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Last updated on Tuesday, December 23, 2014
(INDIANAPOLIS) - The Indianapolis 500 has a pre-race replacement for Jim Nabors, at least for one year.
The a cappella group Straight No Chaser will sing "Back Home Again In Indiana" before the 2015 Indy 500 next May.
Straight No Chaser was chosen in part because the group was founded at IU-Bloomington in 1996. All ten members of the current touring group are alumni of IU.
The group made the announcement during the encore portion of its holiday concert Monday afternoon at the Murat at Old National Centre in Indianapolis.
Nabors had sung the song, known officially as "Indiana", almost every year since he was chosen as a last minute replacement before the 1972 race. He performed the song live 35 times before retiring after the 2014 race - Nabors is now 84 and doesn't travel much from his home in Hawaii.
The song was written in 1917, and Louis Armstrong helped the song gain mainstream popularity, as it was routinely the first song in his concert set.
Straight No Chaser is only committed to perform the song in 2015 - no decision has been made about who will sing it for future races.
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