March, er, May Madness for the Indianapolis 500

Growing up in Indiana, another sport occupied my mind besides IndyCar racing. That would be basketball. Long before filling out an NCAA bracket and entering an office pool became a national obsession, people in Indiana would chart the HIGH SCHOOL basketball tournament, guessing which teams would emerge from the various sectionals, regionals and semi-states on their way to Indianapolis for the state finals. (This was back when Indiana had single-class basketball.)

As I watched this year’s NCAA Tournament unfold – and my bracket implode – a crazy thought entered my mind: How about making an NCAA Tournament-type bracket with drivers from throughout the history of the Indianapolis 500? Who would be the No. 1 seeds? And instead of play-in games, I would have “drive-in” matchups.

If any of you did the Speedway’s “Greatest 33” last year, you know how tough that was. Actually, coming up with 68 drivers (to replicate the NCAA’s 68-team field) wasn’t any easier. My top four seeds are Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Wilbur Shaw. I tried to include all the winners and also wanted to set up some enticing matchups if the seeds held to form. For example, A.J. would take on Mario Andretti in the final of the “A.J. Foyt Regional” and Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser could meet in the final of the “Al Unser Sr. Regional.”

Of course, like the NCAA Tournament, there could be upsets along the way.

Realizing that the bracket is kind of hard to read (OK, it's IMPOSSIBLE to read - it was difficult to find a blank bracket and get everything put together, scanned and so forth), here are the various “regionals”:

Rick Mears

Regional

1.  Rick Mears

16. Kelly Petillo/George Robson

8. Bill Cummings

9. Dan Gurney

5. Rodger Ward

12. Graham Hill

4. Mauri Rose

13. Billy Arnold

6. Ralph De Palma

11. Bobby Rahal

3. Emerson Fittipaldi

14. Gil De Ferran

7. Tom Sneva

10. Rene Thomas

2. Bill Vukovich

15. Louis Schneider

Al Unser Sr.

Regional

Al Unser Sr. 1

Howard Wilcox/George Souders 16

Rex Mays 8

Ted Horn                9

Jim Clark 5

Floyd Roberts 12

Tommy Milton 4

Bob Sweikert 13

Jim Rathmann 6

Sam Hanks 11

Al Unser Jr. 3

Pat Flaherty 14

Mark Donohue 7

Ray Harroun 10

Bobby Unser 2

Danny Sullivan 15

A.J. Foyt

Regional

A.J. Foyt 1

Joe Dawson/Gaston Chevrolet  16

Jimmy Bryan 8

Jacques Villeneuve 9

Dario Franchitti 5

Lee Wallard 12

Parnelli Jones 4

Jules Goux 13

Arie Luyendyk 6

Troy Ruttman 11

Louis Meyer 3

Kenny Brack 14

Bill Holland 7

Peter De Paolo 10

Mario Andretti 2

Dario Resta 15

Wilbur Shaw

Regional

1. Wilbur Shaw

16. Fred Frame/Ray Keech

8. Juan Montoya

9. Scott Dixon

5. Johnny Rutherford

12. Tony Bettenhausen

4. Dan Wheldon

13. Buddy Lazier

6. Michael Andretti

11. Johnnie Parsons

3. Gordon Johncock

14. Sam Hornish

7. Jimmy Murphy

10. Frank Lockhart

2. Helio Castroneves

15. Joe Boyer