INDIANAPOLIS — Here he came, easing through the restaurant door because easing is the best he can do, heading toward a wicker chair that for a healthy man would have been five paces away.

The trouble is, he is 85 years old, and the confident stride that used to be his trademark has given way to a shuffle. He leaned on a walker, his eyes fixed on that chair like it was the checkered flag in the California 500. Getting there was his only goal.

This was Bobby Unser arriving for lunch. He groaned as he settled into his seat. The groan told you that everything hurt more than it was supposed to.

“My back is junk,” he said, pointing out the worst of his problems.

There was a time when Unser was the fastest thing on four wheels. Now it takes six legs — his own pair, plus the four on the walker — just to get him through a crowded dining room. Wherever he goes, the Ghost of Crashes Past rides with him.

“The truth,” he said, “is that I’m worn out.”

The record books paint him as a winner, not a crasher. Three times, Unser won the Indianapolis 500. In 1968 and ’74, he was king of USAC’s Championship Trail. He won from coast to coast in sprint cars, beat A.J. Foyt and Cale Yarborough to an IROC title, and conquered 13 Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climbs. That’s a lot of glory.

But if you race long enough, you’re going to run into a few things. Unser has ridden out countless wrecks, including a handful that should have killed him. One city alone — Phoenix — tried to snuff him three times.

In 1965, rescuers were stunned to find him in one piece after his Indy car submarined the Phoenix Int’l Raceway guardrail. In 1973, a brutal crash at the same track snapped his Eagle in two and the compression of his belts broke “all my ribs.” The ribs pained him so badly that doctors missed his cracked neck and fractured feet.

But his worst Phoenix experience came across town at the Manzanita Speedway dirt track, where a sprint car tumble knocked him silly. The nearest emergency room, in a tough part of town, was full of “Saturday-night guys from the knife fights.”

Awaiting treatment, he faded in and out of consciousness. When a friend insisted that Bobby needed help, a smartass nurse declared, “Ah, don’t worry about it. He’s gonna die anyway.”

So Phoenix was tough on him. Throw in all the “lesser” crashes elsewhere, and you understand why Bobby Unser creaks like the “Wizard of Oz” Tin Man.

It is the same, sadly, for so many aging racers. Jack Hewitt used to beat sprint cars into submission; now he’s 68, and a heavy limp and bum arm are reminders that those sprinters beat him, too. Johnny Rutherford won the Indy 500 three times between 1974 and ’80, but he hasn’t been able to straighten his right arm since 1966, when he flipped out of Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.

Thirty-one years after the NASCAR Cup Series crash that ended his career, Bobby Allison knows all about the mystery of head injuries; one minute he dazzles you with his recall, and in the next he struggles to move words from brain to tongue.

Bugs Stevens, a three-time NASCAR modified champ, recently underwent a vertebroplasty, a procedure in which doctors injected medical cement into unstable vertebrae, hoping to ease his everyday suffering. And Foyt is a living museum for rebuilt joints, mended bones and scar tissue.

I know a hundred other retired racers with bad hips, crooked shoulders, trick knees and shaky memories. To quote Paul Newman quoting Bette Davis, “Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies.”

I tell you all that as a prelude to telling you this: Every now and then, I find myself complaining that the ethics that once governed race-driving have crumbled. In every branch of the sport, aggression is sky-high. In dirt-track sprints and midgets, every slide job seems more ruthless than the one before; in pavement stock cars, bump-and-run passes have given way to crude shoves.

It comes down to safety: Today’s drivers have better helmets, better seats, better restraints and better fire gear than the warriors before them. When things go wrong, they even hit better barriers.

It’s harder than ever for a racer to hurt himself and many of them drive accordingly. And as on-track behavior deteriorates, grouches like me moan that racing has become “too safe.”

Our point is that if injury — or at least the threat of injury — was more commonplace, we’d see cleaner, more precise driving.

But there’s a flip side to that argument and it shows up in the physical struggles of men who raced when every green flag came with the very real possibility of hospital time. One day, discussing his souvenir aches, Foyt said, “These golden years aren’t what they’re supposed to be.”

Yes, I get angry at the carelessness I see in a lot of fast kids. But I like thinking that most of them will still walk straight when they turn 70.

I don’t think Bobby Unser would trade his three Indianapolis wins for anything. But I do believe he’d surrender a few from Trenton, Milwaukee or Michigan if it meant he could stroll in, smiling, for tomorrow’s noonday meal.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A star-studded field of drivers returns to Daytona Int’l Speedway this weekend for the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Jan. 3-5.

The three-day test session is mandatory for all teams planning to compete in the 58th Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 23-26, and 40 cars have been entered across the four competing classes.

This event has long been recognized as the kick off to the racing season and as a result, attracts superstar drivers from throughout the world of motorsport.

Among the luminaries participating in the Roar this weekend will be two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, fresh off his 2019 championship-winning campaign.

Busch will get his first taste of the No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 that he will share with co-drivers Parker Chase, Jack Hawksworth and Michael De Quesada.

Busch and the No. 14 team are participating in the GT Daytona class, which is the largest in the field, with 18 entries from nine different manufacturers.

Other notable GTD entries include the all-female lineup of Katherine Legge, Christina Nielsen, Tati Calderon and Rahel Frey in the No. 19 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser Lamborghini Huracán GT3; the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 led by driver Bill Auberlen – who is tied with Scott Pruett for the most all-time IMSA wins with 60 – and his co-drivers Robby Foley, Jens Klingmann and Dillon Machavern; and a pair of entries from 2019 GTD champions Meyer Shank Racing – the No. 57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 shared by drivers Alvaro Parente, Misha Goikhberg, Trent Hindman and AJ Allmendinger and the No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura for Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry, Shinya Michimi and Jules Gounon.

The lead Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class features eight entries from three different manufacturers and a talented cast of characters from top to bottom.

Among them is the defending WeatherTech Championship DPi title-winning Acura Team Penske No. 6 Acura ARX-05 with Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya, joined by 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud.

Ricky Taylor, three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi are in the No. 7 Acura.

Additional Indy 500 winners can be found in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, where 2008 winner and five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon will join Ryan Briscoe and 2019 Rolex 24 winners Renger van der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi; and the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest RT24-P that includes 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay with the team’s full-time WeatherTech Championship duo of Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell.

The factory supported GT Le Mans class features seven entries – including four cars that are making their North American debut this weekend.

The new, mid-engined Corvette C8.R will turn its first public laps this weekend with a pair of entries from Corvette Racing. Team newcomers Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg are joining Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette, while the longstanding duo of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will be joined again by Marcel Fassler in the No. 4 machine.

The new-for-2020 Porsche 911 RSR also makes its first public laps at Daytona with defending WeatherTech Championship GTLM champions Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor sharing the No. 912 Porsche GT Team entry with Mathieu Jaminet.

The new full-season driver lineup in the team’s No. 911 RSR includes Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki, with Matt Campbell serving in the role of endurance specialist.

The LMP2 class has grown substantially since the 2019 Motul Petit Le Mans season finale, with a total of seven entries for the Roar.

DragonSpeed, which won last year’s Rolex 24, returns with an impressive lineup in its No. 81 ORECA LMP2 07 that includes full-season drivers Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman alongside the ultra-fast Colin Braun and rising star Harrison Newey.

Another strong lineup can be found in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks ORECA, with 2010 Rolex 24 overall winner Ryan Dalziel and season-long teammate John Farano being joined by David Heinemeier Hansson and Nicolas Lapierre.

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, which won the 2019 WeatherTech Championship LMP2 title, returns with a pair of entries – the No. 51 ORECA with Gabriel Aubry as the only listed driver so far and the No. 52 ORECA for co-drivers Ben Keating, Simon Trummer and Aubry.

In addition to the WeatherTech Championship machines, a 38-car field for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will partake in three days of testing.

Notables in that field include rising NASCAR stars Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Hailie Deegan in a pair of Ford Mustang GT4 entries from Multimatic Motorsports; defending Grand Sport class champions Tyler McQuarrie and Jeff Westphal in the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Audi R8 GT4; and two Hyundai Veloster N TCR class entries from the defending champion Bryan Herta Autosport team, which plans to unveil its 2020 driver lineup in a press conference Friday afternoon.

The IMSA Prototype Challenge kicks off its 2020 season with a three-hour race Saturday afternoon and features an 18-car field.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is set to be sidelined "for a few weeks" after a recurrence of an foot injury, according to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Frenchman missed the Premier League clash with Arsenal on Wednesday after complaining of what Solskjaer described as "discomfort" in his ankle.

He is also set to miss the Carabao Cup semifinal first leg with Manchester City at Old Trafford on Jan. 7 and will be a doubt for the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Jan. 19.

"He's injured," Solskjaer told MUTV. "He's feeling some discomfort in his ankle and he'll be out for a few weeks."

Pogba has been plagued this season with the foot injury. He didn't play between Sept. 30 and Dec. 22 and has only made two substitute appearances since then.

Solskjaer said following the the 2-0 win over Burnley on Saturday that he expected Pogba to be available at the Emirates for United's New Years' Day game but he was absent from the squad which travelled to London on Tuesday.

Following the victory at Turf Moor, the players were granted a day off on Sunday and Pogba used his to travel to France to attend a charity match. He returned to Carrington on Monday but was not able to take part in training.

Pogba's absence is a further blow for Solskjaer after Scott McTominay was ruled out for more than a month with knee ligament damage. The Scotland international has been on crutches since suffering the injury against Newcastle on Boxing Day.

Jose Mourinho has said the yellow card he received during Tottenham's 1-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton was "fair," because he was "rude to an idiot."

Spurs coach Mourinho was booked by referee Mike Dean on 77 minutes after the Portuguese approached the Southampton bench.

Mourinho seemed to cause an argument by making a comment to members of Southampton's coaching staff, leading Dean to present the yellow card to the former Manchester United boss, who nodded in agreement.

"I clearly deserved the yellow card as I was rude," Mourinho said after the game.

"But I was rude to an idiot. Because I was rude I deserved the yellow card."

Moments earlier the Spurs coach saw his captain Harry Kane depart the pitch with an injury. The England striker limped off while clutching his hamstring, having sustained the issue as he netted an offside strike.

"It is negative, hamstring is always negative," Mourinho said of the injury. "Is it a tear, is it a small thing, is it a spasm, is it a contraction? At this moment I cannot say."

Mourinho was also frustrated by Tanguy Ndombele's first-half injury, which saw the 23-year-old substituted.

"He is always injured," Mourinho said. "He's injured, he's not injured, he plays one match. We are full of hopes and this is since the beginning of the season.

"Of course it is a concern -- you think you have a player, you think the player is in an evolution process, he plays very well against Norwich, you think today he is ready for it and he is not ready for it."

Another source of frustration for the Portuguese was VAR's involvement in the game, which was settled by Danny Ings' 13th league goal of the season.

In particular, Mourinho said Spurs should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on Dele Alli.

"For me, at this moment, the referees are not the referees," he said. "VAR should be called video referees. Our [disallowed] goal I also don't know, but I confess that I didn't watch it yet.

"What I know is that the Dele Alli penalty was a penalty and the VAR didn't interfere. Then they interfered in the analysis of a penalty that from 75 yards away I knew was not a penalty.

"I think they gave the VAR analysis to try to make us blind about the penalty that was a penalty. They decide not even to analyse on the VAR. This is going in a very bad direction."

The defeat saw Spurs remain on 30 points, six behind fourth-placed Chelsea. It also meant the club's wait for a clean sheet away in the Premier League extended to exactly one year.

Dallas Stars winger Corey Perry was ejected from the 2020 Winter Classic for an elbow to the head of Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis.

In the first period at the Cotton Bowl, Ellis kept the puck in the attacking zone at the blue line. Perry skated in front of him and stuck his elbow up, making contact with Ellis' head. The Predators defenseman fell flat to the ice on his chest and remained there for over a minute.

Corey Perry gets thrown out of the Winter Classic for elbowing Ryan Ellis pic.twitter.com/0yeegUxh41

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) January 1, 2020

Perry was sent to the penalty box. After a conference, the officials gave him a major penalty for elbowing, which carries with it a game misconduct.

Ellis left the ice with the help of teammates and was carted to the dressing room and later ruled out for the game. Perry, meanwhile, took one of the longest walks of shame in NHL history, leaving the ice to walk down a runway and all the way up a tunnel to the Stars' dressing room in the Cotton Bowl.

Nashville gained a measure of revenge, scoring two power-play goals during the major penalty to take a 2-0 lead in the outdoor game.

Perry signed with Dallas in the offseason after 13 seasons with the Anaheim Ducks. He has three goals and 10 assists in 33 games.

Oklahoma lost a commitment from its 2021 class on Wednesday when ESPN Junior 300 quarterback Brock Vandagriff announced he was not going with the Sooners.

? pic.twitter.com/luGcDU7ZGI

— brock ? (@BrockVandagriff) January 1, 2020

Vandagriff is the No. 24-ranked prospect overall in his class and the No. 2 pocket passer. He's a 6-foot-3, 200-pound signal-caller from Prince Avenue Christian School in Bogart, Georgia.

Vandagriff had been committed to Oklahoma since June and was one of three ESPN Junior 300 commitments in the class. Oklahoma still has wide receiver Cody Jackson and athlete Ethan Downs committed.

When Vandagriff originally committed to Oklahoma, he had Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee on his list of top schools, among others.

Ohio State All-American cornerback Jeff Okudah declared for the NFL draft on Wednesday.

Okudah is ranked as the No. 5 overall player on Mel Kiper's latest Big Board and is his No. 1 cornerback.

In his announcement on Twitter, Okudah wrote, "As I embark on the next part of my journey, I leave feeling like there was still more to be accomplished by this team. However, I also leave knowing that the competitive excellence that makes Ohio State the best university in the country has been in place long before I arrived and will continue long after I leave."

Free Jefe. Jeremiah 29:11. pic.twitter.com/i9DSjUmrPa

— Jeff Okudah (@jokudah) January 1, 2020

He also wrote a letter to his late mother on The Players' Tribune, describing how Ohio State helped him through her death, shortly after he enrolled as a freshman in 2017. He also credits former coach Urban Meyer, current coach Ryan Day and defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley among many others for his development.

Okudah emerged one of the best cornerbacks in the country, not only earning unanimous All-American honors this past season, but also making the first-team All-Big Ten Team and becoming a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.

He played perhaps his best game of the season against Clemson in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Playstation Fiesta Bowl, limiting Clemson's explosive passing game and high-profile receivers in the 29-23 loss.

TULSA, Okla. — Thirty-nine-year-old Clint Wilson took six years off from racing, but he’s back and he’s ready to tackle the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals for the first time.

Wilson has teamed up with Jay Mounce and Gavin Stout of Mounce Motorsports to compete in the 34th edition of the midget racing spectacle on Jan. 13-18 on the temporary Tulsa Expo Raceway oval inside the River Spirit Expo Center.

“I wanted to step out of the box this year and experience the midget scene,” Wilson explained. “I hooked up with a team out of Tulsa — Mounce Motorsports, Jay Mounce and Gavin Stout — and we’ve joined forces. We’ve built cars for rentals for the Chili Bowl and the USAC tour.

“We’ve got really high-end cars that we feel are really competitive,” Wilson added. “They’re essentially taking me under their wings and getting me going from that perspective of the midgets.”

Wilson, who currently resides in Oregon after leaving Paradise, Calif., in the aftermath of the wildfire in 2018, began racing in 2007 at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif.

He spent seven years competing at the quarter-mile clay oval, but in 2013 he stepped away from competition to undergo surgery to repair some lingering injuries.

For the next six years, Wilson didn’t drive a race car. That changed in November, when he got back behind the wheel of a race car during the November Classic USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series event at Bakersfield Speedway.

“I’ve been trying to come back on a different level. I felt I needed to step out of the box to try something new, to get an experience I’ve never had in a different animal,” Wilson said. “I’ve always admired the midgets, I’ve always watched them, I’ve seen them, I’ve just haven’t had the hands-on experience with them or the opportunity to drive one.

“I just kind of jumped full force into it. I’m going to go for it.”

Wilson’s previous racing experience came in winged sprint cars. That makes competing at the Chili Bowl, a race that annually draws more than 300 of the best competitors from around the world to compete, an incredibly challenging endeavor.

Wilson says his only goal when he arrives in Tulsa, Okla., will be to survive as long as possible and enjoy the experience.

“As far as expectations, I’m only holding one at the top of the list. To survive and enjoy the atmosphere of what the Chili Bowl produces,” Wilson said. “I’ve watched it for years on TV. It’s just one of those things that if you do get to experience it and you get to feel the energy and everything out there, you might grow from it and you might make it work for you.

“This is a big learning curve for me in the midget, I want to give it my all and I want to be able to show that I can do this because I know I can,” Wilson added. “It’s a matter of having the right chemistry and the right people around you and if you don’t have that, you don’t get to experience it the way you should.”

Wilson, who said he and his wife are planning to move to Tulsa, Okla., to be closer to the Mounce Motorsports shop, will be part of a four-car effort by the team at the Chili Bowl. While Wilson will drive the No. C27 house car, Mounce Motorsports will also field cars for Trey Gropp, Daniel Sanchez and Austin Shores.

Beyond the Chili Bowl, Wilson says he’s planning to return to racing in a big way during the upcoming season. While he and the Mounce Motorsports team hasn’t set a schedule yet, Wilson said he hopes to compete in midgets and winged sprint cars during the upcoming season.

“The wife and I are planning to relocate to Tulsa out in Oklahoma to be closer to the team and the environment and more racing,” Wilson said. “I want to implement my winged program in the Midwest and I want to race on bigger tracks. I want more experience in places that aren’t just repetitive.

“We don’t have anything in concrete yet, but I do know that I will be racing some USAC midget stuff, ASCS stuff and some All Star races.”

SPEED SPORT’s Chili Bowl coverage is presented by MyRacePass, the official timing and scoring app of the 2020 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. Fans can download the MyRacePass app on their phones to follow all the action during the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. For more information on MyRacePass, visit www.myracepass.com and use the hashtag #GetTheApp on Twitter!

At the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions, Justin Thomas stood fourth on the Official World Golf Ranking.

At this year’s edition, he stands fourth again.

But what happened between then and now was not a standstill. Thomas dealt with a wrist injury that led to a withdrawal from May’s PGA Championship. He competed in the other three majors, but never cracked the top 10 and missed the cut in the U.S. Open.

Thomas dropped to 10^th in the world following the first FedExCup Playoff event. And then, for the first time in 12 months, he won a title.

Thomas captured the BMW Championship, and followed that by winning the CJ Cup three starts later. Just like that, he was back inside the OWGR top 5, reminding everyone who might have forgotten that few are better when things are clicking.

“I wouldn't say anybody slept on me last year,” Thomas said Tuesday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. “I didn't play very well to start the year, and I didn't – I hadn't won at all, and I dropped five to 10 in the world rankings, so there's a lot of people that were playing better than me and winning more tournaments.

“Yeah, I could have been a pity party and asked for more attention, but I definitely didn't deserve anything special.”

“Special” would describe Thomas’ previous two seasons on Tour. He won five times in 2017 and twice more in 2018. Along the way, he became a major champions, PGA Tour Player of the Year and world No. 1.

Part of that success happened in Hawaii, where he won the Tournament of Champions and Sony Open in back-to-back weeks in 2017. When the man gets hot, he stays hot.

The problem last year was that he couldn’t get that necessary spark. He finished inside the top 3 in three of his first four 2019 starts, but the injury severely stalled him. Upon his return, it was mostly middling results until his breakthrough at Medinah.

“Even with the injury happening, I tried to stay patient, and I was glad to see it kind of come back to how it felt like it should have been at the end of the year,” Thomas said.

Now 26, Thomas is more established veteran than new kid on the block. That latter association goes to the likes of Matthew Wolff, 20, and Collin Morikawa, 22, who are in this week’s winners-only field.

“It is crazy. I mean, I still think I'm very young. I mean, 26 years old. But in terms of guys that are out here, I'm definitely not the young one anymore,” Thomas said. “It is kind of nuts how fast it's gone by. I think when you don't have that time, that couple months to just kind of relax and do whatever, when it's kind of bang-bang-bang from January to December, it goes by pretty fast.”

That may be in Thomas’ favor this week. Given his history of riding hot streaks, jumping back in the mix at Kapalua – where he has gone T-21, win, T-22, third in four starts – might be a good thing.

Each season, Thomas types professional goals into his phone’s notebook. At the end of the campaign, he shows it to the public. There were more N’s than Y’s for 2018-19.

The 2019-20 season is off to a good start with one victory in two official starts. No doubt, he’s seeking more major success and a return to world No. 1.

“I'm disappointed I haven't achieved more to be honest until this far. I shouldn't say disappointed, but I mean, I'm obviously very – I'm pleased with my career thus far, but I feel like I could have and should have won a lot more tournaments and definitely should have contended and won some more majors. So that's just my opinion,” he said.

“I mean, all the motivation I need to get to No. 1 in the world is in myself. I don't need to try to prove anybody wrong. I don't need to do it because people said I can't. Because I want to be there is big enough motivation for me.”