Motor racing-Thunderstorms threaten Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS, May 26 (Reuters) Thunderstorms threaten to disrupt the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 motor race tomorrow, American weather forecasters say.

They predicted a 70 percent chance of rain during tomorrow's 500-mile (800-km) race, raising the possibility of a Monday finish at the famed Brickyard.

''We're going to get rain,'' Ed Terrell of the National Weather Service said today. ''As it sits now it looks like isolated showers and thunderstorms.'' If 101 of the scheduled 200 laps cannot be completed tomorrow the race will continue on Monday.

The last race disrupted by rain was in 2004. The race was stopped after 27 laps and, following a two-hour delay, was restarted then called after 450 miles when rain again swept across the 2.5-mile oval.

In 1997 the 500 was forced into a Tuesday finish when steady rain on Sunday and Monday cut short racing.

REUTERS SLD PM2134