Small-Town Boy; INDY 500 CHAMP SAM HORNISH JR.'S CAR COLLECTION IS ALL AMERICAN.(NEWS)

Byline: ROGER HART

Sam Hornish Jr.'s face is etched in bas-relief on the Borg-Warner Trophyone of the world's most recognizable chalicescommemorating his Indianapolis 500 win in 2006. Despite the fame and fortune he earned for reaching the pinnacle of his profession at the ripe old age of 26, Hornish, from Defiance, Ohio (population 17,000), remains a small-town boy at heart.

And as he assembles a car collection, that small-town upbringing shines through.

He said former Penske racing teammate Helio Castroneves and some of the other IndyCar Series drivers used to give him a hard time about why he didn't have a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. "I said, all right, I'll take you guys to where I grew up, and you'd see a Corvette stands out like a Ferrari does in other places, Hornish said. "You can't really drive a Lamborghini to the grocery store here in Defiance without getting some attention.

Hornish does have a Vette, a 2006 Z06 he received for winning the Indy 500. Race winners traditionally are given a copy of that year's pace car. (For one of his wins, Castroneves received an Oldsmobile Bravada.) "I lucked out, Hornish said. "I got exactly what I would have bought if I bought one.

Hornish said he first drove on the road when he was 12My mom slid on the ice and got stuck, and after my dad pulled it out, she was too scared to drive it homebut had been driving four-wheelers and go-karts before then. But the one vehicle he always dreamed about owning was a 1955 Chevy. Two years before driving into victory circle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that dream came true.

"I went to the 2004 [Kruse] auction over in Auburn, and we had been there three previous years and never bought anything other than a few trinkets. I'd never even bid on a car. But I went with my dad in "04 on a Saturday, and he had me bidding on something for him. Went back the next day with my wife, my mom and my dad. All of us went over there and ended up buying that car. It was an orange-and-white 1955 Chevrolet Delray.