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NEW YORK — It had been 641 days since Shohei Ohtani last threw a pitch to a live hitter from a big-league mound.
At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, inside an empty Citi Field on a cool afternoon in Queens, he did so again — this time, for the first time, in a Dodger blue uniform.
Nineteen months removed from a second career Tommy John procedure that has limited the two-way star to hitting-only duties during his first season and a half with the Dodgers, Ohtani threw a live batting practice session on Sunday in what was the biggest step in his pitching progression yet.
In five at-bats against Hyeseong Kim, Dalton Rushing and game-planning coach JT Watkins, Ohtani threw 22 pitches. He was 94-97 mph with his fastball, and used his full repertoire, including his sweeper. He had two strikeouts and one walk. He fielded a comebacker from Kim in his first at-bat. He gave up a line drive to right then next time Kim came to the plate.
But most of all, he seemed overjoyed to be throwing in a simulated environment again, joking with coaches and laughing with teammates throughout the first of several live sessions that precede his expected return to the rotation sometime after the July All-Star break.
“He’s looking forward to pitching,” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “And I think today was great because he was able to keep the mood light, but be able to maintain real stuff. I think that’s always important. He didn’t look like he was having stress or [was] under stress to amp up, try to generate any of his power. He was loose and it was all free and easy. So that’s always a positive.”
Sunday had been a long time coming for Ohtani, the three-time MVP with a career 3.01 ERA in 86 career big-league starts.
Last year, at the outset of his pitching rehab, Ohtani progressed from simple catch play to regular bullpens by the end of the regular season. He wasn’t far off from being able to face hitters by the time the playoffs started, but the Dodgers decided to dial back his pitching progression so he could focus on his first career MLB postseason.
An offseason surgery on Ohtani’s non-throwing left shoulder further delayed his pitching plan entering spring camp this year, limiting him only to a handful of bullpens before the club departed for its season-opening trip to Japan.
Ohtani resumed bi-weekly bullpens once the regular season started — lighter sessions on Wednesdays followed by more intensive ones on the weekends — and had been increasing the number of pitches in his bullpens over recent weeks.
This past week, he also began reincorporating his sweeper for the first time since getting hurt, one of the last boxes he had to check before Sunday’s live BP.
While the Dodgers have been wary of laying out the specific checkpoints that remain before Ohtani can join the team’s rotation, manager Dave Roberts said it’s unlikely he pitches any big-league games until after the All-Star break.
“I just think that you’re talking about end of May, he’s doing his first simulated game,” Roberts said Saturday night. “And in theory, you got to build a starter up to five, six innings. And so just the natural progression, I just don’t see it being before that.”
Still, Sunday was the most tangible sign yet of Ohtani’s nearing return to pitching.
“He has taken a very methodical approach to this. We’ve tried to take a very methodical approach to this, understanding the uniqueness of the situation,” Prior said. “I will never, and I don’t think anybody in that room would ever, doubt what he can do. But, you know, still got a long way to go. We’ll see where it comes out at the end of this year.”
What is known is that Kevin de Bruyne played his final game against the Cottagers, bringing to an end a trophy-laden decade at the club.
There does not appear to be any way back for Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips and Maximo Perrone, who have all been out on loan this season.
Guardiola signed defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in January which could spell the end for the injury-prone duo of John Stones and Nathan Ake.
Goalkeeper Ederson was heavily-linked with a move to Saudi Arabia last summer and those rumours may resurface. Third-choice Scott Carson is out of contract this summer, while reports suggest midfielder Bernardo Silva wants a new challenge away from the Premier League.
And what about Ilkay Gundogan? The 34-year-old midfielder re-joined from Barcelona in the summer and has failed to hit the same heights as his first spell, but did score a stunning bicycle kick against Fulham.
It will be an important period of transition off the pitch too. Guardiola’s long-time associate Begiristain, who he has enjoyed so much success with at both City and Barcelona, will leave this summer and Viana has already started as the new director of football.
Qualifying for the Champions League is worth more than £100m for English teams and City are in a strong position to spend this summer, having posted a record revenue of £715m in their latest accounts, with an overall pre-tax profit of £73.8m.
One player they won’t be moving for – as this stage – is Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz owning to the cost of doing a deal, but Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White remains of interest while AC Milan’s Tijjani Reijnders has been heavily linked, external with a move to Etihad Stadium.
“I don’t have that feeling,” Guardiola said of a rebuild. “Maybe the club is a little different but I have 24 players and I saw them training the other day and said how good they are.
“New faces will come, especially in positions where we are weaker, but I don’t think a lot. We have players under contract who want to stay here and I don’t want a lot of players.”
City will be glad to see the back of a disappointing campaign but don’t have to wait long to make amends, returning to action in just 24 days’ time at the Club World Cup.
The land of opportunity awaits and may provide the first step to redemption for Guardiola and his men.
Ange Postecoglou says his team have had an “outstanding” season by winning the Europa League and qualifying for the Champions League, depite their 4-1 defeat by Brighton leaving Tottenham finishing the Premier League campaign in 17th place.
It’s been 12 months since Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward tasted arguably the biggest defeat of his career. He was leading the competition until the final lap in the Indy 500 when he was passed by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.
That afternoon, O’Ward wept bitterly after again being denied the ultimate victory at a track where he has performed well. During his three Indy 500 appearances, the Monterrey, Mexico, native has two second-place finishes — in 2022 and 2024 — and $3.16 million in winnings.
O’Ward enters Sunday’s 109th Indianapolis 500 (9:45 a.m. PDT on Fox) as the slight favorite to win the Indy 500.
The other major contender on Sunday is Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou of Spain. The Sant Antoni de Vilamajor native, the reigning IndyCar Series defending champion, has won four of the season’s five races, although he has never won the Indianapolis 500.
Pato O’Ward, front and center, is comforted by a crew member after finishing second in the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2024, in Indianapolis.
(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
For many, O’Ward also is a sentimental favorite after showing he can rally from setbacks and compete for wins. O’Ward finished last season in fifth place, with three wins and six top-five finishes. He is fourth in the standings with two top-five finishes and one pole.
“It’s the hunger to win, to be able to come back and have another shot. I love what I do, I love my job,” O’Ward told L.A. Times en Español when asked about his resilience heading into Sunday’s race.
This week, the native of Monterrey decided to prepare pozole and quesadillas for his team. When he’s in Indianapolis, he usually tries to avoid the hustle and bustle and concentrate on winning.
“I live, breathe and sleep with racing,” said O’Ward, whose racing career began in karting in 2005.
“This has been a goal that’s been living pretty much in my head for many years,” added O’Ward, who qualified 232.098 mph on the 2.5-mile oval and will enter Sunday’s front row, the first Mexican to do so in the history of the Indy 500.
O’Ward, who drives the No. 5 car, has seven IndyCar Series victories and has progressed far from his early days as an inexperienced kid who shyly gave media interviews.
He has kept a tight circle around him as he has worked to improve.
“For people on the outside, it’s hard for us to welcome them because I like to keep things pretty tight-lipped,” said O’Ward, whose team is made up mostly of family members. “It’s people you trust them with your eyes closed and you always know they’re doing their best for you.”
Today, O’Ward is one of the leading faces of the series, with thousands of fans from around the world wearing T-shirts with his name on them to support him in a stadium that has already sold out its 250,000 seats despite the drama surrounding last year’s winning team.
Team Penske has been in the spotlight after it was punished for using modified attenuators, which resulted in failed technical inspections last Sunday. The team was accused of stuffing and smoothing the seams of the rear attenuator, a part that is standard for all teams and therefore cannot be modified.
Pato O’Ward drives into the second turn during the IndyCar Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 10.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
Upon hearing the news, O’Ward showed his frustration. IndyCar on Monday announced penalties to Team Penske for placing Newgarden and Will Power in the final starting positions for the race, as well as $100,000 fines for each car that failed inspections.
The Team Penske car, which Newgarden won with in 2024, is now in the renovated IMS Museum and features a modified rear attenuator similar to the one seen Sunday at Indianapolis that resulted in penalties. In addition, photos have been released from last year’s race in which the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet appears to have those same modifications.
“Looking ahead to the remainder of the week and this weekend’s race, we will do everything we can to make it clear that these are not only the best races on the planet, but races where the best win under completely fair conditions,” Indycar President J. Douglas Boles said in a statement.
After learning of the punishments, Team Penske owner Roger Penske fired three Team Penske executives: President Tim Cindric, Chief Executive Ron Ruzewski and general manager Kyle Moyer.
Roger Penske owns the IndyCar Series through Penske Entertainment Group, in addition to owning Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500, creating more questions about the perceptions of conflict of interest ahead of Sunday’s race and the rest of the IndyCar Series season.
Palou wants his first Indy 500 win
Palou, known for his calm, consistency and composure on the track, has yet to win the Indy 500. Despite having four wins in the first five races of the season, drawing comparisons to the four straight victories by the legendary A.J. Foyt in 1964, Palou is not satisfied and wants a “life-changing” win.
Palou scored a second-place finish in 2021 in the Indy 500 and earned $2.8 million from that race.
“Obviously, it’s the one race that I know and that we all know is life-changing for a driver. I’ve won four this year and it hasn’t changed my life,” Palou, 28, explained to L.A. Times en Español. “On the other hand, winning this weekend’s 500, the 500 miles, I believe and I know that it changes the life of the drivers who win it.”
Palou, the winner of the 2021, 2023 and 2024 IndyCar championships, qualified at 231.378 mph in his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car to start sixth on the grid Sunday.
Spain’s Alex Palou, center, celebrates after winning the IndyCar Grand Prix auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 10. Pato O’Ward, of Mexico, left, finished second and Will Power, of Australia, finished third.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
The Spaniard said he is going through the best moment of his career, not only in sport, but also in his personal life, as he enjoys spending time with his 18-month old daughter, Lucia, born in 2023.
“It’s harder, it’s a lot more work and it’s impossible to have a good strategy to win that competition because every day it changes,” Palou said about caring for his daughter. “But it has been the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. The feeling when she smiles, when she hugs me or when she tells me something. She’s 18 months old now, but she’s still starting to say ‘Daddy’ and she’s starting to say things and it’s amazing.”
Despite winning the second championship in a row, Palou said his team has continued its intense pace.
“I would say that basically that’s the great work of the team and that after winning the championship no one has relaxed. That’s what’s most impressive that it was the other way around, if not that they put in even more effort than they had in 2024,” Palou said.
Palou has also given a lot of credit to his father, who has been his mechanic since he started in karting.
“We spent many, many hours together and many, many bad moments, very hard and also many good ones, but in the end he has been the person who has taught me … to go fast, to brake harder, to have more speed in mid-corner and also how to get up after a bad moment,” Palou said.
Palou was the first Spaniard to win an IndyCar championship in 2021 and wants to continue to inspire future generations of Spanish drivers by proving that you can not only make it to this circuit, but also succeed.
Prema Racing rookie Robert Shwartzman will make his Indy 500 debut in the pole position. It is the first time a rookie has won the Indy 500 pole since 1953. Takuma Sato, a two-time race winner, will join Shwartzman and O’Ward on the front row.
Although the hope behind the new rule was that it would add spice to the race, the spice was all theoretical as teams were on tenterhooks waiting for incidents that would require quick decisions.
But although Alpine’s Pierre Gasly crashed into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull early on and broke his suspension and Fernando Alonso retired his Aston Martin with an engine failure, there was not a safety car that led to a strategy scramble.
At the first pit stops, the only change in order saw Hamilton jump ahead of Alonso, who then dropped back from the Ferrari, managing his engine problem before retirement.
Alonso, still on zero points, has now had his equal-worst start to a season ever, matched only by McLaren-Honda’s dire 2015.
Behind Hamilton, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar finished sixth, making two pit stops within a few laps of each other early in the race to end up on hard tyres and run to the end.
Haas driver Esteban Ocon was seventh, ahead of the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson and the Williams of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.
Albon annoyed his good friend George Russell as he managed the traffic to manipulate the race to ensure he and Sainz could pit and both finish in the points.
Russell, complaining Albon was driving erratically, eventually cut the chicane to take the position and refused to give it back, saying he would “take the penalty”.
Russell was expecting a five-second penalty, but in fact he was given a drive-through, and he finished 11th, his race already ruined by the electrical problem in qualifying that left him 14th on the grid.
Grant Leary of Crespi High has a future as a golfer _ and photographer.
After winning the Southern Section individual title last week with a 66, Leary went on to practice his other fun endeavor — photography. He was shooting photos for the school yearbook at Crespi’s Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoff game.
Asked to set up a photo of himself, he brought out an iron, put one of his unused tees in his mouth and posed with a smile.
Only a junior, Leary won the tournament at Temecula Creek Country Club. He went to the final hole tied. He faced a seven-foot putt for a par but wasn’t aware of its importance.
“I knew it was a very big putt,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was for a tie or the win.”
Grant Leary of Crespi is your Southern Section individual golf champion. He also knows how to take photos for the school yearbook so maybe he’ll offer putting lessons, too. pic.twitter.com/xPg2B2fhac
Former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have shown a “blueprint” for India’s future Test success, says new skipper Shubman Gill.
Batter Gill, 25, was announced as Rohit’s replacement on Saturday after the 38-year-old and modern great Kohli both retired from the format.
Kohli led India to a record 40 wins in 68 Tests while Rohit, who replaced him in 2022, has the next best win percentage as skipper.
“I have always been inspired by the greats and legends of Indian cricket,” Gill said.
“I have been very fortunate to play with so many of them.
“Both were contrasting in terms of their style but inspiring to see them work towards a common goal.”
Gill was appointed skipper ahead of bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who had served as Rohit’s vice-captain.
His first series in charge will be the highly-anticipated five-Test series in England which starts on 20 June.
“I’m looking forward for this exciting opportunity, and I think the upcoming series in England is going to be a very exciting one,” said Gill, who is captain of Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.
“I believe in leading by example, not just by my performance but, off the field, by my discipline and hard work.
“As a captain, a leader should be able to know when to step in, but also when to give space to the players.
“Because everyone has had a different life and grown up differently, everyone has a different personality.”
India were unbeaten in home series throughout Kohli’s time as captain and had significant success away, including series wins in Australia and a 2-2 draw in England.
Under Rohit they reached the final of the 2023 World Test Championship, although they were beaten by Australia and their unbeaten run at home was ended by New Zealand last year.
“Virat was very aggressive and wanting to lead from the front,” Gill said.
“Rohit was also aggressive but you might not see that on his expression.
“He was someone calm and tactically very present. He was very communicative to the players.
“Rohit, Virat and Ashwin [retired off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin] have given us a blueprint on how to tour away from home and win matches and series.”
When Charles Dickens began his 1859 novel “A Tale of Two Cities” with the legendary line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” who knew that it would aptly describe the state of amateur football in 2025?
From college athletics to high school athletics, if you’re a parent, coach, athlete or fan, you have plenty of stories to tell. Take notes, because there’s so much material you’ll be able to write a book, launch a podcast or participate in court cases still to be decided.
“It’s all crazy,” said future Hall of Fame football coach Matt Logan of Corona Centennial.
Football isn’t in a crisis but it is in a black hole with stakeholders seeking an escape path.
With final rules still not adopted in how name, image and likeness is supposed to work and college programs not only paying their own athletes but high school recruits, too, everyone is adjusting on the fly. Parents trying to navigate the changes are hiring agents, who are showing up to high school camps trying to find clients. There’s the college transfer portal and something similar in high school that saw more than 17,000 students switch schools in California last year.
Until NIL rules are figured out, it’s roll your eyes and don’t be surprised at anything.
Some elite high school players have been reclassifying their graduation years to take advantage of money opportunities. And that’s after parents held them back entering high school to be bigger, stronger and faster as a 16-year-old freshman.
It’s all legal and even logical but the changing landscape is riddled with pros and cons and bad actors.
One big concern in high school sports is that parents might be too focused on scholarships for their kids and earning NIL money while forgetting the real reason people play sports — for the love of the game.
“For me, the whole value in sports has been degenerated,” Logan said. “You don’t play sports to get a scholarship. You play to learn how to lead, how to take orders, how to be a good teammate, how to work together. This could be the only chance to have fun, play with their friends, have a great experience.”
There have been football scandals in recent years — twice at Narbonne High, which had City Section championships taken away in 2019 and 2024 for using ineligible players. Now the football community is focused on what the Southern Section intends to do this fall about Bishop Montgomery, which supposedly has numerous transfer students (some from Narbonne) and is so confident it’ll ‘ll be declared eligible that a trip to Hawaii and a nonleague game against powerful Mater Dei have been scheduled.
Every week, coaches have to decide how to deal with players and parents who have little patience and many options. It’s a balancing act, and for the elite of the elite, coaches can’t even count on juniors returning as seniors because of opportunities to skip ahead to college.
“I understand why they are doing it. They have my full support,” said Sierra Canyon coach Jon Ellinghouse, who’s losing star defensive lineman Richard Wesley to Oregon a year early after he reclassified to the class of 2026.
Ellinghouse is embracing the idea his job is to “put them into positions to have life-changing opportunities.”
There are many different paths to success and failure. Remember how LaVar Ball didn’t care that his youngest son, LaMelo, was 13 years old playing summer basketball as a freshman for Chino Hills. He threw him in against older players and the rest is history. He averaged 25.2 points this season for the Charlotte Hornets as a 23-year-old in his fifth NBA season.
There are others who were 19-year-old seniors in high school, stopped developing, kept switching schools and will probably blame their coaches for not making the pros when the truth is it’s difficult to become a professional athlete.
It is the best of times with all kinds of money to be given out for being a good athlete. It is the worst of times because many of the treasured lessons from playing amateur sports no longer receive priority treatment. What happened to the importance of getting a college degree?
It will take someone with magical ideas to return a balance to the amateur sports world.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka dropped only one game as she beat Kamilla Rakhimova to get her French Open campaign under way in emphatic style.
Sabalenka needed just one hour to beat Russian opponent Rakhimova 6-1 6-0 in Paris.
The Belarusian ramped up her performance as the match went on, winning nine games in a row to close out the match.
Opening up the first day’s play on Court Philippe Chatrier, Sabalenka served up five aces, hit 30 winners and broke her opponent’s serve five times on her way to a comfortable victory under the roof.
A three-time Grand Slam singles champion, Sabalenka has never reached the final of the French Open before – her best performance a semi-final run in 2023.
But on this evidence, the 27-year-old is justifying her tag as one of the tournament favourites.
She could face Chinese eighth seed Zheng Qinwen – who she beat in the 2024 Australian Open final – in the quarters and three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in the semis.
Before that, Sabalenka will play Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann or Italian qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini for a spot in the last 32.
At the top of a hill in a sprawling Santa Clarita industrial park in the shadow of Magic Mountain’s roller coasters, a significant chapter in the history of motorsports was written.
But the story isn’t finished yet.
From the outside, the building is nothing special. Behind its walls, however, Honda Racing Corporation has designed, tested and built the engines that have won 14 of the last 21 IndyCar championships and all five IndyCar races this season. In Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, a race Honda has won 15 times since 2004, four of the top six starters will have Honda engines, including two-time winner Takuma Sato, who qualified second.
It’s a level of dominance unmatched in IndyCar history — in a series Honda probably helped save.
A technician works on an engine at Honda Racing Corporation. All of Honda’s engines for North American racing series are built in Santa Clarita.
(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
Amid the open-wheel civil war between Championship Auto Racing Teams and the Indy Racing League, Honda was prepared to walk away. Robert Clarke, who started Honda Performance Development (before it was renamed HRC in 2024) and made it a cutting-edge research and development facility, convinced American Honda president Koichi Amemiya to supply engines to IRL teams in 2003 after Honda left CART in 2002.
“It just was not Honda’s image of what a race car should be. That’s why Honda initially didn’t want to be involved,” Clarke said. “In my discussion with the president it was ‘OK, we developed all these skills and know-how. Are we just going to give that up and just walk away?’ That’s crazy.
”We invested literally billions of dollars. And we’ve seen the success.”
Chevrolet and Toyota eventually did quit, leaving Honda as the only IndyCar engine manufacturer for six seasons. Amemiya then doubled down, funding Honda’s move to its 123,000-square-foot home while expanding its workforce to 250 from an original staff of fewer than 10.
Honda hasn’t looked in the rearview mirror since.
Clarke, 75, left Honda in 2008 though he’s still something of an executive emeritus, one who wears the brand on his sleeve and often refers to the company with the collective pronoun “we.”
Robert Clarke, left, speaks to IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti at Mid-Ohio Race Course in July 2007.
(Jay LaPrete / Associated Press)
He was 10 when his father took him to his first race to watch a friend run in an amateur open-wheel event. When young Robert was invited into the garage and allowed to work on the car “I was hooked,” he said. “My bedroom walls were covered with pictures of Formula One cars and all kinds of racing.”
He took the long road to Honda racing, though, studying architecture and art/industrial design in college, then teaching for five years at Notre Dame. His first job at Honda was in the motorcycle accessory and product planning departments but when the company announced it was going to enter open-wheel racing, Clarke volunteered and he was soon tasked with building the program from the ground up.
That was in 1993. By the time Clarke left Honda 15 years later, the company’s place as a major force in IndyCar racing was secure and Honda’s two-story hilltop headquarters became his legacy.
The focus of work in the building now is mainly on supporting Honda teams in IndyCar and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. As such, it has become a one-stop shop for racing teams, housing comprehensive engine research and development operations; prototype and production parts manufacturing; engine preparation and rebuilding; a material analysis facilities; more than a half-dozen engine dynamometer test cells; a machine shop; electronics lab; parts center; multiple conference rooms; and administrative offices.
A view of the machine shop at the at the Honda Racing Corporation in Santa Clarita.
(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
Next year it will provide support for Honda’s effort to supply Formula One engines to Aston Martin.
Mostly the building is a maze of quiet office space where engineers sketch out their designs on computer screens, well-lit assembly bays where mechanics assemble the prototypes, and the noisy high-tech dyno rooms where those prototypes are tested. Every stage of a racing engine, from conception and construction to being shipped to the track, is managed at the facility.
“We develop the technology quickly,” said David Salters, the British-born engineer who heads HRC. “We try them. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t work and you try again. The point of having a racing facility inside your company is you can be agile. You can try stuff. You can train the people.
“The people are the most important thing of all this.”
The whole process is more NASA than NASCAR in that there’s not a speck of grease or oil on the bright, white vinyl flooring and everybody’s hands are clean.
David Salters, president of Honda Racing Corporation.
(Michael L. Levitt / LAT Images via American Honda Motor Co.)
“This is a world-class facility. It needs to be clinical and professional in the processes and systems we have here,” said Salters, who was head of engine development for the Ferrari F1 team and held a similar position at Mercedes-Benz before joining Honda a decade ago.
“It’s like an operating theater. We’re basically dealing with engines or electrical systems, which are like jewelry. They cannot tolerate dirt or anything like that. Everything has to be spotless and clean and well-organized. This is aerospace.”
And when the engines don’t work, they’re brought back to HRC and the engineering process is repeated in reverse in search of flaws. As for why they’re doing all that in a sleepy bedroom community better known for its paved bike paths and rustic hiking trails than for its motorsports history, that’s easy: Location, location, location.
Clarke originally expected to recruit engineers from Indianapolis and Charlotte, N.C., the heartland of American racing, while Honda insisted on keeping its operations near its corporate offices in Torrance. Clarke feared dropping people from the Midwest and South into L.A.’s traffic-clogged sprawl would be such a culture shock, he’d lose his best engineers.
So he chose Santa Clarita, which was isolated enough to not feel like L.A., but close enough to Torrance to be accessible. And the building came with an “Only in L.A.” feature: It shares a driveway with the studio where the popular TV series “NCIS” is filmed.
“Every so often a helicopter will land in the car park and we’re all told we can’t go outside in case we get swept away,” Salters said with a chuckle. “There was some ‘Star Trek’ thing where they decided our foyer could be useful. So for a few weeks we had a movie set in our foyer; we rented it out.
“You’ve got to look at business opportunities.”
Adi Susilo, chief engineer of powertrain at Honda Racing Corporation, looks over large monitors before the start of the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.
(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
It’s early on a chilly Saturday in March and HRC’s headquarters is mostly empty save for one corner on the building’s second floor where nearly a dozen people, some wearing headphones, have gathered behind computer screens facing six giant TV monitors.
A continent away, in central Florida, more than 50 cars are lined up for the 12 hours of Sebring. Each driver with a Honda engine has an engineer monitoring their car’s performance.
Before the pandemic, engineers would travel and work with race teams on site. But for the last four years the engineers have been working mostly at HRC, monitoring in-car telemetry that provides real-time information about everything from engine status and tire pressure to suspension behavior.
“Data is king,” said Adi Susilo, one of the HRC engineers. “Humans make mistakes. Data rarely does.”
F1 teams have monitored telemetry remotely for years, but it didn’t become common in IndyCar racing until 2023. Now it’s a vital part of every major racing series, including NASCAR.
Powertrain chief engineer Adi Susilo looks at a full-size mock up of an IMSA prototype at Honda Racing Corporation.
(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
Engineers work out of what looks like a college classroom, only quieter. When the sound of a disembodied voice does cackle out of a headphone, it sounds like NASA Mission Control, the tone flat and unemotional, the conversation short and to the point.
“It’s better for solving problems,” said Susilo about working away from the track. “If there’s a problem, you just walk downstairs and talk to the guy who built the engine.”
That won’t be the case Sunday. For the Indy 500, Susilo said it’s all hands on deck, so most of Honda’s race-day engineers are in Indianapolis where the telemetry will be broadcast to their work stations in trailers at the track.
“A few of the IndyCar races are run that way,” he said, “but the 500 is almost always run that way just because everyone’s out here for the event. We’re also testing a new, hopefully more robust, telemetry streaming as it’s much harder to make sure we get 15 car’s worth of data.”
At first, the idea of having engineers looming electronically over the timing stand was a hard sell. Trusting someone with clean fingernails watching the race on monitors thousands of miles away wasn’t easy for some crew chiefs.
“What happens for people like me is that you have to erase the old-school way of thinking,” said Mike Hull, a former mechanic and driver who is now the managing director for Chip Ganassi Racing and chief strategist for driver Scott Dixon, a six-time IndyCar champion. “You’re electronically shoulder to shoulder with them.
“If you don’t listen to what somebody has to say, it stifles free thinking. Free thinking sends you down a path that you may not have originally been on, but makes you stronger at what you’re doing.”
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1.Race engines being assembled at Honda Racing Corporation.2.A technician in the HRC machine shop works on an engine.3.Engineers monitor data during the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.4.A engineer monitors telemetry remotely from HRC headquarters.(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 champion who will start Sunday’s race in the second row, agrees. Which is he why he’s made several trips to HRC to personally thank the engineers who design his engines and those who help direct his races.
“You always feel like there’s a big group behind you,” he said. “You just don’t get to see all them in one place but you know the machine is there, working pretty hard.”
One drawback, Dixon said, is you have to be careful what you say on the radio during races because you never know who’s listening.
“Twenty people at home, just on the team side, will be listening just on that one car,” he said. “So the communication is very wide open. You definitely have to watch your Ps and Qs.”
Two years later race teams have grown so comfortable with people looking over their shoulders, the engineers have become as much a part of the team as the cars. So when a nearby wildfire forced the evacuation of the building, Honda rented rooms at a nearby hotel, set up their TVs, computer monitors and a coffee machine in a conference room and worked from there.
“We’re pretty blind without it. The race teams are pretty competitive,” Susilo said. “They feel that instinct still does work. But it’s more data-driven.”
Honda powertain engineer Jake Marthaler monitors data during the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.
(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
Given the investment, the pressure can be intense.
“Every two weeks we want to have the latest development. We want to have made progress,” Salters said. “Every two weeks you have a deadline and the deadline does not move. It’s not like they’re going to say ‘OK, we’ll just delay the race a week.’ The flag drops, you’ve got to be ready.
“It’s sort of an engineering sport isn’t it? It’s like a true sport; the best team will win.”
If the IndyCar-Honda marriage has mostly been good for both sides, it has recently hit a rocky patch.
Honda’s supply contract with IndyCar ends next year and the company hasn’t hid its distaste over the cheating scandals that have recently tarnished the series. Last week Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden, the two-time defending Indy 500 champion, and Will Power were forced to the back of the field for the start of Sunday’s race after illegally modified parts were found on their cars. Team Penske, which uses Chevrolet engines, was also caught cheating at the beginning of the 2024 season.
On Wednesday, the team fired three of its top racing executives. IndyCar, which is owned by Roger Penske (also the owner of Team Penske) said it is exploring the creation of an independent governing body absent of Penske employees.
Scott Dixon drives into the first turn during practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Friday.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
That may not be enough to restore trust in the series. Honda, which supplies engines to 13 full-season IndyCar entries and three Indy 500-only cars, has declined to comment on the rules violations, but confirmed its continued participation in the series beyond 2026 may depend on Penske’s ability to separate himself from policing the series he owns and also competes in.
Honda said in a written statement Thursday that it has many concerns, among them “the relatively high overall cost to participate as an engine supplier” and “the potential (perceived or real) conflict of interest which may exist” with Penske’s ownership of the racing series, three of the cars competing in the series and his “significant stake” in Ilmor Engineering, which designs and manufactures engines for Chevrolet, Honda’s biggest competitor.
“Honda continues to have ongoing negotiations with IndyCar’s management and technical teams regarding our future as an engine supplier for the series,” said Chuck Chayefsky, manager of Honda & Acura Motorsports.
Whatever road Honda takes with IndyCar, it’s unlikely to change most of the day-to-day work at HRC, which is heavily involved with IMSA and will soon be working on F1 power-unit development.
So while the cars may change, the racing will never stop.
The car Ryan Hunter-Reay drove to victory for Andretti Autosport in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 sits on display at Honda Racing Corporation in Santa Clarita.
(Robert Hanashiro / For the Times)
“Thirty years ago our sole purpose in life was to look after racing in North America for Honda and Acura,” Salters said before last week’s events in Indianapolis. “Last year we changed that. We’re now part of a global racing organization. That’s another opportunity for associates here.”
“The automotive world, it’s pivoting,” he continued. “We are trying some new stuff. We’ll see how it goes.”
One chapter has been written. But the story isn’t finished.
Donegal selector Neil McGee admitted the Ulster champions “weren’t at it from the start” as they fell to a 2-17 to 0-20 defeat by Tyrone in Saturday’s All-Ireland round-robin opener in Ballybofey.
In a game that ebbed and flowed, Donegal led with seven minutes remaining, but Tyrone rallied late, hitting the last five scores – including Peter Harte’s two-pointer – to hand Jim McGuinness a first defeat at Ballybofey in league or championship football.
Seanie O’Donnell scored both of Tyrone’s goals while Darren McCurry chipped in with seven points.
“We took the ball into contact too many times, turned the ball over too many times, we weren’t at it from the start and Tyrone probably deserved it,” McGee told GAA+.
“It’s a long season. You’re going to the well every week and trying to get up there every day, we just didn’t get to the pitch of it today and Tyrone were at it.
“At 66 minutes, we were two points up, we had possession and give it away, Tyrone went up and I don’t think we touched the ball again after that.
“We had the game in our hands, give it away and they got three points. Slim margins but we only have ourselves to blame.”
In contrast, Tyrone boss Malachy O’Rourke hailed the character his side showed after losing experienced duo Brian Kennedy and Padraig Hampsey to injury.
“We got a good start but at half-time we lost two leaders (Brian Kennedy and Padraig Hampsey) and it could have been a night where we said, ‘we’ve put in a good show but it wasn’t going to be our night’,” O’Rourke, the only manager to have beaten McGuinness in the Ulster Championship, told GAA+.
“The way Donegal came back and we always knew they would as they are a quality team. They went ahead and again, we could have folded up our tents, but the composure the boys showed and willingness to fight for each other, get back ahead and hold it was really pleasing.
“It only gets us two points, but it’s a good start to the group and we just have to settle down and look towards next week.”
Next week in Group One, Tyrone host Mayo in a rerun of the 2021 All-Ireland final while Donegal will attempt to bounce back away to Cavan.
Connor Norby had three hits, including a three-run homer in the seventh inning, and the Miami Marlins ended the Angels’ eight-game win streak in a 6-2 win Saturday night.
Norby’s third home run came on a 1-2 pitch from reliever Caden Dana (0-1) as Miami stopped a three-game slide.
Taylor Ward doubled and scored in the ninth — giving him an extra-base hit for the 10th straight game, an Angels record.
The Marlins took a 1-0 lead in the second against starter José Soriano when Liam Hicks walked leading off and scored on a two-out single by Ronny Simon.
Angels pitcher Jose Soriano delivers against the Marlins in the first inning Saturday at Angel Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Zach Neto doubled leading off the fourth and Yoán Moncada’s one-out single put runners at the corners, ending Marlins starter Cal Quantrill’s night after just 46 pitches. Ronny Henriquez (2-1) entered and gave up a tying sacrifice fly to Ward before striking out Jorge Soler to keep it 1-1.
Eric Wagaman had a two-out RBI single in a two-run fifth to put Miami up 3-1.
Janson Junk yielded one run and six hits in five innings of relief against his former team for his first career save.
Soriano (3-5) gave up three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Marlins loaded the bases with nobody out in a 1-1 score in the fifth. Soriano got a double-play grounder from Kyle Stowers that made it 2-1, and Wagaman blooped a single to center for a two-run lead and Miami never looked back.
The Angels also had a team-record seven-game stretch of hitting multiple home runs end.
Up next: Marlins RHP Edward Cabrera (0-1, 5.50 ERA) starts Sunday’s finale against Angels RHP Kyle Hendricks (2-5, 5.32).
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack proclaimed “with Jimmy we feel we absolutely got the right guy” as he spoke mid lap of honour around the Hampden pitch.
Thelin showed a tactical awareness coming into the final. He gave his players two days off for him to come up with a game plan to topple Celtic – and it worked.
A change in personnel, a change in system, a change of approach anchored in pragmatism. No wonder given how Brendan Rodgers’ team had dismantled Thelin’s men at will on occasion this season.
The Swede also demonstrated bravery in doing so. To recognise something isn’t working is one thing. To do it and roll the dice as you stand on the brink of history, it’s quite something.
It’s a gamble that has paid off to the tune of immortality and £6m, the latter coming with the guarantee of European football until December in either the Europa or Conference League.
How much of it Thelin gets to invest remains to be seen – not least given he was backed heavily in January – but he’s earned the right to go again with this Aberdeen team with a sense of optimism behind him.
Cormack was persistent in his pursuit of Thelin and his man has presided over a maiden season that began with a blistering run and closed with a trophy in the cabinet. One that’s not resided there for a generation.
The frostiness of a winter of dismay will thaw out in the glow of a Union Street bus parade on Sunday.
Post mortems about being dismembered by St Mirren will be marked as an irrelevance amid the glory, all lost in a sea of red and white flags and scarves.
There will be a new set of challenges ahead for Thelin and his team – and a new set of expectations. But that’s for another day.
After this season and the most draining of days, the Pittodrie manager deserves to live in the here and now. Even just for a moment.
“You see how much it means to everyone,” he told BBC Scotland.
“That’s why football is so amazing. To be strong in the difficult times, keep believing and keep trying everything you channel every day.
Louisville (4-4-2) has won three of its last four games. Angel City (4-4-2) has lost two in a row.
Taylor Flint put Louisville up 1-0 at BMO Stadium with a penalty kick in the 23rd minute. Rookie Riley Tiernan scored for Angel City in the 48th minute.
Emma Sears nodded the ball in from close range off a corner kick in the 53rd minute and USC alum Savannah DeMelo made it 3-1 Racing Louisville in the 56th.
Fischer was sent off for a physical altercation with Madison Hammond inside the Louisville box in the 67th minute. Alyssa Thompson converted on the ensuing penalty kick for Angel City.
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller look at how struggling French Open champion Iga Swiatek can improve her form as she defends her title at Roland Garros.
Arsenal forward Chloe Kelly tells BBC Sport’s Jo Currie that she considered taking a break from football before Arsenal “put the smile back on my face”.
Giroud scored on a one-touch finish from point-blank range to make it 2-2 in the 77th minute.
In the fifth minute, Montreal’s Prince Owusu had his shot blocked but the loose ball rolled directly to Giacomo Vrioni, who held a defender on his hip before spinning and rolling a shot inside the right post for a goal. Owusu converted from the penalty spot in the 22nd to give Montreal a 2-0 lead.
Delgado put away a cross played in by Nathan Ordaz, blasting a one-touch shot from near the penalty spot that deflected off goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois into the net in the 38th minute.
Sirois finished with seven saves for Montreal (1-9-5).
Montreal rebounded from a 6-1 loss to Toronto last week.
Chloe Kelly said she considered taking a break from football before Arsenal “put the smile back on my face” and transformed her difficult season “from a real low to a real high”.
Kelly started Saturday’s Champions League final as the Gunners stunned holders Barcelona to win a first European title in 18 years.
The England international came through the Gunners’ youth ranks between 2010 and 2015 and was given a chance back at the club after struggling for game time with Manchester City, making just one start in the WSL before her deadline day loan move to north London.
She said she “wanted to be happy again” in a social media post and then-City boss Gareth Taylor said it was “really disappointing” how the bitter transfer saga between Kelly and the club came to an end.
“I said I was coming to this club to find happiness with football and I have a medal round my neck,” an emotional Kelly told BBC Sport’s Jo Currie. “Every day that I come into the club I’m smiling. They put the smile back on my face so I will forever be grateful for that.
“I took a step to try and make things better for myself and I’m grateful for the people around me that supported me to take that step. This one is for everyone that helped me do that.”
Kelly has made 13 appearances in all competitions since re-joining Arsenal, scoring twice.
She helped the Gunners secure a second-placed WSL finish and now has Saturday’s triumph in Lisbon to celebrate.
“Definitely up there,” Kelly, who scored England’s winning goal in the Euro 2022 final, added on where the victory ranks. “The journey it has taken to get here, it’s definitely been a battle.
“Now to celebrate this moment with the girls, with Arsenal Football Club but also my family that have been there through the dark days to now, I’m just really grateful.”
On whether taking a break from football was a real option before her January move, Kelly said: “It definitely was. I don’t think people understand at times the emotions that sometimes go through people’s minds.
“It’s hard to explain but we’re here now and we’re at the other side of it. It’s football, sometimes there’s high, there’s lows and there’s bits in between. From a real low to a real high, I am very grateful for Renee Slegers.
“The first thing I said to Renee when we beat Lyon in the semi-final was ‘thank you for this opportunity’.”
Kelly’s contract at City expires in June and her loan move was only until the end of the season.
On whether fans can expect to see her in an Arsenal shirt again next season, she added: “Who knows. I just know I have given my all for the club and the club has given their all for me, so I’m always grateful.”
