place, 29.2  seconds behind the leader with 24 twisting laps ahead. .

He overhauled all of them and pulled away for a 7.3 second lead at the checkered flag.

His win leaves him only two short of Jeff Gordo’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series record for road course victories. Van Gisbergen has yet to win on an oval.

Connor Zilisch, a rookie in the Cup series, appeared to be the only driver capable of keeping Van Gisbergen in sight until a tire let go. He finished 20th.

NASCAR’s next points race will be Sunday night, May 24th, the annual 600 miler at Charlotte. Next weekend it will hold its annual All-Star Race, this time at Dover.

(photo credits: Hardy— Kris Sand, Columbia Missourian; Lundgaard—IndyCar; Van Gisbergen—Rick Gevers)

Sports: One More Tiger; Good Mahomes News; Baseball is Looking Good–and May Racing

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZZOUPORT)—The latest new Missouri Tiger basketball player is guard Kennard Davis, a St. Louis Vashon product coming over from BYU. He’s a 6-6 small forward who spent a year at Southern Illinois and two more at Brigham Young where he averaged 8.6 ppg last year.

247 Sports ranks Missouri’s recruit class this year as the 11th best in the country.

Three guy’s on last season’s Missouri roster remain unemployed—Sebastian Mack, Jacob Cruz, and Jevon Porter. Porter remains in limbo because he needs a medical hardship designation to play next year.

(CHIEFS)—The news is getting better about Patrick Mahomes’ recovery from his knee injury. The Chiefs are saying he might reach his goal of being ready for the season opener in September. In fact, Coach Andy Reid is holding out the possibility that he could be involved in the OTA’s May 26-28.

Reid has told ESPN, “He is in a good position to be able to do some things. If he can do some things, [he will]. Phase 2 remember, there’s no contact and there’s no offense versus defense. “It’s Phase 3 that you get into that… he’s in a position where he can do everything, I think.”

Some videos have been circulating showing Mahomes dropping back and throwing passes.

Just in case he’s not ready, the Chiefs picked up former LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier in the draft.

He’s eager to see what he can learn Mahomes: “I’m so excited to be in a room with those guys. Coach Reid and his unbelievable offensive mind and obviously sitting behind Patrick and getting to learn from him, hopefully steal some things from him and see the game through his eyes.”

The Chiefs also have added Justin Fields who has seen NFL snaps with the Bears, Steelers, and Jets.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have hit the 20 wins mark a week earlier than last year even though they came up short against the Dodgers in their final game of their series, the loss ending a four-game Dodger losing streak and a six-game Cardinals winning streak, but still giving the Cardinals a series win. Dodgers’ starter Justin Wrobleski is now undefeated in five decisions.

The loss went to Dustin May, who drops to 3-3.

Cardinals pitching shut down Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani who went hitless during the series and finished without a hit in four straight games. That’s his longest hitless streak since he went five game in 2022 while playing for the other Los Angeles team.

The Redbirds started the week with a 6-3 win against the Brewers. Both teams had 11 hits.Milwaukee scored twice in the ninth to make it close. Kyle Leahy went 6.1 innings and gave the up the first of the by Brewer’s run.

(ROYALS)—The Royals swept the Mariners to wrap up their week and doubling the number of road games they’ve won this year.  They’re now 6-15 on the road.  Kris Bubic ran his record to 3-2 with seven solid innings, allowing Seattle its only run, giving up only four singles.  The save went to Daniel Lynch, his first of the year. The sweep has run the KC record to 15-19, going 7-3 in their last ten games.

Their game Saturday saw the Royals become the eighth team in MLB history to win a game although Royals batters fanned 17 times, got no walks, but still put together a 3-2 win.

Seth Lugo (7IP, 2R) kept Kansas City close and added another distinction to the game when he struck out Randy Arozarena on a curve ball clocked at 67.8 mph, the slowest strikeout pitch by a non-position player this year. But it was only the second slowest of his career.

The Royals started this week 2½ games behind the Guardians and the Tigers in a division in which those are the only teams above .500—by one game. ]

Michael Wacha, who threw only 60 pitches in the first six innings—tying a personal record—held the Guardians at bay last night. He left after 7 and, allowing only four hits and two runs.

Now, something that’s faster than a Seth Lugo curve:

(NASCAR)—Chase Elliott outran Denny Hamlin in a four-lap shootout at the Texas Motor Speedway to get his second win of the year.  The win makes Elliott the second multi-winner this year, joining Tyler Reddick, who has won half of this year’s races (5). Reddick finished fourth behind Alex Bowman, who had his best finish since recovering from vertigo that sidelined him for four races earlier.

The win moves Elliott into second place in the standings behind Reddick and Hamlin. Reddick leads by more than 100 points as the series moves into the second quarter of the racing year.

(INDYCAR)—No racing but plenty of running on the big oval at Indianapolis this week as IndyCar started preparing for the 110th 500 on Memorial Day Weekend. The two days of practice allowed rookies and returning veterans who don’t normally run the full schedule to complete their drivers tests or reviews and start getting their cars set up for qualifying on May 16-17.  The Race is on the 24th.  The last day of practice so crews and drivers can get their cars in race trim will be “Carburation Day” on Friday the 22nd.

(Carburation Day is a throwback to the distant times when the cars really used carburetors. The last carbureted cars in the 500 competed in 1963, the Lotus-Fords of Jim Clark and Dan Gurney.

The first car with fuel injection was Bill Vukovich’s Fuel Injection Special that was sidelined while leading with less than ten laps left in 1952.  Vukovich won with the car the next two years. This is the way it looked the year he won for the second time.  It was the first car I ever photographed at the Speedway—with my Brownie Hawkeye camera that captured only a blur. (This is a diecast model of it, though).

The two days of testing topped out at relatively moderate speeds—rookie Caio Collet turned a lap at better than 226 mph.  By the time qualifying weekend rolls around the fastest cars are likely to be at about 235.

(ZANARDI)—Racing lost one of its great competitors a few days ago with the death of Alex Zanardi.  He never ran in the 500 because he competed in the era when open wheel racing had split into two competing camps. Zanardi won the Championship Auto Racing Teams title for two of the four years he competed.  A horrendous crash in 20001 that cost him both of his legs ended his career—for a while.

Dissatisfied with the prosthetic legs on which he walked, he designed a custom legs that would let him get back into a race car. He was able to drive a race car using only hand controls and eventually got back into racing cars. And he won races.

More remarkably, he became a four-time Olympic champion.  He won four gold medals at the Paralympics in London and Rio de Janeiro in handcycling and the triathalon. F

He was 59.

(FORMULA 1)—Formula 1 returned to the track last weekend after cancelling a couple of its races in the Middle East war zone.  Mercedes teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli won his third straight.  He’s the youngest driver in F1 history to win a race—19. He won the Miami Grand Prix last weekend. He’s 19.

(Photo credits: Vukovich car—Bob Priddy; Zanardi–the Independent)

Sports: Lots of Chiefs Draftees and Other Things.

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(TIGERSDRAFT)—Here’s a sign of the times for college football.

Six Missouri Tigers were chosen in the NFL Draft for the second time in three years.  That ties a record for most draftees from a single class since the league cut back to seven rounds of the draft in 1994.  Six Tigers from the 2009 and 2015 teams—Gary Pinkel was the coach then—established the record.  The only other time in school history this has happened under current circumstances was two years ago.

These six raise the total NFL draftees from Missouri to fifteen, the most for any three-year period since the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970.

In 1981 when the NFL went twelve rounds, seven Tigers were picked.

None of the six in this draft was a home grown Tiger.  All six were NIL carpetbaggers.

The top Mizzou draftees, defensive end Zion Young and linebacker Josiah Trotter went in round two, Young to the Baltimore Ravens (45th choice) and Young to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (choice 46).

Two other guys were drafted in the third round with Green Bay taking defensive tackle Chris McClellan and the Rams taking right tackle Keagen Trost. They were choices 77 and 93, respectively.

Day three saw wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr taken in the fifth round (#177) by the Dolphins and cornerback Toriano Pride Jr., (#220) by the Buffalo Bills.

Missouri has had seven draft picks in a class before. In 1981, when the NFL Draft lasted 12 rounds, the Tigers sent seven players to the NFL as draft picks.

(RELATED)—A lot of people, Tiger fans included, were surprised that Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, didn’t get drafted. He certainly look pretty Heismanish when the Commodores played our Tigers.  He’s the first Heisman runner-up to go undrafted since nobody wanted Iowa’s Brad Banks 23 years ago. He’s the first Heisman finalist since Jordan Lynch form NIU in 2014 to go undrafted.   Both buys wound up playing in Canada.

(CHIEFSDRAFT)—The Kansas City Chiefs went aggressive in the NFL draft, trading places to get the people they most wanted.  They haven’t had a first round pick 2017, they year they took Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs went shopping for a cornerback in the first round, trading with the Bears to move up from 9th to 6th in the first round. They snagged LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane. They hope he’ll plug a hole created by the losses of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson to the Rams. With their second pick in the first round, they went to Clemson DT Peter Woods.

Round two:  They took Oklahoma edge rusher Mason Thomas, a choice that surprised some analysts, one of whom forecast the choice could “go down as one of the biggest surprises in recent Chiefs draft memory” because he is “an undersized, bendy defensive end,” the kind of guy defensive coordinator Steve Spagnola likes.

They had no choice in the third round but in the 109th player picked, in round four, was Oregon small cornerback Jadon Canady who also can play safety. Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson was the fifth-round pick (#161). He also catches passes. A second choice in the fifth round was WR Cyrus Allen of Cincinnati who, some analysts think, has some special teams talent.

Nothing doing in the sixth round so their final choice (#249) was LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who is considered a “developmental pick.”

“This is the first time the Chiefs have picked in the top 10 since dealing up for Patrick Mahomes in 2017, and the first time they’ve gone into a draft day with a top-10 selection since Andy Reid’s first year in Kansas City (’13), when they held the No. 1 pick,” Breer wrote. “That, to me, is why GM Brett Veach has been so active looking at both moving up and potentially moving down. This is a rare opportunity for the Chiefs that might not come along again for some time. I think if Kansas City moves down, then Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq will be on the radar.”

UDFA: Houston Cornerback Zelmar Vedder, Sand Diego State CB Bryce Phillips, Oklahoma RB Jadyn Ott, Louisville OT Pete Nygra, Iowa Safety Xavier Nwankpa, Miami LB Wesley Bissainthe, Wyoming TE John Michael Gyllenborg, Cincinnati WR Jeff Caldwell, DT Cole Brevard of Texas, CB D’Arco Perkins-McAllister from Louisiana-Monroe, Duke edge rusher Vincent Anthony Jr., LSU guard Josh Thompson, and Toledo LB Anthony Dunn.  Other UDFA signings: Virginia Tech RB Terion Stewart, Iowa DL Ethan Hurkett, Michigan DT Damon Payne

The Chiefs also are going to look at several guys in their spring rookie minicamp: Temple receiver Kajiya Hollawayne, Montana CB Kenzel Lawler,  Pittsburgh OL Jeff Persi, safety Desshon Singleton of Nebraska, Washington WR Omari Evans, WR Jacob DeJesus of Cal, Charlotte LB Shay Taylor, USC WR Jaden Richardson, three guys from UConn—Punter Connor Stutz, LB Donovan Branch and TE Louis Hansen—and Tennessee Tech S Tim Countras, Washington kicker Grady Gross, Rice DL Blake Boenisch, LB Colby Taylor of West Florida, K-State S Gunner Maldonado, Liberty DB Brylan Green, three guys from Pitt: CB Rashad Battle, S Javon McIntyre, TE Justin Holmes; Eastern Kentucky DB Jaheim Ward. An offensive tackle from the International Player Pathway program, Felix Lepper, has been invited to the camp.

One other UDFA—in an intriguing move, the chiefs picked up E. J. Smith, who played for Stanford and for Texas A&M.  His four-year college stats are nothing to write home about: 207 total carries,  969 yards, nine TDS. He also caught passes for 470 yards and another touchdown. Sometimes it’s the pedigree more than the statistics that makes someone worth a look. E. J. Smith is the son of Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time rushing leader.

He has a tough row to hoe if he ever gets to see much playing time. The Chiefs, remember, signed Kenneth Walker, the star of this year’s Super Bowl.  They drafted Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson and picked UDFA Jadyn Ott from Oklahoma.

For most of these guys, this is just a cup of coffee in an NFL locker room. A few might make the practice squad. Most will hope for a long shot chance with another team. Look for some of these names on the UFL rosters in the next season.

Speaking of the UFL:

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks, who had split their first four games of the season, went on the road to play the undefeated Orlando Storm last weekend—and dominated the Storm in the first half, storming to a 25-0  lead. The defense held Orlando to just 29 yards of offense as Orlando went just 3 of 14 on third downs.  Orlando got 14 points in the third quarter and a field goal in the fourth, but St. Louis emerged with a 25=17 win.

The Battlehawks played without former Mizzou kicker Tucker McCann, who aggravated a quadriceps injury during warmups. Punter Ryan Sanborn was the fill-in. He got a couple of field goals in the first half but missed a couple of PATs.

The Battlehawks are 3-2 now although they have been outscored 112-116. Orlando and DC lead the league at 4-1.  St. Louis plays Louisville Thursday to wrap up a three-game road trip. Louisville is 2-3.

(MIZZPORT)—Missouri hasn’t seen the last of T. O. Barrett.  They’ll have to deal with him at least twice in the next season when they play Vanderbilt. Ant Robinson II has signed with Florida State. Jacob Crews and Sebastian Mack are still waiting for calls and Jevon Porter hasn’t heard if he’ll get a redshirt.

The portal closed on the 21st with Missouri still having three slots to fill.  As of now, six players from the last season will be back: Trent Pierce, Trent Burns, point guard Aaron Rowe, forward Annor Boateng (whose season ended early with an injury), forwards Luke Norwether and Nicholas Randall

The Baseball.

(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals spent last week sinking back toward .500 and started this week 14-13 after wasting an outstanding pitching performance from Michael McGreevey. The offense got him two runs but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead.

The crusher came from Seattle’s Rob Refsnyder, who challenged a called third strike and got it overturned—-then ripped a JoJo Romero pitch 412 feet over the fence to give Seattle the 3-2 win.

The Cardinals have not been below .500 this season.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals scored six runs in the last two innings, with Lane Thomas’ walk-off three run homer in the ninth to snatch a win away from the Angels 11-9 Sunday. The win completed a sweep of the Angels and upped their record to 11-17.

Joe Caglianone had tied the game in the ninth with a two-run shot. The Angels got a run in the to of the tenth before Thomas ended it.

Starter Seth Lugo had a rugged outing. He went 6.1 innings but gave up seven earned runs on 14 hits.

The Royals started the week having climbed into a tie with the White Sox for last place in the division. They were only one game behind the Twins in their bid to escape the cellar in a competitive division in which the leading teams are only one game above break-even—Cleveland and Detroit are only 15-14.

Movin on to Moving On Sports—

(NASCAR)—-What to talk about after the first race of the year at Talladega?  The “big one” that involved 26 of the forty cars in the field?  The continued criticism of this generation of race cars?  Carson Hocevar’s first Cup win?  His victory celebration?

The wreck was not the biggest of the big.  The record is 28 cars that got tangled up in October of 2024.

Carson Hocevar’s first Cup win is memorable not only because he survived racing at Talladega and the way he held competitors at bay for several closing laps, but especially for his unique way of celebrating.  Hocevar, one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR at 6’4” tall, figured out how to work his clutch and throttle while sitting outside of his window, waving at fans.  Some folks worried he was endangering himself but NASCAR apparently liked it.

Hocevar has a ton of charisma, is a 23-year old Michigander who was the rookie of the year in the Cup series in 2024. He’s been racing since he was twelve.

He got through the big wreck without damage to his car, drove into contention in the third phase of the race, dueled with Chris Buescher, for the last 37 laps.

Hocevar took the lead from Buescher on lap 151 of the 188 lap race. Buescher took it back on 156 but gave it up to Hocevar for laps 1570169 before surging back into the lead for 151=165. Hocevar held it for 166. Buescher was in front 167-172 before Hocevar led two and Buescher took the led for lap 175. Hovercar led two, Buescher one before Hocevar led two more. Buescher was in control for four laps before Hocevar pulled ahead for two laps. Buescher got his last lead on 187 but Hocevar got him at the end and won by .112 seconds.

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(MODRIVERS)—-Missouri drivers in NASCAR have been hard to find in the last few years, but two drivers we’ve followed are going to be putting on the helmets and strapping into cockpits this summer.

Joplin native Jamie McMurray and sometime Missourian Clint Brawner (who hails from Emporia, Kansas—just across the border from Missouri–has had a place at the Lake of the Ozarks, thus earning him consideration as an adoptive Missourian) will each drive a truck race for Kaulig Racing this summer

Kaulig is bringing Dodge back to the sport under the Ram pickup truck label.  Bowyer will drive the truck at Dover on May 15. McMurray will be in the truck at the inaugural road race at the San Diego naval base June 19.

Both Bowyer and McMurray at part of the FOX sports broadcast crew that covers Cup races.  Bowyer won ten Cup races in his career and likes the short tracks. Dover, he says, is “a beast—concrete, tight and unforgiving.”   McMurray has seven Cup victories including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year, 2010. He has road racing experience, co-driving the winning car in the 2025 Daytona 24-hours.

(INDYCAR)—The Indianapolis 500 is guaranteed to have the traditional 33 starters this year with an entry from A.J. Foyt’s team to be driven by Katheirne Legge who will make her fifth start in the race.

Legge brings back her sponsorship by a cosmetics company and has new support from General Motors, one of the two engine suppliers for the series. Legge’s best start in the 500 is from 29th. Her best finish is 22nd.She’s the tenth woman to compete in the race and holds the one-and-four lap qualifying records for a woman driver, more than 231 mph.

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IndyCar runs on the Indianapolis Speedway road course next weekend then begins the buildup for the 500.