Hornish hasn't let up since win at Indy to lead point standings

He's also visited the White House and threw out the first pitch at a Mets game.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- The guy in the suit complimented Sam Hornish Jr. on his Indy 500 victory.
"Yeah, it was a little bit too close," Hornish recalls telling President Bush during a visit to the White House.
"He said, 'Well, I've had a couple close ones, too. But the way I look at it, a win's a win.' "
Joking around with the president -- that's life these days for Hornish.
Hornish has been the center of attention since winning at Indianapolis in May, surging past rookie Marco Andretti to the second-closest finish in Indy history.
Hornish made several talk show appearances and threw out the first pitch at a New York Mets game. After attending the ESPY Awards last week, Hornish and members of his team visited the White House on Tuesday.
It's a major change of pace for the 27-year-old driver from small-town Defiance, Ohio, who developed a reputation for speaking softly and carrying a heavy right foot since entering the series in 2000.
Some things don't change: Hornish might have won $1.74 million at Indy, but he still bristles when the dinner bill tops $20. And that right foot isn't letting up, either.
Despite a crash at Nashville Superspeedway a week ago, Hornish has three victories this season and remains the IndyCar Series points leader with five races remaining in the season. He will start second in today's race at the Milwaukee Mile, sharing the front row with Marlboro Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves.
Champ cars
EDMONTON, Alberta -- If A.J. Allmendinger is going to win his fourth straight race today, he's got a lot of work to do on an unfriendly track.
He will start fourth in the 18-car field in the Edmonton Grand Prix after crashing out of the opening round of time trials Friday and spinning out during a late-session effort in Saturday's final qualifying. Two-time defending series champion Sebastien Bourdais will start from the pole.
"I don't know exactly what happened in qualifying, but I know A.J. was pretty upset," said Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Paul Tracy, who will start second. "He walked away from the team to clear his head.
"Fourth isn't that bad and he's only a couple of tenths [of a second] off," Tracy added. "But I'd be mad if I was fourth, too."
After cooling down, Allmendinger said, "I don't think we had enough for pole but I think we probably could've been quick enough for second or third."
A victory by Allmendinger would match the winning streak Bourdais put together at the start of this season and help keep the 24-year-old Californian in the battle for the title. With the two points Bourdais earned this weekend by winning the provisional pole Friday and the top starting spot, Allmendinger now trails by 25.
Another win would also make Allmendinger the first American driver to win four in a row in the Champ Car World Series since Al Unser Jr. in 1990.
"When you get a taste of winning, like he has, you want to win them all," said Tracy, the leading active driver in the series with 30 victories. "When you win three in a row, you think you're just going to keep on winning."
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