Published: May 29, 2007 08:55 am      

— Turtle power —

Tortoise waxes competition in Zoopolis 500 race event

INDIANAPOLIS —At 100 years old she’s decided to throw in the towel and retire from racing, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have one last push to the finish line in her.

Tortoise “Lyn St. James” won the 26th running, make that crawling, of the Zoopolis 500 at the Indianapolis Zoo.

Sam Hornish Jr., winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500, oversaw the race as grand marshal.

Hornish might have been on hand as a defending champ but he remembered eight years ago when the zoo first asked him to be grand marshal.

“It was my rookie year so it was the only (public relations event) they asked me to do,” he said.

He remembered races over the years when Lyn was joined by 80-year-old fellow Aldebra tortoise A.J., who retired after last year’s event and is now spending his golden years in the zoo’s desert exhibit.

This year, Lyn battled four 10-year-old radiated tortoises — Rick Meers, Al Unser Sr., Janet Guthrie, and Mario Andretti — and showed she can still move. Hornish said Lyn outdid herself in her final appearance.

“We’ve seen it take 20 minutes for the finish where Lyn and A.J. didn’t want to go down the track,” he said. “I don’t think I ever saw (a race) that quick.”

Scores of school children yelled Lyn’s name, hoping to encourage her to cross the finish line first.

But the race wasn’t even close. By the time the other four crossed the finish line, Lyn was enjoying her moment of stardom with television cameramen moving in for close-ups.

She munched on fruit at the finish line and was joined by her smaller and younger cousins.

kristine.brite@flyergroup.com