Las Vegas Review-Journal - Heavy Pedal

The biggest day of televised motor sports is Sunday with the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600.

But let’s not forget why this is a holiday weekend. Memorial Day is the official day to remember American military — past and present — and especially those who gave their lives in service of the United States.

I’m not usually big on pre-race shows but tune in before both races for tributes produced by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C.

And on Monday, remember our fallen heroes.

Motor sports has produced a few heroes

My column in Friday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal declares Las Vegas racer Fabian Bray as an on-track hero. The 58-year-old was involved in a fiery, three-car crash Saturday night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring and quickly got of his car to help Dusty Davis get out of his car.

As I explained in the column (click on it at the left), a race car driver can be a role model but not necessarily a hero.

There are, however, at least two racers who are on my heroes' list. They are Sam Schmidt and Kyle Petty (along with Petty's wife, Patty).

Schmidt was paralyzed in a 2000 IndyCar testing crash a few months after winning the Indy Racing League event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It took a couple years for him to return to racing as an owner a team in the IRL’s Indy Lights developmental series and a car in the Indy 500.

The holiday weekend started strong when driver Wade Cunningham won Friday’s Lights race, and Alex Lloyd hopes to follow up by winning the 500 in Schmidt’s No. 99.

The Pettys have formed the Victory Junction Gang Camp for terminally ill children.