Indy 500 not yet a sellout (Yawn)

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Indianapolis 500 still has not sold out and does not yet have a full 33-car field. But Indy Racing League CEO Tony George is not too concerned.

''If we end up with a short field, we end up with a short field,'' George said Friday.

Drivers were still looking for rides Friday, just a day before pole qualifying. The official entry sheet lists 31 driver-car combinations. The 1947 race, with only 30 cars, was the last one without a full field.

George, who founded the IRL in 1994, blamed the weak economy and competition for the failure to fill the field early.

''With the change of equipment, with some of the teams that planned on being here not being able to find sponsorship for whatever reason, certain teams going to CART, you find yourself with fewer entrants,'' he said. ''I expect it will get better.''

He's also optimistic attendance will improve. George, who also owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said some tickets remain for the May 25 race.

He said corporate sponsorship has waned. George also said NASCAR's Brickyard 400 in 1994 and a Formula One race in 2001 has diluted Indy's motorsports market.

''With three events and significant challenges in the marketplace, we haven't been able to announce a sellout,'' George said. ''I don't know if it will be noticeable.''

It would be more noticeable if fewer than 33 cars started.

''I don't know if anybody's going to do anything out of the ordinary just to create a full field of 33,'' George said. ''I think in the end, it will take care of itself.''

PENSKE'S CHOICE: Team Penske made its chassis decision Friday, with two-time defending champion Helio Castroneves using the Dallara and Gil de Ferran going with the G Force.

''There wasn't any clear distinction that would have made both drivers go in the same direction,'' said Roger Penske, whose cars have won a record 12 times at Indy.

Castroneves chose a Dallara, saying he felt more comfortable around the turns in the familiar chassis.

''I won two with the chassis,'' he said. ''So with a team that's winning, why would you go change?''

De Ferran said the decision was tough because both cars were comparable and speeds were almost identical.

''I don't think that choice will make us win or lose the race, to be quite honest,'' he said.

Penske is open to adding a third car, though it was unlikely.

''From our perspective, we're concentrating on the two cars now,'' he said. ''We'll deal with a third car later next week.''

BEER HERE: Kenny Brack, winner of the 1999 Indy 500, will spend Carburetion Day this year in a slightly different role rock musician.

Brack plays guitar with a band called the Subwoofers, which will be the opening act for a Carb Day concert sponsored by Miller Lite on May 22. The beer company also sponsors Brack's car in the May 25 race.

Rock band Cracker will be the concert's headlining act.

Musicians in Brack's band cover songs ranging from ZZ Top to Aretha Franklin. They make their debut Tuesday at a downtown Indianapolis bar.

''He's a much better driver than guitar player,'' said his car owner, 1986 winner Bobby Rahal. ''You should minimize your expectations for Carb Day.''

PIT STOPS: Castroneves will be a guest commentator for ESPN2's coverage of the inaugural Freedom 100 Infiniti Pro Series May 17. ... Actor Christopher Reeve, paralyzed by a horseback riding accident in 1995, will be in Indianapolis Monday for ''Racing to Recovery,'' a benefit for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation. Schmidt, an IRL team owner, has been a quadriplegic since crashing during a test session in January 2000.

 

[TheGeneral+]

Everyone yawns - babies, kids, teenagers, adults. Some birds, reptiles and most mammals also yawn. However, the reason why we yawn is a bit of a mystery. There is also very little research on yawning because for most people yawning is not a problem. Here are a few things that are known about yawns

The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds.
In humans, the earliest occurrence of a yawn happens at about 11 weeks after conception - that's BEFORE the baby is born!
Yawns become contagious to people between the first and second years of life.
A part of the brain that plays an important role in yawning is the hypothalamus. Research has shown that some neurotransmitters (for example, dopamine, excitatory amino acids, nitric oxide) and neuropeptides increase yawning if injected in the hypothalamus of animals.

You know that when you are bored, you yawn. Scientists have confirmed this observation by comparing the number of yawns in 17-19 year old students who watched music videos to the number of yawns in students who watched an uninteresting color test bar pattern. As you might have expected, people who watched the color test bar pattern yawned more (5.78 yawns in 30 minutes) than those who watched the "MTV-like" video (3.41 yawns in 30 minutes.) The average duration of yawns was also slightly longer in the test bar viewing group. One unexpected finding was that yawns in male students had a longer duration than those in female students.

Many people assume that we yawn because our bodies are trying to get rid of extra carbon dioxide (CO2) and to take in more oxygen (O2). This may make some sense. According to this theory, when people are bored or tired, they breathe more slowly. As breathing slows down, less oxygen makes it to the lungs. As carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, a message to the brain results in signals back to the lungs saying, "Take a deep breath," and a yawn is produced.
The only problem with the excess CO2 theory is that research shows that it may not be true. In 1987, Dr. Robert Provine and his coworkers set up an experiment to test the theory that high CO2/low O2 blood content causes yawning. Air is normally made up of 20.95% O2, 79.02% N2 (nitrogen), 0.03% CO2 (and a few other gases in low concentrations). The researchers gave college students the following gases to breathe for 30 minutes:


Breathing 100% O2 (Gas #1) or either CO2 gas (Gas #2 and #3) did cause the students to breathe at a faster rate. However, neither CO2 gas nor 100% O2 caused the students to yawn more. These gases also did not change the duration of yawns when they occurred.

The researchers also looked for a relationship between breathing and yawning by having people exercise. Exercise, obviously, causes people to breathe faster. However, the number of yawns during exercise was not different from the number of yawns before or after exercise. Therefore, it appears that yawning is not due to CO2/O2 levels in the blood and that yawning and breathing are controlled by different mechanisms.

So, the question remains - why do we yawn? Dr. Provine suggests that perhaps yawning is like stretching. Yawning and stretching increase blood pressure and heart rate and also flex muscles and joints. Evidence that yawning and stretching may be related comes from the observation that if you try to stifle or prevent a yawn by clenching your jaws shut, the yawn is somewhat "unsatisfying." For some reason, the stretching of jaw and face muscles is necessary for a good yawn.
It is possible that yawns are contagious because at one time in evolutionary history, the yawn served to coordinate the social behavior of a group of animals. When one member of the group yawned to signal an event, all the other members of the group also yawned. Yawns may still be contagious these days because of a leftover response (a "vestigial" response) that is not used anymore. None of this has been proven true and yawns are still one of the mysteries of the mind.

So, how many times did you yawn?

TEST