Will Power flirted with the idea of hurling a baseball much like a cricket bowler would throw the ball toward a batsman.
Power, an Australian former rugby and cricket player, had second thoughts as he took the mound to throw the first pitch before a recent Philadelphia Phillies game.
"I'd probably get booed," he said, laughing.
Will Power adjusts his visor before a practice session for Sunday's IndyCar series auto race, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, in Long Pond, Pa. (AP PhotoMatt Slocum)
Even Aussies know what triggers the official sound of contempt in Philly.
Power might have heard worse had fans tagged him as bad luck when he left in the fifth inning of Philadelphia's 24-4 loss to the New York Mets.
"I felt bad. I was like, whew, this is a tough gig," Power said.
Power finds himself behind on the scoreboard as well, when IndyCar returns from a two-week hiatus for Sunday's race at Pocono Raceway.
The Indianapolis 500 champion is fourth in the standings, 87 points behind leader Scott Dixon. With four races left this season, Alexander Rossi is second in the points race and defending series champion Josef Newgarden is third.
"It's quite a points deficit to come back from," Power said. "But it's not impossible."
Power's run toward a second IndyCar championship — to pair with his 2014 title — shifts into another gear at Pocono, where he's won the last two races and has an average finish of fourth since in the five races since the series returned to the mountains in 2013.
Power was forced to pit early in last season's race to repair a broken wing and rallied from a lap down to win. He held Mikhail Aleshin at bay after a final restart to win at the track in 2016.
He's had a few missteps in the No. 12 Chevrolet for Team Penske this season that left him looking up at Dixon in the title picture. Power's wins at Indy and Iowa have been offset in the standings a bit by crashes that prevented him from finishing four races.
Dixon, who just signed a contract extension with Chip Ganassi Racing, has been about flawless this season. At 38, he's leading the series in pursuit of his fifth IndyCar title. Dixon has three wins this season and leads Rossi by 46 points in the standings.
"He's as perfect as you can be in IndyCar," Power said.
Dixon has six podium finishes and 11 top-10 starts in 13 races. It will take something wild — a massive wreck, an engine failure — to knock Dixon out of first. The driver known as "Iceman" isn't going to screw up his lead on his own.
"Everyone has their bad runs, even if it's not their fault," Power said. "At some point in the season, you're going to get caught out. He hasn't had that yet. Maybe he has a perfect season."
Dixon has one win and hasn't finished worse than ninth in five races at Pocono.
"We're in a strong position, but it doesn't guarantee you anything," Dixon said. "I think with the (contract extension), it gives us a good injection to stay focused and make sure we make the most of these opportunities because they don't come around too easy or very often."
Power knows better than any driver how a sure thing can slip into heartbreak once the final checkered flag is dropped. He won five races and led the points standings in 2010 for 15 out of 16 races until he finished 25th in the finale and lost the title to Dario Franchitti.
Power finished second in the standings from 2010 to 2012 and found each consolation prize more crushing than the last. He kept framed photos of two trophies in his room for inspiration: one of the Astor Cup (which is awarded to the series champion) and one of the Borg-Warner Trophy for the Indianapolis 500 winner.
He knocked one goal off in '14 with the series title and reached the second this season when he won Indy in his 11th try.
Dixon scrolls through his phone ("plenty of baby photos") before he finds the picture he's looking for — the side-by-side photos of the trophies with his championship rings resting in front of the frames.
The Indy win was the 17th for team owner Roger Penske.
For Power, his first made his season.
"Everything else is a bonus," he said. "No matter what happens, it will be a fantastic season."
Power will make his 201st career start on Sunday and, at 37, has no immediate plans of calling it quits any year soon.
"I feel like I'm better than I've ever been," Power said.
He's always a driver to beat at Pocono — a favorite at a 500-mile race just like another big one he won this season.
"I need to have a good race," he said. "Get back in the game."
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ISTANBUL (AP) — More than 40 people remained stranded in cable cars high above a mountain in southern Turkey on Saturday, 19 hours after one pod hit a pole and burst open, killing one person and injuring seven.
The accident occurred around 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Tunektepe cable car just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya during the busy Eid al-Fitr holiday. Operations to rescue the stranded people continued throughout the night.
“128 citizens in 16 pods have been rescued under difficult conditions,” Okay Memis, director of the Turkish search and rescue agency AFAD, told media Saturday morning. “The rescue of 43 others in eight remaining pods is ongoing.”
He added that rescuers hope to complete rescue operations before dark.
The casualties occurred when a pod hit a pole and burst open, sending its passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials said.
State-run Anadolu Agency identified the deceased as a 54-year-old Turkish man. The injured were six Turkish citizens and one Kyrgyz national, including two children. They were rescued by Coast Guard helicopters.
Images in Turkish media showed the battered car swaying from dislodged cables on the side of the rocky mountain as medics tended the wounded.
A total of 543 first responders and seven helicopters are involved in the rescue operations, including teams from AFAD, the Coast Guard, firefighting teams and mountaineering teams from different parts of Turkey, officials said.
Friday was the final day of a three-day public holiday in Turkey marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which sees families flock to coastal resorts.
The cable car carries tourists from Konyaalti beach to a restaurant and viewing platform at the summit of the 618-meter (2,010-foot) Tunektepe peak. It is run by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The cable car line was completed in 2017 and receives a major inspection around the beginning of the year, as well as routine inspections throughout the year.
Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation. An expert commission including mechanical and electrical engineers and health and safety experts was assigned to determine the cause of the incident.
Rescue and emergency team members work with passengers of a cable car transportation system outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. At least one person was killed and several injured Friday when a cable car pod in southern Turkey hit a pole and burst open, sending the passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials and local media said. Scores of other people were left stranded late into the night after the entire cable car system came to a standstill. (Dia Images via AP)
Rescue and emergency team members work with passengers of a cable car transportation system outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. At least one person was killed and several injured Friday when a cable car pod in southern Turkey hit a pole and burst open, sending the passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials and local media said. Scores of other people were left stranded late into the night after the entire cable car system came to a standstill. (Dia Images via AP)
Rescue and emergency team members work with passengers of a cable car transportation system outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. At least one person was killed and several injured Friday when a cable car pod in southern Turkey hit a pole and burst open, sending the passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials and local media said. Scores of other people were left stranded late into the night after the entire cable car system came to a standstill. (Dia Images via AP)
A rescue team work with passengers of a cable car transportation systems outside Antalya, southern Turkey, April, Friday 12, 2024. A cable car disaster in southern Turkey left one person dead and seven injured over the busy Eid al-Fitr public holiday on Friday, local media reported. (IHA via AP)
A severely damaged cabin of a cable car transportation system is seen outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. At least one person was killed and several injured Friday when a cable car pod in southern Turkey hit a pole and burst open, sending the passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials and local media said. Scores of other people were left stranded late into the night after the entire cable car system came to a standstill. (Dia Images via AP)
Rescue and emergency team members work with passengers of a cable car transportation system outside Antalya, southern Turkey, Friday, April 12, 2024. At least one person was killed and several injured Friday when a cable car pod in southern Turkey hit a pole and burst open, sending the passengers plummeting to the mountainside below, officials and local media said. Scores of other people were left stranded late into the night after the entire cable car system came to a standstill. (Dia Images via AP)
