By Andrew Cutler
April 18 2009

Here is a peice of great news for Paul Tracy fans, as well as fans of the IndyCar Series in general: the man that they call "the thrill from West Hill (a suburb of Toronto)" will participate in this year's Indianapolis 500. This will be his first time back at the Brickyard since his controversial loss to Helio Castroneves in the 2002 race.

For those unfamiliar with that race, Tracy was in the process of attempting to pass Castroneves in the closing laps, and was almost exactly side-by-side when a caution flag came out due to another driver's wreck, freezing the field. Tracy has always insisted that his car was ahead of Helio's by a nose & that therefore he had won, but the IRL officials awarded the victory to Castroneves.

This year, Paul will be driving for the KV Racing Technology Squad, which is co-owned by a former on-track rival of Paul's, 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser. "Jimmy and I have known each other for more than 20 years on and off the racetrack and have a good friendship with each other, live in the same town, so it was just a natural fit.", Tracy told reporters. "Obviously, it's going to be a big month of May for me, and it's going to be pretty exciting."

Lets hope that Paul's appearance at Indy will prompt more sponsors to step forward & help him make appearances in more races this year. He would be a great attendance draw for the two events in his native Canada at the very least.