70 percent chance of rain for Indy 500

It looks like rain for Sunday's Indianapolis 500. An approaching cold front from the northwest should collide with a warmer and more humid mass of air, bringing a 70 percent chance of rain on race day, a National Weather Service forecaster said Saturday.

"It's already starting," Ed Terrell of the agency's Indianapolis office said. "That's why we've had the scattered showers last night and yesterday afternoon and this morning."

The race is scheduled to begin shortly after 1 p.m. EDT Sunday. If it is rained out or halted before 101 of the 200 laps are completed, it would be rescheduled for Monday, when the chance of rain is currently forecast at 40 percent.

The last complete washout was in 1997, when the race was postponed to Monday, then stopped after 15 laps and completed Tuesday.

In 2000, the race was delayed three hours by rain. The next year, the race was stopped after 155 laps, then restarted after a rain delay of more than 16 minutes. In 2004, the race started two hours late, stopped after 27 laps, restarted after a delay of 1 hour, 47 minutes, and stopped for good after 450 miles.