Odds to Win 2007 Indianapolis 500 Favor Both Wheldon and Castroneves

Odds to win the 2007 Indianapolis 500 favor both Dan Wheldon and Hélio Castroneves at +350 according to the oldest established online gambling site targeting the North American market, Bookmaker.com (see website here)

Both Wheldon and Nieves promise a $350 payout for every $100 bet should either of the two win.

The next longest odds go to Sam Hornish Jr at +450; Tony Kanaan at +500 and Scott Dixon at +500.  Then we have a group with the opportunity to offer a much more substantial payout: Dario Franchitti, for example, has odds to win the 2007 Indianapolis 500 at +1000 while Michael Andretti was listed with odds of +1400 or a $1400 payout for every $100 bet.

Dan Wheldon is a successful British race car driver who in 2005, won both the Indianapolis 500 and the IRL series championship. His six victories in 2005 also broke the record for most victories in one IRL season held by Sam Hornish Jr with 5. His win at Indy was the first for an Englishman since Graham Hill's triumph in 1966. But in November of 2005, it was announced that he would be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IRL in 2006. Shortly after his first IRL test with Ganassi, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Casey Mears.

He began the season by beating Hélio Castroneves by 14 thousandths of a second at Homestead-Miami, before retiring at St. Petersburg thanks to contact with Sam Hornish Jr under the safety car. At the end of the 2006 IRL season, Wheldon and Sam Hornish Jr. were tied for the lead with each driver having 475 points. In the event of a tie, the driver with the most wins for that particular season is declared the champion. Hornish Jr. had four wins for the 2006 season, to Wheldon's two; therefore Hornish Jr. was declared the 2006 IRL champion.

He leads the 2007 championship with two wins so far at Homestead-Miami and Kansas.

The other favorite, Brazilian born Hélio Castroneves, won the Indianapolis 500 in both 2001 and 2002, and finished second to teammate and countryman Gil de Ferran in 2003. He only started one other IRL race in 2001, hence his low championship position. He is a two-time winner of the pole position for the race, including 2007.

Racing fans have given Castroneves the nickname "Spider-Man" because of the form of victory celebration he introduced, in which he climbs the track-side debris fence, a practice since adopted by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart in the 2005 Nextel Cup season.

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