NOTEBOOK From the Indy 500

Setting the pace: Three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford was at the wheel of the Chevrolet Corvette pace car the first time Morgan Freeman peered into turn one.
Rutherford, the full-time pace car driver for the Indy Racing League, has said of taking the turn with double-deck grandstand towering above it: "It's like making a left turn into a phone booth in the dark."
The Oscar-nominated actor agreed.
"Turn one looks impossible," said Freeman, who will drive the pace car for the start of Sunday's 500-mile race. "You're coming off the front straightaway at an incredible rate.
"And I'm talking about me now, not a seasoned race car driver. I'm talking about a guy who just got into a car on the track and has gotten his speed up to 130, 140 miles an hour, and he's looking down at turn one."
Freeman saw Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time Friday. Actually, the admitted NASCAR fan said he had never been to any race, preferring to watch on television.
He soon found himself behind the wheel of the car he will drive Sunday.
After five laps around the 2 1/2-mile oval, with Rutherford coaching -- "He kept telling me not to jerk the wheel" -- track officials turned Freeman loose to give rides to members of the media.
"They said, we like to keep it down to about 100 in the turns, so I was up to about 110, 115. ... By the time I was finished, I was going into turn one at 120," Freeman said.
-- Associated Press
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