Tommy Lasorda, Pete Rose take in their first Indy 500
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INDIANAPOLIS — The Dodgers’ Tommy Lasorda and all-time hits leader Pete Rose were among those attending their first Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
“When I drive down the freeway, I’m scared, let alone go 220 mph,” Lasorda, the former Dodgers’ manager and now a team adviser, said of the Indy drivers’ speeds. “That’s unbelievable.”
Before the race, Lasorda spent time with Indy driver Charlie Kimball, a Camarillo native and Dodgers fan who was starting 14th in the 33-car field.
“I have been to Indianapolis a lot of times but never to this event, and I am so impressed,” Lasorda said.
Rose, the former Cincinnati Reds star with 4,256 career hits, said that despite being from Cincinnati, about 90 miles from Indianapolis, “I was in baseball for 29 years and you don’t get many Memorial Days off.”
Rose, 71, also said that these days “I probably watch more baseball than anybody you know” on television, including the Dodgers, and said of Dodgers’ slugger Matt Kemp: “He’s great. He’s one of the top five players in baseball.”
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