Stop sign not needed

INDIANAPOLIS -- When the rain-shortened 91st Indianapolis 500 finally was called on Lap 166 yesterday, and Dario Franchitti was declared the winner, Tony Kanaan wasted little time scrambling out of his cockpit.

It wasn't that Kanaan -- who led the most laps (eight times for 83 laps) and was in the lead when the race was delayed by rain after 113 laps -- wasn't interested in bemoaning his fate and blown opportunity.

It was more that he wanted to celebrate the victory of his Andretti Green Racing teammate, planting a kiss on Franchitti and tightly hugging the winner in the celebration.

"I would say I didn't have to regroup," Kanaan said. "I went straight out of my car, and I didn't want to talk to anybody.

"People thought I was mad, but I wasn't. I wanted to get to Dario before anyone else."

Of the five cars AGR fielded, it was Kanaan's that seemed to possess the best chance to win. But, as he was running sixth on a race restart with 45 laps to go, Kanaan's hopes were dashed when Jaques Lazier's car tagged the wall in Turn 4, causing Kanaan to check up and spin out.

Kanaan dropped to 16th when he was penalized for pitting for four tires and fuel when he was allowed to change only his flat right rear tire.

He finished 12th.

Asked if he felt it should've been his day, Kanaan replied, "I think it was Dario's day . . . Hopefully, we turn the page over and move on.

"We'll get another chance, and hopefully we'll get the win."

Rahal Letterman drivers Jeff Simmons, a 1998 Boston College graduate from East Granby, Conn., and Scott Sharp, a Babson College graduate from Norwalk, Conn., recorded their best finishes in the Indy 500. Sharp was sixth while Simmons, who led once on Lap 101, was 11th. "We were running up there with the quick guys most of the day," Simmons said . . . Roberto Moreno, the oldest driver in the field at 48, was the first out of the race when he crashed on Lap 37. "The car had a bad wiggle all over the place," said Moreno, who was taken to Methodist Hospital with a sore upper back after his car strayed outside the preferred lower line in Turn 1 and sideswiped the SAFER barrier, causing extensive right-side damage. "It was very tough. When I got to Turn 1, we just went straight. I couldn't do anything." . . . Dan Brown, the right rear tire changer of Al Unser Jr.'s pit crew, suffered multiple fractures in his left foot when he was run over by Darren Manning's car on the first pit stop . . . Although Moreno was the first out, he didn't cause the race's first caution. That dubious honor went to John Andretti, who lost his left rearview mirror when it came flying off in Turn 1 on Lap 11. After Jon Herb and rookie driver Milka Duno crashed to bring out the third (Lap 52) and fourth (Lap 66) yellows of the day, respectively, Andretti brought out the fifth caution (Lap 99) when he, too, struck the wall as he tried to navigate Turn 2. He finished 30th. "This is the first time I've ever touched the wall at Indianapolis and it's not the way I wanted to return," Andretti said.

Seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty was at the Speedway to lend his moral support to Andretti, former driver of Petty Enterprise's No. 43 car in the Nextel Cup Series. Asked if he was interested in starting an IndyCar Series team, Petty said, "No, I don't think so. I think these things are a little bit beyond my years. I'm still from the old school. I still like to see windshields, wheels, fenders, bumpers, and stuff like that. I never really did look at [driving] an Indy car. Stock cars were all we ever did, and that is where I stayed." . . . Voters for the Chase Rookie of the Year Award faced a bit of a dilemma when Phil Giebler, one of two rookies in the race with Duno, crashed out on Lap 108 and finished 29th after a heavy impact with the SAFER barrier in Turn 1. Duno, the 35-year-old Venezuelan who was one of a record three female drivers in the 33-car field, had her maiden run in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing come to an abrupt halt on Lap 66 when she spun and collided head-on with the wall in Turn 1. Duno started 29th, ran as high as 22d, and was penalized for speeding on pit road on Lap 56 and sent to the back of the field. "I was having a good race, I was in 22d when we had a penalty in the pit late," said Duno, who finished 31st. "When we went green, I was passing a car in Turn 1 when my car spun. It was a fantastic day." . . . The last time the race was red-flagged was in 2004 when Buddy Rice was declared the winner of a rain-shortened 500 . . . When the race was halted, there had been 18 lead changes among eight drivers, the first six coming between pole-sitter Helio Castroneves and Kanaan . . . Celebrities who turned out: actor Ray Liotta, actor and rapper Ludacris, Golden State Warriors guard Baron Davis, NFL Hall of Famer Marcus Allen, and Ohio State basketball players Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden. Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.