{"id":659268,"date":"2026-05-22T22:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659268\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:10:13","slug":"from-wienie-500-at-carb-day-to-fever-roster-moves-a-packed-weekend-in-indy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/659268\/","title":{"rendered":"From Wienie 500 at Carb Day to Fever roster moves: A packed weekend in Indy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Thousands filled IMS for Carb Day, leading into race day on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Good afternoon and welcome back to Fieldhouse Files. After a Fever-heavy few days, I\u2019m returning to the classic notebook format today.<\/p>\n

In Indianapolis, there\u2019s no better weekend than race weekend.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this from the media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where preparations are complete for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Despite concerns about rain throughout the weekend, drivers were able to complete the final two-hour practice session on Friday.<\/p>\n

A number of celebrities will be part of the festivities on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Jordin Sparks will sing the national anthem, Caitlin Clark will serve as Grand Marshal and give the command for drivers to start their engines<\/a>, and IU football coach Curt Cignetti will drive the Chevrolet pace car.<\/p>\n

The grandstands and official parking have already sold out, and the local blackout on FOX59 has been lifted. We\u2019re ready to go for another race.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The six dogs on the track and awaiting the green flag.<\/p>\n

One of the more entertaining additions to Carb Day returned Friday afternoon: the Wienie 500.<\/p>\n

For the second straight year, Oscar Mayer brought six 27-foot-long Wienermobiles to the track for a novelty race that has quickly become a fan favorite. Each vehicle had its own identity \u2014 including Chi Dog, New York Dog, and Corn Dog \u2014 and the crowd loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n

Even big FOX aired it live and leaned fully into the absurdity of it all. Using the same announcers from the Indianapolis 500 broadcast made the race even better, with the commentary crew delivering nonstop jokes and energy throughout.<\/p>\n

Oscar Mayer deserves a lot of credit too. The marketing campaign around the race has been brilliant. Everywhere you looked Friday, fans were dressed as hot dogs or carrying hot dog memorabilia.<\/p>\n

They were all-in on the puns.<\/p>\n

New York Dog took the checkered flag and boos came down from the stands. That dog was not a fan favorite.<\/p>\n

Coming up on Saturday, Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard of the Pacers will serve as Grand Marshals for the 500 Festival Parade.<\/a> The Pacemates are also involved.<\/p>\n

Former Pacer Scot Pollard served as Grand Marshal last year<\/a>, while Tamika Catchings held the role in 2024.<\/p>\n

The parade begins at noon ET from downtown Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Also of note:<\/p>\n

\"X<\/p>\n

Indiana Pacers@Pacers<\/p>\n

We’re saddened to learn of the passing of Art Becker, who played three seasons in Indiana and was a member of our first ABA championship team. Sending our deepest condolences to his family and friends \ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9b <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

8:22 PM \u00b7 May 22, 2026 \u00b7 2.71K Views<\/p>\n

1 Reply \u00b7 9 Reposts \u00b7 72 Likes<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fever signed 6-foot-3 forward Grace VanSlooten \u2014 a third-round 2026 pick of the Seattle Storm. She fills the roster spot that was created after they waived guard <\/a>Shatori Walker-Kimbrough<\/a> on Thursday.<\/a><\/p>\n

The move gives Indiana additional size in the frontcourt, something the roster needed.<\/p>\n

VanSlooten, 21, was selected in the third round of this year\u2019s WNBA Draft by Seattle. She appeared in four games for the Storm, averaging 4.3 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game before being waived Monday.<\/p>\n

Seattle then activated rookie forward Awa Fam, the No. 3 overall pick.<\/p>\n

The move also brings VanSlooten back closer to home. The Toledo, Ohio native spent two seasons at Oregon before transferring to Michigan State for her final two collegiate seasons.<\/p>\n

Now, she trades green uniforms for Fever red, white, and blue.<\/p>\n

VanSlooten spent her final high school season at IMG Academy, earned McDonald\u2019s All-American honors, and has experience with USA Basketball.<\/p>\n

Last season at Michigan State, she started all 32 games and averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game.<\/p>\n

VanSlooten will return to the No. 14 she wore in college.<\/p>\n

The Fever received a warning from the WNBA regarding their injury reporting procedures prior to Wednesday\u2019s win over the Portland Fire<\/a>, a league source told Fieldhouse Files.<\/p>\n

Indiana had a clean injury report until 100 minutes before tipoff, when the team announced that <\/a>Caitlin Clark<\/a> \u2014 the face of the WNBA \u2014 was suddenly out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And remember, every Fever game is on national TV.<\/p>\n

According to league policy:<\/p>\n

By 5 p.m. local time the day before a game (other than the second day of a back-to-back), teams must designate a participation status and identify a specific injury, illness, other medical condition, or other reason for any player whose participation in the game may be affected for any reason.<\/p>\n

And so, ahead of Friday\u2019s home game against the Golden State Valkyries, closing out a four-game homestand, the Fever listed Clark on the injury report as probable \u2014 back.<\/p>\n

They did not practice on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Clark and Aliyah Boston are a dynamic duo on and off the court. Clark recently joined \u201cPost Moves,\u201d\u00a0a podcast with her All-Star teammate, along with Candace Parker \u2014\u00a0a member of the Class of 2026 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an entertaining episode because of their personalities, love for the game, and the chemistry between Clark and Boston carries over to their chat on a couch.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Former Pacer Metta World Peace \u2014 formerly Ron Artest \u2014 remains a regular around the NBA. He\u2019s often courtside, especially when the Pacers play in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also coached Division II women\u2019s basketball for seven years.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with Hard Rock Bet<\/a>, World Peace discussed the rapid growth of women\u2019s basketball and why he enjoys watching the WNBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Indiana Fever and the Los Angeles Sparks are my favorite teams to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m from New York, so by default, I\u2019m a New York Liberty fan too.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the women\u2019s game is getting better. I love women\u2019s sports. It\u2019s a different style of game because of the body type, but it\u2019s still so exciting. You\u2019re not going to find Michael Jordan in the WNBA because he is a male. You\u2019re going to find Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. They play just as well as the men.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Peace then praised Clark and compared her to an NBA player who also changed the game: two-time MVP Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n

\u201cClark really reminds me of Curry in terms of her skill set,\u201d he said. \u201cShe may even be a better passer. That\u2019s not to take anything away from Curry. He is also incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited about these million-dollar checks which have been signed in the WNBA this offseason. That\u2019s so exciting, and it\u2019s long overdue. It would\u2019ve been a tough pill to swallow if they continued to have zero million-dollar players, because they draw fans and they drive engagement. They\u2019re that good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the ratification of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in mid-March<\/a>, the players now have a share of league revenue for the first time and, notably, the league minimum is now higher than what the maximum salary was last season.<\/p>\n

World Peace also touched on the Pacers, a team he played for from 2002-06. He was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2004.<\/p>\n

The Pacers went from the 2025 NBA Finals to the worst record in franchise history: 19-63.<\/a> They dealt with numerous injuries, the primary one being All-Star Tyrese Haliburton missing the entire season due to a torn Achilles tendon suffered in the first quarter of Game 7 at Oklahoma City last June.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough anytime you have to deal with a long-term injury, especially an Achilles injury, because that\u2019s a little bit different from an ACL or MCL,\u201d World Peace said. \u201cYou know you\u2019re going to be out for a year. As well as recovering from this injury, he\u2019s had to deal with shingles too.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for the Pacers, it goes to show how valuable Haliburton is to them. It shows that he is an MVP-caliber player. \u2026. For the Pacers to go from the NBA Finals to the second-worst record in the league, it shows you how important he is and how good he is as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every body is different, but Haliburton is part of a growing list of NBA stars on the mend from a torn Achilles \u2014\u00a0including Dejounte Murray, Jayson Tatum, and Damian Lillard.<\/p>\n

He also suffered a setback after being diagnosed with shingles, something that\u2019s still not completely behind him. He dealt with it on his face, itchy and affecting his eye brow. He\u2019s tried multiple medications to try to find one that works. As a result, he\u2019s gained weight.<\/p>\n

After their season ended one month ago, Haliburton still had another six months before the start of the 2026-27 regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaliburton has had the entire season to recover, and he\u2019ll have the offseason too,\u201d said World Peace. \u201cSo, he\u2019s had more than enough time. He\u2019ll come back with the same speed, and his body will be well-rested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe technology today is also great, and guys get more rest. When we played, even 18-year veterans were practicing hard, for the most part. But the recovery side of things and the science are a lot better today. It allows players to recover faster and better than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Knicks are playing the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals \u2014 a reminder of where the Pacers believed they could have been without the injuries.<\/p>\n

Still, it feels like the conference is wide open and the Pacers are optimistic about being a top-tier team once again. But there are never any guarantees.<\/p>\n

Still, World Peace believes Indiana already has the most important piece in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of that [Haliburton\u2019s return], I don\u2019t think they need much more because they have Coach Rick Carlisle,\u201d added World Peace, who played for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Carlisle is really good at getting the best out of what he has. In fact, he\u2019s one of the best at this. You saw that during the team\u2019s run to the NBA Finals last season. On paper, I don\u2019t think they were a team that was capable of going as far as they did. But Carlisle got the best out of them, and he can spot holes in other teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Race weekend in Indianapolis always has a different energy to it. From IMS to Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the city is buzzing \u2014 and Sunday hasn\u2019t even arrived yet.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s all just hope that the rain stays away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands filled IMS for Carb Day, leading into race day on Sunday. Good afternoon and welcome back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-659268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}