Saturday Qualification — Hulman Co. Invests in Ark….

Rain, rain doesn't seem to be going away.

God does make little green apples, and it DOES rain in Indiana in the summertime. At 1:30 pm, the speedway is in the middle of a downpour, and at the beginning end of a long blob of rain heading this way. Indy in May is a place and time where everyone turns into a meteorologist, and the consensus is that we're pretty much hosed for the next few hours, if not all day.

Before the rains came, we did have 2 1/2 qualifying runs. Carlos Huertas managed 4 laps at 228.235 mph, which should be enough to get him into the show. Ryan Hunter-Reay then went out and posted a 229.485 in what he termed a "banker's lap." Scott Dixon then went out and started what should've been a provisional pole run, but rains came halfway into his run. This set him up for a Jigger Awards.

Jigger Award?

Jigger Award. The Jigger Award, given out every year by the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, commemorates the ill-fated 1969 qualification attempt of Leon "Jigger" Sirios. Back in the day, you could only qualify for the Pole on the first day of qualifications. Jigger was first out on that day, but his attempt was waved off as his crew thought they could do better on a later run. As he came into Gasoline Alley the rains started, and no one else got a chance that day, nor the next day. Since Jigger's attempt was good enough to make the race he would've sat on the Pole had his team not pulled him in! And worse yet, Jigger's engine blew up before he could get another attempt, and he failed to even make the race with his backup engine.

To commemorate this dubious achievement, every year the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association gives out their "Jigger" award. It's not exactly a highly sought-after award. 2007 Award Winner P.J. Jones described it as "like whipped cream on a turd." The Rahal people just forgot to show up to pick up their 2013 for failing to get Michel Jourdain Jr into the show.

And Mr. Siros? He loves the attention. Jigger struggled with stuttering for many years, and uses his notoriety to speak to groups about stuttering, raising a bit of money along the way. He's about the nicest guy you can ever meet at Indy — and yeah, he'll talk about the 1969 run and the award.

— Lucille Dust and Tim Wohlford, reporting from IMS