Michael Jackson remembered at Richmond

Mario Moraes drove the Richmond IndyCar race with a specially made silver glove in tribute to Michael Jackson

UPDATE Mario Moraes, KV Racing Technology, was a huge fan of Michael Jackson. As a tribute to the passing of his idol, Moraes drove the SunTrust Indy Challenge race with a specially manufactured pair of driving gloves flown into Richmond. Moraes wore a silver driving glove on one hand, like the glove Michael Jackson made famous, instead of his regular blue driving gloves.

06/28/09 Almost everyone of legal drinking age in the state has a Michael Jackson moment in their head this weekend — a song, a performance – at Richmond International Raceway.

The King of Pop, whose album "Thriller," 27 years ago altered the direction of pop music and videos, died June 25 in California. He was 50. Jackson was preparing for 50 shows scheduled at London's O2 Arena this summer.

"When I was young and he was in his heyday, my mom and I would drive all over whenever he used to come to Texas," A.J. Foyt Racing team director Larry Foyt said. "We would catch the show in Houston and then go to Dallas. A.J. used to make fun of me for liking him. If it's not country and western, it was 'Why are you listening to that?' ''

Asked to pinpoint his favorite Jackson song, Foyt – like most – couldn't formulate an immediate answer.

"There are just so many and different types, I am going to go with 'The Way You Make Me Feel,' " he said.

Sales of more than 750 million albums in his solo career (not counting those with his brothers, The Jackson 5) put him in the company of other pop icons the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

It was the 1970s Saturday morning cartoon show on ABC featuring the brother act that Helio Castroneves, who was singing parts of the theme song, "ABC," on pit lane after qualifications for the SunTrust Indy Challenge.

"Man, I love the cartoon, 'The Jackson 5ive,' and the "ABC," he said. "It was awesome."