Thanks Thelma Lou for the comments, and noting the problem with the link. Here is a paste of the article for those who could not get to it. ------------------------------------------------------------ The melody of May (by Will Higgins, Indianapolis Star) On race day, actor-singer Jim Nabors is as much a Hoosier as anyone. His rendition of '(Back Home Again in) Indiana' opens the Indy 500 . . . and we open our hearts to him. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in a bid to draw younger fans, is turning more and more to music. In the past two weeks, half a dozen of the latest, loudest, shaggiest, most angst-filled bands -- Saliva, among others -- have performed on the official infield stage in Pagoda Plaza. But despite such earnest efforts to hip up the venerable Brickyard, the musician who's far and away the fan favorite is the lovable, decidedly uncool Jim Nabors -- television's Gomer Pyle. Nearly every year since 1972, Nabors, 76, has been the one to sing "(Back Home Again in) Indiana" over the public-address system moments before the start of the 500-Mile Race. Fans rise, cheer, even weep at Nabors' version of the tune, a pre-race staple since 1946 and beloved for its lilting, wistful references to sycamore trees, "new-mown hay" and the "moonlight on the Wabash." "I cry every year, and every time I go over the Wabash River on I-65, I think of that song and Jim Nabors," said Brian Shaw, a 46-year-old warehouse manager in Indianapolis and an avid race fan. Nabors, however, downplays his role at the Speedway, saying it's "(Back Home Again in) Indiana" that people go gaga for, not him. "It's just a beautiful song," he says in a phone interview. "It'd make anyone nostalgic, no matter where they were raised." It's just the kind of answer you'd expect from the man who made his name playing the humble hick Gomer Pyle on "The Andy Griffith Show." His shtick was to talk in a high-pitched, hillbilly voice (Nabors was born in a small town in Alabama) but to sing in a deep, melodious baritone. So popular was the juxtaposition that Nabors soon was starring in his own show, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." A testament to Nabors' gentleness is his refusal to say which of the two '60s sitcoms he likes best. "They're totally different," he insists. "You can't compare them." By the time he first visited the Speedway in 1972, Nabors was headlining in Las Vegas. He attended his first Indianapolis 500 as the guest of Bill Harrah, the Vegas impresario and race fan. The Speedway's owner, Tony Hulman, knew Harrah and dropped by his seat for a brief visit on race morning. Hulman recognized Nabors. "He said, 'Welcome; want to sing?' " Nabors recalls. " 'Sure,' I said. " It was a last-minute proposition. He was to go on in 20 minutes. Nabors assumed he'd been asked to sing the national anthem. Only moments before showtime was he told otherwise. Hulman, who died in 1977, was not known for doing things haphazardly, but he may have been panicked over the "(Back Home Again in) Indiana" debacle a year earlier when retired driver Peter DePaolo, the 1925 Indy 500 winner, did the honors. "DePaolo had an excellent voice," says Donald Davidson, the Speedway's historian, "but he was not a professional, and on that day I remember him being horribly off-tune, achingly off-tune." Nabors was a professional, but even so, he needed all his poise on that first go-round. He knew the tune to "(Back Home Again in) Indiana" but not all the words. Hurriedly, he scribbled some key words on his hand. He pulled off the song masterfully and has been back ever since, missing just a handful of years, once because he was seriously ill, and other times because he had other engagements. Nabors has never been paid for singing at the Speedway and has never asked to be. He receives expenses only. He stays for free at the Brickyard Crossing Inn on the grounds of the Speedway, usually arriving the Thursday before the race via an all-night flight from Honolulu. He naps, then later in the day models clothing at an annual charity fashion show put on by the Championship Auto Racing Auxiliary. "Last year, they had us in furs," he recalls. Friday, he takes it easy, and Saturday he rides in the IPL 500 Festival Parade. Saturday night, he attends a swanky private party hosted by Mari Hulman George, the Speedway's chairwoman. Nabors' best friends at these events are fellow 1960s show-business folks and Indy 500 regulars Florence Henderson, who played the mom on "The Brady Bunch," and comedian Ruth Buzzi. Both are expected this year. Nabors approaches his "500" duty casually. He never practices the song, not even in the shower. Not once since he's been singing it has he rehearsed it with the Purdue University Marching Band, which accompanies him. He has a two-night stand next month at a Connecticut Indian casino called the Mohegan Sun. He still sings for fun when he's knocking around Diamond Head, mostly songs from Broadway musicals or country and western songs -- older ones. Nabors does not know Saliva and in fact does not see the appeal of most of today's music. "I can't find the melody line," he says. He has no plans to give up his annual Speedway gig. "As long as I can sing," he says. "As long as they call me."
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