Twenty-four-year-old Jacques Villeneuve drives out of the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the world at his feet. Chicago Bears David Montgomery Jersey . It is the Monday after the day before, a day that forever changed the life of the young Canadian. That day Villeneuve, fittingly driving the number 27 that become so synonymous with his father Gilles at Ferrari, comes from two laps down to win the 1995 Indianapolis 500. He had spent the day smiling and posing for hundreds of photographs that are beamed all across the world. By the end of the year he has a multi-year contract in his pocket at the best team in Formula One, Williams-Renault. Within two years Villeneuve is World Champion and is a star everywhere he goes. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis 500 continues on without him. As Villeneuve departed for Europe, IndyCar split in two and has never fully recovered from the bitter divorce. The Indy 500s list of drivers in the late 90s lacked real star power and it lost a grip on being the biggest race in the world. Slowly the giant teams like Penske, Ganassi and Andretti returned and with them came world class, elite drivers. For some ten years now, the Indy 500 is back to what it once was, testing some of the greatest single-seater drivers the world has to offer. It is the second Sunday in May and Jacques Villeneuve, now 43, drives back inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Dressed in a yellow race suit with Dollar General written all over it he looks nothing like what many would expect a former F1 World Champion to look. He doesnt have the amount of hair he once had but he is back at Indy as a driver, the first time in 19 years. He stops to sign autographs and pose for photographs as he makes that famous walk, paved by greatness, that the likes of A.J. Foyt, Jim Clark, Rick Mears and other stars have taken, alongside Gasoline Alley to the pit lane. The diehard fans stare and flock towards him but he is far from the main attraction at the Speedway. Villeneuve, not a regular on the IndyCar circuit, does remarkably well with attention but here he is just another driver, one that doesnt travel in packs with fellow drivers. He is a man from past glories back to recreate new memories of his own. "I hardly know anyone to be honest. I know (Takuma) Sato, but I never raced against him and I have never raced against anyone who is a regular in this series. That is weird because I dont know what to expect, I dont know how they race. Which one is clean? Dirty? Crazy? So its definitely a bit strange, yes." The answer is typical Jacques. He talks of not knowing anyone but immediately he means as drivers, not as men. Our conversation immediately turns to scenarios that can take place on the track. Villeneuve doesnt talk in clichés and for someone who has done as much media as he has in his life, he remains a refreshingly deep-thinker who can take you on the same journey as his mind. We talk about this upcoming Sunday and the Indy 500, and the point when he will be travelling in excess of 230 miles per hour with cars all around him. His eyes squint as he dictates word-for-word his precise thoughts as he gets set to compete in what he describes as the biggest race in the world. "The complexity of this race now is running in traffic. The cars have two hundred horsepower less than 19 years ago and much more grip and to be able to stay super close to the cars, while everyone is running flat out, the key is to stay close to someone else, (ready for) when he has to lift, back out a little bit because of the traffic in front of him, then you steal his momentum. "Thats really tough, as you get in the turbulent air behind someone, your whole car is shaking and thats when the car starts sliding and you can lose the front end or the rear end a little bit and, at that point, do you have the guts to keep your foot down or not and is your car working in that situation?" This is a world he has little control in, a frightening thought for even the greatest of race drivers. Villeneuve, who will start, fittingly, in the 27th spot for Sundays race, continues: "I will be surrounded by guys who respect the danger and others who think its a video game and, at those speeds, its risky and thats what I still dont know, who to trust and who not to trust out there. With more grip and less horsepower, the cars are very forgiving. I have got sideways a few times already this month and if I did that 19 years ago I would have been in the wall. "I think they give a false sense of security for some of the drivers and thats why you see kids coming in and, within three laps, they are flat out because I dont think they respect how dangerous it is. Once you get caught out, then you start respecting it and at Indianapolis there are two kinds of drivers, the ones who have hit the wall and the ones who havent hit the wall." It is clear Villeneuve is almost as concerned about those who havent hit the wall than hitting the wall himself. "This is not a track where you want to make a mistake. The speeds we go is exciting, it is unparalleled. It is a long race and my approach (in the past) was to mind your own business and it will come to you. You have to know when to take a risk and when not to. Normally in the first half, the idiots will crash themselves out so if you can stay clean to 100 laps then that can be useful!" There arent too many drivers in IndyCar who will refer to some of the colleagues as idiots but this is what comes with the honest, direct Villeneuve who survived the world of Formula One without turning into a robot, something very few have done in recent years. He admits he still watches Formula One but not the same way he once did: "I dont like or understand the reason behind the new rules but we have had some amazing races this year. Why? Only because the teammates have been allowed to fight. When you had Prost and Senna (at McLaren in the late 80s) they would lap the field but everyone was happy so we have a bit of that now with Lewis (Hamilton) and Nico (Rosberg). "The rules themselves, though, are not F1. The sport should be out of this world, not reality. You should look at it and say thats crazy how do these guys manage to drive these kinds of cars at those speeds. In the original turbo engine era they would do qualifying and then throw the engine in the garbage. Thats F1. It should be so extreme that when you are at home, and you are not a racer, you know thats another world. Now you are at home and think I could do that. There is nothing special about it anymore." The man who won 11 Grand Prix races has never been one to focus too much on the past but it is clear he knows those eras were far superior to modern day F1. He smiles when asked about the 1997 season but moves off from it as quickly as it comes up. "It was fun but I dont dwell on the past, I never have and thats why I want my kids to see me drive. I dont want to be for my kids, the guy that used to race that they can see in books." Those books tell a remarkable tale of one of the finest Canadians to ever compete in any sport. On Sunday at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing another chapter is to be written. Custom Bears Jerseys . In a pregame tribute commemorating his final contest at Coors Field on Wednesday night, Helton caught the ceremonial first pitch from his daughter with his wife, younger daughter and good friend Peyton Manning watching from the field. Cheap Chicago Bears Gear . The best round belonged to Pat Perez. Tiger Woods didnt come close to claiming either Thursday in the Farmers Insurance Open, where the seven-time champion failed to break par in the opening round for first time in his career. http://www.bearscheap.com/ . Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray is in his prime and back for a third season in double blue. The 34-year old was magnificent in 2013, throwing for just under 2,900 yards despite missing eight games, tossing an impressive 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions, completing 66 per cent of his passes in the process. PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby left little doubt about who remains the best player from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Thats fine by Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche. At the moment, theyll settle for one of the best records in the NHL. Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 34 shots and the surprising Avalanche edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0 on Monday night to improve to 8-1 on the young season. "Its a new season, new attitude," Giguere said. "I would have believed being over .500 (early) but not 8-1." Believe it. Gabriel Landeskog scored the games only goal 5:26 into the second period and Giguere made it stand to post his second shutout in 11 days. The 36-year-old handled the Boston Bruins on the road on Oct. 10 and might have been even better against the Penguins. It helps to have a coach who knows a thing or two about keeping the puck out of the net. Hall of Famer Patrick Roy is thriving in his first season on the bench and his young team -- along with its not-so-young backup goaltender -- is thriving. The Avalanche have allowed just 12 goals in nine games. "Yes, our goaltenders have been outstanding (and) everybody is talking about our team," Roy said. "Everyone is part of our success right now. Its a 23-man story." The first professional meeting between MacKinnon and Crosby failed to produce fireworks, not that Crosby didnt try. He pumped a season-high seven shots at Giguere and played more than 26 minutes. MacKinnon, by comparison, produced two shots in 10:54 of ice time as the Avalanche spent a large portion of the night relying on their penalty killers. Pittsburgh went 0 for 7 on the power play, generating numerous scoring chances but not a goal. "We did a lot of good things and probably deserved better," Crosby said. "Thats how the game works sometimes. Sometimes you dont deserve them and you find a way to win and tonight we deserved better and didnt find a way to win." MacKinnon spent most of his childhood growing up in Crosbys considerable shadow in the town of about 25,000 hard against the Atlantic Ocean. He followed a similar path to the NHL, playing on the same junior team Crosby once starred for and showcasing prodigious talent as a playmaker. Taken with the drafts top pick nearly a decade after Crosby, MacKinnon has a goal and six assists through his first nine games, a pace not too far off the one Crosby set during hiss rookie season in 2005-06. Chicago Bears Riley Ridley Jersey. . Crosby said before the game hes hardly surprised at how well MacKinnon has fit in but the two brushed aside any talk of a battle for local bragging rights, perhaps because their arrivals into the NHL couldnt be more different. Unlike Crosby, whose presence almost single-handedly revitalized a sagging franchise, the 18-year-old MacKinnon is not viewed as a saviour, but a piece of what is quickly becoming a compelling puzzle. The Penguins dominated the early going, but had nothing to show for it as four power plays went to waste. Buzzing Giguere constantly, Pittsburgh peppered the veteran from all angles. The 11-4 advantage in shots didnt even include the dozen Gigueres teammates blocked before they even made their way to the net. Colorado steadied itself in the second period and caught a bit of a break when the puck made its way to Landeskog shortly after he exited the box after serving a hooking penalty. He skated into the Pittsburgh zone and fired a wrist shot from the right circle that handcuffed Marc-Andre Fleury and sailed into the net for his third goal of the season. "I couldnt see it," said Fleury, who finished with 13 saves. "The guy was going blocker side and (teammate Brandon Sutter) tried to get the puck going one way and it went the other way." It was enough to send the Penguins into the dressing room trailing at home after two periods for the first time this season. The Avalanche felt comfortable enough with the lead to sit back and frustrate the Penguins. It worked. Giguere was spectacular at times, no more so than when he robbed Chris Kunitz with a glove save at the end of a 2-on-1 break with less than 8 minutes remaining. Pittsburgh continued to press but Giguere never budged. Neither did the players in front of him on a night the Avalanche blocked 22 shots. "You have to give them credit," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "They had more than Giguere get in the way tonight." NOTES: Pittsburgh D Kris Letang skated with his teammates on Monday morning, but remains out with an undisclosed lower body injury. Coach Dan Byslma said the Norris Trophy finalist is nearing a return ... The Avalanche scratched D Nick Holden, D Tyson Barrie and F Cody McLeod ... The Penguins are off until Friday, when they host the New York Islanders. The Avalanche head home to play Carolina on Friday. 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