Trading Paint

Tagliani to replace Junqueira in No. 36 car
Conquest Racing announced late Sunday night that Alex Tagliani, the team's primary driver, will drive the No. 36 entry in the Indianapolis 500 in place of Bruno Junqueira, who qualified the car 30th earlier in the day.

Junqueira, the 2000 Indy 500 polesitter, signed a last-minute deal with the team May 16. With fewer than 20 practice laps on May 17, he qualified the car with a four-lap average speed of 221.115 mph.

"I want to thank the team and ALL SPORT/BIG RED for giving me the opportunity to qualify their car today," Junqueira said. "I was able to go fast right from the start despite not having a lot of practice, and that was very rewarding for myself. I really enjoyed working with Conquest Racing. They gave me a really good car, and hopefully I can work with them again in the future. It's a shame that Alex got bumped out of the field at the end. I knew coming into this that Alex is Conquest's primary driver and that if something happened to the first car that I would likely give him my place, and I completely understand it."

Tagliani, driving the team's No. 34 entry, qualified on May 16, but was "on the bubble" late in the day on Bump Day (May 17). He watched from the front of the qualifying line as Ryan Hunter-Reay bumped him from the field as the gun sounded to end the day.

IndyCar drivers, deployed tropps go head-to-head in real-time video game

America's Heroes in uniform and IndyCar Series drivers Dan Wheldon and Ed Carpenter will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a unique and exciting challenge as they go head-to-head in an interactive video game competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A real-time Xbox LIVE® video game match will be set up via the Internet on Community Day, Wednesday, May 20 in the infield Flag Lot at IMS and at Camp Virginia in Kuwait.

Wheldon and Carpenter, along with Panther Racing Firestone Indy Lights drivers Pippa Mann and Martin Plowman will challenge military men and women stationed overseas in a Guitar Hero® Metallica® video game competition. The drivers will play in front of a live audience at the Speedway and will be equipped with a large projectorplaying screen and several TV monitors to interact live with the troops playing at Camp Virginia in Kuwait.

Indiana National Guard soldiers currently stationed in the Middle East will engage in the challenge from the USO Center at Camp Virginia, Kuwait. Some of the National Guard troops participating in the competition will have the unusual privilege of leaving their post in Iraq to take part in this event. The troops and drivers will communicate through a headset hooked up to the Xbox and webcam monitors as they compete in the popular video game.

ABC to broadcast Indy 500 for 45th Consecutive Year

When the Indianapolis 500 aired on ABC for the first time, Lyndon Johnson was in the White House, the NFL Championship was almost two years away from becoming the Super Bowl, the Beatles and Beach Boys were at the top of the charts and Bewitched and Bonanza ruled the TV airwaves.

One of the longest-running relationships between a sporting event and a network continues on Sunday, May 24, when the Indianapolis 500 airs on ABC for the 45th consecutive year. ESPN on ABC’s live, high definition telecast from Indianapolis Motor Speedway is presented by GoDaddy.com and begins at noon ET, with the green flag at 1 p.m.

Television coverage of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” has come a long way since highlights first appeared in black-and-white on ABC’s Wide World of Sports program following the 1965 edition of the race.

ESPN will use 59 cameras to televise the race fully in high definition, including a 360-degree rotating onboard camera mounted behind the driver on multiple cars. Unique views will be provided by Track Cam, a high definition camera running on a cable over pit road and the frontstretch that can move at more than 80 mph. All 33 cars will carry GPS boxes for the Sportvision RaceFX system to provide telemetry and pointers to help identify the cars for viewers. And ESPN will use a radio replay system that can record, play back and edit radios from any of the 33 drivers.

The one-hour pre-race show will include interviews with many of the starting drivers as well as four special features, including a look at the roller-coaster year of polesitter Helio Castroneves; the special relationship between Danica Patrick and her father; the “Super Team” of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti; and the Allure of Indy - why drivers will risk everything just to be able to compete in the Indy 500

ESPN’s veteran team returns for the Indianapolis 500 telecast. Marty Reid will call the race, with analysis by former IndyCar Series star Scott Goodyear and 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever. Reporting from the pits will be Jack Arute, Jamie Little, Brienne Pedigo and Vince Welch while Brent Musburger hosts the telecast. Arute has covered the event for ABC every year since 1984.

Some of the most familiar names in sports television history have been a part of ABC’s Indianapolis 500 coverage over the years, including Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Chris Schenkel, Bill Flemming, Al Michaels, Paul Page and current host Musburger.

Here's a breakdown of the daily TV programming:
Daily TV programming leads up to "500": Race fans can enjoy almost 20 hours of IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 programming this week, capped by ESPN on ABC's live coverage of the 2009 Indianapolis 500 on May 24.

VERSUS will air at least one hour of programming per day, capped by five hours of live coverage of Carb Day on May 22. The week's coverage includes:

May 18, 4 p.m., VERSUS -- Danica - Five Years Running
May 19, 4 p.m., VERSUS -- IndyCar Series - Top 10 Closest Finishes
May 20, 4 p.m., VERSUS -- IndyCar Series - Crashes and Conflicts
May 21, 4 p.m., VERSUS -- Top 10 Indy Moments
May 22, 11 a.m., VERSUS -- Carb Day coverage of the final IndyCar Series practice, the Firestone Freedom 100, the pit stop competition and more. At 4 p.m., it will air Foyt, Unser and Mears: Four-time Indy 500 Winners
May 23, 5 p.m., VERSUS -- IPL 500 Festival Parade. At 6:30 p.m., it will air a race preview show
May 24, TBA -- Post-race show

ESPN on ABC's coverage of the 500-Mile Race kicks off at noon May 24 with a preview show hosted by Brent Musburger.