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INDIANAPOLIS -- Jacques Villeneuve is ready to make an IndyCar comeback. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports said Wednesday it has hired Villeneuve to race in this years Indianapolis 500, 19 years after the Canadian driver first drank the milk in Victory Lane. "IndyCar is growing again and thats why last year when I started watching races again, every time I watched I felt almost angry I wasnt there," the 1995 race winner said on a satellite hookup from France during a news conference held at the teams Indy headquarters. At age 42, Villeneuve seemed content being a television analyst, musician and RallyCross driver. But when Schmidt and co-owner Rick Peterson, also from Canada, made a serious offer, he couldnt refuse. The 500 is scheduled for May 25. Villeneuve certainly has a compelling resume. As an Indy rookie in 1994, he qualified fourth and finished second to Al Unser Jr., and was named the races rookie of the year. The next season, the reigning CART rookie of the year was even better. He qualified fifth at Indy, forced Scott Goodyear into a costly mistake on the final restart and eventually held off Christian Fittipaldi to become the first and only Canadian winner of the race. Villeneuve completed all 400 laps at Indy in those two starts and won the 1995 CART title, too. But after starting 33 races, winning six poles and five races in two IndyCar seasons, Villeneuve had a chance to become an international star. So he headed to Europe and joined Formula One -- the series that made his late father, Gilles, a household name. Like his dad, who died in a 1982 F1 qualifying crash, Villeneuve excelled on the world stage. In 163 career starts between 1996 and 2006, the younger Villeneuve reached the podium 23 times, won 11 races, 13 poles and claimed the 1997 world championship. At that point, American open-wheel racing wasnt even on the radar. His journey back to North America began in 2007 when Villeneuve made the move to American stock cars. Over the next seven seasons, he dabbled in Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Le Mans series as well as sports cars. Villeneuve regained interest in IndyCars last season as he watched how close and competitive the races had become. To him, it reminded him of the series he left almost two decades earlier. Suddenly, he was interested in making a return -- if he could find the right car and the right team. "To get this opportunity is a gift," Villeneuve said. "A lot of people say when you have kids, you slow down. I want my kids to see me race." Schmidt is the winningest team owner in Indy Lights history and already employs two full-time drivers in the better-known IndyCar series -- Russias Mikhail Aleshin and Frances Simon Pageland. In previous years, Schmidt has always found a way to compete at Indy. Getting Villeneuve might be the biggest coup of all for his low-budget team. "Indy is a special place. We go there not to exist but to win the race," Schmidt said. "To see a guy that finished second and finished first there, I dont think hes going to have any problem going back." Villeneuve becomes the fifth 500 winner on this years entry list. The others are three-time winner Helio Castroneves of Brazil, two-time winner Scott Dixon of New Zealand, 2000 winner Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia and Brazils Tony Kanaan, the defending champ. Another trip to Victory Lane would give Villeneuve two more milestones. He would break Al Unsers record for the longest gap between first and last victories. Unser went 17 years between his first Indy crown in 1970 and his record-tying fourth win in 1987. Villeneuve also would break Gordon Johncocks record for the longest gap between first and second wins at Indy, 1973 and 1982. Villeneuve isnt motivated by records. He wants to win. "Im a racer," he said, explaining he does not plan to retire anytime soon. "Ive got to find ways to get better and better and better, and Im going there with a team thats very experienced and has been very successful as well." Kyle Lowry USA Jersey . -- Phil Hughes ended a personal losing streak that dated to last July, pitching into the seventh inning Sunday and helping the Twins top the Kansas City Royals 8-3 to avoid a three-game sweep. DeMarcus Cousins Team USA Jersey . - Kentucky freshmen Stanley Boom Williams, Dorian Baker, Drew Barker and Tymere Dubose have been charged with disorderly conduct for their involvement with air pistol shots being fired near a residence hall on the South campus Sunday night. http://www.teamusaolympicsshop.us/Olympi...ley-Usa-Jersey/. The three Calgary natives will compete after the sport was skipped by the Vancouver Games in 2010 but later included on the program for Sochi, Russia. The fight to include womens ski jumping prior to Vancouver went to the courts only to have the Supreme Court of Canada rule against the athletes appeal in 2009. Anthony Davis USA Jersey . Klein went undrafted in the NFL last year following his senior season with the Wildcats. He was invited to the Houston Texans rookie camp, but was not offered a contract. Klay Thompson Team USA Jersey . PAUL, Minn.WASHINGTON -- One day after their general manager was unexpectedly fired and playing without their second leading scorer, the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to snap their six-game losing streak. Luol Deng was out with flu-like symptoms, and Kyrie Irving, who missed shootaround because he was ill, fought through his sneezing spells to help lead the Cavaliers to a 115-113 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday. Irving had 23 points and tied a career high with 12 assists and made all 13 of his free throws. Dion Waiters scored 24 points and C.J. Miles had 18 for Cleveland. "Im all right. Its the best that Im going to get right now," Irving said. The second-year guard admitted that the firing of Chris Grant, who drafted him, was troubling. "Thats the sad part, the bad part about our business. Things are going to change whether you like it or not and you still have to go out there and perform as a professional. It was probably on our minds but we cant use it as an excuse," Irving said. Cleveland took a 67-63 lead at halftime when Irving hit four free throws just before the intermission and never relinquished it. The Cavaliers took a 101-87 lead three minutes into the fourth quarter, but the Wizards, who were led by John Walls 32 points and 10 assists, couldnt make up the difference. Martell Webster hit two late 3-pointers to cut the lead to 115-113 with 2.9 seconds left. Clevelands Jarrett Jack missed two free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining. A scramble resulted with Washington getting possession with 0.2 seconds left, but couldnt get off a final shot. The near comeback didnt impress Wizards coach Randy Wittman. "We wait until the last four minutes to fly around and decide to play defence. Last four minutes of the game. Everybody will say, you gave a great effort coming down the stretch. No we didnt. For 44 minutes we didnt give an effort," Wittman said. His team didnt heed his warnings. "We told them what that organization is going through right now. Some tough times with the firing of theirr GM.dddddddddddd Theyre going to be desperate. It always happens no matter who it is that gets fired," Wittman said. Washington fell to 24-25. Its the 12th time theyre one game under .500 this season. The Wizards were one game over .500 after Mondays win against Portland for the first time since Oct. 31, 2009, but they lost in double overtime to San Antonio on Wednesday. "Were not a very good team. Good teams dont do that over and over and over and over again. We can get all caught up in .500, and I told you guys what that meant. Nothing. And think youve arrived. Good teams do not lose basketball games like this nine, ten, 11 times halfway through a season," Wittman said. Marcin Gortat had 19 and Webster 18 for Washington. "We have a lot of fans coming in, paying to watch good basketball at a high level. They expect us to win games like that -- and were losing," Gortat said. Waiters scored just four of his 24 points in the fourth quarter when he was just 2 for 7 from the field. "The energy was different, these guys knew what was at stake after going through a situation where we went through. We faced adversity and it wasnt the first time for us but at the end of the day we came out here we played hard, played for one another and we got a big win," Waiters said. Grant came under fire after he chose Anthony Bennett with the first overall pick last June. Bennett has struggled in his first months with Cleveland, though coach Mike Brown, a longtime friend of Grants, defended Bennett before Fridays game, saying hes shown great improvement recently. Bennett had eight points. NOTES: Clevelands Alonzo Gee had a season-high 11 points. . Wall addressed the fans before the game, thanking them for their support in All-Star Game voting. The fourth-year guard will play in the Feb. 16 game in New Orleans for the first time. .Washington F Al Harrington hasnt played since Nov. 12 because of right knee surgery. Wittman said he thinks Harrington will play again this season, but wouldnt put a timetable on it. ' ' '