The Indianapolis Star has made coverage of preparations for The Indianapolis 500 an annual major event, starting a month before the big race, which is set for this Sunday.

I know from first-hand knowledge how the paper covers the oldest auto race in the U.S., having attended the 2008 event where Editor Dennis Ryerson gave me a personal tour of the Star's basement Web coverage headquarters. The speedway might well also have the largest permanent press box of any sports venue, room for hundreds of scribes.

But with the race now finding women as regulars each year, among them Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher, fashion is now part of the coverage. Evidenced by the Star's second annual Indy 500 photo shoot with Fisher, as seen below: