INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Another Indy, another way for the Andretti curse to strike.
Sunday's Indianapolis 500 had barely started when Mario Moraes drifted to the outside and made contact with Marco Andretti, sending both cars into the wall going into the second turn.
"The kid doesn't get it, and he never will," Andretti said, blaming Moraes for the crash. "He's just clueless out there."
When a TV crew told Moraes what Andretti had to say, Moraes was visibly upset.
"I know the 26 hit me, OK? I was in front," he said. "I was holding my line, and he just hit me. I don't know from where."
Neither driver was hurt, and Andretti went back out on the track on lap 61.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was the next driver out, hitting the wall in turn four on his 20th lap.
"It was completely my fault," Hunter-Reay said. "I think A.J. (Foyt IV) was having some handling problems. I slowed down too much, and I was just following too close. Once I got into his wake, I was just a passenger."
Graham Rahal, son of former Indy winner Bobby Rahal, crashed on the 56th lap. He started fourth and was running fifth when his car went high coming out of the fourth turn and hit the wall. He was not injured.
It's the second year in a row Rahal has been sidelined by a crash. Last year, as a 19-year-old rookie, he crashed on the 37th lap, also in the fourth turn.
"I got mid-corner and the car just went straight. It was the same exact thing as last year," Rahal said. "I felt I was being patient. I thought I wasn't going to have any problem and all of a sudden it just went."
Davey Hamilton can relate after getting loose and wrecking later on the 83rd lap.
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